5 Surprising Things I’d Do Differently if I Started My Freelance Writing Business Over
If I got to start over right now in my freelance writing business there are TONS of ways I'd change it. But I've narrowed it down to the top five for us to chat about when it comes to how I deal with fear and my client radar, why bigger and faster can be better, how I would take daily action, what I'd do with content strategy, and how and why I use LinkedIn Premium.
________
5 Surprising Things I’d Do Differently if I Started My Freelance Writing Business Over
I've been a freelance writer for the last 10 years. And here are the five surprising, unknown things that I would do differently in my business if I were to start over right now. So after the last 10 years, there are a bunch of things that I've collected , uh, that I would do differently if I started over and don't, we all wish we could.
Start over. Right. We wish we could just kind of go back and shake our former selves and be like, listen, just do this instead. So I'm sharing those lessons with you today and I'm just gonna hop right into it. So, number one, we're going with number one on here. So number one is I would stop living in fear and worry so much even now, even after 10 years as a freelance writer.
1) How I dealt with fear in my freelance writing business
Hey Vicky, I love the. Even with 10 years as a freelance writer, there's a lot of times that I spend in fear and anxiety and worry over stuff that never happens. So if I could go back and start over, I would just go for it. I would, I would stop worrying about all these things that aren't real and that never happen.
There are these things that writers worry about all the time like that there's like some sort of blacklist for writers who do things wrong, or like editors hate you, or like, don't do this. Or like no one will ever answer you. Like those things never happen. Uh, I would stop worrying about doing everything perfectly or like aligning everything in the right order or else, you know, perfectionism.
Right. So there's a lot of things that have to do with fear and worry and anxiety that I would just kind of like. Just try it instead of ruminating so much and being so concerned about making a mistake or being so worried about all of these things that could go wrong or, um, that I would do, you know, offend someone or make somebody upset or.
That something I would do, uh, would ruin my career right. Forever. Like the likelihood of any of those things happening is just so incredibly small. So I wish I could just go back and just tell myself, like, listen, yeah, things are scary and you're not gonna be ready, but you should take the leap, just try it.
Like, there's nothing wrong with trying something. And if someone has a bad reaction about you trying so. Okay, well, let's kind of figure that out. Was it really something you did or was that person having a bad day or was it just, is that someone you would never wanna work with? There's a lot of things I've learned after sending like thousands of Lois and pitches and like having thousands, if not millions of emails by now, um, it's maybe, well, you know, all the emails, right?
So. I would just stop worrying about it. Like stop. I, I just wish I could go back to, you know, like 2013 Mandy and just say like, Hey, it's like, it's okay. Stop worrying about it. Move on, go do something else, go try this thing, try all these different techniques, try all these different niches, you know, figure things out.
Test different things. Like, I, I would stop worrying about being like, oh, I have to do it this way, because this is like the only way that's possible. Or, um, I wish I, you know, just kind of had learned that there was a, such a huge pile of different types of freelancers out there. Like. I had no idea when I started that there was just so many different paths that you could take as a freelance writer.
So I thought, you know, like you have to take this one path. Like, this is the one where, you know, people are making money. And at the time I thought, like if I was clearing 40 to 50 K, that was like a thing I didn't even know at that time that people made six figures as freelance writers. Like that was something I didn't learn for many years.
And once, you know, like even then, right, like even building my six-figure business. Right. There's a lot of fears and things that I just clung onto because maybe it was familiar or maybe because, um, it just felt more like that was what you're supposed to do or that if you were too confident, people wouldn't like you, or if you, you know, like, oh, you know, like starving writers or like, uh, you're supposed to be humble.
Like there's a difference between. Being humble and confidence and like, you know, being sure of your skills and still be coming from like a giving, you know, humble kind of place. And I always had this idea, like if you were too confident, right? Like if you were too, um, too, It's not even cocky. Like if you were too forward, like people would be like, no, I don't wanna talk to you, but it's mostly like the times when I've really gone after stuff, people have thanked me for following up or thanked me for reaching out or, um, thanked me for being persistent or for trying really hard.
hello. I always like the waves. Um, Yeah. So I just, if you're starting out, like, please let go of a lot of fears, work on that, work on letting go of fears, work on letting go of a lot of your worries because they won't come true. Like there, I don't think there's anything that I really worried about that has come true at like any of them, anything like things have always been worked out and every time I feel like things are gonna fall apart, I'm like, okay, go back to the stuff, you know, that works.
