National University Podcast Series
National University Deans, Faculty, and Leadership discuss a wide range of topics with a focus on the higher education community. Tune in to hear from our experts, alumni, students, and faculty. Current programs include: Center for the Advancement of Virtual Organizations (CAVO), Virtual Education Support Center (VESC) and Whole Person Center (WPC), formerly Virtual Center for Health and Wellness (VC4HW).
National University Podcast Series
CAVO Ep. 90: Finding Clients in the Creative World of Remote Business
Discover key strategies for attracting clients to your remote creative business through this informative conversation. Join Georgie Darling and Jessica Liske as they share practical tips on navigating the creative business landscape. Georgie, a London-based freelance travel writer and business strategy coach for female freelance writers, offers valuable insights on establishing presence in the remote world. Georgie's work has been featured on Yahoo, The Guardian, Fodor's, Tripadvisor, ELLE Magazine, and many more. Dr. Liske, who mentors doctoral students by serving as Chair and Subject Matter Expert in the School of Business and Economics at National University, brings her expertise to the discussion.
Welcome to the Center for the Advancement of Virtual Organizations Podcast, Finding Clients in the Creative World of Remote Business. My name is Jessica Lisk. I'm honored to work as a professor with the School of Business and Economics here at National University. My graduate degree is in industrial organizational psychology and my PhD is in organizational leadership. Today I'm honored to be joined by Georgie Darling, a London-based freelance travel writer and a business strategy coach for female freelance writers. Her work has appeared in Yahoo, The Guardian, Voters, TripAdvisor, Ella Magazine, and plenty more. Today our discussion will focus on navigating the creative business landscape to attract clients and make your mark in the remote world. Welcome, Georgie, and thank you so much for taking time to chat. Hello, it's lovely to be here. Thank you so much for inviting me onto the podcast. Georgie, I'm excited about our topic of conversation. To get us started, please tell us a little bit about yourself.
SPEAKER_01:So, as as you said, um I am a female freelance writer. I am London-based most of the time, although I am a travel writer. So a lot of that role does involve traveling. So this year, for example, I've been traveling all over the world, really. And a lot of that does feed into the sort of writing that I do. I've been freelance writing as my full-time career since 2019 and did a bit of freelance writing on the side before that when I worked as a copywriter in London. When I'm not freelance writing, I do business strategy coaching for female freelance writers. So that involves really taking a deep dive into what their businesses look like, what they want their dream business to look like in 12 months' time, and then getting clear on what those goals are, building that out with a self-marketing strategy, and then helping them to refine their business as it grows through each step of the process.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you. Thank you so much for sharing. So let's begin with defining what a remote creative business means. Could you share some examples of remote creative businesses?
SPEAKER_01:Okay, so a remote creative business is a type of business that offers creative services or products to clients without being physically present or located in the same place as them. So I am a freelance travel writer. Everything that I do is remote, but some other examples of remote creative businesses could include graphic designers, web developers, copywriters, photographers, video editors, podcasters like the one we're on now, coaching, consulting, and yeah, there's an entire spectrum of things it includes.
SPEAKER_00:Nice, nice, nice. Thank you. Thank you so much for sharing. So let's talk a little bit about what advice do you have for those starting a remote creative business, such as the most effective approaches to building and maintaining client relationships in a virtual environment?
