Freelancers who start to do a lot of client work will soon realise they’ll be taking lots of briefs - and while you can do it in person, on Zoom or over the phone, you can also send a client brief template to your clients as well. In this episode, we chat about:

• The various ways to take a brief and what works for us
• What you need to consider when taking a brief
• Your briefing template, or the client’s?
• Key things you need to ask about (budget, target audience, goals, style + tone etc)
• What happens when you get the briefing process wrong or miss things
• The importance of recapping over email

Resources

BLOG: 3 types of content you need to know about (to help you do a better job) https://www.rachelslist.com.au/blog/three-types-of-content-you-need-to-know-about-to-help-you-do-a-better-job/ 

TOOLKIT: Get $5 off the new client brief template at Rachel’s List with the code BRIEF5 https://www.rachelslist.com.au/toolkit/product/client-brief-template/ 

This week on The Content Byte, we’re talking to Sarah Townsend, a UK-based copywriter and the bestselling author of Survival Skills for Freelancers, a book that’s fast becoming THE bible for anyone starting out working for themselves. (There’s lots to learn too even if you’re a veteran freelancer, just quietly). We chat to Sarah about:

• What inspired the book, and how she essentially wrote it for her ‘younger self’
• The strategies she used to get the book out there and create word of mouth
• The pitfalls of freelancing, such as letting clients become your mini bosses, taking on work that’s not a good fit for you, and being too scared to take risks
• Why community’s so important and how to find your people
• Why a trusted freelance tribe can be invaluable, especially with what to charge
• How freelancing just isn’t for everyone and that’s completely okay
• Her top tips for any freelancers who may be struggling with building a business
• And much more!

Want to know more about Sarah and the book?

Head to SurvivalSkillsForFreelancers.com to sign up for Sarah’s monthly newsletter, which is full of great advice for freelancers. You’ll also get your hands on a free downloadable chapter of the book.

You can also buy the book direct from Sarah or from Amazon.

Do you live in terror of asking for more money? Many freelancers do, and end up undercharging as a result, or charging the same rates for years on end. In this episode we cover why we need to get to grips with raising our rates (regularly) and the best way to do it. We also talk about:

• Why we're so nervous about raising our rates
• Why most clients prefer to pay you more than replace you
• The best times to start thinking about raising your rates
• The best ways to do it (and why it's not on the phone)
• And much more!

Resources

The pay rates report (great for checking what you should be charging)

25 Scripts for Freelance Success ebook (including scripts on raising your rates)

This week, Rachel and Lynne chat with Rachel's List gold member, colleague and long-time freelancer Monique Butterworth, who shares behind-the-scenes tales of celebrity interviews, the huge budgets of magazines in days gone by and why being professional and meeting deadlines still matters. 

We chat about:

• Monique's start in journalism and moving from a country town to Sydney
• Why developing relationships is the key to securing continual work
• Why a financial safety net is essential when you start freelancing
• Her favourite tools of the trade
• Why you should treat everyone with respect
• And why you should always deliver what has been commissioned

Find Monique at moniquebutterworth.com, on LinkedIn or on Instagram @moniquebutterworthwriter 

Are you a freelancer with a sneaky suspicion that you could be managing your social media better, or more effectively? Join the club: there are a lot of us out there. And in this episode, we ask Sam McFarlane from social media management consultancy, Sam Says for her tips on what we SHOULD be doing. She talks about:

+ Choosing platforms to focus on + Common mistakes freelancers make on social media + Creating a social media content calendar and why it's important + Best practice - including times to post and how often + The ratio of 'salesy' posts to other types of content + Ideas for posts audiences are interested in, which freelancers can work into a content calendar to get engagement and build their businesses + Social media tools she uses And much more!

