How to Land Freelance Clients Using Warm Leads, Directories, and Client Referrals #268

Robyn Stoney Having a qualified pipeline results in like, massive, massive value for yourself if you are positioned correctly. And it really is all about positioning, so use it, leverage that. Emily Reagan Hey there. I’m Emily Reagan, and you found the marketing freelancer. This is the podcast for marketing freelancers and service providers who are already making an impact behind the scenes and want to take their skills, income and business to the next level. Here we’re all about embracing the unicorn title, a full stack marketer who can do it all, strategy, implementation, creativity and everything in between. We’re the magic makers who know how to deliver real results for clients and are ready to rise as sought after marketing specialist. We’re building a business we’re proud of working with Dream clients with impact and charging rates that reflect our work’s worth. Unicorns. Unite. Emily Reagan I It’s Emily Reagan. Welcome back to the podcast today and the next couple of episodes, I have a special replay of our seven ways to land clients. I just feel like this is so important for each one of you to hear and it’s because it’s not just about how to book a clients. It’s the work you do leading up to the clients, but it’s also about seeing the return on your work. Sometimes, as a freelancer, it can feel like you’re working in a black hole, like you need to be doing this, this and this for marketing, marketing ourselves is just hard, and it’s nice to know it pays back, and it doesn’t always pay back in just money. It can pay back in time, quality of life, relationships and all of that. So this live stream we did, I asked different work group members to share exactly what they said, what they did to book the client. And yes, we’re giving you the strategies. We’re giving you insight into what they said. But there’s also this funny little thing called positioning. Where do you stand in the market? Who are you? What makes you different? Why should? Why should a client choose you over someone else? And the positioning is the work we do now. The positioning is you investing in learning services. It’s you investing in the right communities, in the right networks, the conferences to go to and seeing that there’s a return on all that when it gets to this point, like some of these unicorns are at, where two or three years in, clients are finding them, they’re not having to rely on any kind of outbound searches or cold DMS or email pitches or loom video audits that active part of acquisition, where you have to identify and qualify leads like the Freelancer dream is that leads find you that it’s more about discoverability, because you’re already so well positioned. And so this is the work we’re doing inside our digital marketer group. Now, everything we’re sharing today on this live stream can be applied in other groups. My group is not the only one, but it’s so critical to me that you learn these skills and that you make this decision for you and your services, apply them to your business, because you are also special. You are unique. You are a unicorn, even if you don’t offer marketing services. Well, you’re listening to this podcast, so hopefully you do, but we all come with a certain je ne sais quo VA, did I even say that? Right? I took Spanish in high school. We all come with something special. It’s up to us to demonstrate that to the client, and it’s also up to us to do the work. So I almost feel like this episode is a little bit of like the tough love that, Hey girl, you need to do this stuff. You need to do it so clients can book you, and that clients trust you like number one, Hello, yeah. But it’s also, it’s also so nice to know that I don’t need to be spinning my wheels and doing all this other stuff that doesn’t really move the needle. What does move the needle? It’s other humans. It’s networking, just like in the job a real life job market, just like in the real life job market, people need to know who you are and what you do. I have a ton of resources on the podcast to help you with this. I have a ton of resources in the work group, and I have an entire unicorn digital marketing assistant school dedicated to teaching you the services. It’s all out there, but when it comes down to it, you have to put in the work to run a freelance business. You are called to do this, and the work you put in early will pay off. I know you see people out there bragging about their 10k months that is possible, but this is the work you do now, and these are the relationships you build now. So let this be a little piece of motivation for you. Let this be encouragement. Let this be inspiration, that you are doing things right. Sometimes we just need to get in there and perfect and refine how we’re doing it. Sometimes we need a fresh set of eyes to double check what we have out there, because we can’t always see it. It’s that whole analogy you can’t. Read the label from inside the bottle. Sometimes we need a peer group who understands what we’re doing and can help us identify sometimes we might need to work with a coach. Sometimes we might need to take a course, or just dedicate time on our calendar to address it and take our head out of the sand. So I’m hoping this podcast today motivates you. We’re going to have it come out in three parts, and we’re going to share a range of different strategies. We’ve recorded this live, but we’re going to piecemeal it to you here, because a lot I don’t know, maybe