You’re all set to write the guest post that’s going to bring at least a hundred new leads to your website, and then it happens: The dreaded writer’s block.
The best of us go through this at some point or another, and it may come from various reasons – maybe a fear of criticism or wanting to write the perfect post in one shot. [Read more…]
When you’re starting up a business or establishing yourself as a freelancer, it’s easy to think that all potential clients are good clients. The customer is always right, after all.
This isn’t always the case. Sometimes you may not be a fit for a project. All freelancers will run into that at some point, and that’s not a big deal. There are also clients that will make your life a living hell. [Read more…]
As of 2017, 3.9 million people in the US worked from home at least half the time.
Many of these people were freelancers.
For someone who has always worked for someone else, the freelance network can be scary. It requires confidence, skill, and persistence to be successful.
However, on the flip side — this can be one of the best and most important decisions you may ever make!
If you are looking to join the remote workforce, keep reading for some useful tips that can help propel your career and earnings past the competition.
Use Fear to Find ConfidenceFirst things first.
You should know that confidence is not built in a vacuum. This means that trying something new and doing it well builds confidence.
The more familiar you are with a thing, the more comfortable you will be with the process of it. Also think about the many other ways that businesses are looking to find and hire freelancers as well. Not only will this help with better understanding the industry, you may also learn how to better stand out from the crowd and accommodate new clients as well.
Part of being a writer is isolating yourself in a blanket and coffee cocoon. You could literally go weeks without ever seeing another human being — should that be a main focus and goal of yours. Though it is recommended to make sure you break apart your day and writing/design work, so you don’t overwhelm yourself and your body in the process.
When you want to start freelance networking, this is a mistake. Your comfort zone is your enemy.
Start by reaching out to other freelancers and potential clients.
Do this using online forums and offline meetups. Face to face meetings build real relationships and can give you new leads.
Services like Meetup, Eventbrite, and Facebook regularly have public events centered around a topic. Also, platforms like Instagram are helpful for building your freelance career.
Take stock of the knowledge you have accumulated thus far. Chances are you’ll find someone online in need of content around it.
Do you know a lot about fitness or personal development? These are jumping off blocks for you to begin reaching out to clients.
If you are unsure where to start, try picking a niche.
Specializing in a few areas will help you build a portfolio of content your clients can trust. While writing is a general skill, knowledge of a nuanced subject will land you the big bucks.
Choosing a popular niche will ensure that there will be ample work available.
If you don’t have a deep knowledge base in a particular subject, don’t worry. It is most important to show that you can provide quality work on a deadline.
The time has come to leave the research nest. Once you have an idea of what you want to write, start reaching out to people. There are many tools that can help with this process as well.
Pitching is usually the hardest part for entrepreneurs. They get into a constant loop of whether or not they are really good enough.
When this comes up, think about the worst-case scenario. The worst that will come of reaching out to a website is an ignored email. You may also get a letter that says “no thank you.”
Find a sustainable number and reach out to that many people a day. If you are in a niche, write a few sample articles and submit them to websites. Make it unique with an interesting headline to catch attention.
Be sure to set up an email for correspondence. Also, use a payment service so that you can send an invoice.
If you are hoping to go full-time as a freelancer, build up your client base first. You don’t want to leave your current job on a hunch with no prospects.
Self-talk is the voice that rolls over and over in our heads. It tells us, “I’m not good enough”, “I’m not ready”, “maybe they don’t need my input.”
Negative self-talk is unsupportive language that keeps us paralyzed by intangible possibilities. Fear of the unknown is the major driving force behind negative self-talk.
Positive self-talk can be trained and developed as you develop confidence.
Psychologists and self-improvement leaders like Craig Beck assist with developing positive self-talk.
Just like ‘haters’ and negative feedback can deter you from your end goal, positive feedback and self-talk can help you get to where you want to be.
If you truly feel your work isn’t strong enough this is a constructive truth. It simply means you can improve your writing skills.
The freelance industry, like anything new, can feel overwhelming at first — but those who stick with it and build a profitable and trusted clientele, can find great success for years to come.
Like many other industries, success in it can be summed up in a few words: persistence, confidence, skill.
Building your skill will build confidence. Meeting others in your field will boost creativity, leads, and confidence.
From there, be persistent. Continue to reach out to clients and improve your work.
Of the many different things I can teach and tell you about running a business and making money online, it is that you are up against the world. There is no reason for anyone to find success online if they aren’t willing to put in the time, work, and effort.
The opportunities are there for those who are willing to fight for them. Now show the world of freelance what you have to offer!
There are thousands of people who launch beauty blogs each and every year. But unfortunately, most of them end up failing because they aren’t able to create enough content that people want.
Do you want to avoid having this happen to you? If so, you should make it a point to deliver the best possible beauty content to your blog readers — this applies to both bloggers, content creators, and freelancers alike.