SPEAKER_01:The first thing I would say is well done on deciding to go into this kind of field. I think it's something that a lot of people want to do, but because it's often considered quite an oversaturated market, a lot of people just keep it in the dream phase without actually taking it, you know, making it into a reality. So, first of all, well done for deciding to do that. In terms of starting out, so the first and most important thing I would say is create systems and processes early on. I think this is really, really useful because as your business grows, it helps to keep everything streamlined. I think when it comes to maintaining client relationships virtually as well, you do need to kind of stay one step ahead of working with your clients, just in the sense that if you're working with someone in an office-based environment, then if there's something they don't understand, they can just come and tap you on the shoulder. Whereas if you're working virtually, then you do have to preempt those things before those struggles happen with clients, just so that you can make sure that they do trust you, that you can maintain that relationship, and everything can continue running smoothly, which obviously is really important when you want those relationships to grow, so that you know you can grow your business overall. So when I say systems and processes, I mean things to keep the client updated on every step of the process of working with you. So that includes things like onboarding, that includes things like check-ins, like offboarding or rolling off at the end of a contract, anything you can do to make sure that they are feeling that they that they are feeling involved and confident in their ability to work with you. I also think the systems are really good for helping to make you look more professional, which then gives the client more confidence, which means that you can charge higher fees. And lastly, on that, I think keep consistent with the methods of communications that you use. So when you've got these systems and processes early on in place already, then make sure that those involve one or two main forms of communication. So rather than emailing the client and having Zoom calls and having actual phone calls and maybe speaking to them or messenger, just pick one or two platforms, speak with them consistently over that. And that will really help to maintain those client relationships without messages getting lost or things getting confused and mixed up. And just kind of overall to summarize for that point, just over-communicate. I think over-communication is brilliant. Just alleviate all of their concerns before they're even aware of those concerns.
SPEAKER_00:So I'm taking down a few notes. These are valuable tips. So I like the fact that you mentioned over-communicate, but find that balance to communicate consistently as far as those platforms that you're using and letting the client know which platforms you will be using. That way they're not looking all over the place for various messages and uh comments that you may uh provide. Yes, exactly that. Yes, keeping consistent, over-communicate, and the importance of ensuring that they feel confident about your services that you're providing. Yeah, I think that's spot on. Good, good, good. Thank you. Thank you. Yes, these are important notes and things that I'm gonna take for sure back to my workplace. So thank you. So uh you talked a little bit about this already, about the trust and confidentiality and credibility is very important. So, how can they be established without face-to-face interactions, trust and credibility?
SPEAKER_01:I think the main thing with trust is just by doing what you've agreed to do. And this may sound like a really obvious tip, but I've been on the other side of the coin before when I've hired freelancers, and you do find that quite a few people do do overpromise what they're actually going to deliver. So I think just establishing trust by doing what you've agreed to do is one of the best things that you can do to ensure that your clients do trust you and, you know, does give you that credibility as a business owner. You don't need to reinvent the world, but just don't under-deliver with what you've promised. I think the the best thing to do here is to under-promise and over-deliver. Because that way, you know, you haven't got anyone's hopes up unnecessarily. It means when you get to the end of the project, hopefully you have gone above and beyond, you've delivered this incredible service to them, and therefore you have established that credibility and that trust. One of the ways that I like to do this is by setting myself pre-deadlines. And what this means is that I know that I'll always hit the actual deadline, even if life gets in the way. So a prime example of this is I was working from Indonesia for a couple of years, and when I was there, I got struck down with dengue fever. And what that meant was I spent a good part of the month either in hospital or in bed recovering from that. And as a freelancer, you know, obviously you are responsible for setting your own deadlines and you don't really have anyone to pick up the slack most of the time. But because I'd set myself pre-deadlines, and by that I meant that if a piece was due on the 15th, then I would set myself a deadline personally for a week before that. That then gives me a seven-day, seven-day leeway so that when I then deliver that piece, I do have some space for if things happen, then you know I'm still going to deliver the piece on the deadline that the client wants. So when I was struck down with dengue fever, it meant that because I'd already done some of the work in advance of the actual deadlines, it meant that I knew I would hit the actual deadline still, even though I spent some time in bed. Another way to do this, I think, is by having an onboarding Zoom call with your client. And not everyone wants this. I've worked with a few clients in the past for two or three years, and I've