Like do your market. Figure things out, follow up, you know, get a little scrappy, um, do all the stuff, right? Like do the stuff, you know, how to do. And then it like all, you know, things kind of work out, right? There's all these different things. Like yeah. Sometimes things do go really poorly and sometimes things go wrong.
But most of the time, like all of the things that you're worrying about as a freelance writer, they just won't come true. So you're wasting a lot of mental energy and. Worrying and staying in fear rather than just taking action and moving forward and building confidence from actually taking action and actually talking to clients and actually doing gigs, all of the important things that help with moving your business forward.
2) Steps to honing in my freelance writing client radar
So that's the first one. I have five, actually have a bonus six, just to surprise you. I have a bonus six one, so I wanna make sure we get through all 'em. So number two, number two here is if I, if it feels slimy and weird, like if you're getting some weird vibes, Probably don't do it. so this was something that it took me a really long time to refine my client radar, because I was like, so scared about talking to business clients.
So worried about contacting too many editors or competing editors, all these weird rules. And I wish I had just like, realized that I need to kind of get enough experience to build my client radar and build my spy senses to say like, oh, this is a good thing. This is a good client for me. Not just a good client in general, but they're a good client for me.
Oh, we got some raking. We got some active raking Hey buddy. How you doing? Um, I know now you're like, I should get something. Um, I just would work on that. Like I would have more calls and stuff. Like I used to be so nervous on calls that I would just like, forget things. Don't step on her. I would just forget things or my mouth would get so dry.
Like I would have to have so much water around me. Um, or I just, I would just like shake while I was on these calls. Cause I was so nervous and like, instead of focusing on the client, And instead of focusing on like, is this a good fit for me? Should I do this? I was just like so desperate. And so like fearful of just being on a call or just talking to another human, it was so silly.
But if I had, you know, like the thing that I wrote down here is like, don't be a phony phone person, right. Don't be overly salesy. Don't be so scared on the call, but you really should focus on the client. Like you really should focus. You know, you're marketing and make sure that you're really, pre-qualifying a lot more.
So instead of like, instead of focusing on you and how much you're scared and how many things could go wrong or all this stuff, like work on the spy sense, work on having like hundreds of calls or having a ton, you know, do a ton of marketing, right? Send out your Lois, your 50 to 75 Lois a month, or do at least one hour of marketing every day and get on as many calls as you.
That's what really helped me start realizing who the right go lay down who the right clients for me were. No, he's not in your spot anymore. Go lay down in pee tin, go lay down over there. I all right, fine. We'll just do this. So as you're going through these calls, you'll, then you'll realize what feels slimy and what doesn't, you'll start to get to this place where you have all of these things where you're like, well, I just talked to someone yesterday.
And they're offering me a dollar, a word and think I'm the greatest writer to ever write, you know, ever, even including, you know, all the, you know, Hemingway or whatever. . And then I get on a call, go your back to your Hubba hole. I go get on a call with someone who wants to offer me, you know, 10 cents a word and tells me I'm a terrible writer.
If I make a mistake, like you start realizing these crazy differences between getting on calls with different clients. And then you realize like, Good clients for me say this, and it's not it's most of the time, not about money. Most of the time, the good stuff that clients are saying is like that they want you to be in partnership with them.
They trust your advice. Um, they want your feedback, you know, you're not just like a typing machine. Okay. Okay. Good job. All. So you have to really start doing that. And for me, it's like, this is something I go over in the course. This is something I go over in freelance writer, wealth lab, which is like green flags to look for and how to kind of like hone in on your client radar and how to.
Figure that out, but it's something that's really important is like, you really have to start learning. Who's a good client for you. And, and the stark differences in your client calls will be crazy. Like, like I said, I've had that happen. Like I've gotten on a call with someone. And I've talked to them, or I've had an email with someone where I'm like, I usually charge a dollar, a word, and they're like, oh, we normally pay a dollar 25.