Where to find Sam

Website: www.samsays.com.au

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

Instagram: www.instagram.com/samsayssocial/ 

If you endear yourself to a content agency that pays well, and offers you regular, interesting work, you're onto a good wicket as a freelancer. But how can you get your foot in the door in the first place? It can be a challenge for some writers, but in this episode, we ask Clare Brundle, managing director at Hardie Grant's Heads and Tales Content Agency, for her tips. She shares:

+ How agencies love freelancers with a specialist niche, and how it can set you up as the go-to person for that topic (and be lucrative)

+ Why there's less leeway with content marketing briefs than journalism briefs, and what you need to know about the strategy that's gone on behind the scenes of that brief

+ How you should never tell a content agency that you can write for digital if you don't have a website of your own

+ How to approach a content agency - do you simply send a letter of introduction, or pitch as well?

+ Why your career will die if you don't evolve, keep learning and stay curious, instead of focusing on how the industry is changing in ways you don't necessarily like

+ Her tips for immersing yourself in the world of content marketing so you're poised to approach agencies as they get new, interesting clients

And much more!

Find out more about Clare

Website: www.headsandtales.agency

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/heads-and-tales-au

Instagram: www.instagram.com/headsandtales_au 

Watch her amazing preso about custom publishing and content marketing in the Rachel's List Pitching masterclass 

There’s always so much to learn from successful freelancers, and our interview with freelance writer and editor Michelle Bateman is a case in point. Michelle specialises in beauty, fashion and culture – but she’s quick to point out that there’s a lot of joy in generalising too, simply because you can cover so many topics that interest you. In this bumper chat, we talk to Michelle about the following:

• How she fell into writing about beauty
• What having a niche and expertise can enable you to do more for clients
• How the pandemic has impacted beauty writers and the industry
• Adapting to different styles of writing, from editorial to content to copy
• Michelle’s tips on switching between different types of writing
• Why you should always learn best practice and upskill regularly
• How Michelle manages big projects and smaller clients
• What kind of work she batches, and how batching helps her be more efficient
• Why Michelle loves a mix of in-house and working from home, and the value there is to be had in meeting regularly with clients or working with a team
• Her advice for freelancers and the benefits of working with agencies
• Michelle’s favourite tools and apps

Resources

Michelle’s website: http://www.michellebateman.com/

RL masterclass: Beyond Journalism (Michelle talks content marketing and copywriting)

RL Blog: So you think you can … be a beauty writer?

By design, freelancers do have more freedom to live and work in other locations - even if you worry you might lose clients or become 'out of sight, out of mind'. That wasn't the case for editor and journalist Sara Mulcahy, who decided to move her family and freelance business to Far North Queensland just after Covid hit. And as it happened, she enjoyed her best financial year yet.

In this episode, Sara talks about:

• The journey crossing the borders just before they closed
• How her work has changed since moving up north, and the niches she's thrived in due to her location
• Dealing with different budgets in different locations
• How she's managed to keep existing clients and find new ones
• Her tips for other freelancers, and more!

Find Sara on LinkedIn

Do you struggle to get paid as a freelancer? Need some strategies to ensure clients don’t ignore your invoices? You’re in luck: in this episode, we’re talking to Collectmore’s Paul Metcalf, a nationally renowned debt collection expert. In this episode, Paul shares:

• Some of his most memorable debt collection stories
• Red flags about clients who may be problem payers
• How to set boundaries with clients from the get-go
• Strategies for protecting yourself as a freelancer
• Paul's #1 way to get paid (that most of us don’t do)
• Steps for freelancers chasing late payments
• Letters of demand, and how to use the templates in the Collectmore app (before hiring a debt collector)
• And much more!

Where to find Paul

Website: www.collectmore.com.auFacebook: www.facebook.com/collectmore  Download: Collectmore app 

As freelancers, we all want more lovely leads coming to us - right? Enquiries popping into our inbox. Potential clients approaching us on social media. Ringing us straight from Google. And if things have been at bit barren in your business lately, we've got a heap of great things to try to get things moving again.