<human>: Can you give me the gist of the text in a nutshell?

I'm a freelancer. All my contact with clients is online (none of them are local), mostly through email.

Pretty regularly, a new prospect will want to chat with me before they hire me, via phone or Skype or Google Hangouts or whatever. Understandable; they want to make sure they have the right person, and tell me about their company and the project.

I have pretty bad social anxiety. I'm fine once the meeting starts, but for hours beforehand, my heart is pounding and I can't focus on anything else. I just keep thinking ridiculous, untrue thoughts about how horribly I'm going to screw everything up and what a failure I am. Shaking and sometimes crying.

Usually I can push through the anxiety and do meetings anyway. But I've missed a couple by chickening out last minute and hiding. I've done this twice before, and then emailed them the next day and make an excuse like a family emergency or I was sick or something. Both times still got the job.

I had a meeting scheduled a week ago via Skype. Prospect didn't call when they were supposed to. Instead of trying to call them, or checking with them via email or other means, I run and hide. Don't check my email at all that day.

They emailed me on Monday saying they couldn't get in touch, hope everything is okay and would like to schedule another meeting at whatever day/time I specify.

I've been avoiding dealing with it. I'm afraid of another meeting and I don't know what excuse to give. Or if I should tell the truth. But then they'll think I'm unreliable as a freelancer (I'm not, just with calls and meetings).

Is it too late to respond? Should I make up an excuse, or tell the truth?

To be clear, I'm not desperate for clients and I don't really need this gig, although I could definitely take it on. But they're pretty much my ideal client and I think it would be a good match.

I feel like I'm missing out on opportunities because of this and I don't know what to do. Should I just tell prospects I don't do calls/meetings? What reason should I give?
<bot>: Missed Skype meeting with freelance prospect due to crippling anxiety. Is it too late to contact them? Should I lie about the reason? What should I do in the future?