Just a few minutes ago I was reading about Deb’s good day at Deb Works and I got to thinking about how important it is to lay the groundwork in your business if you want to see results. It’s just like building a house – if you don’t lay the proper groundwork your house won’t be very sturdy and you won’t see the progress that you’d like to see.

So how do I lay the ground work? Well, there are many ways but I have to say that one of the most important things that has led to my success as a freelance writer is making good use of forums. There is one particular forum that I have belonged to for about 3 years. I spend time there pretty much everyday. And a lot of my clients come from this site. I started off just putting in my two cents, sharing information when I had it, and building a relationship with the people there. It’s not even a writing forum. It’s a webmaster forum, which is perfect for my intent because those are the people that will use my business. Of course, it is a type of forum that I’m interested in anyway so it didn’t seem like I was there to just sell my services – I’m there to learn and participate.

After I had been there for a few months I put a link to my site in my signature. I left it at that for another few months. Then I started putting up announcements about my services. People were interested because they already “knew” me. They were familiar with me and I had become a part of the community. I wasn’t just there to sell.

Over the past years I have worked with a lot of the people there. I have not only sold them writing services but I’ve also worked with them on projects with has built more trust and also expertise. Now, I don’t even have to announce my services or sell really – I’m there and they know who to come to when they want writing. Many times new people have come on to the board and needed a writer and they come to me because they see my name all over the board and because other people have spoken well about my writing.

So, how do you lay the groundwork?