My work calendar was pretty empty at the beginning of June. I had an assignment or two, but that was it. And when I posted on the Freelance Content Marketing Writer group on Facebook, many others felt the same way. I tried not to panic and to enjoy the time but I will be honest, I did a better job of it at some times than others. 

But as the month went on, something happened almost without me realizing it. I steadily got assignments from my regular clients and also got approached by potential clients. And when I added up my earnings, I had invoiced right at $10K of work in June. I was shocked. And happy to meet my target goal. As an aside, my minimum goal is $8,333, my target is $10,000 and my stretch is over $12,000.  

Because the world and business are changing so incredibly rapidly, companies are creating much shorter editorial calendars so that their messaging is on target. So this means that they are coming up with the ideas for their content much closer to when they actually want to publish, which means shorter lead times and deadlines. For writers, this means three things:

1. Less lead time – While most of my clients were already relatively short lead times, they have gotten even shorter, meaning the same week. 
2. Shorter deadlines – And yes, they need it even sooner than before. 
3. Smaller batches – I used to get larger projects, but now they are smaller, meaning one article instead of four. 

5 Keys to Managing Shorter Deadlines and Lead Times 

Even though I’ve not been much of a planner and tended to operate on a shorter timeframe in general, this new way of working has been disconcerting for me. And I know that writers who tend to book out months in advance are really struggling with the change. 

Here are a few things that are currently working for me: 

1. Don’t panic over an empty calendar. Keep telling yourself that shorter deadlines and lead times are the normal right now so try not to go down a rabbit hole – easier said than done, I know. 
2. Be flexible. Yes, shorter deadlines can be annoying. But right now, I think that even more than usual, it’s good practice to make it work when you can. Your clients are dealing with stress at work and home and they will remember that you went the extra mile to make their lives a little easier. For instance, I am not currently charging rush fees to clients because I know that the circumstances are beyond their control and want to show I understand. I’ve worked many weekends but taken advantage of the days with little or no work in the middle of the week to make up for it. I try to go with the flow in general, but even more so right now. I don’t think that it’s setting bad habits or setting a precedent because you can say that you are making exceptions right now because of the uncertainty in the work meaning shorter editorial calendars.  
3. Track earnings more often. I honestly expected to be below my $8333 minimum goal at the end of the month, mostly because the work is coming in so differently. To keep my panic at a bay, I’m going to more closely keep an eye on tracking the value of my assigned work so I can track the progression to my goal instead of a sporadic assignment calendar. 
4. Stay in touch and ask for referrals.  Relationships are even more important than ever right now – both with clients and other writers. And honestly, we don’t know what’s going to happen next week. I’m predicting Godzilla and aliens. So I think we need to all be trying to get new client possibilities in our pocket regardless of how busy we are (or are not today).  Clients seem even more than usual to want to go with writers that are known to them or recommended. Check out this post on asking for referrals and make a point of asking all your current clients for referrals this week. As I predicted in May, the work is coming back spotty depending on the companies and niches you target, so cast a wide net for best results. 
5. But keep sending LOIs. While LOIs aren’t landing immediate work right now, in my opinion, I think that we should still keep sending them to develop relationships because you are planting seeds for the future, especially if you have downtime. 

And above all give yourself grace. And also your clients. If you need to take a mental health day off, then do it. If you are less productive than you’d hoped, don’t beat yourself up. If you make a mistake, forgive yourself. We are really all doing the best we can, especially yourself. 

Are you seeing shorter editorial calendars? What tips do you have for making it work?