And I'm like, sweet. The next day I get on a call with someone who's like, we wanna pay you, you know, 10 cents a word to do this really complicated thing. And like, you should just be able to do this with no help. And like, if you screw it up, like you're a writer, blah. Like it it's so crazy. You are. It's like you're living on two separate.
And once you realize that you're like, oh, I, I should definitely work with the people who are like, we pay a dollar 25. Does that work for you? And you're like, yes, I would love 25 cents more per word. Right. And it's sort of this idea where you start learning the sliminess and you start learning. That's how I feel is like I just get this grimy, slimy feeling.
Um, and it's just like, if I had spent more time in the early years working on my client radar and working. Um, really what I needed in a, like what I wanted in a potential client and how to actually pre-qualify my clients ask the right questions on calls, put the right copy on my website in LinkedIn. So I'm only attracting the right people not be so desperate for work because there is lots of work out there if you're willing to do your marketing and, and actually put yourself out there, um, and really take more calls and do more emails before I get on calls.
Right. So that I have all these, I have information before I get on a. So I kind of know, like I'm only getting on calls with people who aren't, they're already kind of non-slimy cuz I've already pre-qualified them with some email questions and information about the project. Um, and I think that those things are super important.
Hello, you gotta go back to your ho hole. Barry, why do you have to be in the. See, this is what she's upset about just as let's do a update. So Barry , Barry loves this idea of being in the middle and it drives Charlotte nuts, cuz she likes to have her own space. So Barry's down here right there he is.
Barry's down there, be in a D in the middle of the space. Right. And then, oops, Barry's just like right outta the camera, go back to your ha hole. And Charlotte's like, I don't wanna be that close to you. She's like, you're cool. And all, but like I need my own peppermint. right. And so she doesn't like, when he just kind of like, the camera is deceiving, they're like probably a foot apart.
So that's like in her bubble zone of all right, Barry, how about you? Go over here area. Go. Good job, buddy. Good job. Can you gimme a high iPad? Yeah. Yeah. Good job. I'm also, uh, teaching Charlotte some new tricks, so maybe we can do those on a live street Sunday. Um, but yeah, so work on refining your client radar pre qualify, more, get on more calls.
And if it feels weird, it probably is. . If someone wants to treat you like an employee and it starts feeling weird, it probably is. That's number two. Let's talk about three number three here. Number three is I would go bigger, faster. So that what that means. And I'll tell you a little story about that. So back in 20 17, 20 18, um, I had this huge fear of working for businesses.
3) Why I would go bigger and faster in my freelance writing business
I , I was so afraid to reach out to businesses. I had only really worked for publications and very tiny companies. Um, at that point, like I just didn. I didn't feel confident sending Lois. I just felt like I was bothering everybody. I didn't get it. And I just spent all this time in fear. Like I was so afraid of just asking someone if they needed help with their content, like it's not, it's not complicated.
Do you need help? I can help you. That's the end. I didn't get how simple, that complex, that con con um, that idea was. Back in 20 17, 20 18. I had, um, an accountability buddy and we used to motivate each other to reach out to businesses. Cuz we both had this fear of like just reaching out to business. Which looking back, like, I wish I could just shake myself and be like, they're just people, they're just people.
They just happen to have a full-time job. Just ask if they need help, move up with your day. And it's just like, I would just go bigger, faster. I would go bigger in terms of revenue. Like, I, I didn't understand the revenue ranges to go after these clients. I didn't understand that going to bigger companies meant easier work.
And this is the craziest thing that I find, um, was a fear I had and my students have had. I was so afraid that the bigger the company, they had these like huge expectations that I wasn't gonna be able to do anything. And they were gonna think I was so dumb, but the easiest work I've ever done. Okay. If you learn nothing from this video, other than this, the easiest work I've ever done has been the highest paid every single time, every single time, the most money I've ever made from an article or a case study or.
That has been the easiest stop I've done every single time. And it's usually for these larger clients, it's either for, you know, a series C startup that has a huge pile of money, or it's like some kind of larger company that got bought by, or it's like a startup that got bought by a larger company, or it's something like.
