As a freelancer you are the ‘Big Cheese’ when it comes to your business. You are ‘Head Honcho’ and your brand is YOU. So it’s important to keep that in mind when going into business for yourself.
- You are responsible for the world’s perception of you and your services.
- You are responsible for marketing yourself and creating a name for yourself.
- You are responsible for following-up on leads and responding to client inquiries.
- You are responsible for making your clients happy and delivering on time.
See the trend here? It’s all about you and what you have to offer as a business or service provider. How you position yourself will determine how successful you are.
One of the best ways I know of to position yourself properly is by setting up your own website with your own blog attached and utilizing social media to spread the word and send eyes to your web content.
When I first started as a ghostwriter I didn’t know anything about marketing or positioning. I set up a website with a few samples of work and rates and then posted in forums that I would write $6 dollar articles in exchange for testimonials.
Over time I learned that I had talent, was working like a horse for very little pay and getting burned out. So I raised my rates to $10 articles, and learned about marketing and positioning by reading a ton of books and following successful marketers like Chris Brogan and my good friend Jenn Dize.
Fast forward a few months and I had set up my own blog and started writing on a topic I am passionate about (copywriting). I began to brand myself as an expert in my field. As I went I gathered testimonials from some of the big names in Internet marketing and began upping my rates again.
Because of the quality of information and writing on my blog I began getting work writing ad copy for Internet marketers as well as a lot of ebook projects. In the mean time I had started exploring social media and growing my presence on Twitter and Facebook.
Eventually I learned I could connect my blog to my social media accounts so that my followers could read my work. And I learned that if it was great content they retweeted it. (Important note: Great content does NOT equal articles you’ve SEO’d the crap out of or that are blatantly self-promotional.)
This has actually been instrumental in gaining me more visitors and traffic and ultimately more business. My followers now see me as an authority, and a professional. They also see me as someone who provides valuable, usable information. Because of that I make better money than ever and gain new clients via referrals and word-of-mouth.
Successful freelancing is all about positioning and personal branding. Position yourself as a professional, GOOD at what you do… then back it up with the quality of work you deliver as well as the quality of service you deliver. I went from making practically nothing while working my butt off, to earning a very nice living for myself in a relatively short time, with almost zero experience in both writing and marketing.
I achieved it by recognizing the importance of personal branding, and positioning myself as one of the best, even if I didn’t always feel like I was ‘one of the best’. Honestly if I can do something like that it’s likely you can too, whatever the services you happen to offer. So I’m curious… what have you done lately to establish YOUR personal brand as a freelancer?
Warm regards,
Cori Padgett AKA @k0zm0zs0ul
