How to get slightly more ahead in advertising (or copywriting, at least).

I left my last full-time copywriting job in March last year with six month's salary (half of which went on a car) and a few contacts. The first couple of months were OK - I had a bit of work from my former employer and another agency, and of course I had my redundancy payment. But as spring turned into summer and a flurry of work in August (it pays to be available when everyone is on holiday) came to an end, it started looking a lot bleaker. The rentr�e didn't really happen, and things dried up so much that in October I billed 400�. That's one banner ad for HP... or a couple of week's groceries after tax.

But after a year of freelancing, things have finally started to get better, thanks to a bit of luck (we all need that from time to time) and a lot of persistence. I think (and hope) that I might have found some regular clients that will give me enough work to live on. Here are a couple of things I've learned:

1. Loyalty and karma pay. Just before I lost my job I was called by an acquaintance of mine and asked if I'd like to do some freelance work in Paris. At the time I didn't have a French SIRET number, and I figured that the bureaucracy would be horrendous - not to mention the danger of my employers finding out I was moonlighting for a competitor.

So I passed it on to another freelancer I know. And next week I'll be doing some work she's passed back to me. People remember when you do them a favour.

At the moment I'm helping out another couple of friends. One's a French writer, the other needs a French writer. You never know... maybe that will come back some day too.

2. Email is great. But it has its limits. I'm quite a shy person, and my French is terrible. So at first I was sending a lot of emails, and getting very few responses. If only I'd remembered a trick my first boss had told me. This dates me, but he said 'never send an email for anything important if you can send a fax'. His rationale was that you can ignore an email, but a fax is something physical - and sooner or later someone has to do something with it - and they won't throw it in the bin.

So, no more emails. Get yourself out of the house, get into town and go and see all your leads every couple of months or so. Get your face known, keep yourself at the front of their mind and sooner or later the work will come. I've even got stuff there and then before now, but you'd be surprised how often the phone rings a couple of days after you've done your latest round.

3. People want to help. If people know you're looking for work and they have work you can do, they'll call. So get in touch with your former colleagues and clients and work your network!

4. Social networking isn't completely useless. Although there are people running agencies in Paris who think that 'Twitter!' and 'Facebook!' are adequate answers to any brief, and despite the fact social networking is in many ways an answer to a marketing question nobody's actually asking, sites like LinkedIn and Facebook are useful when you actually use them for social networking. Make friends with all your colleagues and contacts... and get yourself out there. I've had work from colleagues I barely remembered, but who knew me.

5. Be patient. I'm not patient by nature, but I've learned to be. Set yourself a realistic target for your first few months and try to relax when you hit it. Don't worry if you have the odd bad week or bad month. And don't take rejection personally. If you're not what they're looking for you're not going to persuade them... until the other guy turns out to be no good and they come back to you.

6. Be optimistic. Nobody likes a sourpuss... and nobody hires them.