One of my projects was dragging on. The client was agonizing over her direction. Time kept passing. Phone calls would get rescheduled. Her edits were swaying drastically from the original direction we discussed—from one extreme to another. She kept apologizing to me.

Why was this happening?

I think she was second-guessing her awesome vision (being more human than others in her industry, while still showing the super-elevated nature of her capabilities).

What could I do?

Like my fellow writer, Conrad Winter, mentioned in his recent newsletter, success means attending faithfully to the non-writing parts of the job.

There had to be a way I could improve my service and make this easier for her!

It felt like she needed an anchor.

So I got her on the phone and presented an idea:

I would send her my updated draft at 10 AM. She would have just 30 minutes to review (but not agonize or overthink). Then we would talk at 10:30 to discuss what felt right and what didn’t. I would make changes as necessary, and we could talk and edit throughout the day to get it just right.

She agreed. We did it. And it totally worked. She was thrilled; we just sent final copy to the web designer!

I realized that even among our ideal clients, not everybody fits into our normal creative process. To have a good outcome, they might need us to adjust. Even if that means telling a client “We are not going to sleep tonight unless this project is finished!”

*Anchor photo, courtesy, Shutterstock.

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Hi, I’m Deidre. In my posts, I talk about my voyage down the road of self-employment as a web copywriter, my achievements and roadblocks along the way, and what I’m learning as I go (with Marketing Mentor as my guide). To keep in touch, sign up for my un-newsletter here and get my freebie download, 12 Sparks to Write Sizzling, Audience-Attracting Website Words.