Every month, we send an email out to everyone who has contacted a freelancer listed in the Freelance Marketplace with a job inquiry. Usually the responses we get are short, sweet, and very positive. Recently we got a response back from an employer who was a little frustrated, and included two responses from freelancers to emphasize that frustration. Let's just say the responses were not what employers like to see or are used to seeing. Maybe those freelancers were just having a bad day, but the employer (who shall remain anonymous) was kind enough to ask if we could give some tips to writers on how to respond to a Freelance Marketplace inquiry. While it's very likely that those not-so-stellar responses to employers were more the exception than the rule, we thought we'd use them as inspiration for some helpful hints to keep in mind when responding to freelance inquiries.

When you reply to an employer who has contacted you, that means they picked you among hundreds of other freelancers in the Marketplace. It also means you've made it past the big dude with the clipboard who tells everyone else "You're not on the list," or "a lot of people's girlfriends are in there, buddy." So, since you've made it past the first step, you want to impress the figurative pants off your potential bread supplier. In other words, you need to close the deal. One way not to accomplish this is by detailing your schedule with every mundane detail possible. All an employer wants to know if what YOU can do FOR THEM. That means you need to leave out the information about what time you have to pick up the kids up at the pool every day, or when you're going in for that elective surgical procedure. Not every employer will be kind enough to make us aware of bad freelancer responses— they'll just delete the email. Keep your response focused on the kick-ass job you can do and not the obstacles that aren't really obstacles— just life. If for some reason you can't accept a job, let the employer know up-front. At least they'll know where you stand right away, instead of having to wade through a paragraph of your daily itinerary. Employers don't want excuses— they want results. Need more persuading?

And one more thing...

Many of you may have differing opinions on the automation of society and whether we're eventually going to be overtaken by the very machines we helped create. While we may be heading for robot armageddon at some point, automation in relation to Microsoft Word spell check is in fact not the hell beast some make it out to be. At the very least it will stop you from abbreviating words that you invented yourself (thus in fact do not exist), and tell you when you should capitalize "i," or tell you that it's spelled "weird," and not "wierd."

Let's bring it home:

1. Be concise and honest when giving your availability
2. Keep the tone professional and focused
3. Spell-check is not for losers
4. Coffee is for closers.