In an ideal world, all my freelance clients would be within easy walking distance. In the real world, the Internet allows service providers like me to work for clients around the world. Although picking up new business is tricky without being able to meet, I've been able to keep some established clients after returning to Scotland from Canada.
One of my regular commissions is to write the monthly ad for Best Buy Canada's mobile phone division, Best Buy Mobile, as well as taking on a variety of other projects, including web promotions, customer emails, etc, when their in-house team is stretched (which is often the case). I also write web and other corporate copy, as well as monthly customer newsletters, for Serebra Campus and Serebra Connect - two business strands of another long-distance Canadian client, Serebra Learning Corporation.
As I've established good relationships with both companies' in-house marketing and creative teams over the last year or so, they continue to contract this out long-distance and, while meeting for lunch is tricky, the 8-hour time difference can actually work in their favour. My client can email me something at 4pm Pacific Time and I'll pick it up first thing in the morning here. Workload-willing, I have a whole day to work on the project, before emailing a draft back to them for first thing in the morning their time, giving the illusion that I have slaved away all night on it! How's that for service?
It's worked perfectly on at least a couple of occasions when something urgent has cropped up at the end of the day, or they need some new headlines for a promotion for a meeting first thing in the morning.
If you would like me to slave away all night on a promotion or brochure for your company (or at least give the illusion of having done so), with or without an 8-hour time difference, please get in touch.
