Deliberate Freelancer

Learn about the discussions around artificial intelligence and how writers can stand out. Discover tips on running a freelance business and escaping the low-paying cycle. Explore strategies for finding new clients and building relationships. Find out the value of the Content Byte Summit and offering a luxury good in your business. Dive into the captivating book 'What the Dead Know' about New York City death investigators.

The podcast discusses the importance of taking breaks for mental health and productivity, the significance of networking and referrals, and the need to set goals and establish systems. It also includes a heartwarming story of love and family during World War II.

Deliberate Freelancer is on a summer hiatus and will return toward the end of August or early September. Take this time to listen to some previous episodes or relisten to favorite guests! Or make a playlist of specific topics, like finding clients or pricing projects.  The Deliberate Freelancer Facebook group will be active during this time, so please join us over there for great conversations with other listeners. You can ask for advice and share your experiences.  If you have benefited from this podcast, please help support the show financially at Buy Me a Coffee. And check out Melanie’s second podcast, Association Station. Season 1 debuted last summer, and season 2 will be released soon. So, subscribe now on your favorite podcast app.

Today’s guest is Austin Church from Knoxville, Tennessee. Austin helps e-commerce founders stand out online with their brand strategy. Lately, he’s been working as a fractional chief marketing officer (CMO), consulting for creator economy companies. He also coaches freelance creatives. Austin was one of the six-figure freelancers I featured on the show in May 2021. We’ve since become friends, and his podcast, Freelance Cake, was in my ears during my recent solo business retreat — because I needed all his marketing advice! I realized you all could benefit from hearing some of his great marketing strategies and tactics too, so I invited him back on the show. In this episode, we talk about:  What a “fractional” role is for a freelancer and how Austin moved into that role.  How Austin defines and sells strategy. Why templates are so important.  How Austin works through a “content road map” with clients.  Austin’s marketing strategy and his “freakout” protocol.  The difference between “cold” leads and “warm” leads.  Austin’s 3 R’s of marketing: repeat business, referrals and relationships. How Austin uses LinkedIn to get new clients: tips from Sharon Wu. Don’t be afraid to ask other freelancers you know for referrals.  Biz Bite: Have a shut-down ritual that identifies three priorities for the next day and include “marketing” as one of the priorities.  Resources: Join the Deliberate Freelancer Facebook group.  Support Deliberate Freelancer at Buy Me a Coffee. Austin’s website and his free freelance course: AustinLChurch.com Austin on LinkedIn Austin’s Freelance Cake podcast episode: 7-Step Freakout Protocol for Getting Last-Minute Freelance Income Episode #98 of Deliberate Freelancer: Six-Figure Freelancing: The Benefits of Selling Strategy and Outcomes, with Austin Church  How Austin uses LinkedIn to get new clients: tips from Sharon Wu Find email addresses: Hunter.io

Today’s guest is Helen Jane  Campbell. Helen is from Wales and recently moved from Hay-on-Wye, Wales, to Worthing, England. Helen is a life and business coach for ambitious and creative entrepreneurs, bringing authenticity and energy to all she does. Clients turn to Helen when they feel ready to bring more joy, energy, and abundance into their lives and their teams. She helps people create space and reconnect with their self-worth and creative freedom. Prior to becoming a coach, Helen spent two decades of her career in PR and communications strategy — with a focus on creativity and on building and leading effective teams. She worked directly with decision-makers and CEOs.  Helen is the author of the book “Founders, Freelancers & Rebels” and the co-founder of Hay Pride, the Pride celebration Hay-on-Wye. She also hosts monthly sessions on Zoom called Powerful Journaling.  In this episode, we talk about: How Helen went from employee to freelance PR professional to business coach.  Helen’s book, “Founders, Freelancers & Rebels.” What Helen’s clients are feeling and dealing with now in 2023. Ask yourself: What assumptions are you making about your business?  Dealing with the feeling of uncertainty brought on by the pandemic. How Helen responds when people are feeling exhausted and overwhelmed. What did you love to do when you were 12? “RAIN” technique to try when you’re feeling scattered or unmoored.  The phrase Helen hates and why.  Biz Bite: Fall Back in Love with Your Business  Resources: Helen’s website Helen’s monthly Powerful Journaling workshop Helen’s book, “Founders, Freelancers & Rebels” Helen’s Substack newsletter Helen on Twitter Tara Brach’s RAIN technique Join the Deliberate Freelancer Facebook group.  Support Deliberate Freelancer at Buy Me a Coffee.

On today’s show I share my structure, agenda and my action plan developed during my most recent solo business retreat. Here’s what I share with you in this episode: Please leave a rating and review for Deliberate Freelancer on Apple Podcasts or any other podcast platform.  Why I chose Thomasville, Georgia, for my latest solo business retreat. How I structured my retreat and my theme for the two days. What happened when I stopped consistently following my Always Be Marketing rule. How Austin Church’s podcast Freelance Cake helped me. The two big questions I asked myself as I started my retreat.  How I evaluated my best income months from 2022 and built lessons and action around what worked in those months. How I created a list of top-level services that bring in money and are services I enjoy — so I can focus on getting work in those areas first.  The two areas I am focusing on as part of the new marketing strategy and action plan I created.  Biz Bite: Let an app do your errands The Bookshelf: “The Verifiers” by Jane Pek Resources: Join the Deliberate Freelancer Facebook group.  Support Deliberate Freelancer at Buy Me a Coffee. Melanie’s other podcast, Association Station Episode #153 of Deliberate Freelancer: My 2022 and Q4 Audit and Six Lessons from Last Year Episode #152 of Deliberate Freelancer: How Mary Tindall Began to Earn $200,000 a Year as a Freelancer Episode #160 of Deliberate Freelancer: The Dreaded Feast or Famine! Episode #98 of Deliberate Freelancer: Six-Figure Freelancing: The Benefits of Selling Strategy and Outcomes, with Austin Church Freelance Cake podcast: 7-Step Freakout Protocol for Getting Last-Minute Freelance Income From the Front Porch podcast The Bookshelf in Thomasville, Georgia

