229: Tips for New Freelancers

 

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Tips for New Freelancers

Hi friend, welcome back to your Big Creative Life podcast. Thank you for being here. Today's episode is a re-record because I recorded this a few days ago and I don't know what happened, but there's a, oops, the video had no sound. Like the whole entire podcast, like video that I recorded, I put these on YouTube. So they're available as podcast episodes where you can just have the audio. on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, but then you can also go to YouTube and watch the video. And there was no sound. And I was like, do I just have no video or should I re-record it? And I ultimately decided to re-record it just because, I don't know, I wasn't like totally happy with some of the things that I said in the episode. And why I find it so difficult to talk about this sometimes is like, I don't know. I get asked questions from new freelancers, aspiring freelancers, book editors, and otherwise. And it's like, I don't always know the right tone to strike. And I don't feel like I get it right of acknowledging that things have changed since AI and also like, but not wanting to be all doomsday and like negative. So I don't know. It's difficult. But we're going to talk about my tips for new freelancers in this episode. And some of these things are for like, you know, book editors specifically, but really it'll apply to anything. And I also think that even if you're not a freelancer and you have no plans to be, there hopefully will still be some good takeaways as far as like positioning and branding for you as an author. Because let's just be real in this AI world, I think creating a personal brand that humanizes you and showing like there's a human here, I'm not AI. it's going to be even more important.

So we'll get into all that. If you're interested, real quick, just wanted to mention coaching. I have a six-month coaching program that is for writers who are either have already started writing a book, but they want some support to get the first draft out, or they haven't started writing, they just have an idea. And I have one spot that's open this month, is the time that I'm recording this, in April, for this program. And it's six months of working with me one-on-one. We have coaching calls. I give you feedback on your pages along the way. You get access to me Monday through Friday on this app that we use to check in and you can get your questions answered and you know, all that good stuff. So you can check the link in the show notes for more information about that. And then I'm also booking for June at the earliest and then the rest of 2026 for editing and manuscript evaluation or copy editing. So you can head to my link to find out more information about that as well.

Okay, tips for new freelancers. I've done a few episodes talking about this, so I guess I should just give like a two-minute Cliff's Notes version of how I got started as a book editor. I have a degree in English Lit, and shortly after I started taking writing seriously, like really creative writing, I was taking a ton of writing classes at these literary centers I was going to and online. I started beta reading for people, just unpaid. I was also in a critique, like a writing group where we would critique each other's work. So I got a lot of experience giving feedback and like forming opinions and being able to articulate those opinions and suggestions to an author. I got experience doing that, did some unpaid beta reading. And then I mean, not to toot my own horn, but also to toot my own horn, because this is literally my job. This is like my full-time job. I'm a damn good editor. And I realized I was pretty good at like giving feedback to people, and I really understood grammar in a way that like, I just assumed. It's kind of one of those things where you assume that everyone is as good as you at the thing that comes easily to you, and you just sort of, you don't even think twice about it. And I sort of realized, wait, I could really, I could probably do this. So I took an editing course online. It was through, I believe it was course one of those like massive course platforms. And I started out on Fiverr, which is a freelancing site that is still around. Let me just go. I have literally not gone on Fiverr in years, y'all. Freelance services marketplace. Yeah, there you go.

So you just type in what kind of freelancer you're looking for and they are on there. And the thing with Fiverr, when you're a new seller is you make almost no money because like you're just starting out, you don't have any proof, you don't have any testimonials, You just like put your services on there and then people find you. And so I was on Fiverr for a while. I did probably like 6 projects, I don't know, six or seven manuscripts. And I knew that I wanted to transition off of Fiverr. That was my goal because number one, like I said, you don't make hardly anything on Fiverr. And then also they take a cut of everything that you make. And I was like, if I really want to make a go at this, I'm going to have to not rely on Fiverr. But it was great to get started. So then I started posting. I had an Instagram, but I wasn't really taking social media seriously. I had a website, but again, it was like no one was really finding me through my website and Instagram. So in 2021, I'm really marking on the timeline. I can't remember if I started posting on TikTok in 2020 or 2021. I think it was 2021 in the summer. I made a TikTok and I started posting writing content.

