Hi Reader,

Happy Friday!

Where has September gone?! This month has been crazy busy and October isn't looking like it's going to ease up. Here's hoping for a quieter November and December?!

P.S. This week on Instagram I posted about the eternal freelance struggle of having either too much work or not enough work. Watch it here.

Anyway, here's what I've been up to this week work-wise:

👉 I wrote 3 pieces for clients (including Salsify and a WFM tool)

👉 I refreshed 1 piece for Shopify

👉 I only worked 2.5 days

👉 I took some FB ads training

⏱ Approx hours spent on client work this week: ~15

⏱ Approx hours spent on non-client work: ~2

💰 Total revenue this week: £2,320

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Check out my three practical courses that have helped 500+ people get more clients, earn more money, and create better content.

Friday Freelance Tip​​ ✨ ​

Look, I know it’s incredibly tough out there right now.

I see well-seasoned freelancers scrambling for crumbs. I see hundreds of responses on even the most barrel-scrapery freelance opportunities on LinkedIn. I see brands slashing budgets left, right, and centre. I see content teams pivoting overnight and completely switching up their strategy.

I’m not going to sit here and say it’s an easy time to be a freelancer because it’s not. And, honestly, I’m not sure how I’d fare if I was starting from scratch right now—sometimes it’s literally a case of right place, right time, and I happened to pivot into the SaaS and ecommerce niche just as it was becoming popular.

I basically capitalised on the pandemic—something I’m not particularly proud of, but something that completely changed my business.

Now, I’m looking ahead and thinking “What the hell do I do now?”

There are many, many issues with the freelancing industry at the moment, so I’m going to use today’s newsletter to walk you through how I plan to tackle each one in the hopes that maybe, just maybe, it might give you a little dose of inspiration or hope. Or, at the very least, the knowledge that you are not alone in the shitshow that’s happening out there at the moment.

Issue #1: AI

Let’s talk about the elephant in the room, shall we? For a looooong time, I was anti-AI. I love writing, so the thought of having a tool do it for me was completely alien. But I can now see the benefits of AI—not for writing, obviously. I prefer to do that myself because, duh, I can do a better job. But for other parts of my processes.

Here’s what I’ve been using it for (and honestly, these have been SUCH time-savers):

• Summarising transcripts with SMEs
• Coming up with headers for blog sections
• Checking the tone of voice is consistent throughout a piece
• Brainstorming content ideas for my Instagram channel
• Sense-checking paragraphs that I’m not 100% confident about
• Brainstorming examples and product use cases for pieces

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There are probably other things I use it for, but these are the most common. My AI of choice is Perplexity, but I sometimes switch to Claude or ChatGPT if I want to spice things up.

Issue #2: The competition

The freelance competition has NEVER been fiercer. There are so many new freelancers and, while it’s great to see, it’s also disheartening when you see just how many people are responding to call-outs and opportunities.

I’ve always held the opinion that fellow freelancers are friends, not foes, and I still stand by that. My modus operandi when it comes to “standing out” is “stepping in”. That means getting involved in freelance communities, sharing stories with other pros, and generally networking my little heart out to forge personal connections with clients AND freelancers.

After 10 years at this, I know that relationships are categorically THE most important part of running a successful freelance business, so I’m leaning into these to “stand out”. I’m going hard on referrals from existing clients and working on warm pitching/connecting with potential prospects every single week.

Issue #3: The downturn in content

So, yes, I’ve noticed it. Lots of brands are shifting away from SEO content (and just blog content in general) in favour of more “timely” content marketing strategies. I’m talking video marketing, shorts, and bite-size content that suits platforms like TikTok and Instagram.

I’ve kept a close eye on what my clients have been asking for over the past year and have made a concerted effort to infuse my service offerings with those needs.

Here are the most common things I’ve spotted:

• Clients want more personality-led content written by people who actually know what they’re talking about
• Clients want me to share my personal experience in pieces
• Clients want pieces that create a buzz on social media, not pieces that primarily target keywords
• Clients want pieces that are actually practical, not just “what is” and “why” posts
• Clients want more BOFU content (i.e. case studies, product guides, user guides etc)

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I love to see this shift because this is the kind of content I love to create. The majority of my clients today relish a first-hand perspective and I’m leveraging my experience in the creator economy to write pieces that are ACTUALLY useful.

I’ll probably emphasise this even more over the coming months and years—because I truly believe expert-led content is going to be the next big thing.

The hardest part about freelancing is not knowing where I’ll be next month, let alone next year or in 10 years. It’s so hard to plan ahead, which is why it’s important for us to address issues as they crop up.

You don’t need a solid game plan (I’m really not much of a business planner at all), but it pays to take stock of how trends are impacting your business and what you can do to tackle them or, in some cases, make them work for you.

We need more Freelance Money Diaries entries!

I'm in awe of how many people have been open enough to share their freelance finances with us, but to continue the series we need more submissions.

Just a reminder that you can do this anonymously if you prefer :)

I appreciate every single one of you and I want to continue my mission of financial transparency in the freelance world. Can you help?

As always, happy freelancing :)

Lizzie ✨

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