Um, like when I wrote for Costco, that was super easy to write and I got paid very well to do it. I loved it. It was great. Um, and it's just like all of these things, like we fear this idea of going bigger, faster. Like we think we have to be ready or we have to have all this stuff. And I have talked to writers, like I've talked to my.
And even whether it's in freelance right. Or wealth lab, or whether it's in like one-on-one coaching and they're like, yeah, I have 10 testimonials and I've written for five clients and I've, you know, done all this great stuff. I have like 48,000 clips. And I'm like, what are you scared of? Like, what are you scared of?
I had none of that. I had none of that. So when I was fearful of working for businesses, I didn't have any testimonials. I didn't have anything. I had nothing. And I was like, so scared. And then I'm meeting these writers. Who have all these great things. And they're like so scared because they imagine it to be way different than it is.
So if I could go back and just like, and just like, shake myself, I'm gonna shake you. Come here. No, , you're, you're so ridiculous. She's like giving me high fives. She's like, I want something. Um, if I could go back, I'd be, I would tell myself, you know, like, The easiest work you will ever do will be the best paid work.
The easiest clients you ever work with will be clients who have their shit together. And those are usually bigger clients like when you're working for solo printers, which I worked for a bunch of solo printers. I worked for a lot of like, um, smaller companies. And I spent a lot of time with these baby businesses.
Like they were still trying to get their business up and running like their business wasn't even. you know, fully formed. And I spent a lot of time with that and I should have just gone for it. I sh I should have just gone for, here you go. Some startups and I should have just gone for it in my niches.
And I should have just tried more stuff. Like if I could go bigger, faster, like if I could go back, I would do it. Just go bigger, bigger revenue, bigger projects, bigger, um, bigger piles of marketing, bigger effort, like, well, not bigger effort, but like. Bigger options, like looking around at a lot of stuff, cuz if you're not marketing, you don't have options.
And when you have options, you get to pick whatever you wanna do. Right. And that's really important to know you have to be able to do the marketing. Right. So that, um, you can be choosy about who you work with and what you get paid. Right. So number three here, the thing I would do is I would go bigger, faster.
I would stop being so afraid of these big companies or with millions of dollars in funding and realize that a lot of them have their stuff together. Here you go, buddy. Sorry. Is that a little high for you? It's too high up. They actually send you content briefs or they send you a lot of notes. Like, they're like, Hey, we're doing this white paper and we've already collected a bunch of notes.
He let me connect you with the person to do the interview. Let me help you do all this stuff. Right? Like it's so crazy. The difference in mindset and the difference in how things are run. So don't be so afraid of that. Like there are, they have so many more structures in place because they're a bigger.
Like, that's a big bonus because they're a large company. They have to have a bunch of STR uh, processes and systems and frameworks in place to create content in the first place that aligns with their brand. Right. That's really important. So that's number three. If you feel like this has been helpful so far, give it a thumbs up.
If you feel like you wanna learn more about building a hiring freelance writing business, or just building a freelance writing business, you adore subscribe four. Okay. Number four. I would stop futzing and worrying so much about external circumstances. I can't control. And I would focus on my daily actions that I'm taking to move my business forward.
4) Why and how I would take daily action in my freelance writing career
This took me many years, and this is so crazy to me. Like, I would so much worry about like the economy or like what other people are doing, or when's the best time for other people to answer me, or when will people be at their desk or I would worry about every. And I would not focus on my daily actions, like the things I need to do to move my business forward, like marketing or following up, or connecting with more people on LinkedIn or learning more about my niches or subscribing to niche newsletters or all the things.
That I tell my students to do. Now I would stop worrying about everything else. You can't control that you can't control any of the external stuff. You can only control Mandy. You can only control you, right? Well, you can't control Vicki, right? But you could control Ru like, like Vicky controls, Vicky, right?
So the idea here is like, I would stop worrying about that so much. Like there is no best time to be in someone's inbox. There is no best thing to do. There is the thing that works for you and gets results, right? That's why I often give a lot of options. This is something I go over with my students a bunch, which is like why we talk about options and paths and different types of ways that you can move forward in your business.
