A Weird Week

It was a week of balance.

The Bad
One client was unhappy with some of the stuff I did. It was one guy on a team of directors, just happened to be the guy with the most say. My tone was off from what he wanted and we had to sort it out. It ended up fine, but it was unusual. I don't like missing the mark, so while this may have ended up okay for the project (I am still working), it is still pretty heavy on my mind.

The Better
But then I ran reports for two other clients, and both projects are shooting through the roof. They are both really new sites, but both are solidly indexed in less than a week, and results are showing tremendous promise. Many top-10 results, and both clients are simply glowing.

I also had 4 new offers for gigs this week - two fell of pretty quickly (tire kicking), but the other two are developing nicely. Again, very positive, very promising. One is a brand new client, one is a returning client I have not worked for in about a year or 2. All 4 calls made me pretty happy.

Also got a decent check in the mail, and one project that ended I was asked to continue for 3 more months. All really great things.

The Balance
So the balance comes because I am still pretty wigged out about the bad experience. I am not diminishing the great things happening, but the bitter ones stay for a while. My position as a freelance SEO writer has allowed me to get past it, and there's too much work to let me sit and stew. But still, it's simply not in my nature to allow failure to happen lightly.

So when you think about this as a career move, make sure to consider that you won't make everyone happy. Copywriting is pretty subjective. But still, you don't have to make everyone happy all the time. You could easily die trying.

The Takeaway
If this client and I didn't settle our differences, we could have parted ways pretty bitterly.

Instead, I listened to what they said. I did not argue or make excuses...just listened. I acknowledged their concerns, and allowed them to redfine what they wanted.

I saw where I was wrong, and offered to fix it for free. We all left the meeting satisfied that we'd be okay, and no damage done. But it was a little uncomfortable for a minute, that's for sure. Turned out, we just had a failure to communicate.

And then, the rest of the week it rained golden puppies of love.

Go figure...such is the life of balance as a freelance SEO copywriter.