Tuesday’s post was, as always, a repost of my original MailerLite newsletter, and it walked through the timeline of how I got a few clients in June 2024. The crazy thing is that I remember writing that newsletter, but as I reread it, I couldn’t remember who the clients were. I just went back and looked and it was USA TODAY Homefront and Real Simple, neither of which I’m currently writing for…but that’s beside the point.
The point is that I recently gained two new clients! These two came about very quickly and serendipitously. On my episode of The Marketing Mentor Podcast (shameless plug, I still can’t believe I got to do this), I broke it down, but I’ll share it here as well!
So, this year has been the weirdest year I’ve had in my six plus years of freelancing. Things have always seemed a little crazy — there will be a lull and then a few new clients, work comes, work goes, etc, etc, — but after the Google algorithm shift last year, I lost clients and couldn’t seem to get any replacements.
This was, in a way, a blessing because I was able to focus more on The Simple Freelancer and get Placed up and running (I’ll share a Placed update at the end of this post!!!). I also hired a business coach who helped me get my offerings and ideal clients in order.
I sent more than 100 connection requests on LinkedIn, had some great coffee chats with other freelancers, and sent a bunch of outreach messages.
But through all of this it was crickets when it came to new clients. Like nothing.
And then, I woke up one morning to a LinkedIn post calling for freelancers who had experience with woodworking. There were already a few comments, but I decided to send off a quick email anyway. I assumed that the editor was going to be bombarded, so I kept it short and sweet, and she responded within a few days!
She said she had gotten like 300 emails! Mine stood out because I had the woodworking experience along with the writing, which is pretty niche. I just submitted my first assignment yesterday!
The second client was a referral from an online buddy. They’re in a marketing group together and the current freelancer had just quit. When she said she needed a freelancer, my friend mentioned my name and after a quick video chat, I gained another client and am finishing up my first assignment.
The third [potential] client came through a strategy that I’m really excited about. My niche is building materials and construction companies, and I’ve found that the people in these fields aren’t super active on LinkedIn. I have found that they post on company pages, which is one of the places that potential clients may be hiding.
I started thinking about other places they might be, and ended up stumbling on a webinar for the roofing industry. I figured getting more industry knowledge wouldn’t hurt, so I signed up. It actually turned out to be not only a great way to learn more about the industry, but there was a wealth of new connection opportunities.
On the second webinar I attended, the host told people to introduce themselves in the chat, so I posted my name and the fact that I’m a content writer. About an hour after the webinar wrapped up, I had a message from someone in the industry, and we got on a call a few minutes later. This one is still in the works, but I’m hoping to finalize something after the holiday!
I love a good story, so I want to hear about how you found your latest clients!
🗞️Big News!
I’m officially launching Placed on July 7!!! You can get on the waitlist here, and I’ll send you a direct invite when it goes live! To start, the platform will have a place where editors can post Calls for Pitches and writers can respond directly to the call. This will keep pitches out of inboxes and DMs and really streamline the process. You can read more about the Placed launch here and get on the waitlist here.
I’m also doing a live Q&A session at 11:00 Central Time (9:00 PT/10:00 MT/12:00 ET) to answer any questions and, if my computer and internet cooperate, do a walkthrough of the platform!
📖Reading
Still reading Money: The True Story of a Made Up Thing, and it’s really interesting so far! I’ve been working at night to keep up with things while the kids are home for summer vacation, so I haven’t been reading as much.
🎧Listening
I’ve been back on The Office Ladies kick. When my brain is filled to the brim, this offers a great way to shut things off for a bit.
🤍Loving
We had an amazing trip to Ohio. We visited family and went to COSI (a huge science museum that I visited as a kid). We ate, we laughed, we swam, and then we drove 13 hours home. It’s always good to be home.
🧠 Thinking
We’ve had a lot going on here lately when it comes to the house and cars, so I’ve been thinking about grown up stuff…booooooo!