If we, if we focus on those daily actions and we focus on like, what can I do every day? Right. I wrote this down. What can I do every day to move my business forward? What processes and systems can I put in place to move my business forward? Right. That's what you should focus on. How can I get more time back?
How can I automate my marketing a little bit or automate my follow up? How can I put in a, like a system like dub Sodo so that it makes my business easier to run so that I have more time for writing and more time for marketing or more time to actually do other stuff right. Or walk your dogs. Right. so these are all really important things like stop worrying so much about everybody else, that marketing man, like even sending it to the right person, right.
There's like five to 10, right. People that you could send it to at a company, depending on size. Right? If the company's super small, it could be the CEO. And if the company's super big and they have thousands of employees, there's like five different marketing managers that you could send the LOI to and still have someone answer you.
Right. This whole idea where we're like worrying about everybody else. Oops, sorry. I poked you. Um, I didn't realize you were that close, this idea that we're so concerned about external stuff or that we're so concerned about what everybody else is doing and that's how we get results. No, you get results from paying attention to what is working and moving things forward in your own business.
The things that you can repeat, the things that you can systematize, the things that give you your time back, like all of the things that actually matter in your business, and most importantly, delivering high quality content for your client. That like all, when you have all the business things, the actual functional systems and processes down, then you get way more time to focus on quality content for your clients.
That is the most important thing. So if I can minimize the amount of time I'm spending marketing or dealing with invoicing or dealing with clients who aren't a fit by answering email questions, instead of getting on calls, um, by minimizing the amount of calls I'm on, um, by being really particular about who I, I, I work with.
Then , I'm able to spend, you know, 80% of my time delivering high quality content to my clients. That can be my using my most useful brain space, my most active and useful brain space. Instead of using all my brain space to do all these disorganized things in my business, or worrying about who's on vacation, doing what and who's doing, blah, blah, blah, whatever.
All right. Could you back up, go back to your ha hole, go back to your ha hole. Thank you, Charlotte. Go back to your ha. So this kind of stuff I find is really important because a lot of times I get these questions where someone wants me to give them a time of day. Someone wants me to give them a time of day.
Someone wants me to tell them that like, oh, if you just do X as your magic bullet, you know, all these clients will answer you, right? There is no magic bullet. Like you have to be persistent and you have to keep going. There's a lot of things where. It's just part of moving forward, but you have to pay attention to like tracking your own stuff.
If I spent all my time now in my six-figure business, worrying about what everybody else is doing, I wouldn't have a six-figure business. Okay. Let me just say that to you. If I worried about what everyone else is doing, other writers, clients. Stuff on LinkedIn, social media, external circumstances. I can't control.
I wouldn't have a six figure business. I would be stuck back where I was worrying about all that stuff and not actually taking action because it seems futile or because I feel like it'll never get noticed or that everything else is out of control. So why try it all these other bad thoughts I used to have?
So can you go mean. I think it's really important to remember that, like, you can't control anybody else, but you that's, it as much as you want to. And as much as someone like me with anxiety where I wanna control things, that's like something in my anxiety where I, when I feel really anxious, I just have, I really wanna control, control, control.
Um, and it's just, it, it makes it me feel like if it's controlled then, like I don't have to be anxious, but I'm telling you, like you can't control anybody else or anything else, except for just you as a solo person. Right. So pay attention to that. Stop worrying about external stuff, focus on the processes and systems and how you can deliver great content to your clients.
And then everything will kind of like fall into place better. If you're, if you're, you're using your mental energy and your brain space to focus on the things that matter most in your business to growing it, to scaling it, to getting better clients, to actually creating really fantastic content, everything else kind of dominoes into that.
5) Why I would have started on content strategy projects earlier
Okay. So that's number four. Number four, hold on. We've lost the numbers. All right. Number four, number five. Remember we have five and then we have a bonus six that I, that I decided to add. So, um, here we go. So I would learn how to use LinkedIn premium. This is something that, uh, I just, man, I wish I had figured it out sooner, so I would learn how to use LinkedIn premium to its fullest potential.
And now. Everybody like my students have the benefit of sales navigator being way different than when I started. So can you go back to your ho hole? This is important stuff. Charlotte. It's serious. Come here. I'm gonna pick you. Well, I mean, not no high fives right now. Um, so the LinkedIn premium costs money, right?
