This is well worth reading. More and more people have to freelance these days (not just for writing) this kind of advice could apply to multiple fields.

"However, after a day or two of wallowing in self-pity and chastising myself for being so stupid, I started to get a little creative. Seeing as all of the content I’d written had been published on various sites around the web, I started copying and pasting chunks of my work into Google to see if I could locate any of it.

I found quite a few of my pieces that way and started contacting web owners to let them know what had happened. Unsurprisingly, most just shook it off, which is fair enough considering they weren’t the ones who had conned me. However, a couple listened to what I had to say and, apparently impressed by the work I had provided, became regular clients of mine, some of whom I maintain to this day, two years later."

Sorry for the long quote but I just thought that was genius and shows how someone with the right attitude can make something positive out of a negative.

Thanks for sharing your insights.