Advanced Freelancing

In this episode, my guest freelancer Ellen Goodwin shares how she lost clients and almost lost her business due to procrastination. We discuss how to work when no one is watching and being consistent to meet deadlines for clients.

You'll learn about the different types of procrastination and why we procrastinate. Ellen gives tips on how to identify why you are getting distracted and how to address it. You'll get action steps to allow for time for distraction and then refocus to get things done.

• How to deal with the feast or famine cycles of freelancing
• Tips to prepare for downtime when you're not fully booked
• Building confidence to prepare for times of insecurity
• How to overcome procrastination
• Why do we procrastinate?
• Different types of procrastination
• How to make a plan to avoid procrastination
• Stop blaming yourself and setting yourself up for failure
• How consistent mini-habits can get you on the right track
• Reward yourself for meeting productivity goals

Ellen Goodwin is a Productivity Trainer, TEDx speaker, and author who uses neuroscience-based principles to enable individuals and businesses to overcome all types of procrastination, build stronger habits, and be more focused so that they can be more efficient and effective with their time. Ellen believes that when it comes to productivity, there is no one-size-fits-all solution, which is why she advocates for experimentation to find the tools and techniques which will work seamlessly with your life and your business, no matter what you want to accomplish. She recently released her first book, DONE: How To Work When No One Is Watching, and is the co-host of The Faster, Easier, Better Show podcast.

Website: EllenGoodwin.com

Facebook: facebook.com/EllenGoodwincom

In this episode, you'll hear from freelance translator Maeva Cifuentes. We discuss where to find clients, how to market your services, and networking on LinkedIn. The principles discussed here apply to any freelance business, no matter your services.

You'll learn what it really looks like to be a translator, beyond speaking the language. Maeva takes you through the day in the life of a translator, and how to be a leader in the industry.

Here are some things we covered in this episode:

• What is the difference in translation and interpreting as a freelancer?
• What you need to know in the source language to be a translator?
• What does a typical day look like as a translator?
• Should you focus on a specialty or be a generalist?
• How to market your freelance translator services.
• Things you must do to stand out on LinkedIn.
• What you should know before deciding to offer translation services.
• How to prepare for a translation business, beyond speaking the language.
• How to build relationships with clients.

Bio:

Maeva has been a French and Spanish to English freelance translator for just over a decade. She writes about freelance translation & the digital nomad lifestyle on her blog, Maeva Everywhere. As a person with multiple interests, she's diversified her services into marketing, on top of translation, and recently launched a content marketing agency. You can usually find her writing on LinkedIn, traveling, learning a new skill or listening to her favorite music.

Connect with Maeva:

http://maevaeverywhere.com/

In this episode, you'll learn about content repurposing from expert Amy Woods. We discuss how to take the guesswork out of posting on social media and show up consistently. By focusing on quality over quantity you can become an industry leader and go-to person when your client has a problem.

You'll learn how to create several weeks' worth of content from one piece of high-quality content, such as a podcast or blog post.

• How to create lots of micro content from one piece of high-quality content
• How to create and spin one piece of content to fuel your marketing efforts
• How to create a plan for repurposing long-form content
• How to choose what you are going to do and staying in your comfort zone
• Creating content that solves a problem for your client
• Do at least one thing very consistently and create a system around it
• How to stay on track with one platform
• Why you should consider outsourcing and the expected cost
• Getting referrals from existing clients
• Content marketing tips

Amy is an expert in content repurposing and the Founder of Content 10x – a niche creative agency. She helps content creators grow their audience by maximizing their return on the content they create. She works with businesses, entrepreneurs and thought leaders, and is the content repurposing powerhouse behind some of the most well-known podcasts and video shows.

Amy is the host of The Content 10x Podcast and she is the author of best-selling book Content 10x: More Content, Less Time, Maximum Results, the ultimate guide to reaching more people online with your content.

She talks on stages all around the world about content repurposing, including at events like PodFest Multimedia Expo, Podcast Movement, Youpreneur Summit and RadioDays.

Amy podcasts and writes about content repurposing at content10x.com and shares ideas on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amywoods2/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/content10x

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/content10x/

Website: https://www.content10x.com/

In this episode freelance copywriter and screenwriter Marc Isaacs shares what to look for in non-disclosure agreements, the legal implications, and how to grow your freelance business around the confidentiality restrictions.

You'll learn how to leverage the work you've done as a freelancer to get other clients while maintaining confidentiality.

