High-Income Business Writing Podcast
Ed Gandia
Ed Gandia, co-author of the bestselling book, The Wealthy Freelancer, reveals how to propel your writing business to the six-figure level (or the part-time equivalent). In this nuts-and-bolts, no-nonsense podcast, you'll discover how to get better clients, earn more in less time, and bring more freedom and joy into your writing business. Ed will walk you through the practical, “doable” systems and strategies he has developed in his own writing business — the same systems he has taught his private coaching clients. He'll also show you what’s working for other business writers by bringing you real case studies from the field. And he'll share all this information in an honest and transparent way, with no hype or fluff. Topics covered include: getting better and higher-paying clients; banishing the feast-or-famine cycle; doing more of the work that excites you; how to raise your fees and rates; boosting your productivity; making your business recession-proof; discovering and leveraging your strengths; finding your niche; pricing content writing projects; pricing copywriting projects; writing white papers; writing case studies; writing web copy; writing articles; and much more.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Apr 19, 2019 • 41min
#176: Sonia Simone on Becoming a Higher-Value Resource for Your Clients
Content marketing has officially gone mainstream. It’s a “must do” for most businesses in today’s trust economy. While this increased demand has created huge opportunities for writers, it has also commoditized a lot of our work and given rise to content mills and rock-bottom fees. We’re not doomed. But to succeed, writers have to become a higher-value resource for their clients. In this episode, I speak with Sonia Simone, founding partner of Copyblogger Media (now Rainmaker Digital) and seasoned content marketer. In the course of our conversation, she shares how you can position yourself as a strategic partner and build stronger relationships with clients.
Apr 5, 2019 • 31min
#175: What to Do When a Prospect Wants to Meet for Coffee or Pick Your Brain
Have you ever had a prospect ask for an in-person coffee meeting shortly after connecting? You’ve barely gotten past “hello” and they already want to put something in your calendar! This raises a red flag for me. In this podcast, I reveal a two-stage process you can use to evaluate requests for face-to-face meetings. This process is a great way to protect your time and energy — without discouraging good clients.
Mar 22, 2019 • 38min
#174: How to Grow Your Income by Going Deeper with Clients and Leveraging Your Key Relationships
Today’s podcast guest provides a classic illustration of the benefits of going deeper with existing clients. Her name is Lindy Alexander. Lindy started freelancing full time in 2017. By the end of that year, she grossed more than $100,000 in income! Even more remarkable: in 2018 she scaled back her hours to part-time and maintained the same income level. In this episode, she explains how she did it. It’s an amazing story I think you’ll really enjoy, regardless of where you are in your journey.
Mar 8, 2019 • 40min
#173: Liz Sheffield on the Importance of Professional Development for Freelancers
Do you ever get so busy that you forget to invest in yourself? It’s one of the pitfalls of being self-employed. There’s only so much time every week., right? Then again, if you don’t take time to “feed the goose,” you’ll soon have no golden eggs. My guest for today’s podcast has seen both sides of this problem. Liz Sheffield is a freelance writer with a background in human resources. As an HR professional, she understands the benefits of taking time to improve your knowledge and skills. And as a freelancer, she understands the challenges we face in finding the time and resources to do this consistently. In this episode, she explains why she’s a huge proponent of investing in yourself and your freelance business, and how you can do it without wasting your time or money.
Feb 22, 2019 • 39min
#172: Eight Simple SEO Tweaks That Boosted Matt Olpinski’s Website Ranking on Google
I’m just going to come right out and say it. Search engine optimization (SEO) has a horrible reputation. For years, SEO companies scammed clients with big promises of boosting their search engine rankings, only to fall short or fail altogether. Even now, information on this subject continues to be confusing, contradictory and misleading. For this episode, to learn what SEO best practices you should implement for your own website, I wanted to talk to someone who doesn’t do SEO for a living, but who’s had good success with SEO nonetheless. And I found that person in Matt Olpinski. Matt is a freelance UX designer who boosted his own search engine rankings like crazy with some simple adjustments. Adjustments you can make on your own website, even if you don’t have a lot of technical knowledge. Listen in to find out how...
Feb 8, 2019 • 40min
#171: Five Valuable Case Study Tips from a 20-Year Case Study Veteran
Casey Hibbard is one of the best case study writers in North America. She’s literally written hundreds of case studies for dozens of companies. Many of them big names you’d recognize. On the occasion of her 20-year business anniversary, I asked Casey to come on the show and share some of the most important lessons she’s learned about writing powerful case studies. In this interview, she shares 5 specific tips that will make you a stronger case study writer… and help you command higher fees for these projects.
Jan 25, 2019 • 42min
#170: How to Grow Your Business and Command Higher Fees by Packaging What You Offer in a Different Way
Most commercial writers see themselves as just that: a commercial writer. They describe themselves as writers. And they pitch themselves as writers. Nothing wrong with that! But that’s not the only way to make a living as a freelance commercial writer or copywriter. In this episode, you’ll hear from Maureen Farmer, founder of Word Right Executive Career Management. Much of what she does for clients involves writing, but she packages her services differently. As a result, her clients view her more as a strategic resource than a writer — and are willing to pay her accordingly. Find out why...
Jan 11, 2019 • 29min
#169: How to Have a Better 2019 by Changing Your Identity
I firmly believe that habits are the key to successful execution. Execution is where the rubber meets the road when it comes to making positive changes in our lives. And habits are THE most important element in execution. A few months ago, I had James Clear on the show to talk about his new book . And one of the things that really stood out for me is his discussion of identity. Specifically, how your habits shape your identity — and how your identity shapes your habits. In this episode, I take a closer look at this concept … and explain how you can leverage your identity to make new habits stick.
Dec 28, 2018 • 45min
#168: Nine Things I’m Embarrassed to Tell You...
When you’re in a leadership position, the people you lead sometimes put you on a pedestal. They think you have everything figured out. That you have no flaws. No struggles. I’m in a leadership position in that people often look to me for ideas, advice and mentorship. But let me tell you ... I’m not perfect by any means. I have my own struggles and imperfections. And in this episode, I come clean on 9 of those things...
Dec 14, 2018 • 42min
#167: Elaine Pofeldt on Creating a Million-Dollar One-Person Business
This is an exciting time to be alive. The opportunity to make a great living as a self-employed professional has never been better. Changing economic trends, shifting attitudes toward self-employment, cheap technology, and the ability to leverage talent from around the world have all combined to make this opportunity possible. My guest for this week’s podcast has been tracking these changes for years. Her name is Elaine Pofeldt, and she’s the author of the book The Million-Dollar One-Person Business (Random House, 2018). In this episode, Elaine introduces us to some of the people behind these million-dollar solo businesses.
