Putting out Content daily - let's see what happens

[Pat D. Rick]

So this is my first thread on this forum, but I guess it's a good way to monitor my progress as a freelancer and at the same time give you some insights on what's going on.

Okay, first things first...

In September 2018 I started on the side as a freelance copywriter. With all the tipps from this forum I setup an Upwork account and got my first client by sending him the article he was looking for, for free. He was impressed and gave my more work for the next two months. This was a content writing gig however, so not too much money. But hey, you gotta start somewhere.

I setup another account on fiverr which was more about copywriting than content writing. When people pay you money for what you create out of nothing it is sweet. But to me the real ice cream is the 5-star reviews they left because it’s proof that they were actually happy with my work.

In November I designed my own website. Amazing what you can learn with the help of YouTube tutorials. Because it was so easy to setup a new website and I remembered Fox’s thread about webdesign, I thought that this is another chance to earn money while helping people in need.

Thankfully I have some old economy self-employed people in my family. First target was my stepdad who has 6 employees and little to no work in December. I offered to update his website because it was pretty bad at that time and drive some traffic via Google Ads to it. 3 weeks later he asked me to stop the campaign because he got more phone calls than he could handle. It’s hard to describe the feeling of satisfaction I had.

After that until now there was just another customer for a website and every now and then a small copywriting gig.

Make no mistake, I still struggle to find new customers and most of the money I still earn with washing dishes on the weekend.

Now I think weekly updates are the way to go for this thread and of course every time something cool happens I’ll post it here.

If there are any questions feel free to ask

 

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[Andy Black]

Well done. Those are some very valuable technical skills you’re picking up (content creation, copywriting, website design/build, Google Ads). Wrap them all up in a bow and sell it as a way for businesses to make more sales and get more revenue.

Check out the Inbound Braindump thread in my signature. It might help.

Diesel and coffee.

 

[Pat D. Rick]

Check out the Inbound Braindump thread in my signature. It might help.

Thanks I already read the whole thread and immediately used some of it. I sent out messages to old clients telling them that I have some free time now if they need my skills. Just one replied so far and assured that she will think of me in the future.

I also reached out to some local online marketing agencys offering my adwords skills for small business owners. Already met with two of them in person. One of them told me that they were looking for a guy like me the exact day my email reached them.

Guess there is some truth in this quote:
"The amount of good luck coming your way depends on your willingness to act."

 

[Aron]

Go check out "The Webdeveloper Bootcamp" on Udemy..massive value for a low price and Colt explains everything very detailed. Just a tip from someone who just started

 

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[NMdad]

Now that you've generated leads for a business, you might consider creating a list of similar businesses--maybe for different cities--and email/call them to tell them the results you achieved for a business just like them.

 

[Pat D. Rick]

Now that you've generated leads for a business, you might consider creating a list of similar businesses--maybe for different cities--and email/call them to tell them the results you achieved for a business just like them.

Already doing that. Problem is that most people of that old economy are simply not interested in these kind of things or they don't need it at the time. Or I'm just doing a bad job in explaining how I can help them getting more customers.

 

[Gabry_ITA]

So this is my first thread on this forum, but I guess it's a good way to monitor my progress as a freelancer and at the same time give you some insights on what's going on.

Okay, first things first...

In September 2018 I started on the side as a freelance copywriter. With all the tipps from this forum I setup an Upwork account and got my first client by sending him the article he was looking for, for free. He was impressed and gave my more work for the next two months. This was a content writing gig however, so not too much money. But hey, you gotta start somewhere.

I setup another account on fiverr which was more about copywriting than content writing. When people pay you money for what you create out of nothing it is sweet. But to me the real ice cream is the 5-star reviews they left because it’s proof that they were actually happy with my work.

In November I designed my own website. Amazing what you can learn with the help of YouTube tutorials. Because it was so easy to setup a new website and I remembered Fox’s thread about webdesign, I thought that this is another chance to earn money while helping people in need.

