When I’m in a rut surrounding my freelance work (and by rut I mean panic), I often think of writing a love letter to my ideal client. Love letter? That’s right…a letter professing the traits I appreciate, the awareness of the gifts clients bestow, and lists of gratitude for how they make me grow as a writer and business owner.

It is a worthwhile project for any number of situations where you might be at a loss for where to turn. In the past when I’ve written a love letter to my ideal partner or my ideal yearly income or my ideal living situation the single most important guide I can offer is to be specific.

Specificity helps you get clear about what you deeply want and seriously need. My own dear husband wrote a love letter to his ideal mate whilst a super single guy (and as a fun aside he was very specific about his ideal mate down to her height and hair color [both attributes of which I matched exactly]). Even when I was single I wrote A Manifesto for a New Man and I got serious about the man with whom I wanted to share life (notably, my dear husband also aligned perfectly).

When I say “wrote a letter” or “wrote a manifesto” I actually took out a pen and a slip of paper (remember those?) and got real with myself. Type away at a computer if you must, but print it out or re-write your love letter to your ideal client so it becomes exactly what you want your client to become: tangible, real, actual (ahem, paying).

Now, I’m not going to start a big conversation about how you could frame this letter as discussions with The Universe or God or the Great Spirit (though if that’s your bag, roll with it) but I am going to suggest that you hold this practice lightly even within its specificity.

Will you be destroyed if you don’t land the dream client? Uh, no.

So let’s get crackin’! I’ll actually be typing out this love letter and then printing it. I think, too, that I’ll frame it as a series of affirmations to which I can refer when I find myself in a client panic…re-reading the below will help guide me to the clients I want (and, let’s face it, away from those I don’t).

Dear Ideal Client,

I love how kind you were when I first approached you–responding timely and being genuinely interested in my skills.

And when we first met for coffee you mentioned a tidbit from my website which flattered me to no end knowing you took the time out of your busy schedule to learn more about me.

I am so grateful to you for being daring with me–embarking on a new adventure allowing me to bring your customers a whole new way of understanding your business through my writing.

Thank you for acknowledging your needs and being open about your shortcomings…it really helped me navigate the current structure of your brand so I can zero in on the places needing my writing prowess.

Our relationship is so important to me and I get it is important to you because the feedback you give on the blogs I write or the posts I create is guiding and not condescending.

I love seeing you express your care for your job and staff–it shows me you are in touch with the humanity behind the services and products you sell.

I appreciate when you commit to dates and deadlines…it shows me you are conscientious.

And when you do sometimes fall off the face of the earth and don’t respond to me, your amends with new promises are sincere and reveal your personhood to me–something that really makes me swoon.

When you are clear about your expectations it allows me to expand my creativity. Thank you!

I’m smitten with the possibility that we might engage in more projects so we can really impact your business and mine.

Let’s grab lunch again and make some juicy plans for the future.

See you on email, dear client.

Most sincerely,

Claire

(now…go write your own!)