never spoken to them, you know, face to face. And by face to face I mean through Zoom or Google Meets or things like that. So not every client wants this. I have had one client in the past who actually rejected having a call and just said that he prefers to talk through email. But in order to establish trust and credibility, an onboarding Zoom call can be really, really useful just for putting a face to a name and you know, talking to someone with a bit more freedom and a bit more flexibility than just going back and forth via a faceless um email system. Lastly, on this one, I think social proof is really, really important, especially as your business grows. So when you don't have face-to-face interactions, it can be difficult to get on a good term with a client when you're in the very early stages, especially if they're not someone who does want some kind of onboarding face-to-face talk. So getting testimonials from clients and posting them on your social media, asking your past clients for referrals as part of your self-marketing strategy, and just building credibility through growing your network, a bit like a spider web. So slowly but steadily. It's really, really good for establishing more trust and more credibility as your business grows.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you. These are wonderful tips that can be applied. I like the pre-deadlines aspect, you know, setting yourself up for success by doing something that is practical and that is easy to do. And it's reminding ourselves that pre-deadlines can go a long way.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I find it really, really useful for when bad things happen. But also one of the good things about freelancing is that you can pick your own schedule. So for me, I like to have these pre-deadlines because it means if it's a random Tuesday and one of my friends messages me and says, should we go scuba diving tomorrow, for example? Then because I've set these pre-deadlines, I still have this flexibility in my routine to go and do fun things at the drop of a hat, as in one I want to.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you. Thank you. And as a business strategy coach, I can definitely see in your perspective from that perspective of a business strategy coach, how strong and helpful a onboarding Zoom call can work for both you and as the for the client as well.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so whenever I work with people on an ongoing basis, I always like to have a Zoom call with them first. And that's partially just so that we can both put a face to a name and decide if we are a good fit to work together. And I think the nature of coaching as well is that when you work with someone as a coach, you really want to make sure that they feel comfortable opening up to you and they feel comfortable coming to you with problems and maybe admitting when things haven't gone according to plan. And I think being able to see someone's face and being able to kind of build that rapport with them a bit easier, I think is a really, really good way to start that relationship.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you. Yes. I'm just setting each other up for success and meeting each other, going over those um key milestones within the contract or any other information that um can be helpful. So I really like that tip as well. And the other strategy that you mentioned was the social proofing, providing testimonials from clients, you know, having making sure that the social world knows a little bit more about you and including those testimonials can definitely help.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, for sure. And it's something that a lot of people that I work with seem to either forget about or they seem to build it into a bigger process than it needs to be. So when I say ask for testimonials, all I really mean is drop a quick email to the person that you've worked with and just say, like, hey, Sarah, um, I'm updating my freelance writing website, um I'm collating some testimonials from people that I've worked with in the past. I'd love if you could write something up that I could put on my website. If you want to go one step further, you can also ask them for, or rather, you can give them a couple of prompts. So you'll find that some clients will get back to you and they will say, Oh, that's great, what do you want me to say? So what you can do if this is the case is you can go to each of those clients and give them prompts with specific things that you want them to talk about. So for example, you could go to client A and say to client A, I'd love if you could write about your experience working with me and how efficiently I worked, um, you know, the project milestones that we overcame so quickly, etc., etc. You could then go to client B and say, um, I'd love if you could focus on my creativity and the creativity that I bought to the project that maybe you wouldn't have achieved without me. And then by giving each of these clients specific prompts, you can then collate all of those. You can use them as social proof, and then you've really built up the variety of things that you can show off about as a business owner. And altogether, that means that when you're talking to a potential new client, they can look at these testimonials and they'll be able to see that you're really time conscious, you're really creative, you're good at working as a team, etc., etc. And just having that social proof, I think, is really, really useful when you're working remotely because often it talks about the traits that you might not be able to get across the screen so easily when you're running your business remotely.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you. I know definitely I'm going to uh apply these in my work area. So thank you for bringing these up. Let's take a shift a bit and talk about the key considerations and challenges creative individuals may face when establishing a client base remotely.