Here are some things we covered in this episode:

• What to look for in non-disclosure agreements
• Getting clarification in NDA's
• Should you get an attorney to review NDA?
• Respecting your client and honoring your agreement
• Challenges of working around NDA's and how it affects your freelance business
• Entering into client relationships when unable to disclose who your client is
• Leveraging the work you've done as a ghost writer to get other clients
• Getting testimonials and social proof with confidentiality restrictions
• Should you use an NDA in your own business?
• Protecting your brand as a freelancer

Marc Isaacs is a freelance copywriter and screenwriter based in San Antonio, Texas. His clients are thriving small and medium-sized businesses in a variety of industries, including technology, medical, travel, AI, entertainment, and more. He launched a freelance writing career in 2004 following multiple positions in broadcast news where he produced local newscasts and field produced for national network news organizations.

Among Isaacs' most notable career accomplishments are creating and producing a children's educational TV series called Houston ZooperStars Challenge, which earned multiple Lone Star Emmy nominations, and writing and directing a television pilot called The Legend of Marshal Dead, which is currently in post-production. His writing and producing for television also includes holiday and event-related programming for broadcast affiliate stations, including a TV special for the largest indoor livestock exhibition and rodeo in the world . In addition to writing and producing content, he's a professional actor with membership in SAG-AFTRA since 2014.

Isaacs is originally from upstate New York, raised and educated in a rural region along New York's border with Ontario, Canada. He's currently developing film and television scripts based on true stories set in that region's small towns, and he's been researching family stories for a book he's writing about his mother and her 13 siblings. He relocated to Houston, Texas in 2001 and has spent most of the last two decades in the Lone Star State with a few years spent in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Los Angeles, California.

Screenwriter/Filmmaker Link: www.imdb.me/marcisaacs

LinkedIn Profile: www.linkedin.com/in/marcisaacs/

In this episode Michael Diettrich-Chastain, the CEO of Arc Integrated, talks about being resilient in times of change and uncertainty, and the questions that you need to ask yourself to create momentum in your business.

You'll learn the one thing you can absolutely count on, and how to utilize it to adjust to personal and professional changes.

• How all life and work experience is totally relevant to entrepreneurship
• Using lessons you've learned and apply them to your business
• 7 major predictors of success
• Change is inevitable
• Common principles of change
• What to do in early phases of changes
• How to thrive in the new normal
• What questions do you need to ask yourself to create momentum
• Tools for determining what is holding you back from positive change

Michael is the founder and CEO of Arc Integrated, an Organizational Consulting and Professional Coaching practice in Asheville, NC. Through a focus on change management, emotional intelligence and leadership effectivness, Arc Integrated empowers individuals and organizations to achieve optimum performance in their work and life.

As a consultant, Michael has helped organizational leaders and teams improve retention, enagement, productivity and sales. Michael focuses on improving leadership, team performance and fostering stronger collaboration within systems, to improve the organization's bottom line. He has facilitated trainings on leadership, change management, team building, communication, emotional intelligence, employee engagement, self-care and other topics.

As a Professional Coach, Michael works with leaders to reduce stress, improve work/life balance or enhance leadership skills. Michael's writing can be seen on Livestrong, Time, Money, Monster, About, Entreprenuer and The Washington Post. His first book, CHANGES – The Busy Professional's Guide to Reducing Stress, Accomplishing Goals and Mastering Adaptability is released on May 7th, 2019.

Michael enjoys hiking, traveling, reading, listening to podcasts and has been studying and teaching at a martial arts school for more than 10 years. Michael often incorporates philosophies from martial arts study into his work with individuals and organizations.

For more information, find Michael and his team at www.arcintegrated.com

https://www.instagram.com/michaeldiettrichchastain

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mdiettrichchastain/

https://www.facebook.com/arcintegrated/

https://twitter.com/ArcIntegratedHQ

https://www.arcintegrated.com/

Michael's Book –

www.thechangesbook.com

Michael's Card Deck –

https://www.arcintegrated.com/cards/

In this episode Kimber Hill, the Founder and CEO of VirtForce, shares why she pivoted to remote work, and how she now coaches her military community to invest in their career and personal development that launches them into successful Virtual Careers. She's a military spouse on a mission to lower the unemployment rate for military spouses.

You'll learn how to gain the confidence and skills you need to work remotely. We discussed the things that you need to do to prepare and market yourself to the virtual job market.

• Why Kimber left a government contracting position and how she has created a 15 million dollar impact on the military community.

• What are the mindset obstacles around pivoting to remote work and how do you overcome them?

• What are the most in demand remote work positions?

• What is it like to work virtually?

• How to feel more confident about working virtually?

