Have you considered offering retainers, working in house, or going exclusive?
Today on the Advanced Freelancing Podcast, my guest Kim Krause Schwalm joins me in a great discussion of the benefits and pitfalls of each. We share our experiences and tips on how you can get started and the red flags to look out for.
You’ll learn how to promote yourself when you don’t feel 100% confident, how to market yourself while you are still learning, and the importance of self-talk. We discuss how to charge for your services and the benefits of short term retainers.
Discover why you should always be marketing yourself even when you are fully booked, and how to prospect for new clients.
Here are some things we covered in this episode:
- Why you need to market yourself with confidence for clients to take you seriously
- How to promote your services when you don’t feel 100% confident
- Why self-talk is important to your mindset
- How to promote yourself out there while you are still learning
- How to have work samples when you are just starting out
- Tips for working with retainers
- Should you charge hourly or set rates for retainers?
- What to ask clients before agreeing to a retainer
- The importance of setting boundaries with your client
- Should you take yourself off the market for a full-time retainer or to go exclusive?
- The benefits and dangers of retainers and going exclusive
- Why you should always be prospecting for clients
- The pitfalls of becoming an employee when you have an entrepreneurial spirit
- The benefits of going in house
- Grab Kim’s Ultimate A-List Copywriter’s Promo Checklist at: copyinsiders.com
KIM KRAUSE SCHWALM was always a marketer who could write copy. She spent more than 13 years in the corporate world in various marketing positions—from Brand Manager to Publisher to launching and running the Healthy Directions supplement business and growing it to more than $23 million in sales within 3 years—before she started her freelance copywriting career in 1998.
Now more than two decades later, Kim has built a reputation as one of the top A-level direct response copywriters in the country. She’s racked up dozens of successful direct mail and online controls, beating legendary copywriters like Jim Rutz and Parris Lampropoulus and becoming the first female copywriter to get a Boardroom control.
Kim writes winning copy for leading companies such as Soundview, Bottom Line (Boardroom), Green Valley Natural Solutions, National Geographic, and many others both in the United States and from England to Germany to Singapore.
She holds a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and Statistics from Miami University in Ohio, and earned her MBA in Marketing from Loyola University Maryland. Kim credits her creative and analytical mind and marketing know-how for giving her a must-needed edge in today’s increasingly competitive copywriting world—and wants to help others gain the same “marketing-savvy” advantage.
She’s one of the few top-level copywriting veterans who’s still writing copy for clients…while being willing to share her success secrets to help up-and-coming copywriters go from “good” to “great”.
You can learn more about Kim’s copywriting training programs and services plus read her blog at www.KimSchwalm.com.
Laura Briggs, The Freelance Coach™, the Founder and Executive Director of Operation Freelance, a two-time TEDx speaker, freelancer, freelance strategy and marketing coach, and author of three books with Entrepreneur Press: How to Start Your Own Freelance Writing Business (2019), the Six Figure Freelancer (2020), How to Become a Virtual Assistant (2021), and the Complete Guide to Website Copywriting (2022). She’s been featured in Business Insider, Thrive Global, and Inc. and is an ongoing contributor on Entrepreneur.com
After listening to the episode share your takeaways with our group:
Mastering Your Freelance Life With Laura
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Meet Laura:
Laura Briggs is empowering the freelance generation. Through her public speaking, coaching, and writing, she helps freelancers build the business of their dreams without sacrificing all their time, family, or sanity. Laura burned out as an inner-city middle school teacher before becoming an accidental freelancer with a Google search for “how to become a freelance writer.” Since then, she’s become a contributor to Entrepreneur, Business Insider, and Writer’s Weekly. She worked for more than 300 clients around the world including Microsoft, Truecar, and the Mobile Marketing Association. She’s delivered two TEDx talks on the power of the freelance economy for enabling freedom and flexibility and how it’s being used to address the technical skills gap in the U.S. Laura is the host of the Advanced Freelancing podcast, a sought-after public speaker on the gig and digital freelance economy, and a freelance coach focused on aspiring six-figure freelancers. Laura’s books, courses, and coaching have reached over 10,000 people.
As a military spouse, Laura is passionate about serving her community and founded Operation Freelance, a nonprofit organization that teaches veterans and military spouses how to become freelancers and start their own business.https://oembed.libsyn.com/embed?item_id=19656152