SPEAKER_01:I think right at the start, it can feel a bit like the chicken and the egg, like which which comes first, which to do first. And often the starting phase is what stops a lot of people from progressing their business, in the sense that they'll give it a go for a bit. And if they don't initially establish that client base, they'll convince themselves that they're not very good, they're not, you know, good enough to run this creative business, and that's when they'll just give up. So pushing through that first stage is really, really important and kind of putting in the hours in the early stage so that you can then reap the benefits further down the line. So obviously, when you are starting from scratch, it's very difficult because a lot of clients want previous experience, but you know, you're not going to get that previous experience unless you have some clients to work with. So it can be a bit tricky to navigate that bit in the first place. Um, I think a good way to do that, or at least a good step to overcome that, is to utilize your network in the beginning. So I think reach out to your family and friends, reach out to people that you've worked with in the past, just ask them if there's any work that, ideally not for free, but any work that you could do for them at a reduced cost while you're being building your portfolio. Or see if you can do a services swap with people. So for example, if you are a copywriter and you need a website building, then see if you can see if you can do a services swap with a web designer. They can build the website in return. You can do some copywriting for them, and then you can give each other a testimonial based on that work. So see if you can utilize the skills that you already have to start to build up that client base based on, you know, navigating where you are in the world already without having a paid experience to start things off. Um, in terms of other key considerations and challenges, I think another challenge can be time zones. So obviously, if you're if you're, let's say you're you're working with clients in the US, but you're traveling the world or you're based in, you know, the UK or Australia or wherever it may be, I think that can be one of the challenges that people face as well. This is something that I try to use to my advantage in the sense that, for example, when I was based in Indonesia, a lot of the clients that I was working with are in the US. So rather than saying to them things like, hmm, it means we're gonna have phone calls at 11 pm, I would just reframe it to them. And I would say to them, what this means is you can give me the brief, I can work on the brief whilst you're fast asleep. That means that by the time you wake up, all of this work's gonna be done. You can then go through and edit that work while I'm asleep. And then by the time I wake up the next day, I can then go through and work on those edits for you. So what it means is just really, really streamlining the process for them and kind of flipping it around so they see it as an advantage rather than a disadvantage. Um, another challenge, I think, that is one that has um dissipated a bit over time is the fact that some businesses do still prefer face-to-face or on-site working. And this is something that I see quite often in the UK. Um, a lot of job applications will say they're looking for a freelancer, but they'll say, you know, it has to be London-based or has to be Manchester-based or whatever it may be, which to me doesn't really fit into the category of then working with a freelancer. This is something that I think has um isn't quite as important since the pandemic. I think since everyone did start working remotely, I think the world has been a lot more open to purely remote um freelancers and purely remote business owners rather than having everyone face to face. But it is still a challenge. I think it's a challenge that will become less prominent as time passes. And then one final thing on this, actually, just one final challenge, I think, is when you're in the early stages, it's a case of juggling how much time to spend when you are establishing that client base compared to how much time you should spend on the clients that you've got already. So kind of juggling the amount of time that you spend on your self-marketing compared to the amount of time that you spend on client work. And what that can look like in the early stages is spending quite a bit more time than you would like on growing your business, which isn't particularly ideal. But I think when you are in the early stages of any business, that is usually when you are spending the most time on it. And usually that's something that does start to reduce over time. But almost I think accepting that if you are growing a creative business, that you are going to have to spend a bit more time than you would like in the early stages to get it off the ground, kind of keeping that in mind and mapping out your schedule accordingly so that so that you are still, you know, ticking all the boxes and doing all the things necessary to grow that business. I'd say those are the main, the main challenges and considerations.
SPEAKER_00:Sure, sure, sure. Yes, I can definitely see how the time zone approach can uh possibly be a challenge, but it seems like you have a proactive solution there that's streamlining the approach and give and take a little bit where whenever the other persons on the other side of the world are finding out what you can do while they're asleep, and then vice versa, and that can definitely help.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah. I think it's a really good way of doing things. And it's often not an approach that the clients think about. So almost saying to them things like, actually, you know what, this is going to work to your advantage. It means instead of something taking five working days to complete, we can do it in two and a half working days because we're working at, you know, 12 hours apart or whatever it may be.
SPEAKER_00:Brilliant. Thank you. Thank you for that tip. And I appreciate also the um information that you gave in regards to those face-to-face conversations, finding out what are some alternatives of um besides those face-to-face interactions, if it's you know, finding out what their preferred method is, finding out what they uh really want from the actual uh client and coach, uh finding out what they prefer works best.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah. A lot of it is trial and error to begin with. So you'll find that some clients, well, I mean, every client has different preferences, and you can approach that from two ways. You can either go into it with your set methods, and some clients do appreciate a bit of hand holding in that respect. So instead of going into it and saying to them, how should we communicate? If you go into the conversation and say, you know, I usually communicate with my clients through Voxer or through Zoom or through email, and that's very helpful, especially for clients who are newer to working with freelancers or newer generally to working with remote business owners, kind of guiding them through the process rather than expecting them to do it from scratch. However, if you are a remote business owner and you're working with clients who are already a bit more established, you might find that they do have set processes. And that's when you might have to be a bit more flexible into how they work. But obviously, the the nature of running your own business means that you can make these decisions. So if that's something you're not happy with, then you can either see if that client is willing to make an exception, or you can just say to them, you know, unfortunately, this isn't a platform that I use, so maybe we're not a good fit to work together. When you're in the early stages, you'll probably want to have a bit more leeway with that and be a bit more open to utilizing these different methods and different communication platforms. However, as your business grows, that's when you can begin to pick and choose a bit more, and that's when you can really shape this business into exactly what you want it to be, from the clients that you work with to the communication methods that you have and yeah, everything else that goes into the process.