you’re walking the dog or driving kids to soccer tournaments a couple hours away, like I do, like I consume my content. Bottom line, if you are doing these marketing services and you need help finding clients. If you need better paying clients, if you want job leads handed to you so you don’t have to stress then apply for our digital marketers work group. We’re taking five new unicorns in November, five new unicorns in December, and I want it to be you if you need to learn how to do the marketing work, so you are positioned as an expert and you know what you’re doing, so you can wow clients from day one. That confidence comes from knowing how to do the work. It comes from sheer competency first, and the rest happens with repetition. That’s what unicorn digital marketing assistant school is. It’s about learning, mastering the services so you can sell yourself, because the first sale is to yourself, and if you don’t believe you can do it, the clients won’t either. Unicorn digital marketing assistant school has an added perk. You also will be ready to take on clients. We’re walking you through the business back end of what you need to have set up. We’re going to walk you through further client acquisition. You’re going to get your portfolio set up. You’re going to get your services guide set up. You’re going to get access to job leads on top of it, and we’re going to be together October 23 through February, week by week, we’re going to have live calls. We’re going to have a confidence coach, we’re going to have a sales coach, we’re going to have office hours so that your business is set up, so you can start booking clients right away if you’re not there yet. And the beautiful thing about this next round of UDMA school, you’re going to get four months in our digital marketers work group. So the value here is insane. And this podcast today is really about the ROI. It’s not just about, oh, make 10k 20k months as a virtual assistant. Charge $75 as a brand new virtual assistant. That’s all bullshit. Today is about seeing the ROI of what you put into your business, seeing it returned. Maybe it’s in a few months, maybe it’s in a year. The best time to plant the tree is now, and that’s why setting yourself up for success, for long term wealth, for transitioning out of a bad situation. This is how you do it. This is how you monetize all of your experience up until now and repackage it in a way where clients want to book you and pay you well, all right, that was my lecture. Let’s jump into our live stream. So grateful for these unicorns for sharing their story. I cannot believe some of the ROI they shared, how much money they’ve made back the time they’ve made back, just the way they showed up for me today to help you and they don’t even know you. Just says everything. It speaks everything about the community we’re creating, real humans who care about each other, who want to see you booked out to want to see you have success. There’s no freaking gate keeping here. We’re here to help you, right? Let’s jump in. So first up, we’re going to talk with Katie Fisher, who is a very established freelancer. She’s been doing this a while, and she’s going to share with you how she booked her client. You have probably seen Katie in my community. I even wrote an email about you, and I got a lot of clicks over to your to your website. But can you take us back to finding your client, and what you said, what you did, and how you booked them? So I Katie Fisher am talking about how I got my clients from the directory, which I think you kind of hit on it. I got those clients because I had a specialty. So I am a Kajabi expert. I have the Kajabi certification, which required me to do additional work to be able to get that certification. But I had the Kajabi certification, and so that is how I got the two clients that I have from the directory, is they saw that I was a Kajabi expert. I validated that by linking it to my Kajabi profile. And then they were able to see, oh, hey, like this girl actually knows what she’s talking about. And I got a $1,600 project that turned into a $2,300 retainer, and then I got a $4,400 project that one didn’t turn into a retainer. But the thing that I realized when clients come to you from the directory is they want help. Now they’re looking for someone now they already have the project in mind. They know what they want to do, and they’re looking for somebody who can execute it for them. Katie Fisher And I think, like I said, having. Katie Fisher It very transparent. Like, this is what I do, this is what I’m good at. And then having the information linking my profile, having it on my website, like, validated, okay, like, there’s multiple sources here saying that this person knows what they’re they’re talking about. I’m glad you brought Emily Reagan that up, because I’ve talked about this a lot on the podcast. We are in this trust recession, right? Where a lot of people who have been in the online space have burned through some teammates, and they’re just being more careful who they’re hiring, and they’re also looking for specialists who know what they’re doing, and those higher end clients, right, those higher end clients who have the budget, they want someone who knows how to do the work. And so by you having an ecosystem where I click through and it matches and it makes sense, really reminds us that your marketing assets matter, because when they come to you, they’re also like, stalking you out, right? Yeah. So okay, so we have a directory where the work group, but