If you’re a freelance writer, or if you want to start, there is one business challenge that towers above all the rest:
Where am I going to find some clients?
(Real talk: once you answer that question, the new one becomes: Where am I going to find some better clients?)
There are three resources I recommend to freelancers all the time. All three have excellent track records, and include both free and paid information.
#1: BlackFreelance
The founder of BlackFreelance is one of our Copyblogger certified content marketers, and she’s also a fantastic success story about how you can find more freedom and financial stability as a freelancer. She has excellent (and actually doable) advice on finding clients, as well as literally just about every other aspect of managing your freelance writing business.
She also has a paid community, BlackFreelance Academy, if you’re looking for more support and help.
If anything about getting started as a freelancer feels overwhelming to you, Megan’s got a detailed, workable answer.
You can find all the resources here: BlackFreelance.com
#2: Ed Gandia’s High-Income Business Writing
Ed is another terrific resource for freelancers looking for a stable client roster. Start with his blog or podcast, or you may want to just jump into his book Warm Email Prospecting. It’s available on Kindle for around $10.
Warm Email Prospecting will tell you pretty much exactly what to do to start getting in touch with potential clients. (It’s “warm” rather than “cold” because you’re going to do a little research first, so you don’t come across as an annoying saleshole.)
Ed also offers coaching for experienced freelancers who want to get to higher fees and more stability.
Like Megan, Ed’s site offers a ton of resources on lots of aspects of the freelancing life.
You can find Ed’s site here: B2BLauncher.com
#3: Copyhackers
Copyhackers has a ton of excellent free and paid resources for professional copywriters, including their 10XFreelancing course. 10X Freelancer specifically looks at how to manage clients, how to close more sales, and how to position yourself as a premium service provider. You’ll also find lots of great free advice on their site.
I’d recommend starting with Megan and Ed, then expanding to Copyhackers once you start to see some traction. Copyhackers is also useful if you want to specialize in a particular format, as they have advanced courses on topics like email marketing, landing pages, and ads.
And one more …
Finally, here’s a useful post from Stefanie Flaxman about how to rank for your own name in the search engines. This isn’t a given, but it’s generally doable even if SEO isn’t your strong suit, and it’s well worth the work to improve your visibility and online presence.
That’s The Fierce for this week! Stay safe and do great things.
Sonia and the Creative Fierce team
(By the way, in case you were curious, there are no affiliate promotions or links in this message.)