Thankfully I have some old economy self-employed people in my family. First target was my stepdad who has 6 employees and little to no work in December. I offered to update his website because it was pretty bad at that time and drive some traffic via Google Ads to it. 3 weeks later he asked me to stop the campaign because he got more phone calls than he could handle. It’s hard to describe the feeling of satisfaction I had.

After that until now there was just another customer for a website and every now and then a small copywriting gig.

Make no mistake, I still struggle to find new customers and most of the money I still earn with washing dishes on the weekend.

Now I think weekly updates are the way to go for this thread and of course every time something cool happens I’ll post it here.

If there are any questions feel free to ask

Good work my friend, you've started the process, I'll follow your updates because there are similarity with my situation (I'm learning coding, developing a website and discovering ads)
Good luck and enjoy the trip

 

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[NMdad]

Already doing that. Problem is that most people of that old economy are simply not interested in these kind of things or they don't need it at the time. Or I'm just doing a bad job in explaining how I can help them getting more customers.

That's OK, you can figure out the best-performing way to find, reach, and convert them. Even if there's 1 prospect in every major US city, that gives you dozens of prospects to practice on.

 

[Pat D. Rick]

Update for the last week:

Changed my strategy in approaching prospects a bit. After I read a thread here about the 80/20 principle I figured it would be better to focus more on the things that were already kinda working.
So I sent out more emails to various digital marketing agencys asking if they would like to work together. Some of them said they would come back to me, when they need my skills. Some of them don't want to cooperate and a lot of them didn't reply at all.

I like the idea of approaching people that are already looking out for you. So I'm now going after facebook business groups as well and try answering questions about PPC without directly selling to them. This way I can learn a lot myself on the way.

Upwork is another thing I'm going back after because of course companys there are obviously looking for people like me. Plus it's a good way for fast feedback. Only "problem" is that it's mainly a platform for the english speaking market and I'm not quite sure yet if my english skills are good enough.

Biggest Problem:
My biggest issue so far is my lack of patience. I know that this is kinda stupid but it's something I'm really struggeling with. I can't believe that already a week has gone by and I'm still have nothing to show for.

Any ideas on how to get more patient?

 

[Pat D. Rick]

Oh yeah it's already time for a new update.

So last week was pretty fulfilling. A client of mine who I made a basic website for and run a Google ads campaign asked me if I had changed anything recently because he actually got some new customers in. Finally a positive feedback!
I tried to improve his landing page and ads constantly and finally he got some serious business with my help. In his own words "At first I was sceptical because nothing happened, but now that I got so many customers I'm convinced." Sounds like a testimonial
I love it when people get results because it shows me that I am doing something right.

Another client reached out to me through Fiverr. He is starting a subscription based business and asked me if I could write the copy for his landing page. Had a phone call and am absolutely sure that I can help this guy. This is a great opportunity for both of us because it might end up as a long term partnership.
It payed off that I read a lot about online marketing and that I'm constantly educating myself, so I can provide more value to my clients and see all the mistakes other people make.

Off topic:
By the way I ran a marathon on Sunday. It was my first (and probably my last) marathon ever. I know this has nothing to do with the business, but it was an important personal goal of mine for this year. So if anyone wants to know how to run a marathon with just 10 weeks of training and less than 4 hours of training per week, hit me up.
Anyway, here's a picture...

 

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[Pat D. Rick]

Alright, it's time for a new update.

I've met with some new agencys and a few of them were interested in working together. Another guy who I met with needed my help with programmatic advertising, so he thought me all the necessary skills and even had some first clients for me. Finally I can see some money coming in.

Yesterday I've been on a business networking event with people from all different kinds of businesses. After I've announced that I'm doing Google Ads some of them approached me asking for my business card because they may need my service in the future. I was kinda flashed, but I'll make sure they won't forget about me.

Now I see that diesel and coffee basically pays itself!

 

[Andy Black]

Alright, it's time for a new update.

I've met with some new agencys and a few of them were interested in working together. Another guy who I met with needed my help with programmatic advertising, so he thought me all the necessary skills and even had some first clients for me. Finally I can see some money coming in.