And even back then, like 5, six years ago, TikTok was, you know, still pretty new and there wasn't a ton of book content, there wasn't a ton of writing content. So I started gaining some followers and eventually got my first client through TikTok. Like it was someone who found me from a TikTok video, which was exciting. And then probably 6 to 8 months after that, I was getting enough clients on my own that I was like, I think I can transition to taking this full time because that was my goal, right? It's very difficult to have a side hustle that requires a lot of your time and energy. And then also, be working at 9:00 to 5:00. I didn't have a kid at that point, but it was just a lot because I was having to add it in the mornings before work, lunch break, if I could swing it, that wasn't always possible. And then weekends, I basically had no free time. And I was at capacity with what clients I could take on. Like I just couldn't take any more on because of having to balance both. So in March of 2022, I quit my day job. So I guess with the math, that must have meant I was posting on, I started posting on TikTok in 2021. Yeah. So it's been just over four years that I've been doing this full-time and taking the leap was scary, but it was also something that I felt confident doing. I had saved up a little bit of money in my business savings account from clients and I felt like, okay, I think I think I can do this. So yeah, that's how I got started.

And so my first tip for new freelancers, whether you want to get into book editing or really anything else, is be prepared for this to be an absolute roller coaster. I mean, it sounds obvious, like when you are a freelancer, you don't have a steady paycheck and benefits and all those things that come with a nine to five. But It really is a roller coaster in terms of clients that you're booking, in terms of your revenue, how much you're making per project. It just is such a roller coaster. And I don't think that everyone is, number one, prepared for that. And #2, I don't think that that's something that people, like there's nothing wrong with just having a side hustle. I'll just say that. I think that some freelancers want to take this full time and have that be their job and like work for themselves and that's great, but sometimes people just want to keep it as a side hustle and that's okay too. So don't buy into like this hustle mentality of like, oh, you've got to be your own boss. Yes, you can, but that's not ideal for everyone. So you can always keep it as a side hustle. But yeah, just like know what you're getting into, know that it will be an absolute roller coaster and it will probably take a lot of time and energy in the beginning to feel like you are getting any traction and momentum. And the other thing is, when I say make sure what you're getting into, I mean in terms of AI and the industry and what the current state of things is.

And I'm thinking particularly of, well, I guess any industry that's been impacted by AI, which really if you're a freelancer, it's probably like almost any industry. Because if you're thinking about getting into freelance graphic design, freelance copywriting, freelance... book editing for sure. All these things have been impacted by AI. And it doesn't mean there's not still room for freelancers or clients aren't booking those things, but it's just things have changed drastically over the last few years. And I think that the mentality and the advice and the expectation of someone starting this when I did in 2020, It's just not, things just don't work the same. They've changed so rapidly, even since I got started, and you have to be aware of that. So in order to gain experience, tip #2, for gaining experience, getting those first few clients under your belt, you have to be willing to do whatever work you can, maybe even for free. So This might mean working for free in exchange for some testimonials or adding to your portfolio. It might mean going on Fiverr and creating a seller profile and in my case, editing a book for like $20, you know? I'm making up $20. I don't remember how much I made, but it was like very little.

So yeah, it might mean doing that. Oh, every once in a while, I guess I don't see this so much anymore, but I feel like a few years ago, there was this, I saw a few examples of book editors who were on TikTok advertising that they could do a full round of editing for $100. And I just assumed that those people were new. And like some of them were. And I was like, oh, okay, that's why they're offering to edit a full book for 100 bucks because they want to just gain experience. And that's great. But if you're a seasoned editor who's been doing this a while and you're charging $100, like what is going on? Anyways, that's a bit of a side note. You deserve to get paid fairly for your labor if you're not new. But yeah, if you are new, you have to just gain experience however you can, because it's going to do a couple of things. It's going to... Again, like get testimonials for you, proof that you've worked with clients, stuff to add to your portfolio, whatever it is. But then it's also going to develop your confidence. It's going to further your skill set. You're going to gain experience with the client back and forth. So it's not just the actual deliverable. In my case, it's not just the actual editing that I'm doing on someone's book. It's also the emailing back and forth, the billing, the contracts, the everything that's required to see a project through from the time that someone reaches out. out to inquire about working with me all the way through me finishing their project and them making their final payment.

There's a whole client experience and getting those first few clients, like it helps you gain experience with all of those things. So just know you might have to get scrappy about how you get those first clients, but that's okay. It's just temporary. You're not going to be doing that forever. Tip #3, and this is where I mentioned in the beginning that some tips might be applicable for authors. This is 1. Positioning and branding are more important than ever. No matter what type of freelancing you are doing, you have to be able to articulate, even if you don't put this in your copy or like your social media content and explicitly say this, You have to think about how you were better slash different from AI, right? And this, for me, this isn't something I really talk about in my copy very often because like, look, if someone has no problems with AI writing a book for them or like editing a book for them, I'm not going to convince them to hire me. Like I'm not talking to those people. Yeah, it's just like a losing battle to try to convince someone who is dead set on writing an AI book. Like, what am I? can't convince those people. I can try, I guess, but like, I'm not spending the bulk of my time and energy doing that, right? But something I can do occasionally in my content It's just like let people know who are on the fence about using AI. Like, hey, here's the benefit of working with a human editor versus a tool that was trained off of stolen work, hallucinates, can't write a coherent story.