Sales I see you, sales navigator is a hundred bucks a month, but it's totally worth it. If you're doing a lot of marketing. And at first, like I didn't have money for LinkedIn. So I sent a lot of emails, which is fine, but when you have a hundred bucks, extra bucks a month, get LinkedIn premium sales navigator and learn how to use LinkedIn premium.
It saves you so much. It helps you with your Lois. Um, that's how I've been sending my Lois's InMails for years. Um, and that has made a huge difference. Premium also helps you with who's viewed your, your profile. So you can say like, oh, this content marketing manager viewed my profile. Maybe I should reach out and connect with them and ask if they were looking for a writer.
Right. Um, there's so many features in there that are really, really great. So if you have a hundred bucks a month, or if you wanted to pay in full, they give you like a 20% discount for the. But LinkedIn premium is the business. Like, I wish that existed when I started out, like when I was kind of learning how to do all the marketing and I was kind of figuring it out.
Like I would, you know, email people and I would do connection requests and then I would have to go find their email on hunter.io or I'd have to search around for all these things. And now it's like, you have LinkedIn sales navigator and it's like, boo, boo, boo. It takes three seconds to send an LOI template to someone who's a perfect client.
It's amazing. I can't believe it. So I would learn about that more like a lot of like when I was kind of coming up, LinkedIn premium, uh, was, was very different than it is now, but now it like, it's great. It is fantastic. So if I could go back, I would teach myself like, say like, Hey, invest in LinkedIn premium, invest in this stuff, learn more about it.
Um, and then now if you're starting now, or if you're growing your business now, LinkedIn premium, you get free messages, you get 50 emails a month. If you do sales navigator, which is your minimum Lois, right. 50. Or like if you're doing an hour a day, you can definitely eat into that number. Um, like I did.
And then like, man, there's just so many different things you can, um, use the search feature to cut down on companies and revenue and niches, um, and all of these cool. That are really great to growing your business and making it easier for you to find clients like it just so much better. So I would invest a lot of time and energy into that.
Like I, I wish that I had realized the potential of LinkedIn. much earlier than I did, like years before I did. Like, I, I knew LinkedIn was kind of important, but I didn't really like grasp the depth of it. And even now, like now with sales navigator, that's the business. Like, I recommend that like once one of my students was like, Hey, did you know, they just updated it?
And I was like, tell me more. So she made a video of it. And now I have, I, I asked her to make a video for other students. And now we have that as like part of the course, because she walks you through. Here's how to use LinkedIn premium as a freelance writer, here's all the things I'm doing to create lists, to send Lois and do all this bulk marketing, uh, that needs to get done.
And it's just amazing. Hi, woo. And every time, let me tell you this. So if you wanna buy more InMails, they are $10 in InMail. Okay. A one extra InMail is $10. So every time you send an InMail and you get what, like someone replies, you get an InMail back. So if you. Like, if you send all 50 of your emails and 50 people respond, you get 50 InMails back.
So basically you now have a hundred emails. That's um, the amazing thing about premium is when you get an answer or when you connect with someone who's like a second connection or someone who also has premium, you get free messages, you get them back. Like you have this constant ability to continue your marketing in a very, um, Processed and systematized way that still feels like personalized.
You're able to send these personalized Lois, like these templates that are personalized out and get more marketing done, but it just makes it so much easier. So you can get back to like your actual client work, which makes the money. Right. So I would learn more about that. I would spend a lot of time or maybe not a lot, but I would understand the value of LinkedIn premium and understand the, um,
I would understand the InMails. I would understand how sales navigator. I would, um, do more connection requests. I would, you know, uh, try to join some groups. I would figure that whole thing out. Um, we go over LinkedIn a ton in the course. Um, so my students already know how, like how much of a proponent I am for LinkedIn, but if you're just starting out and you have a hundred bucks, extra bucks a month, LinkedIn premium go do that.
6) How and why I would use LinkedIn Premium earlier in my freelance writing biz
Start learning, like start narrowing clients by niche and revenue and start reaching out with emails. That's number five. All right. Bonus six. Bonus number six here, Charlotte. Oh six is still a baby size. Hold on. Let's figure this out. So we wanna make it. I think this is like, it should be this right. Is it the wrong size?