Yesterday I've been on a business networking event with people from all different kinds of businesses. After I've announced that I'm doing Google Ads some of them approached me asking for my business card because they may need my service in the future. I was kinda flashed, but I'll make sure they won't forget about me.

Now I see that diesel and coffee basically pays itself!

Well done.


I don't know if you've seen this thread:

• Andy's Inbound Sales Braindump

 

[Stargazer]

Well done on The Marathon.

Which country are you in and what do you mean by old economy when describing your fathers business?

Dan

 

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[Pat D. Rick]

Well done on The Marathon.

Which country are you in and what do you mean by old economy when describing your fathers business?

Dan

Thanks man, I'm from Austria.

By old economy I mean anything that is completely offline. Construction is a perfect example for that because a lot of these guys have no clue of what's possible with a good online presentation of their company.

 

[Pat D. Rick]

Well done.


I don't know if you've seen this thread:

• Andy's Inbound Sales Braindump

Yes, I've already gone through it.
The networking event yesterday was a good example. I asked people questions about their business, although I knew that my service wasn't interesting for them. I'm just interested in people and why they do what they do. I think this always makes a good impression.

One guy sitting next to me offering some industrial service I introduced to a friend of mine. There is absolutely nothing in it for me personally, but I knew they could profit from each other in the future.

 

[NMdad]

The networking event yesterday was a good example. I asked people questions about their business, although I knew that my service wasn't interesting for them. I'm just interested in people and why they do what they do. I think this always makes a good impression.

One guy sitting next to me offering some industrial service I introduced to a friend of mine. There is absolutely nothing in it for me personally, but I knew they could profit from each other in the future.

Excellent mindset--helping people even if there's nothing in it for you. (BTW, providing value to others even when there's nothing in it for you will actually produce results--maybe not directly from those folks, but from others down the road).

 

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[Pat D. Rick]

New Update:

Restaurant Website:
Yesterday I met with a guy who wants to start a new restaurant and needs a simple website. So I got the deal and it should be done very quickly. Will bring in about 500€ so nice cash for a not so difficult job.
But the best thing is that he might need my service in the future as he's planning to grow the business and open some more restaurants.
Bonus:
He wasn't quite sure yet what kinds of wine he should offer. Thankfully I have a good friend of mine who owns a vinery. Somehow I enjoy connecting people. I think that's what everybody is talking about in this forum when they say "just help somebody and expect nothing in return".

Copywriting Gig:
Another guy approached me via Fiverr for a copywriting gig. Payed the highest fee (~100€) just to get it done faster. At first I had to do some revisions as he wasn't quite happy with my copy. But as I tried to REALLY understand how he wants to sell and what his audience looks like, I got the job done.
Already working on the next copy for the same guy, so I guess he liked the results. The client even has a good mindset as he said that he doesn't pay me for a particular word count, but for the value I create for him and his company.

Will keep you updated...

 

[Pat D. Rick]

Hey Everyone,

I know it's been a while since the last update but I decided that I want to write this at the end of the month so I have more to show for.

Important News:
So the guy I mentioned in the last post, that I did the copywriting gig for, liked my work so much he had more customers and additional work for me. Within the last few weeks we were on the phone almost every day speaking about business.
He started a social media agency after he had 2 successful exits wiht his former companys. We make a pretty good team combining our services. Next week I actually fly to Germany (where he lives) to discuss future business.

The best thing:
One day that guy sent me a message about a business idea we should start together. At first I didn't quite get his idea, but after I understood what he was talking about I knew that this has Fastlane Potential as it fits all 5 commandments (depending if the need is as strong as we think it is).
It's not really worth talking about at the current state, however I am confident that together we can make this thing happen.

This month's earnings: 1040€
I also just finished another project today that will bring in about another 1000€, but hasn't been paid yet.

Slowly but steadily I can see things change for the better. As I'm now working on this potential fastlane opportunity I think it might take a couple more months to see bigger changes. I'm happy as long as things go in the right direction.

Next update will probably come at the end of July.
Stay tuned.