SPEAKER_00:Got it. Thank you so much for sharing. So, business is not a business without clients. Uh, so what strategies can creative entrepreneurs employ to identify and attract potential clients when launching their own remote businesses and their uh creative industry?
SPEAKER_01:The first thing I think to do is get really, really specific on who your ideal client is. And this is something that, especially as a business strategy coach, I see a lot of people forgetting to do. And then further down the line, they get really confused over their messaging, they get very puzzled over who they want to work with, and they either end up growing a business that they don't mind doing but doesn't particularly fill them with passion, or they end up not having much success because they haven't really grown a business with the strategy in mind. So the way that I always say this is that you wouldn't build a house without setting the foundations because you know, if you do it without the foundations, everything's gonna be a bit shaky. It's probably not gonna last very long. Whereas if you take the time to actually build the foundations and in a business element, that means getting really specific on who your ideal client is. That's when you can then build out a self-marketing strategy that supports that. So figure out who this person is, figure out what they're struggling with, figure out what problems you can solve for them. Something I find that really, really helps with this is to write out a client avatar of who they are specifically. So when I say a client avatar, I mean open a blank Google Doc or a blank page in your notebook and write down the specifics of exactly who your client is. So where in the world they're based, um, how old they are, what demographic they fall into. You can even get really specific with things like what kind of apartment or house do they live in, what do they watch on TV, where do they go on holiday age year. You'll find that the more specific you get with this, the easier it is to shape your messaging so that when you are attracting your ideal client, you're talking to that specific person. It means that you can use their tone of voice, you can use phrases that they're familiar with, and you can use the language that mirrors their problems. This is something that I do focus on with everyone that I work with. So, for example, in my group coaching course, which is called self-marketing magic, I have a six-step framework. And the first step of that is getting really, really specific on who that ideal client is. So I think once you know who that ideal client is, aka when you've identified who your potential client is, that's when you can start your messaging and that's how you'll then attract them. So the best way that you'll want to attract your clients, I think, is to look at where they are hanging out online and then start to focus your efforts there. LinkedIn is a brilliant one for creative freelancers, and in my opinion, is the easiest platform to grow a community on. And I say grow a community for two reasons. Because first of all, that way you can attract your ideal clients to you. And secondly, you can grow a community of like-minded people who might be able to refer clients to you that you can learn from, that you can share things with, and just overall grow yourself as a business owner with clients, but also just, you know, just to have a nicer community as you are growing your business. So yeah, LinkedIn is the best one that I would suggest, I think, for 90% of people. I think depending on who your ideal client is, if for whatever reason they're not hanging out on LinkedIn, and I'm trying to think of some examples of who that could be. Um, because it does really apply to most people. I think, like, for example, if you're running a creative remote business and you are, I mean, if I use myself as an example, if I'm a travel copywriter, then I will look for a marketing manager at a hotel brand, let's say, and then I will follow them on LinkedIn, I will start to build out an audience of those people on LinkedIn, and then everything that I then write on LinkedIn will be targeting those specific people. Once you've chosen your platform, once you've chosen who your ideal client is, you can start to build out content pillars. So content pillars are basically basically groups of messaging, um, and they will all combine to make sure that everything your ideal client reads is specifically targeting to them. So usually that looks like educational posts, personal posts, and promotional posts. So the educational posts are really important for attracting your ideal clients because you're showing that you understand what they're talking about, you're showing that you're an expert within that niche. The personal posts are really, really important, particularly for remote creative business owners, because people buy from people. People want to see the person behind the screen. And talking about who you are as a person is really, really useful because it means that they're more likely to identify with you as a person, they're more likely to kind of see a bit about your personality, they'll see that you're not just a business, you know, you are actually a person as well. Um and just generally for getting them to resonate a bit more with who you are and what your purpose is as a business owner. And lastly, promotional, which is one thing that a lot of people that I work with completely forget to do because a lot of us forget that, you know, people can't hire us if they don't know that we exist. So promotional posts are a really, really important part of identifying and attracting potential clients because you need these people to not only identify you as a business owner that can solve their problem, but they also need to understand that you are open to work, that you would like to go and work with them, etc. etc. So yeah, I think a combination of those three posts is really, really important for identifying and