• Kimber shares how to break the mental block around the dreaded resume gaps and her recommendations for getting through it.

• Certifications to get the skills that employers want.

• How to utilize gig based work and internships to gain experience.

• Marketing yourself to the remote work job market and the platforms to use to get work.

• Tips for interviewing virtually and how to show up professionally.

Kimber Hill is the Founder and CEO of VirtForce, the organization filling the gap between America's Active Duty Military Spouses and virtual careers.

VirtForce's most important core value is Servant Leadership. Through acts of service she and her team have created a global community where Military Spouses can build virtual work skills, train in leadership roles, and receive a constant stream of remote work opportunities. The organization has successfully created an avenue for Military Spouses to find sustainable employment supportive of the inevitable permanent change of station.

Kimber and her husband are from Moulton, Alabama. They are affiliated with the Navy and are currently stationed in Florida. Kimber has a Bachelors Degree in Film Production from Birmingham-Southern College, a Masters Degree in Information Systems from the University of Alabama at Huntsville, and she is a Certified Project Management Professional.

"We are increasing career happiness and self-worth of Military Spouses while simultaneously lowering the Military Spouse unemployment rate. I really love what we're doing here because we can see tangible results. At VirtForce, we have a heart for people and a knack for effective processes. We get things done!" – Kimber Hill

Where to Connect with VirtForce:

Podcast

Website - https://virtforce.us/vf-podcast/

Apple Podcasts - http://bit.ly/vf-apple1

Spotify - http://bit.ly/vf-spotify

Google Play - http://bit.ly/vf-google

Stitcher - http://bit.ly/vf-stitcher

Android - http://bit.ly/vf-android

Linked In

https://www.linkedin.com/company/35487230/

https://linkedin.com/in/kareergal/

Website

https://virtforce.us/

List a Job or Look for a Job on our Job Board

https://jobs.virtforce.us

In this episode, you're hearing from another former teacher, Brittany. She's now a pro in the online service world and helps other teachers break free of working in the long, slow grind that is a career for so many in the U.S. education system.

You'll learn more about Brittany's big wakeup call and how that pushed her to have clarity in her online business. We discussed some of the challenges of being a modern teacher and why it burns so many educators out.

Here are some other things we covered in this episode on moving from teaching to working for yourself:

• Why teachers make really good fits for running an online business and the personality traits that match that
• Why working online and helping other people can fulfill your helper mentality by building and serving your own tribe
• Brittany's super-smart tip for getting your first couple of clients as a freelancer
• How to really provide help in Facebook groups without spamming the Internet with a pitch and actually getting clients
• Why Brittany has tried a lot of different freelance services and how she landed on her current services.
• What does it mean to say you are building a funnel?
• How to begin studying funnels when you're curious about offering this as a service for your freelance business
• The challenges that Brittany faced when scaling her business to a six-figure freelancing empire and why mindset is so important when you're growing
• How to determine where your own limiting beliefs might be holding you back
• How and why to consider retiring your spouse

Brittany is a former middle school science teacher turned six-figure freelancer and entrepreneur. She works at home building funnels and writing copy. Together, she and her husband help other teachers that want to transition out of teaching through their blog, Life After Teaching.

www.lifeafterteaching.com

startmylifeafterteaching.com/summit

www.facebook.com/groups/mylifeafterteaching

If you've always wanted to work with nonprofits or if you're a writer who wants to broaden your skillset, have you ever considered grantwriting? It's a different form of copywriting when compared with things like sales copy, but nonprofits frequently don't have the resources to write their own grants. These grants are key for their funding, so it's vital they outsource to a freelance grantwriter.

In this episode, you'll hear from veteran grantwriter Teresa Huff so that you can decide whether or not you should be a freelance grantwriter and what it really looks like. We cover a lot in this episode as a teaser for you to consider your next steps and whether you want to learn more about becoming a freelance grantwriter.

• What a grantwriter actually does in helping nonprofits achieve their missions.
• Why using a mentor was critical for Teresa to learn about something that's both writing-based and somewhat technical and specific in nature.
• What you need to know about nonprofits and how they work so that you can speak to them as your target client.
• How Teresa decided that grantwriting would work really well with her personality and her individual writing style and how to tell which personality traits will help you if you add grantwriting to your services.
• How to set client expectations when you're working as a freelance grantwriter and what role educating the client plays
• Why it might be best to start small when you're just dipping your toes into the water as a grantwriter.

If you listened to this episode and don't yet have a copy of How to Start Your Own Freelance Writing Business, get your copy now!

