A watched pot...

A frustrating yet exciting aspect of being a feelancer is that you never know when the phone is going to ring or when an email will pop up inquiring about or offering work. It's frustrating when a day or days go by with radio silence. It's exciting when you get an opportunity--or opportunities--to audition or submit information. But after you hit send, you have to let each one go until actual work is offered.  Wasting energy and time wondering if that opportunity will come to fruition or counting chickens hinders productivity.

No matter how many irons we put in the fire, we can't predict when or if returning or new clients or talent agent(s) will contact us, or if we'll be fortunate enough to get referrals from colleagues or clients, or if someone will find us via our websites or previous work.  We can't know when an ongoing project will end, if projects that are already running will earn additional usage fees/residuals, or if a spot I already did will be recut into another.  I woke up today to find my first international inquiry via my website about possible ongoing work.  :-)

At least when I was gainfully employed,  there'd be work on my plate every day, either standing appointments, previously scheduled training sessions or seminars, contract packages to put together, data to gather, things to discuss with local or home office colleagues, attending company meetings or learning about new products and features.  Sometimes, being in corporate sales, marketing and training, I did have to seek work out.  But my clients were provided to me, and since they already had my product and their firms encouraged them to learn how to use it efficiently, most people were predisposed to meet with me.  So filling my day was fairly easy.

Now, if there are no incoming items to follow up on, no auditions, sessions or shoots to go to, it's incumbent on me to locate and research prospects.  I'm my own salesperson, marketer, and product.  During a slow week, keeping up momentum can be a challenge.  As can trusting that more auditions and work are on the way.