attracting those clients. Um, a last bit on this, actually. So I keep on talking about LinkedIn because it's it's the most important platform, in my opinion, for creative business owners. Um, but a few other really useful ones for creative freelancers are Facebook groups, um Twitter threads or X threads, as we should technically call them nowadays, um, different job boards and newsletters. There's a huge variety of these around. So looking for relevant ones within your industry. So for example, freelance writers, you would just search freelance writers on Facebook groups and see what pops up. Um, the private ones are usually significantly better than the public ones, just for reference for any freelance writers listening to this. Or newsletters, again. If you just Google things like newsletters for freelance writers, you'll see a huge variety of those popping up. Those are really, really good as well for more active ways of looking for clients. So obviously, as your business grows, you want to attract those clients, which is more inbound marketing. But when you're in the early stages, when you are looking to grow that business quite quickly, when you're looking to find those new clients, you probably want to focus your efforts on outbound marketing, which means talking about your business and posting in places and showing up online. So all of those methods that I just mentioned, like the Facebook groups and things like that, those are all really, really good ways of not necessarily attracting potential clients, but getting yourself in front of them and sticking your hand up and saying to them, this is what I do, this is how I can help you, this is why you should hire me.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you, Georgie. Yes, all of these marketing magic strategies can definitely help. I love how you mentioned at the very beginning, setting that foundation, sharing with clients the importance of setting that foundation and getting that specific ideal client uh written out, just helping those individuals to truly figure out what that ideal client is and creating that avatar. Thank you for sharing that. Can you talk a little bit more about uh, for instance, those content pillars? I love how there's three various ones that you identified that educational posts, uh personal posts, and lastly the personal uh promotional posts. So educational, personal, and promotional. Can you talk a little bit more about those, uh, the importance of creating those posts there?
SPEAKER_01:Yes, definitely. So I like to split things into content pillars because a problem that I found with a lot of the people that I work with is that they know that they do need to be posting online, but they get really, really caught up in thinking what to post. So having content pillars is a really useful first step for making sure that everything that you're posting is relevant to your target client. So maybe if I give you an example of each one. So an educational post, let's say that you are a copywriter who works with fashion brands, let's say. So an example of an educational post for a fashion copywriter would be talking about things that are relevant to fashion brands who are looking to hire someone to help them with their marketing. So that could be things like the importance of strong product descriptions for a fashion brand. That could be something about why a strong copy on a landing page is really, really important. That could be looking at things like industry insights or relevant keywords, or anything that shows that you're up to date with things that a fashion copywriter would need to know. It's basically a content pillar that that proves to your target client that you know what they're talking about and that you are, you know, almost that you are very helpful to them because you're one step ahead when it comes to industry insights and things like that. The personal one could be, the personal one could be something like why you have an interest in fashion. It could be something as easy as where are you working from this week, um, it could be quirks about your business, just anything that shows a bit more insight into who you are as a person. And the promotional one is one that a lot of people do get caught up on, but that can be as simple as doing a LinkedIn post that says, I've just updated my freelance writing website, here is a link to it so you can see what I do. It could be something that highlights a piece of work that you did recently. So if you've just finished a really cool project for a client, you could share a link to that on LinkedIn and say, you know, this is a fun project that I just finished. I'm now looking for new projects like this. So if you or anyone in your network is looking to hire a fashion copywriter to do X, Y, and Z, then you know, I would love to chat. Reach out to me and we can chat in the DMs or something like that. But I think that they're not compulsory, I think. But I think if if you're listening to this and you want to start posting online, but you're not sure what to do or what to post, then I think write out some draft captions and put them into these content pillars. Because one thing I do see a lot of people doing is just posting things online without really checking if they're relevant for their ideal client. So for example, a lot of freelance writers post LinkedIn posts that speak to other freelance writers, which is great, but only if your ideal client is a freelance writer themselves. If you're trying to work with businesses who are a world away from that, then you're probably posting things that That they don't particularly care about for lack of a kinder way of phrasing it. So having these content pillars is good because it means before you get things scheduled and posted on your chosen platform, you can refer back to your content pillars and you can refer back to your client avatar and you can make sure that everything you're posting is something that your idle client is going to benefit from.