 

[Pat D. Rick]

Hey Everyone,
I know it's already been two months since my last update, but I didn't forget about this thread. It's just that I focused more on achieving my goals. I wasn't even much active on the forum for the last two months.

July and August have been about the same in earnings with July a bit higher. I am still not quite were I want to be, but definitely on a good way. As long as enough money comes in to pay for a living it's okay.

During summer it was a bit harder to get new clients as everybody seems to be on vacation. I'm sure they come back now in September, thirsty for some business.

There isn't much to say for now, really. So until the next important update I'll keep on working on.

 

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[LittleWolfie]

You said any question, so does your stepdad's company often have no work in September?

 

[Pat D. Rick]

You said any question, so does your stepdad's company often have no work in September?

No, fortunately not. He even asked me to stop the google ads campaigns because he couldn't keep up with the demand.

 

[Pat D. Rick]

Hey everybody,
Another good month. Well, at least workwise.

I've secured some deals that are:

1. New website for a hotel - 1.200€
Thing is that this client will pay me 100 Euros every month for 12 months because it's easyer for him to handle. It's not a big hotel so I am pretty much okay with that deal as I already knew him personally.

2. New website for a logistics company - 1.100€
This deal will be payed in two payments. It maybe seem like a bad deal for a new website, but it really isn't because it's a rather small and simple website. Something i could always do on the side.

3. Simple sales funnel - 800€

4. Content creation - 450€

The good thing is that I'm already through with most of the stuff. So around 3 weeks of work that'll bring in 3.550€ which is awesome.
But the best thing is that I already have some pretty big clients in the pipeline. These have even more potential and would pay me monthly.

Things are really starting to get interesting. I'll give you an update next month or if anything special happens.

 

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[Pat D. Rick]

Hey everyone,
So October wasn't too bad, but could have been better.

The good thing is that I already got payed from most of my clients I mentioned in my previous post.
Another good thing is that I had an idea for a digital product (an online course) because I know that in this niche something like this course would be appreciated. I started to work on that course last week, but because this topic is so extensive it will take a few weeks until it's finished.
We'll see how good it will sell when it's time to hit the market.

The bad thing is that some of the clients I had in the pipeline don't need my skills at the moment, so I'm kinda out of work for now. Feels like I have to start from scratch again.

Oh yeah, there is one more thing going on.
I'm currently creating FB campaigns for a real estate agent. Thing is that he'll pay me a percentage of what he gets when he sells a house through my campaigns. I thought this is a fair deal for both of us, as we'll both only get paid when we are successful. On the other hand I never know if he sells a house through my ads or through his personal network. And trust isn't always the best factor when it comes to doing business.
What do you guys think about this?

 

[Andy Black]

Hey everyone,
So October wasn't too bad, but could have been better.

The good thing is that I already got payed from most of my clients I mentioned in my previous post.
Another good thing is that I had an idea for a digital product (an online course) because I know that in this niche something like this course would be appreciated. I started to work on that course last week, but because this topic is so extensive it will take a few weeks until it's finished.
We'll see how good it will sell when it's time to hit the market.

The bad thing is that some of the clients I had in the pipeline don't need my skills at the moment, so I'm kinda out of work for now. Feels like I have to start from scratch again.

Oh yeah, there is one more thing going on.
I'm currently creating FB campaigns for a real estate agent. Thing is that he'll pay me a percentage of what he gets when he sells a house through my campaigns. I thought this is a fair deal for both of us, as we'll both only get paid when we are successful. On the other hand I never know if he sells a house through my ads or through his personal network. And trust isn't always the best factor when it comes to doing business.
What do you guys think about this?

I’d rather get paid a flat monthly fee than a % of sale, so I know what my MRR is.

For your course, can you first release a small part of it and see if you can get interest?

 

[Pat D. Rick]

I’d rather get paid a flat monthly fee than a % of sale, so I know what my MRR is.

Yes, this makes totally sense, but because this is my first real estate agent I do FB ads for, I wasn't sure how to go about it as I couldn't tell how fast I would bring in results.
I think I'll go with the monthly fee when he recommends my service to other agents in his network.

