Selling your skills as a freelance

tonyshepherdfreelance

 

As a freelance you might think your only saleable talent is being a writer, or web designer or coder or however you make your living.

But more and more freelancers are now selling the secrets of HOW they make a living as well as creating an income by actually doing it.

When I first started as a writer I wrote pieces whenever I could get a commission, I wrote sales copy for internet marketers and occasionally wrote something first and then tried to sell what I’d written (much harder)

By far the biggest chunk of my income came from writing sales copy for internet sellers at this time, and as it became clear to my clients that my sales copy actually worked, they came back to me with more and more commissions.

I even managed to work out a small percentage point on sales with a couple of these jobs which was very profitable and gave me a recurring income for several months.

Out of the blue I received an email from someone who wanted to get into copywriting asking for advice about how I pitched clients, where I learned the art of copy writing and how much I charged.

It hatched the idea of writing a short course about what I did on a day to day basis as a copywriter. A ‘How To’ that other wannabe copywriters could follow to establish themselves and make it profitable.

I created a basic website and offered either a downloadable PDF version of the course or a comb-bound printed copy for a higher price (all done by me at home) and sold enough copies to buy a new computer, printer, hosting and the other bits and pieces I felt were necessary to my trade.

As sales died down from the ads I placed in Biz Opps mags and Exchange & Mart I struck a deal with an online ebook publisher and sold the rights to the course. This was a mistake and I should have kept on marketing it myself because he made much more than I did, but the lump sum was worth several month’s salary at the time and much appreciated.

The experience really thumped home that as a writer (or whatever branch of freelancing you’re involved in) you can not only profit from being paid by clients, but also by people who want to be doing what you’re doing – the ‘how to’ of your skill set – the day to day running, pitching, selling, payment chasing, connecting ann networking side of being a freelance.

You’ve learned a lot and have a lot to share, and there are more people willing to pay for your expert knowledge than you may think.

And if we get down to the nitty gritty who would you rather learn from?

Someone who does, someone who teaches, or someone who does BOTH?



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