SPEAKER_00:Got it. Thank you. Thank you so much for sharing those additional examples. And I feel that that's definitely going to help our business leaders who are listening. No wires at all. Yes, yes, yes. So, Georgie, this has been such an informative conversation. Thank you so much again. Are there any closing thoughts you'd like to leave us with how can our listeners um connect with you as well? If you can share that additional information, that'd be extremely helpful.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so one thing I would love to leave the listeners with is that if you're deciding whether or not to launch a creative freelance business, then do it. A lot of people will say to you that the market's oversaturated, that it doesn't have much security, that it's going to be a constant case of feast or famine, but it doesn't have to be like that. I think when you have the right strategy in place, when you are strategic about your business growth, when you set the foundations from the beginning, you really do start to streamline everything that goes on into that business. And that's when you can really grow it into something incredible. It's a leap that I was very, very scared to take before I actually did it. And I was very comfortable just sitting in my comfort zone working full-time in London, thinking that I would love to live this dream lifestyle of traveling full-time and working with clients that I really, really enjoy. But it took a long time for me to actually take that jump. So if you are considering doing it, then I would say do it and don't be put off by people who say that it's not possible or people who say it's not a lucrative career path, because it definitely can be. And in terms of finding me, so my website is thefreedomroot.com. So that's yeah, www.thefreedomroot.com, or you can find me on LinkedIn at GeorgieDarling.
SPEAKER_00:Perfect. Thank you. I just wanted to also ask in regards to freelancers and how they can differentiate themselves. Is there any way, any other uh further uh strategies there that freelancers can differentiate themselves and stand out to potential clients that you would recommend?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so the first thing that I recommend to everyone that I work with is that they choose a niche. So I I have a birthday cake analogy that I use a lot in my coaching. And that is if you want to buy a birthday cake for someone really special to you, you could just go to the supermarket and as you're doing your weekly shop, you could just find a cake there and buy it for them. Or if you want something really, really premium, something really special, then you're gonna go to the fancy birthday cake shop or bakery, let's say, up the road. Because you know that if you go there, you can get something really bespoke. It's gonna really, really impress the person that you want to buy the cake for. They're gonna love it, it's gonna be really memorable. You're gonna go into this bakery knowing that you're gonna pay more for it, but also that you're gonna get a much more premium experience than if you buy the birthday cake from the supermarket. So by choosing a niche, I think you are positioning yourself as the premium birthday cake rather than the supermarket option. And I think that's a really good way to stand apart because not only does it mean that you can charge more for your services, but you're giving clients more expertise or rather more confidence in your expertise because you're proving that you do have this specialist knowledge. So you don't want to be a generalist, you want to be a specialist, you want to be the special birthday cake. So when I say choose a niche, I mean think about the sort of services that you want to offer and think about the sort of people that you want to offer it for. So instead of saying that you are a photographer, let's say, you could specialize into wedding photography, or instead of being a um website developer, let's say, then you could really hone in and say that you you design websites for um busy moms who are in the coaching niche or something like that. You'll find that the more specialist you can get with these things, the more you stand apart from the masses and the more you're giving clients that confidence that you are really something special in the industry, rather than just being one of the generalists who offer everything to everyone at probably not quite as high of a standard. I think as well, like and adding to this bit really, deliver the service that you're offering to a high standard. So again, this may seem obvious, but it isn't always a given. And I found in the past when I have like hired freelancers to help me grow my business, some of them do promise very high quality things, but then that they don't actually deliver a high quality service. So just delivering a high quality service, I think, is a really good way to differentiate yourself. And it might seem obvious, but it it isn't always in the industry. One other thing to add here is try and be one step ahead when you're working with your clients. So anticipate their needs in advance. And what that means is if you're offering