Where do meetings fit in your day as a freelance writer?

Emma loves meetings. Kaleigh hates them.

When it comes to meetings, freelance writers should handle them based on personal preferences and work styles.

In this episode, we discuss all our feelings about client meetings, as well as where they should fit into a freelance writer’s workday.

The meeting dilemma

Meetings can be a problem for freelance writers. The reason: Half the time when a client says: “Let’s have a quick meeting!”…it’s often not that quick. It can suck up billable time that you could’ve spent working on paid projects.

For Emma, she doesn’t see meetings as having a negative impact on business margins. She loves them…and has a 15-minute consultation call with every potential client. That’s because a large part of Emma’s business is case studies, which require interviews, and you guessed it—a lot of meetings.

Finding the meeting solution for you

How’s a busy freelance writer supposed to keep up? Between new client calls, project check-ins, brainstorming sessions…these meetings can quickly add up into a significant time investment and a chaotic calendar.

That’s where calendar software comes in. Calendly, for example, is a great tool for managing meetings. You just set your availability and eliminate the back and forth of finding a time to chat with clients. It’s especially useful for coordinating across time zones.

Scheduling meetings/calls on specific days

A lot of people feel anxious about meetings. And that’s OK. It can be hard to focus when you know you have a meeting in one hour. Often clients are late for meetings or simply forget. If you don’t like meetings in the first place, that can throw your whole day off-kilter.

“I seem to psych myself out about meetings. I have to get ready, and then am sitting there waiting on the call 10 minutes early. If they don’t show, I feel I’ve wasted a lot of mental energy.”

Kaleigh deals with that by blocking out all her calls on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday or asking for asynchronous options, like touching base with audio or video. Loom is a great app that helps you with this. You can record a quick video message and send it to your clients without having to arrange a meeting.

What makes a good meeting?

Being clear with your clients makes for good meetings.

They should know exactly how you like to work. Some freelance writers commit to a certain amount of calls per month. Anything over that, they charge an hourly rate. It’s all about setting clear boundaries with your clients. Unless you want to be treated as just another employee, you have to let them know what’s appropriate and what’s not.

“So often I take the time to talk for 60 minutes to someone and then they ghost me. And that’s one hour of working time I could have used to generate money…wasted.”

It’s fine to tell clients you don’t do introductory phone calls. Instead, send them a “working with me” document and answer and follow-up questions. Include an in-depth rundown of your rates, workflow, and earliest starting dates. It’s a great way to weed out those who won’t be a fit for you.

And if they’re not OK with that? Red flag.

Tips for successful meetings as a freelance writer

Look, everyone is different. Meetings can really work for some people. They’re a great way of building business relationships. It’s a lot easier to spot warning signs in clients on a call than via email.

It’s all up to you and your preferences. As long as you know how you do your best work, you can lean into that and prosper. Once you figure out the answer to that, you’re set.

“If you like talking to people in meetings and are fairly social, then that’s great. Keep on having meetings and enjoying that.”

Here are some of our top tips for having great meetings:

Prior preparation. Jump right in and introduce yourself, and then share your goals for the meeting. Tell them who you are and what services you offer. Answer any questions. This eliminates the awkward initial minutes and saves time.
Set goals. “What do you hope to get out of this call?” is a good question to start with.
Be respectful. Tell clients you have another call coming up and a hard stop at a specific time. That’ll help make sure no one wastes any time. And then you can dive right into the important stuff and stop it spinning out into an hour-long conversation.
Send an agenda. Coming into meetings with an agenda is a great way to take the lead and show your clients that you’re a professional—which is a big part of freelance writing success.

Everyone has different boundaries when it comes to meetings and their time. Some people set up meetings all day every day and thrive. Others touch base with Loom and prefer the asynchronous model.

At the end of the day, you have to know yourself. What makes you more efficient? Figuring that out takes deliberation. So try it out both ways and see how you feel.