Hi Reader,

Happy Friday!

It's somehow MAY?! Not sure how that happened, but here we are. I love the start of a new month. Everything tends to feel a bit panicky towards the end of the month as deadlines loom, but the start of the month always feels so promising.

Anyone else?! 😅

Here's what I've been up to this week:

👉 I wrote 5 pieces for clients (Klaviyo, Whop, Positional, and a new client)

👉 I had 1 intro call with a new strategy client

👉 I filed my tax return 😭

⏱ Approx hours spent on client work this week: ~28

⏱ Approx hours spent on non-client work: ~1

💰 Total revenue this week: £4,600

Is now even a good time to be a freelancer?!

A brand new episode of the It's Fine, I'm a Freelancer podcast dropped this week and it's all about whether NOW is a good time to be a freelancer... you know, with all the crap going on in the industry. So, is it even worth it?!

​🎧 Listen here​

Friday Freelance Tip​​ ✨ ​

In this week’s episode of It’s Fine, I’m a Freelancer, I talked through what I would do if I lost all my clients today. Touch wood that doesn’t happen, but if it does, I think I’ve got a pretty good plan in place to pick things back up again.

I want to talk more about one of those item points in particular: promoting our work.

Now, as freelancers, we’re notoriously BAD at promoting our stuff (well, most of us are anyway). We think it feels salesy to sell our services (because… it kinda IS salesy?!). And maybe we’re also a little bit worried that someone’s going to think we’re crap or laugh at our work.

But here’s the thing: no one’s going to know what you do if you don’t tell them.

I had a call with a fellow freelancer last week and I mentioned posting at LEAST once a week on LinkedIn about their work. I think they were a bit surprised at the frequency, but the thing is, not everyone’s going to see 100% of the content you post. And even if they do see it, it’ll just remind them that you’re great at what you do.

If you’re thinking “ok cool, but how do I even start promoting my stuff?!”, I got you.

Here are some ways you can ease into it.

Turn a project into a case study

I’m a big fan of portfolios that show the process behind the work and not just the end product. Did you write from a brief? Did you CREATE the brief? Did you do the keyword research? How did you come up with the right angle?

Turning a piece of content into a case study takes potential clients behind the scenes and helps them imagine what it’d be like to work with you.

And I know, I know, case studies can be pretty dull—but yours don’t have to be! You can follow the traditional Challenge > Solution > Results structure, or you can get creative. I wrote a post about my case study process here.

Once you’ve got a case study or two, you can share the shit out of it on social media. Use the results as a hook or simply say “Here’s how I did X for Y”.

Share your processes

If you’re stuck on what to post on LinkedIn, why not start with what you know best—your internal processes? E.g. how do you do keyword research? How do you start planning your draft? What does your onboarding process look like?

This gives potential clients an insight into your business and decide whether it feels like a good fit for them. Lots of people promote the end result, but they forget to tell clients what happens immediately after they get in touch or sign the contract.

Promote your services with storytelling

I’m a keen advocate that us freelancers should promote our services. If you’re constantly posting about your life, struggles as a freelancer, and a bad experience you had with a past client, how will future clients know what you offer?

Promoting your services doesn’t have to be “hire me, I do X, Y, and Z”. Instead, segue them in at the end of a story. Maybe you share a bit about a blog post you read recently that wasn’t structured well and mention that your blog writing service includes clear, keyword-driven headers.

One of the easiest ways to do this is to use the ol’ benefits vs features tactics. Write a list of what’s included in your services and why they’re beneficial to your clients. Then take one benefit each week and create a post around it, leading into a link to your services.

It can feel uncomfortable promoting ourselves, especially if we haven’t done a lot of it in the past. There’s the worry that our followers will be like “oh, wow, they’re a bit needy”, but the truth is—we’re running a business here. It’s all well and good posting what you had for breakfast, but if it’s not getting you clients, what’s the point?

Now, I’m not saying you should ONLY post about your work. There should be a healthy mix of content that shows prospects what you do and lets them know more about you as a person. I’m a big believer that relationships are key in freelancing, so you want to give potential clients the chance to get to know you as well as your work.

Here’s my challenge to you this week: Take one of these action points and… do it! If you’re feeling particularly fired up, do one of each and schedule them to go out over the next couple of weeks.

You got this!

This week, we have a freelance writer in her first year of hustling. 👋

Where are you based? Nottinghamshire, UK

How long have you been freelancing? 14 months

What do you do? I primarily work with well being-focussed businesses, typically female-founded.

What was your 2023 revenue? £4,000

I was freelancing part-time, so this was used to 'top up' my full time wage. I've been freelancing full time now for 2 months.

How much did you pay in taxes?

Haven’t received the bill yet, but I've put aside around £300.

What are your business expenses?

Around £50/mo. But I mostly pay for subscriptions annually (e.g. web hosting, Canva pro).

I also bought a new laptop just before officially starting my business, which is on a payment plan so it is still being paid off.

Do you contribute to a pension?

I was in a pension scheme with my last employer and plan to put a % of my freelance wages into a Lifetime ISA as a private pension.

Do you have any hot money-management tips?

Never start a project without a 50% deposit in the bank!

As always, happy freelancing :)

Lizzie ✨

P.S. What steps can you take next?

Arm yourself with the resources, templates, and tutorials you need to find and pitch high-paying clients in 2024. Get £20 off the Pitch & Prosper program.

​Get Workflow Wizard, your handy library of freelancing templates, tutorials, and email scripts to help better your business.

Want to learn the exact process I use to write £1,000 posts for the likes of Shopify, Hotjar, CoSchedule, and Sprout Social? Access Create Better Content here.​​​

Follow me on Instagram and on Linkedin, where you can see the behind-the-scenes of my business.