there are lots of other directories and freelance marketplaces that this can apply to. So what do you have any that you’ve heard of? Yeah, so I’m in the Kajabi directory, and I’ve gotten several jobs from there. Those, again, are also primarily project based, but Kajabi actory and your directory, I feel like there’s one other one that I’m in, but now I can’t remember. Those are the my two primary sources of where I get clients from. Did you have to be qualified to get in the Kajabi directory, like, through their surgery process? So you have to do like, a test project, and then you actually have to, like, meet with some people off of the Kajabi team, and they evaluate you and make you, like, do a project, live with them, like, in real time, so they can see that you’re actually the one doing it that you know how to do what they’re asking you to do, and then they list you in their directory. Oh my gosh, that’s so cool. I didn’t even know this about you. I like, love getting this update. Katie Fisher Yeah, with that, I am a Kajabi affiliate, and so I make it like an extra five to seven grand a year Emily Reagan from the Kajabi affiliate commission recommending the tech that you already use to clients perfect, if it’s not set up. Oh, I love that. Yeah. I make it super easy when they come into my website to like, I’m a Shopify affiliate and a Kajabi affiliate. And so I make it super easy when they come there, not only to book a call with me, but to also click on those links. So even if they’re like, Hey, I’m maybe I’m not ready to hire somebody, they can use my links, and I can still make commission from them. So you’re like, set up before we work together. Okay, let’s talk a little bit. Well, first, I want to mention a couple other directories that are coming to mind, and you guys know more in the chat. No gatekeeping. Share, but hire my mom.com I mean, you can always go to directories like Fiverr and freelancer and Upwork. It’s the same type of approach. It’s optimizing for discoverability, but like standing out within your niche. So if you were telling somebody new how to really do this, what advice would you Katie Fisher have? I would say, when you’re first starting, don’t try and do everything. Like having a specialty is really what propelled me forward. I started as a Pinterest expert, and then from there expanded. And so I was able to really, like, dive in and know everything about Pinterest and really show up as an expert in that space, and then kind of like, expand from there into more of, like, I’m more of a CMO now, but by having, like, one area of specialty, that really helps me propel my business forward. Yeah, there’s Emily Reagan this underlying sense of trust. When I see somebody not too general, they’re not trying to do everything. Clients are thinking, well, then you’re it’s kind of like that jack of all trades, like phenomenon here we think you’re not good at it, so even if you are good at a lot of things, but you present a few high value services and specialize. That is a good trick to standing out there. How does that feel for you? Or is it easier to sell when clients come to you already looking for that service? Katie Fisher Yes, and that’s, that’s what I was gonna say, is even it makes your website development, like, easier, because you can offer more things, right? But, like, if you have these, I don’t know, like, key three things that you offer, and those are your three main offers, then when you’re having that discovery, call with them. You can say, I could also help you with blah, you know. And sometimes it’s just Pinterest or Kajabi or whatever may be the piece that opens the door. But then once they learn that they can trust you, they’ll be willing to give you more like or ask you like, Hey, do you know somebody who can do this? And then you can recommend to other people, or if it’s something that you are willing to do, then you can say, Oh yeah, I could absolutely take care of that for you. I mean, I’ve had the same 14 clients for a long time now, and it’s because their retainers keep on growing. Because they’re like, Hey, Katie, can you also do this? Can you also do this? Oh yeah, by the way, like I’m starting another. Business, can you take care of that? And so eventually you just kind of do become the person that they trust, and they go to for everything. I love, that it’s like in Emily Reagan house. Upselling your services is absolutely like what we do, we like, weasel our way in, and then we take on more if we choose to. How does this compare to the leads that you feel like you have to chase down. Or have you ever done that type of client acquisition? Katie Fisher Yeah, so I did before, I found your work group, and now I’m not in any other I’m terrible my business could probably I don’t know or not. I don’t know. I don’t look for leads anywhere else anymore. And I forgot, Emily did not pay me to say that. I just don’t I don’t have time to do it. I know that the leads that come into the work group are going to be quality leads. I know that they’re ready to hire. Oh my Emily Reagan gosh, that’s awesome. I mean, that brings up the conversation of prospecting. That’s when you’re doing all the outbound work and whole pitching people, and you’re you’re just hoping somebody actually needs this service. It’s so much easier if somebody comes to you needing it already. They’re further along in the customer journey, and you don’t have to convince them. They’re just here figuring out the right service provider. So then it becomes about your positioning. So