“LEAP AND THE NET WILL APPEAR“
William S Burroughs
We’ve talked about the three main ways to get hired:
- B2B companies
- B2B publications
- B2B marketing agencies
- Find out more here (B2BWI Blog) and here (B2BWI Course)
All three of these kinds of organizations regularly hire freelancers. They also have unique pros and cons based on how you like to work, such as being plugged into a team or tied only to the deliverable. Today we’ll talk about how to orient yourself when you plan your first leap into freelance, including the most common pitfalls of the first six months.
THE FREELANCE MODEL
| Acquisition | Sales | Fulfillment |
| Where can you find clients? | How do you talk to them in a way that encourages them to hire you, and how will they pay you? | How do you get that work done really well and in a timely way? |
The biggest error we make in our first 6-12 months is over-focusing on one of these three balls, when we need to keep all of them in the air.
This is the ultimate pro or con of freelancing — do you enjoy the interplay between these things? Can you balance them successfully?
ACQUISITION
Where can you find clients?
B2B plugs you into an existing system. Unlike other kinds of writing, like copywriting which involves large one-time projects, B2B content marketing is recurring. Your job is to develop clips, be reliable, and raise your prices every 6-9 months.
Sources of clients:
- Ongoing networking (LinkedIn and other writers)
- Warm email prospecting
- Referrals from existing clients
- Subject matter experts you interview
- New work from the same agency
- Clients leaving their jobs and bringing you with them
Most important mindset: ABUNDANCE
Time requirement: Marketing activities should take place every week, even when you’re booked solid
SALES
How do you talk to them in a way that encourages them to hire you, and how will they pay you?
Get clear on who you help and why so that you can speak confidently during the sales call.
Most important of all: put their needs above your desire to work for them. The #1 way to become their first choice is to try to refer them to someone else.
The best sales person is a helpful person who genuinely wants them to succeed — but that can only happen when you know what you’re best at! If you just want the work, any work… you won’t be able to convey this successfully.
Pricing will be a lifelong journey for you, and you should raise prices every 6-12 months. Many of us start hourly and move into project pricing and then value pricing. Start where you’re comfortable, then make yourself uncomfortable to make sure you’re growing.
“It’s just as easy to fall in love with a rich mag than a poor mag” (Carol Tice and Linda Formichelli). Find people who have money to pay you and figure out what they need.
Most important mindset: HELPING
Getting paid
- Unfortunately, net 30 (payment due 30 days after invoice) is still quite common in B2B content marketing because of how the accounting team works
- Your cash flow is king — saving up 3-5 paychecks in an account JUST for paychecks will save you from bad client choices
- You don’t get a regular paycheck – so you have to give yourself a regular paycheck
- This will alleviate 90% of your stress — trust me
- It will also allow you more flexibility in which clients you work with and when
- The only way to take a vacation is to lose money — so you need to charge accordingly
- Profit First by Michael Michaelowicz
FULFILLMENT
How do you get that work done really well and in a timely way?
How do you take on enough to build wealth but not so much you burn out or overburden yourself? Capacity planning and scheduling starts with understanding how fast you are. If one of your strengths is speed, project and value pricing will work well for you; if you’re not fast, that might not be a strong approach. It seems like this is about doing a lot of writing, but it’s really about maintaining your energy, interest, and focus.
Creating rhythms and routines around your best writing is key:
- Pomodoros
- Flow music (brain.fm and flowstate, etc.)
- Time for research and allowing ideas to aerate
Getting comfortable on the phone
- Suggesting ideas
- Asking bold questions
- Interviewing experts
Most important mindset: PROTECT THE GOOSE
A STRONGER, HAPPIER FIRST SIX MONTHS
✨ Forgetting to prospect
- The highs and lows of freelancing come from the highs and lows of prospecting
- Keep a steady flow so you will have inquiries coming in AND feel abundance
✨ Taking on too much work
- The desire for more will eat you alive
✨ Letting one client become most of your income
- Aim for 1/5th each
✨ Not “scheduling” a life
- If you get the freelancing bug, you will turn into a freelancing bug and never do anything else
✨ Assuming you get to keep all the money
- Taxes, licenses, fees
- Insurance and your own benefits
- Professional development and technology
- Vacation, sick day, family emergencies
CONCLUSION
Fear = False evidence appearing real. What your brain is afraid of is failure, insecurity, and ruin. It will see it everywhere so as to protect you. That’s helpful in some situations, but not in freelancing. Acknowledge your fear, listen to it, and then say thank you and do it anyway.
Know that the flow of work is happening behind the scenes. Once you plant the seeds, something is growing. It will pop up at any time, weeks or months after you planted it. You will be surprised by serendipity as long as you keep watering the soil (writing clips, charging clients, networking by your interests)
When in doubt, there are people out here doing it. “Because your own strength is unequal to the task, do not assume that it is beyond the powers of man; but if anything is within the powers and province of man, believe that it is within your own compass also.” Marcus Aurelius