Today, Scotty Stevens asked me the following question:

“How far would you travel to meet a potential client, if they had the deposit ready for your services? My girlfriend thinks the customer is pulling the strings if they don’t at least meet me halfway. Before, I’ve always traveled as far as it takes, even if it meant driving all the way to the customer, but is that setting a weak precedent?”

Good question, but it’s the wrong one.

“How far would you travel” is irrelevant. A better question is, do they value your time? Do they respect it enough that they are willing to pay for it? In other words, are they willing to cover your travel expenses and pay for you to go out of your way for them?

If so, then I’d be willing to travel anywhere.

I would always consider travelling to meet a prospect if the project was large enough, and provided they paid for what is commonly referred to in this industry as “TMI” (i.e., travel, meals, and incidentals). And in some cases, for my time, too.

(By the way, travel includes lodging, and incidentals include photocopying, long-distance calls, Internet connection in the hotel room, car rental, etc.)

Plus, I would ask them for an advance so I can take care of my own expenses. I would avoid getting them to handle my trip on their end. I would want to have full control over the choice of airline, hotel, restaurants, etc.

If you were driving to meet them, then the client — or, in this case, the prospect — should pay for your gas, normal wear-and-tear on your car (such as $[X] per mile), your meals, and any incidentals. And lodging too, if you were staying overnight.

There’s a very good reason for this.

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A member on my copywriters forum (now my blog) started a thread on what makes my forum so popular. Everyone chimed in with some great answers, and I appreciate the feedback.

(The cool thing about it is, that very thread also reached an important milestone. It was the 10,000th one! Talk about a coincidence, eh?)

But then someone asked:

“Michel, can I ask how you initially got the word out about your forum?”

My answer revealed a bit more than what the member anticipated. Instead of talking about how my forum became so popular, I went on a tangent and explained the step-by-step process I used to book copywriting projects.

The answer was so well received that I decided to reprint it here.

Now, you may be wondering what promoting a forum (or a blog, for that matter) has to do with promoting my copywriting services. Keep reading because you’ll soon understand why…

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Recently, a coaching client asked me about dealing with prospective clients over the phone.

This copywriter understood the importance of communicating with prospects and answering their pre-sale questions. However, like me, he preferred to avoid the telephone and asked me if his strategy was sound.

Free consultations are often a necessary step in securing clients in your early days as a copywriter before you’ve established your expertise and developed a reputation.

It’s natural that potential clients want to get a feel for your style and standards with a “getting to know you session.” Quite often, they will want to do this via a phone consultation with you.

I’m a big believer in opening the lines of communication, and I also like to pick up the phone to speak with a client when writing copy.

But before a client hires me, I prefer to remain off the phone. Why? Because the telephone can be counterproductive and even hurt your business.

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After reading my articles on how to find copywriting clients, a student of mine, Jeff, asked me an interesting question.

He’s an aspiring copywriter and wants to build his own freelance copywriting business. When he read that I wrote copy for free when I started my career as a copywriter, he asked me about doing the same:

“Mike, my friends have a very small business, and they have asked me to do copy for them. They say they can’t really pay me that much. I have told them I will do it for free as long as I get rights to the copy and can use it for a reference and in my portfolio. I think this is a wonderful opportunity to get more experience, but my wife wants to see some money on the table. I value your opinion. Can you help?”

Here was my answer.

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My last post, where a disgruntled copywriter demanded “the truth” about creating wealth in copywriting, inspired copywriter Andrew Cavanagh to share the story of his beginnings on my forum:

“Here’s how I made my first ‘money’ in copywriting.”

Then one by one, other copywriters started adding their own. The responses were nothing short of amazing!

Many of the stories show that there’s indeed hope. They also show that we were all struggling copywriters once, too. And we didn’t all become overnight millionaires with million-dollar clients, as “Chuck,” the disillusioned copywriter, postulated.

I loved it so much that I posted my own story. I’ve decided to share it with you here. (By the way, the picture at the top is of me, circa 1991. A lot thinner, with glasses, and a lot more hair!) Anyway, here is my story…

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