one service to them and you establish during your working relationship with them that there's something that they're missing, offer them that service as well. So for example, if you if you're rewriting their website as a copywriter and you see that they don't have a blog, but they could be utilizing a blog and they could be utilizing SEO. Let's say that those things are also things that you offer. Offer those things to that client. Don't feel like it's being icky, don't feel like you're selling things to them. Think of it as being helpful to them by helping them to grow their business with one freelancer rather than them either not knowing that they need this problem or them thinking that they need to work with multiple freelancers to solve all these problems. So a really good way to differentiate yourself is just to make yourself as helpful as possible. And I think that's a really good way to stand out to potential clients because you are showing that you are one step ahead of what they need.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you. Thank you. Additional business marketing magic skills, really taking that uh analogy, that birthday cake analogy, and bringing that to life. I love that. Um, and making sure that we are honing into our personal skills and looking at how we can be a specialist rather than a generalist. I like that. I'm sure that um people can definitely relate to the birthday cake analogy.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I hope so. It's one that I say to a lot of people because I often see on LinkedIn, for example, that you don't need to be a specialist, that you can be a generalist. And I mean, there's nothing wrong with being a generalist, but if you're trying to grow your business to new levels or if you're early on in the industry and you are trying to differentiate yourself, it's the best and easiest way, I think, to differentiate yourself without without having to learn a whole host of new skills. Just lean into the the things that you enjoy the most, the things that you feel the most comfortable doing, and make that your specialty.
SPEAKER_00:Got it. Yes. You know, I'm actually ordering a cake right now for um an upcoming birthday. So I'll definitely keep that in mind. And yes, and keep that in mind as um course we become, you know, specialists in our own area and even in education and in our business world, how we can hone in those particular skills. And I thank you so much for also sharing about being one step ahead for our clients and anticipating their needs, finding out how we can be as most helpful to our clients as possible, sharing with them how our skills can truly help them in their area to grow their business.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's again something that I see a lot of people skipping because a lot of people feel like they're being too hard-salesy by offering clients things that they hadn't initially spoken about. But I've actually, from experience, learnt that clients really appreciate when you do something like this because they don't necessarily anticipate it from you. And I think if you can do this regularly, you can start to build up your client base into, let's say, four to five ongoing client retainers. And that way you're not stuck in that feast or famine thing of finding new clients and new projects every month. And you can do that just by being one step ahead because eventually these clients are going to get people pitching them and saying things like, you know, I can do this SEO blog for you. But if they're already working with you and you can say to them, actually, I can offer the service for you, you don't need to outsource it to someone else, then they're ticking two birds with one stone. You've got a bigger client retainer from them, you are making yourself very helpful to them, and you both get to grow your businesses knowing that you like the person that you're working with. So it's a win-win in my in my experience and in my opinion. True, true, true.
SPEAKER_00:Definitely. I can definitely see that. Uh for both client and coach. Um, so I appreciate that. The win-wins always are helpful, right? When both of us can win. Yeah, that's what we like. Yes, for sure. All right, if you can just share with us one more time how our listeners can connect with you.
SPEAKER_01:So my website is thefreedomroot.com. Um, you can also connect with me on LinkedIn. So my name is Georgie Darling. And if you have listened to this podcast, then please connect with me and drop me a message because I would love to chat away with anyone who has watched this podcast and to hear from any of you in the future.
SPEAKER_00:Great, great, great. Thank you so much. But Georgie, it's been a true pleasure chatting with you. Thank you for joining us in support of the Center for the Advancement of Virtual Organizations. We truly appreciate all of your insights, your tips, your advice, and know our listeners will benefit from your experience. Thank you so much.
SPEAKER_01:It's been such a privilege to be invited on here. And yeah, I've really, really enjoyed it. Thank you for the opportunity.
SPEAKER_00:You're welcome. Thank you again.