The Easiest Thing To Do Is Nothing (Part 2)

The easiest thing to do is nothing. 

When I first started freelancing, I gave a lot of people free trials. (That may have been a way for me to hide my lack of confidence, but that’s another blog for another day.) It turned out, the free trial approach wasn’t a great way to land clients. Why? Because the easiest thing to do is nothing. 

I used to manage social media accounts and run Facebook ads for small businesses. I was able to get meetings with desperate businesses, who needed quick results. The thing about Facebook ads and social media management, however, is that success takes time. So, when my free trial didn’t yield the quantifiable results my clients so desperately needed, they stopped replying to my emails. The easiest thing for them to do was nothing. 

Now, I’ve designed a majority of my business with retainer clients. I sign contracts with them for three months or more, so I only have to have a conversation about my contract every quarter. When a bad week befalls us, I don’t get ghosted like I was then I gave free trials. Why? Because the easiest thing to do is nothing. It’s easier for my clients to hope that the next week is better than the previous one. Because all they have to do is nothing. 

Momentum and inertia are powerful forces in physics and in freelancing. Avoid inertia for your own projects–leverage it when you’re hired on others’.