You know, if you use AI assisted like feedback, you can't query to most agents or submit to small presses. Like I can do some education on why it's a good idea to reconsider the whole like using AI to help you with your book thing. But positioning and branding also means apart from AI, why should people invest in you? What can you bring to the table? And I don't just mean your skill set and your certifications and your education. I mean like you as a brand. What are your brand values? How are you going to stand out on social media? I think this is important on social media now more than ever. particularly for like Instagram. I mean, I just think about how much AI slop is on Instagram right now in terms of content and how it's just, we've got to be better than that. We've got to stand out more because there's a sea of generic content out there that all sounds the same. And if you are the 156,000th post that day on how to do X, Y, Z, and it's just like a basic text post, that might not stand out much. I don't know. It's just like really getting strategic with this stuff. And a lot of this, a lot of what I'm sharing, I'm inside of this right now. I am a business owner. I'm an entrepreneur who is thinking about my own content and my own branding and my own positioning.

And I'm thinking, okay, how do I pivot? How do I shift? Do I need to change what I'm doing in order to make myself to better position myself for the changes that AI has made to this editing landscape. And it feels kind of weird to be in this. I feel like I'm in the eye of the storm a bit or like in this weird limbo where a lot of freelancers, editors, book people, like we don't know what this industry is going to look like in even five years. It's hard to say with 100% certainty where things are going, which makes it feel like a weird time in the freelancing world. I'll just be direct and say, like some days I'm like, what the **** am I doing? I don't know. It's, you know, my revenue's been down. I've heard from other editors who have experienced the same thing who are struggling to get clients. And I just think, going back to what I said earlier about like knowing what you're getting into, I think this is part of it. Now, I'm still making money. There are always clients who are going to value a human touch, no matter what industry you're in, no matter what type of freelancing that you're doing. I mean, even if I just think of myself, I do not want AI touching my book. I want a human editor, editors. I want human cover designers when the time comes. I want human marketing, human social media content. I pride myself on that. Like all of that is extremely important to me. So I don't think that's going anywhere. There's absolutely still room for new freelancers. It's just acknowledging that, yeah, things have changed. It is a little bit harder than it used to be. This also means getting specific about who you serve, right? Who you are marketing your services towards. Like, I'm not an editor who is saying, yeah, I'll work with academic articles, and I'll edit children's books, and I'll edit like, or edit thesis statements for graduate students, and I'll edit fantasy novels. And like, the positioning and the marketing, the branding is very different for all of those groups of people. I'm not, I'm not trying to talk to everyone.

I only edit fiction. young adult or adult. That's it. Now, occasionally I do get clients reaching out who have written nonfiction and want me to copy edit. And I'm happy to do that. That's something I can definitely do. But the bulk of my marketing, well, not the bulk, all of my marketing is talking to novelists. I'm not talking to other types of editing clients that I could be getting. So I think finding your niche, finding, carving out a little space for yourself in your industry, in your market is important to specialize. because it's going to help you get hyper-specific with your content. Again, it's avoiding that generic sounding content that is so prevalent on social media because you can get hyper-specific about who you are talking to try to attract clients. And with positioning and branding for authors, I mean, I just think about like this goes back to, we've talked about this a bit in social media episodes, how I think in the age of AI, It's important to let people see that you are a person, that you are a real author, that you do not use AI, and a little bit about who you are so that they can connect with you and trust you and buy your books then, or be more likely to buy your books. Doesn't mean you have to overshare, doesn't mean you have to share everything, but like letting people see behind the scenes, letting them see like what else you do, what else you love, what your hobbies are, a bit about where you live, I don't know, anything.

To #1, again, show that you're not AI. And 2, just to have something to connect with. I just think that's important. Yes, of course, there are exceptions to this. There are those like faceless accounts that go viral and do really well, sure. But with AI, it's more important than ever. And make your, oh, my next tip related to this is to make your policies and your processes clear. When you are thinking about your positioning, you're thinking about how you work with people, how you want to describe what you do. And I don't mean that you have to go in detail about how the sausage is made. It's not like I'm spending a ton of my efforts detailing exactly what I do when I edit a book. But clients are very clear on what they're going to get in terms of the deliverable. And they also know that I'm not going to use AI. I have it explicitly stated on my website that I have a no AI policy. And then there's a link that they can click to go into a separate page that has more information about my AI policy and that I draw a line between generative versus non-generative AI.