Oh, now I just made it smaller. Hold on. We're gonna figure this out. So if I put six,
is that close? That's close enough. That's close enough. Six, let's talk about number six. So the bonus number six, if you feel like this has been helpful so far, give it a thumbs up. If you feel like you wanna learn more about building a business, you adore or building a hiring new freelance writing business, subscribe, freelance writing business.
I didn't enunciate that freelance writing business. number six. This is my bonus thing. I would've started content strategy so much earlier. This is one of my hangups. This was one of the things that like I should have just stopped worrying so much. Cuz once I started doing content strategy, I immediately realized, and this was something that, um, if you haven't gotten content strategy templates from Adrian Smith, go to Adrian Smith.
Her name is a D R I E N N E Smith, S M I T. Um, she has content strategy templates that are amazing. And the mean, the minute I got those, I was like, oh shit, dude, I should have done this so much earlier. Like why I would've started content strategy so much earlier because you have all of these skills from creating content for years, that the minute you start looking at the deliverables, like the things you need to turn in for your content strategy project.
You realize like, oh, I've been doing this for like three years, but not doing, but not charging anyone for it. Right. So, man, I just, if you are kind of working on coming up and working on growing your freelance writing business, I would figure out what needs to be done for content strategy. And I would do that, like learn those deliverables, learn what you need to do to figure it out.
Learn more about your niche. . Um, and then I would offer that as a service way earlier. Like I should have done content strategy many years before I did it. Uh, and man, that's a big regret. I have, I guess it's not a regret. I don't regret it, but it's a mistake. Um, I didn't realize how valuable that strategic, um, those strategic deliverables are for a company.
And I also didn't. Uh, how awesome it, it is to work on those projects. They're really fun. They're really fun to work on. They're really cool. Um, things that companies can use to move forward with their content and it pays really well. It's it's really great. Hey Marie, welcome. Um, so man, if you are a freelance writer and you, you're kind of like a, mid-tier like you've been freelancing for a while.
You've written for a bunch of clients, you understand the audience that that client is going after. I would check out content strategy stuff like yeah. Marie says Adrian's deliverables are AMA amazing. Yeah. Adrian Smith's content strategy templates are fantastic. You should get them now. um, but they're man, they're just, there's so many things like between a content audit and a competitor analysis and understanding the sales funnel, um, and putting things in place in terms of their editorial calendar and their content strategy deck.
And keywords that they might focus on and actually activating the plan. Like all of those things are things that I had been doing in different types of capacities. And I had just never charged for it because I didn't get it. So I think that's a really important lesson. Like I wish I could go back. It was something that if I started over, I would start researching content strategy immediately.
I would start researching it and be like, cool. That's something I can move. Who will teach me about that so that I can gain more skills and then eventually move into that as like my full offer. Right? Like have an offer for that. Um, and now I have like six, five, or I think it's six, six different content strategy, um, offerings that I have for clients and man, like, it's just, you.
It's just, I wish I had offered that sooner. Like, so I would go back and start researching it. And this is something I recommend for a lot of things where people are like, well, I don't know how to write a case study or write a white paper. And it's like, start learning about it now, because once a client asks you now, you know how to do it, and it's not gonna take you 8,000 hours to do it.
And you're not gonna make, you know, 10 cents an hour trying to figure it out, go learn about it now, and then offer it to clients once you know how to do it. And this would've been the same thing with content strategy was I would've learned more about that pathway. I would've learned more that that was an option for me, um, and learned about the deliverables and figured it out so that when I was like, okay, cool.
I have enough niche experience and audience knowledge and these deliverables make sense to me that I feel like I can move forward with them and pitch that as a service or offer that as a service then. Yeah. That would've been, would've been a lot better to do that earlier, so, oh, I dropped it. It's down.
It's right there. Um, so that's the bonus fixed one, if you, if you ever thought you might wanna check that out, check out content strategy. I would definitely do that or check out, um, messaging and positioning or check out any type of the marketing or consultative type services that we offer, um, that a lot of writers get into because what ends up happening.
