Why Cold Pitches Are Killing Your Freelance Career

Why you may need to ditch the cold pitch — as soon as possible

We’ve all heard the conventional wisdom of the bold freelance writer diving into the deep end and advertising their services to unsuspecting potential clients. Many of us have even had some success in securing a few customers here and there. But what many freelancers fail to tell you is how great the trade-offs are when you send a bad cold pitch.

I only realized just how bad cold pitches are when I was on the receiving end of it. I’ve created several independent projects and businesses in the past few years. The one I’m currently working on is an ed-tech social enterprise, which helps young professionals with their goals through a digitally-responsive platform. From time to time, I receive offers to manage social media and copy-writing for the company. In the past week, I received a request which completely wiped out any remnant of faith I had in cold pitches. From that moment on, one of my eyebrows reflexively raises whenever I come across a cold pitch.

So you’ve drafted up a seemingly great pitch. You’ve studied the writing titans on Medium and Youtube. You’ve even bought several courses on perfecting your pitch.