~*~ The Gifts Clients Give Me... ~*~

👛📦🎀 I cherish the gifts given me, by clients.

Not so much the money part of it – though I'm thrilled to feel "secure" from a few major clients. But over the freelance years, I've had some very special things given to me by people I worked for and with, as a freelance writer. It's things like:

The opening of a door to their unique worlds, their profession, passion, purpose; what drives them; what they want to write about – and trusting me enough to invite me into that. And scenarios like:

📦👛🎀 The client who wanted help with a special book to leave his son, as he (the client) had longtime health problems. A true legacy project. I felt honoured to be chosen to help him with this, and not just because I'd lost some work due to CV-19.

This client had his own work, health and domestic stress. But he told me it gave him comfort for us to do this project – and I had been given that trust.

👛📦🎀 A shorter-term American client reaching out to me at the start of our first 'Deep Dive' meeting. As we Zoom-connected, I could see he was wearing a red-and-white hoodie with CANADA on it. And even sweeter than the beautiful book and thermos he sent me, were the happy handwritten notes from himself and his assistant. The notes indicated they were excited to work with me!

📦👛🎀 A very busy corporate chief who eventually saw beyond me as a book writer, right into the role of project manager. A role, in 2010, I was terrified of, but this guy's expectations got me there, and I just had to learn as I went.

It was not up to me to bring up any "issues" I encountered. I had to iron them out myself, because he'd given me his trust, assumption and expectation. Then I felt I could do it again. The gift of confidence!

👛📦🎀 The client of a faith very different from my own lack thereof. I first felt he should have a writer of his own "kind," and tried to find one. But then we both began to see it as a good opportunity.

Personally, I did not "like" a lot of what his faith was – but professionally I knew he wanted help with his project with a good writer, with sharing in a more mainstream way, and seemed to feel I could do it. And his emails reflected that.

It turned out to be a very interesting challenge. Also, as a long-time journalist, I welcomed being able to professionally enter "worlds" I normally wouldn't.

📦👛🎀 The client who in 2012 I resurrected from a 2003 email. He allowed me to fill his Inbox with frenzied, detailed promo plans and outlines (for his project), in my pursuit of work – and gave it to me when I was broke, bummed and bereaved.

This man inspired me with his many inventors' achievements – licensed to major companies – and doing so well with it I felt anything was possible. Plus, he (already successful) gave me something great to watch on "Dragon's Den."

👛📦🎀 The guy who trusted me with a personal life story of PTSD/mental illness, some of which sounded like hell on earth, over and over. His workload was also staggering, with counselling, advocating etc. – but he kept doing it to help people.

I knew that was something powerful I could be inspired by – that somehow you find the will and strength when it's really important.

📦👛🎀 An 11-year-old wunderkind who made me realize that any of us might be a world activist, especially as this lad had been doing it since age 4. I worked with this young genius's parents – and still smile to remember hearing this colleague of world leaders – and change-agent in building hope for (esp. young) people worldwide – humbly ask "Dad, can I have another burger?"

It was a reminder of the ordinary and extraordinary co-existing in the same body. And it was a nudge to say that we can be that, too!

👛📦🎀 One new author, bringing me into a world so disturbing and distant from my own, I marvelled at how anyone could survive it and go on. African civil wars, deep poverty, the Ebola crisis, family members gone...and this author, never losing hope as she created – from the first night she woke up in a rush and began pouring out her fictional autobiography.

Feeling her courage and inspiration truly was like a gift, and so was helping her with this book.

📦👛🎀 The comments, on LinkedIn, in emails, and directly in the books I helped with: "Thank you for coaching and guidance; it takes a village." "You are a darling." "In a time of nightmares and depression, you were the light." "You believed in me consistently." "Your expertise and guidance continued to spur me on long after our chats."

👛📦🎀 My clients – whatever their lives have held, and some of it is brutal – all have stories to be told or a message to share – and with each one, something universal for us all. That's what I can help with – finding that chord to resonate with many readers.

📦👛🎀 To my clients: Thank you for giving me your trust, for letting me be a part of your word journey, your communications strategy, your story to be told – and for your faith in me! Thank you for the gifts you give me...and that includes the thrill of a copy of the book we've worked on together :)

~*~