Today’s guest is Eman Ismail, an email strategist and copywriter who is originally from England and now lives in Finland. She also coaches copywriters.  Eman is the person to call when you want to make money from your emails. As an email conversion strategist and copywriter, she helps six-figure-plus online business owners and ecommerce brands fire up their conversions, evergreen their sales and turn fans into superfans. Eman is also the host of the podcast Mistakes That Made Me, which asks extraordinary business owners to share their biggest business mistake, so you know what NOT to do on your road to success. I confess I had trouble coming up with a title for this episode because we cover a lot of ground and Eman shares such great advice and lessons. We talk in-depth about finding your niche and figuring out who the perfect clients are for you. Eman also goes into great detail about her intake form, which weeds out all the not-right clients.  In this episode, we talk about:  How Eman niched down from a copywriter to an email strategist How finding your niche is not the only way to be successful but is perhaps the fastest way Try a bit of everything at first — your niche will often find you Don’t get distracted by going after the niche where you think you can charge the most; you have to enjoy your niche also How defining your core values as a business owner helps you focus your business goals Switching from monthly income goals to quarterly income goals Paying yourself first, with the same amount every two weeks or every month How Eman prepared for maternity leave Defining and focusing intently on the clients that are right for you Creating a detailed intake form so sales calls happen only with the right clients How to go from an intake form to the sales call to landing the client Tips for freelancers when creating their own email newsletters  Why Eman records all her sales calls Eman’s podcast Mistakes That Made Me  Biz Bite: Session Buddy (Google Chrome extension to save your tabs) Resources: Eman is offering Deliberate Freelancer listeners 50% off her A Week of Workshops bundle. Go to the link for more information. Click through to checkout and use coupon code: EMAN-MEL-PODCAST. Eman’s website: Emancopyco.com Eman’s free 35-minute class The Email Rules Eman’s Like a Boss course about the business side of running a copywriting business.  “Preparing for Maternity Leave with Eman Ismail” on the Being Boss podcast Eman’s podcast Mistakes That Made Me  Eman on Instagram Join the Deliberate Freelancer Facebook group.  Support Deliberate Freelancer at Buy Me a Coffee.

Learn about navigating feast or famine in freelancing and the importance of reaching out to clients and networking for business growth. Explore the limitations of selling services and the potential benefits of selling strategy. Find out how to improve productivity with the two minute rule.

Today’s guest is Ernie Smith, a longtime writer for nonprofits and membership associations. He also has a lot of experience in graphic design, content strategy, content management systems, newsletter creation, and content. Ernie is also a tech writer — that includes writing about technology for Vice magazine — and Ernie is a self-proclaimed tech nerd. His name and voice might sound familiar because I just had him on the ChatGPT episode a few weeks ago. That was episode 156.  So, I thought he was the perfect person to come on the show and introduce us to a variety of tech tools that we might want to try out for our businesses.  We broke this discussion down into various categories of tools, ones that can help with writing, note-taking, audio recording, scheduling meetings, graphic design, and newsletter platform tools. Ernie shares dozens of tools and also talks a bit about the benefits of publishing our own newsletter.  In this episode, we talk about:  Writing tools, including Markdown, Bear, Obsidian, iA writer, Lex AI Tool to synchronize programs between computers and phones: Syncthing Google Docs feature we might not be taking advantage of Note-taking tools: Markdown, Evernote, Notion Task management tools: Flow Pomodoro timer Meeting and interview recording: Otter.ai, Rev Audio routing: Loopback Scheduling meetings: Calendly  The benefits of publishing your own newsletter Newsletter platforms: Substack, Beehiiv, Ghost, Newsletter Glue (a WordPress plug-in) Graphic design tools: Canva, Pixelmator, Affinity Photo The importance of optimizing a few tools that are best for YOU Resources: Ernie’s newsletter: Tedium.co Ernie on Twitter Ernie on Mastodon: @ernie@writing.exchange Join the Deliberate Freelancer Facebook group.  Support Deliberate Freelancer at Buy Me a Coffee. Episode #156 of Deliberate Freelancer: The Risks and Opportunities of ChatGPT

On today’s show I discuss some client wins, a fail and some ongoing challenges in my freelance business so far in 2023.  Here’s what I share with you in this episode: A win in which I didn’t dismiss the client because it wasn’t a straightforward proposal and I had to customize it.  A “bridge service” win, in which I took an existing service and skill I’m good at and went beyond it a bit, expanded it to create a new, great project. A win in which I fired a client that forced me to often track down payments. A win in progress in which I’m thinking through how to develop a three-tiered proposal, offering three options at different price points for one potential client who is unclear about the scope of work they need right now.  A “sort of” fail that reminded me of a few lessons. Three challenges I’m facing this year so far: working weekends, lack of consistent marketing, and a feast-or-famine cycle (no!!!!).  Biz Bite: Consider your rubber balls versus your glass balls (thanks to Alysha Love for sharing this at ACES) The Bookshelf: “Wake” by Shelley Burr Resources: Join the Deliberate Freelancer Facebook group.  Support Deliberate Freelancer at Buy Me a Coffee. Episode #153 of Deliberate Freelancer: My 2022 and Q4 Audit and Six Lessons from Last Year ACES–the Society for Editing virtual conference: Sept. 27-29, 2023 ACES–the Society for Editing in-person conference: April 4-6, 2024, San Diego