Teresa Huff is a Grant Strategist and Content Writer who has helped nonprofits triple their funding. She has a Master's in Education and 20+ years of experience in writing, education, and business.

She's figured out how to survive (and thrive!) in her geeky introverted life while working from home and juggling her kids, husband, and a crazy chihuahua.

After winning several million dollars in funding for schools and nonprofits, her goal is to now equip other freelance writers to change the world. To get started, take her free quiz "Do you have what it takes to be a grant writer?" at teresahuff.com/bizquiz.

Grant Writer Mentoring: www.teresahuff.com

Nonprofit and Small Business Strategy: www.AdeoDevelopment.com

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/huffteresa/

In this episode, we chatted all things Facebook ads and how Brandi grew her business from service provider to rockstar empire owner. Brandi has does a lot of this without a team. Although there's definitely a point where you need to outsource to someone like a virtual assistant, Brandi talks about how you can start and grow without the team.

• What systems you really need as a freelancer and which ones you can skip
• Focus on what matters the most- what Brandi calls her marketing minutes
• Why niching as a high-end service provider might work for you
• How to determine when you need to niche down with your offerings or with the kinds of clients you help as a freelancer
• Why charging hourly can be a problem for you and how you can switch to a different process
• Why you want to explore your options when you begin your freelance business and why you want to keep looking into new things
• Why Brandi and her family started thinking about why retiring her husband might be the right fit for them and what you need to know before you make a similar decision.
• How the transition from spouse outside of the house working to switching to her husband in a stay-at-home dad role and what that looked like for their schedules.
• What a typical workday looks like for Brandi in her freelance Facebook ads business when she has multiple projects on her plate.
• The time management skills that Brandi uses to stay on track and why she doesn't batch her work.

Did you know The Six Figure Freelancer is now available for preorder? Check it out here.

Brandi is a wife, mom, and on a mission to help online service-based entrepreneurs create a business and life they love. As a Facebook and Instagram ad strategist she was able to scale her business without a team to multiple six-figures in a short 18 months and now she is helping others do the same! Facebook and Instagram ads are her JAM, but helping others make their dream life a reality is her passion.

Social: instagram.com/brandiandcompany

free training: servescalesoar.com/free

website: brandimowles.com

Do you know some of the things that are holding you back from getting great results? Are you nervous about claiming the right pricing? Too many freelancers who are new to working for themselves automatically downgrade what they want to charge because they think they don't have enough freelance experience.

Meet Kelly Cochran, who launched her own work-from-home business after being in the corporate world.

In our discussion, we talk about knowing that you're not the right fit for a corporate or other traditional environment and how to use the experience and strengths you have in a freelance or entrepreneurship capacity.

• The mindset and practice pieces you need to do when you leave a corporate job and are now working for yourself.
• Why you can't afford not to think of yourself as a CEO
• Pricing options and what works best when you're moving from being in a traditional job situation making an hourly rate vs. doing project-based pricing instead.
• What goes into deciding on a flat rate for charging your freelance client a project based rate.
• How to include the right factors into your pricing when you're just getting started so you make sure you don't undercharge and end up with a ton of work instead.
• When does hourly pricing actually make sense? How should you handle that situation with the client?
• Why you still need to ask questions when you're just getting started on a project so that you still come across as an expert but get the information you need to begin your own freelance work.
• Why overthinking pricing is such an issue and why it's actually costing you opportunities.
• Don't automatically discount your work because you're leading with price and puts you in a weaker position.
• How to get the client to give you some clues about what their freelance budget is
• How to do the right thing with packages
• Why Kelly decided to write a book

Affectionately known as "Loud Blonde" by friends and fans, KELLY COCHRAN is an unapologetic writer, speaker, and entrepreneur who passionately encourages women to listen to their instincts and speak their truth at the highest volume.

Honing her skills as an SEO expert, brand strategist, and project manager, Kelly spent 15 years in corporate America. Tired of hitting her head on the glass ceiling, she ditched the cubicle for good in 2017. She is a freelance marketer and high-performance coach who empowers her clients to build profitable, passion-centric businesses and break the chains of the 9-to-5.

Kelly's debut book, LOUD: Silence Your Critics & Turn Up the Volume on Your Life, launched as an Amazon #1 Best Seller in September 2019. Kelly is also the recent recipient of the "Top 20 On the Rise" Award for Marketing, sponsored by Honeybook and the Rising Tide Society.

Kelly currently resides in San Diego, California. Follow her adventures on Instagram @LoudBlonde, or visit LoudBlonde.com for more information.