Katie, thank you so much for sharing this. Would you share your Instagram or the best way to connect with you in the chat so anyone can follow along and see what you’re doing? Katie Fisher So my my Instagram is, handle is Katie Fisher, underscore. Emily Reagan CO Okay, cool, cool. We’re going to keep the conversation going with more talk about warm job leads, because it is a difference between somebody who is seeking out that service and ready to buy. A lot of you are talking about the quality of clients here, and why are people ghosting you and they’re not quite ready. They’re still in that research phase sometimes. So I have brought our friend Robyn Stoney, I almost called you smiley Robyn Stoney, here to talk about this warm lead opportunity and responding, and how you respond to some of these. What do you say to get the client to reach back out so you’re not ghosted so they’re booking the call and then signing the contract. Caveat, Robyn was on the podcast, so if you want to hear more about her story and Katie too, go back. You can check them out there. So Robyn, tell everyone Hello. Tell us how Robyn Stoney you got the lead. Hello everybody. Thank you so much for having me. Emily. I’m really excited to have this opportunity to share because I remember so vividly when I was brand new and I had no clients. Very, very many years ago, I was scared to death, but knowing that I needed to do this, I could not stay in corporate any longer, and I knew I had the ability, I knew I had the skill set, I knew I had the knowledge, but it was just like getting myself out there getting that first client, and honestly, how I got my very first client and how I get clients today is the exact same way, except for now I’m much smarter about where my pipelines are. So I’m going to share a little bit about how I follow up on warm job leads, which is conveniently, I mean, what the work group is all about, right? But really, if you zoom out, the work group is a pipeline, just like a job board, like Katie was hearing how she’s in these different places that bring leads to you. You can be in multiple places that bring leads to you in so many different ways. And it really makes a lot of sense to have multiple ways that leads come to you, especially qualified ones. But once you get a warm job lead and you see, okay, you’re reading what it is that they’re looking for, it sounds like a perfect match for you. What do you say? And it takes a little bit of finessing and refining your pitch email, which I love, love, love that there is a pitch email training in the work group. So if you guys didn’t know that, that training actually helped me perfect my pitch, and I save this one pitch as a template now, and I use it every time I pitch a client, but I just customize it to that particular lead. So one of the main things that I learned from that training that I was doing wrong, no, yeah, not wrong. But I just, I was, I was just looking at it through a completely different lens. Is that my pitch email was so long and it was II in the email, and that’s not what I got from the training. And so I was wondering, like I had been pitching and I hadn’t heard anything back. And I was like, I mean, I’m a unicorn, like, I should be here. Actually, should be getting some bites back. I’m not getting anything. And then I wouldn’t watch that training. And I was like, oh, okay, let me reposition how I’m doing that pitch. So here’s a few things I took away from that training. One, the structure. Of the pitch, keep it short. And that’s like one of the main important things is to keep it very short, because business owners are short on time, and obviously they have a bunch of people to sit through, right? So being concise is really important. Also your marketing assets. You touched on this? Emily and I was like, yes, spot on your marketing assets for yourself. They’re going to look at what you present to them as your representation. So if you say, I’m a virtual assistant, I’m a marketing assistant. I’m this, I’m that, whatever it is that you say that your specialty is, have some kind of proof behind what it is that you can do. I got my website together, and I made sure I linked my website in that email. Super important, because I noticed that people go right over to my website, because I can look at my analytics and see when I send a pitch out, when they go hit my website, they’re looking at my work. They’re looking at how I write. They’re looking at my testimonials I have on there. They’re looking at everything before they book a call with me. That’s another thing. I put the link to my Calendly for them to book the call in my outreach email, so not waiting for them to reply and say, Yeah, I’d like to book a call with you, I put it right there. I also put a link to my portfolio in my outreach email so they can see funnels I’ve designed in the past, graphics I’ve designed in the past, just some examples of work that relate back to their posting what they need done. Let me show you what I’ve done for others that relates to what it is that you’re looking to have done. I mean, just pure logic there. Another thing is I make sure that I mentioned their business name in the pitch email, and I go and look at their website. I go look at their socials. I go look at everything about their business that I can find publicly, so that they know that this is a customized email. It’s not just a cookie, even though it is a template, it doesn’t feel like a template when they open it. It’s not like, hello, I’m this, I’m