For your course, can you first release a small part of it and see if you can get interest?

This is what we (I don't create the course alone) are planning to do. We want to have about 60% done and sell it with a special early bird offer to see if there is actually demand.

By the way what experience do you - and all the other guys - have with selling online courses?
What kinds of online courses do you think work best - videos, webinars, PDFs or a mix of everything?
And do you offer a monthly payment as well? (I think this is a good idea for this particular course because it'll be more expensive.)

 

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[Lucky Lu]

So this is my first thread on this forum, but I guess it's a good way to monitor my progress as a freelancer and at the same time give you some insights on what's going on.

Okay, first things first...

In September 2018 I started on the side as a freelance copywriter. With all the tipps from this forum I setup an Upwork account and got my first client by sending him the article he was looking for, for free. He was impressed and gave my more work for the next two months. This was a content writing gig however, so not too much money. But hey, you gotta start somewhere.

I setup another account on fiverr which was more about copywriting than content writing. When people pay you money for what you create out of nothing it is sweet. But to me the real ice cream is the 5-star reviews they left because it’s proof that they were actually happy with my work.

In November I designed my own website. Amazing what you can learn with the help of YouTube tutorials. Because it was so easy to setup a new website and I remembered Fox’s thread about webdesign, I thought that this is another chance to earn money while helping people in need.

Thankfully I have some old economy self-employed people in my family. First target was my stepdad who has 6 employees and little to no work in December. I offered to update his website because it was pretty bad at that time and drive some traffic via Google Ads to it. 3 weeks later he asked me to stop the campaign because he got more phone calls than he could handle. It’s hard to describe the feeling of satisfaction I had.

After that until now there was just another customer for a website and every now and then a small copywriting gig.

Make no mistake, I still struggle to find new customers and most of the money I still earn with washing dishes on the weekend.

Now I think weekly updates are the way to go for this thread and of course every time something cool happens I’ll post it here.

If there are any questions feel free to ask

Can I ask you how much you charge for SEO work and generate traction and conversions for a website?

 

[Andy Black]

Yes, this makes totally sense, but because this is my first real estate agent I do FB ads for, I wasn't sure how to go about it as I couldn't tell how fast I would bring in results.
I think I'll go with the monthly fee when he recommends my service to other agents in his network.


This is what we (I don't create the course alone) are planning to do. We want to have about 60% done and sell it with a special early bird offer to see if there is actually demand.

By the way what experience do you - and all the other guys - have with selling online courses?
What kinds of online courses do you think work best - videos, webinars, PDFs or a mix of everything?
And do you offer a monthly payment as well? (I think this is a good idea for this particular course because it'll be more expensive.)

What I meant was create a mini course and sell that? Instead of a 10 hour course, create a 1 hour course and see if it can help people, and if you can make sales?

How will you get the course in front of people who it can help, and who would be willing and able to pay for it?

@Lex DeVille has a thread about his courses in Udemy.

I have an INSIDERS progress thread about serving my own DIY market, albeit I haven’t updated it much. I also have a progress thread about paid email newsletters, although haven’t updated that for a while either.

I’m sure there’s other threads in here about course creation.

 

[Pat D. Rick]

Can I ask you how much you charge for SEO work and generate traction and conversions for a website?

As of now I don't offer SEO work.

 

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[Pat D. Rick]

What I meant was create a mini course and sell that? Instead of a 10 hour course, create a 1 hour course and see if it can help people, and if you can make sales?

Ohh I see, like a "light" version of the real course. Yeah that could work to test the water, thanks!
We planned about 12 modules, so we only need to find a way to make them shorter or do only 3 modules for the mini course.

How will you get the course in front of people who it can help, and who would be willing and able to pay for it?

I thought about a classic sales funnel.
Maybe udemy works for the light version. The biggest problem is that udemy isn't that big in the german speaking market.

 

[Andy Black]

I thought about a classic sales funnel.

How will you get people into the sales funnel though?