As a beauty blogger or social media influencer, your goal should be to make those who come to your blog or online profile look and feel their best. You can do this by providing them with great beauty advice. If you’d like to see some real examples of the top players in this space, look no further than any of the top profiles in reference to fashion on Instagram.
Here are 9 tips that will help you come up with the right advice for those who trust you to be their beauty blogger.
Before you launch your own beauty blog, you should look around at what all the other beauty bloggers that are out there are doing.
Set aside a weekend and spend it scrolling through the blog posts that other bloggers are creating. Write down what you like and what you don’t like about the different blogs that you come across.
This will provide you with plenty of inspiration for your own beauty blog. You can find a way to incorporate some of the things that you like into the mix on your blog while steering clear of making some of the mistakes that other bloggers are making.
It’s good to know what kind of competition you’re going to be up against, too. The only way you’re going to find out is by checking it out for yourself.
Of the many different problems bloggers face, finding a niche that you know a lot about and can write endlessly on, shouldn’t be one of them. With more than a billion sites on the internet today, it’s important to make sure you choose your niche wisely.
Once you have a good idea of what other beauty bloggers are bringing to the table, your next step should be to find your own unique niche. You want to make sure you’re putting together a blog that will offer content people can’t find anywhere else.
Rather than focusing on the beauty industry as a whole, consider targeting a specific aspect of beauty that you want to cover. This will allow you to focus all your efforts on one thing rather than spreading yourself too thin.
Are you going to be blogging for teenage girls? Professional women who want to create the right look for the workplace? Men who need help grooming themselves without spending a fortune?
Instead of trying to write blogs that cater to everyone, it’s best to provide advice to a very specific group of people. You should figure out who your audience is sooner than later so that you can start writing blogs for them.
People aren’t going to trust your beauty blog to provide them with beauty advice if it doesn’t look, well, beautiful.
If you’re serious about launching a successful beauty blog, find a website designer who can bring all of your many ideas to life. They should be able to create the perfect layout for your blog based on how you want it to look for your readers.
A high-quality camera is a beauty blogger’s best friend. Without a camera, beauty bloggers won’t be able to show off the latest beauty products and techniques.
You might not want to throw down a substantial amount of money for a pricy camera right away. It’s good to get your feet wet before you do.
But eventually, you’ll need a camera that’s capable of capturing the best images and videos possible for your blog. It’ll help set your blog apart from all the rest.
The beauty industry is worth upwards of $450 billion. As a result, it’s filled with more products and services than you could ever count, let alone test.
But that shouldn’t stop you from trying to test out as many of them as you can. You could very well stumble upon a great product that no one else knows about for your blog. It’ll differentiate your blog from the rest when you’re showing your readers products and services they can’t find anywhere else.
When it comes to creating content for your audience, you need to know what they are looking for, and how to provide them with the best content possible. For a clear example of how to accomplish this, look no further than Rockwell Razors, which have created an excellent article on “What Causes Razor Bumps And How Can You Stop Them”.
Not only does this apply to a large audience and ranks well in the search results, it also targets a lot of individuals who would likely go on to purchase from their site as well.
If you’re going to be a beauty blogger or social media influencer, you can’t afford to slap together low-quality posts that don’t provide people with nearly enough information. You need your posts to be incredibly detailed while still being easy to understand.
Prepare to spend at least a couple of hours on each post that you do. Additionally, try to establish a unique tone and voice for your blog right from the very beginning so that people know what to expect when they come to it.
The same holds true for how top influencers are making money on Instagram. It all comes down to providing high-quality content for your audience, and then having a solution in place, while also monetizing the process as well. Beauty bloggers and social fashionistas are making millions of dollars through the use of their content, sponsored placements, and also providing value to their audience at the same time.
If you’re spending a couple of hours on each of your posts, if not longer, you probably won’t be able to post to your blog every day. But you need to post regularly to maintain your readership.
Create a posting schedule for yourself and stick to it. Even if you only put up one blog post every week, people need to be able to count on you putting it up on time.
As your beauty blog starts to take shape and develop, there are going to be things that your readers love as well as things that they hate.
Ask your readers for feedback every so often to gauge what they like about your blog best. You can provide them with better advice when you know what they want out of your blog.
There are so many people making a living by blogging about beauty today. If your dream is to become one of them, you need to make sure you’re ready to dish out amazing beauty advice to your blog readers.
By following the tips provided here, you can get yourself off to a great start. You can also grow over time as long as you push yourself to provide people with the best advice that you can.
As always, feel free to check out the many other articles on this blog to further improve your writing, while becoming a better beauty blogger in the process.
As online content creators and freelancers, it’s a necessity to not only ‘be on social media‘, but also to take advantage of it in as many ways as possible.
It’s also not just about building a following, but also knowing how to use it in the right ways to help grow your following, build your brand, and also increase new client work and follow up orders. Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter are all great for this, but one of the most underused platforms being used by freelancers and content creators is Instagram. [Read more…]