So this is important in the age of AI to show people that you are not using AI as part of your process. So if you're a graphic designer and you're describing your services, tell people what you do. Make a policy about AI. Or if you're a photographer or if you're a whatever, people need to know because people work with me. for a lot of reasons, but one of them being that I have this strong public stance on AI. They're like me. They don't want AI touching their book. They value a human editor. That's why they're coming to me, partly. So that's important. And again, going back to the social media thing, if you're not using AI for your actual process in terms of working with clients and your deliverables, then you need to not use AI in your content, because I promise you, people are going to be able to tell. It sends me into a rage if I think about it too much when I go on Instagram. I basically have stopped scrolling on Instagram because it drives me crazy how many AI posts I see. And it's like they're not even trying to edit it or I don't know if they are, but it all sounds the same. Once you learn to spot AI writing, it's so obvious. Recently I was scrolling. And it was a, there was a, or I don't even know if I was scrolling. Maybe this is just a suggested post. Cause yeah, like I said, I'm really not scrolling anymore. It must have been a suggested post. But anyways, it was a reel.

And it was one of those reels where like, it was a couple seconds of someone doing something in the video and the title in the video was like something about parenting, something about moms. So it's like, oh, interesting. And it said, you know, read the caption for information or tips or whatever. So I did that. I clicked. And the caption was like 16 paragraphs of absolute AI slop, like classic AI writing. And I immediately exited the post. I'm like, well, screw this. If it sounded like a human wrote it, I might have like, you know, engaged with it, maybe even followed the account because, but because it's so clearly AI generated, I'm not going to follow it. Like it ****** me off. So it's going to reflect poorly on your brand. If you are just spitting out regurgitated AI content, that's not going to help you stand out. So many brands are doing the same. You know, you're doing nothing to differentiate yourself from other people or from AI itself, honestly. So those are my tips and thoughts for new freelancers. It's really is not a doomsday scenario, despite what I shared in this episode. Again, there are still clients to be found. There's still room for new people to step into this, absolutely, especially if you have a niche, a segment of the market that you are catering towards. That's important. And then you can always expand later.

But it just is like knowing that it might be kind of a slog in the beginning to get going, to get established. I mean, I think of, I think of my own experience when I got started and I was like, I don't know how I'm going to get clients. I had my first, I had those first few clients on Fiverr and I'm like, okay, great. But like, how am I ever going to get clients off of this? How am I ever going to get, how am I ever going to make more than like $500? I just didn't know. But I had to go through the motions. I started the podcast. I started TikTok. I just kept putting in the work, even when I wasn't seeing any payoff. And eventually clients started coming. So it will happen. It just might feel like a slog in the beginning. But you kind of have to go through the motions, get experience, do it anyways. Content marketing, I still firmly believe is the best way to get clients. 90% of my clients come through social media or the podcast. Some come, a few come from referrals, like client referrals, which is amazing. But yeah, most of it is through social media. So I still think it's a great way, but you have to get more strategic with your content, not have it be generic, not have it sound like, hey, I wrote it, have a strong brand voice and values and positioning to separate you from every other person who is doing the same thing that you are doing.

And a lot of this just comes down to you being you, like being authentic. It sounds so cheesy, it sounds so motivational speaker-ish, but you are the only you. You are the only person who can describe what you do the way that you do it. You are the only person who has your lived experience and credentials and training and whatever else that you bring to what you are doing for clients. That all matters, but you have to actually step up and show people that in order to let them, like invite them into your world to work with you, to reach out, whatever. Yeah. And I guess I'll just wrap up by echoing what I said a second ago, or not a second ago, earlier in the episode, that this is, it feels like a limbo period right now. Again, I don't know where things are going with AI. It feels like things are kind of tumultuous and tough. So Yeah, I think it's just kind of riding this wave and I'm doing some reflecting and thinking about my brand. But it's an evolving process. Like you're never done evolving as an entrepreneur, as a freelancer. I constantly second guess myself. I constantly pivot and try things. And I'm like, oh, that didn't work. Let me try this. There's a constant evolution that's happening. And it doesn't mean if you're doing that or you're feeling that way, it doesn't mean anything is wrong. That's what being an entrepreneur is. is changing and evolving and testing and trying. It means you're doing something right if you're doing that. So that's another thing. All right, well, thank you for listening. I hope this was helpful. And yeah, good luck out there. There's still room, but it is tough. So you've got this. Okay, bye. Thank you for listening.

Katie Wolf