One of the things we need to do to be successful at freelancing is to constantly market our services. We work at getting our name out there, bidding on jobs, and building our network. With all of that forward-looking activity, it is important that you don’t forget your past.

It can be a great thing to be forward-looking. In fact, without those activities your business will shrivel and die. To keep your business growing you need new clients, but past clients are also a great source of new business. Remembering to reach out to your past can help keep the money coming in.

I had a client that I did some work for last year, but it had been a little while since we had done any work together. I was cleaning up some old emails earlier this month and came across one from this client. I dropped him a quick note wishing him a happy new year, and asking if he had any upcoming projects. As it turned out, he did have a couple of small projects that he needed a few articles for. It wasn’t a great deal of money, but it was certainly worth the time it took to send the email. It also helped to re-establish that connection for future work.

This is true for “almost” clients as well. I had won the bid on a job last year that fell through just before I got started working on it. I sent a note back that I understood that these things happen, but please consider me for any future projects. Since then we have come close on a couple of other projects, but for one reason or another couldn’t quite get things worked out. I heard from her earlier this week, and yesterday I got the gig. It’s going to be a significant bump in my income for this month, and it came as a result of staying in touch.

Keep in contact with your past connections, they can really help you have a profitable future.

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