You write a lot. So you learn a lot and then you eventually are like, why I should get paid for all this knowledge, because I noticed that my clients keep making the same mistakes with their content. I should be paid to, to help them before they make mistakes. So when you're getting to that phase, oh my gosh.
Why are you such a SAS today? Uh, check out content strategy, messaging and positioning, marketing consultation, brand messaging, all that stuff. All right. Those are all the things. Um, I think. So, oh, the last stuff I wanna talk about because we are where we are. So, um, if you go, so right now, freelance writer, wealth lab is open for enrollment.
It's open until September 15th, so less than a week. So next Thursday, um, it'll close at 4:00 PM central time, and it won't reopen until April, 2023. So if you wanna check out the course and learn more about what's in there, go to mandela.com/course. And I wanna make sure to tell you that there. Um, the bonus master classes that I've been giving in the community, those are available to core students now, and those are on SEO and content strategy.
Um, I had Adrian actually come in and teach about content strategy. It was amazing. Um, I had one of my favorite editors come in and teach about articles and writing for magazines. We talked about, we had an SEO class, we had a legal and contracts master. All that cool stuff is included in the cost of the course.
We also have a big tech library. So like I did a bunch of walkthrough videos. They're like pretty short about how to actually, you know, go to LinkedIn and do this thing. And, um, so you never get stuck on the tech stuff. Uh, and those things, the master classes will be part of this. Group of students. And then the after 2023, all of like the community will split and I will make a paid part of the split.
So there's too many things that I wanted to offer in the community. So having it, like, you know, in its current form is not working. So I wanna make sure that I'm clear that this is the last group of students who gets the community stuff for free. So every, um, class starting. April 20, 23 after the 10 weeks of the course, like the 10 weeks of community will always be included in the course forever and ever, but the post-course community will become a paid community.
After the April 20, 23 class. So the April, like once we get there, you will have 10 weeks of the course community, then it'll split off. So this is a last group of students that will be able to be grandfathered in for free. You will be able to be in the community for free forever and ever. Um, and everybody else will be moved into the post-course community.
After the April in April 20, 23 will be a paid membership. So. Um, if you wanna check out the course and learn more about how to build a high earning freelance writing business, we go through all this stuff. We go through inbound marketing, your Lois, or I mean your LinkedIn, we go through all this stuff with LinkedIn, all the stuff with your website, we go through outbound marketing with your, um, Lois and pitches and finding good clients.
And what is a good client? Um, we also go through like how to actually get your work done, set up your schedule, get tools in place. Uh, I also asked my six figure freelance friends to come in and do a call and answer all your questions. So, um, you will get that. I have, um, they make between a hundred K and 300 K.
Um, and they came in and taught, uh, a whole bunch of stuff about building a six figure business. So we have a ton of cool stuff in there. And if you wanna check it out, it's mandy.com/. And it's open until September 15th at 4:00 PM central. Then it'll close until April 20, 23. So if you're interested in enrollment and you wanna stay in the community for free, now's the time.
Um, so if you're interested in that. Feel free to pop over there also there's a little video box on the page. So if you have any questions, pop a little video in there, asking me a question. I will pop you a video back and give you an answer. So, um, I hope that this was helpful. I hope that all these weird they're not even, I guess they're, they're definitely things that I didn't really think of until I came up with this topic idea.
Like things that I wish I could go back or things that I, you know, our mindset things or things about offerings that I would have, or. Um, you know, just trying to push myself out of my comfort zone earlier and stop worrying about what everybody else is doing. Right. So I hope that this was helpful. Um, I hope it's helping you build a better finance writing business.
We're here every Friday at noon central time for the live stream. Um, and I hope that you guys have a great weekend. Bye.
________
Trying to figure out how to price your work for what it’s worth? Check out my FREE Pricing Guide!
Need some fantastic contract and marketing templates to make your freelance writing biz run as effectively and efficiently as possible? See my Templates!
Want to stay in touch for weekly detailed advice plus updates on new freebies and courses? Join my email list!
Want to follow me for inspiration, tips, and to stay connected?
So psyched you’re joining me on this livestream adventure!