that, right? Yeah, I make it customized to them. I talk about my experience like who I’ve helped in the past that relate to them and their niche, and I also link to where I’ve been featured. So I linked to our podcast interview in my pitch email. So smart. So those are like little things, and of course, like when I first started pitching clients, we hadn’t done the podcast interview yet, but when we did, I went back and updated my template and added that in there, because if they’re coming through the work group and then they see me with you, I’m like, hello. Like, let’s, let’s make it make sense. Emily Reagan Milk, that milk. Your connections like this is like, PR, 101, you want to name drop people, and not in like, an awful smoothy way, but in an authentic way. And they’re coming to the work group because they want vetted people from my network. Robyn Stoney So write it that’s so smart. Hello, right? And that’s just part of a broader point here. Is to leverage content where you’re somewhere else online, if you have it doesn’t mean that you have to be on anyone’s podcast, although, if you have the opportunity, of course, do it. But if you haven’t been featured on a podcast, like, link to your own YouTube channel. Make a video like about me and you know, work I’ve done, make a video and link to that so that they can see you on camera. If you have any videos whatsoever, video is so powerful, because they kind of get a sense of who you are from that I talk about their requirements too. So when you read the posting and they’re like, must have Kajabi experience, make sure you say in the email, I have experience with Kajabi. I noticed that’s what you’re looking for, and I think we’d be a great fit. I’d love to chat. Here’s something like, just make sure you mention what they’re looking for in their job posting, in the email so they know you read it. Because I think a lot of people just like spam reply to to leads or just kind of throw stuff out there. That’s like cookie cutter, and so I just make sure I really customize that in the pitch. And then the last thing I’ll say that I do personally, aside from the portfolio that I link in there, I link a resume of my past clients so they can go and see people who I’ve worked with in the past, if they have anything that’s outwardly facing that is part of my portfolio that’s still up for them. You know, you can see if I link that that funnel I built this funnel for this one person, and then you go and check them out, and they’re linking to the funnel that I built for them. Then it’s like, oh. Okay, they can make the correlation. Emily Reagan I love that you are really demonstrating your expertise with visual proof. We know to do testimonials, we know to have the social proof there, but you’re showing your work, but you’re also demonstrating that you’re serious about your business. You’re not just a flash in the pan. This is not just like collect a quick paycheck. You’re in it, and that’s really important this day and age, because it’s not 2010 anymore when any virtual assistant can call themselves that and do the work. So I think that is so smart with your strategic bringing the content together. What would you say to someone who’s newer, who might not have all of those, yeah, what would you focus on? Or like, how can we demonstrate it without having all, like, the proof of client work, Robyn Stoney yeah, the first thing because I didn’t have that when I first got started, the first thing is your website. That’s number one. The first thing is your website, your socials. Focus on your website and your socials because it really sets you apart from everyone else when you’ve taken the time to build a website for yourself, even if you’re not building websites for them, you might be a copywriter. Where can they see you out in the wild, doing your thing and talking about what you say you’re an expert in make sure that you link to that. And so it does take a bit of you showing up for yourself with just just your website and your socials. You can create social proof for yourself where people will book you. And I have had clients book me with just a website and a social media account that I’ve run for myself, about myself, and we started there, and then that one client became the one client on my resume, and that’s it. And do you know I’ve never, ever, ever, out of all of the clients I’ve worked with, which, by the way, the work group, I just crunched some numbers, yes, the work group has resulted in a 27x ROI for me in the last two years. So hang on, if you guys know about return on investment and like, like, return on ad spend, if you can get a three or 4x return on ad spend, you’re printing money. You’re a rock star, the work group has resulted in a 27x and I just don’t know anyone who’s I don’t know very many people who are getting that kind of return on, like advertising anywhere close to now. No, never. So like having a qualified pipeline results in, like, massive, massive value for yourself if you are positioned correctly. And it really is all about positioning, so use it, leverage that. Emily Reagan Oh my gosh, this is so good, and I did not tell you to do that. Thank you for thinking about it and crunching the numbers, because that’s exactly what I’m trying to do here. I’m making it so easy for everyone to plug themselves in there, because it’s hard to go out and do you can’t do all that prospecting and do your client work. And I also think about when I first started, I got a web it took me a little while to get a website, but my first outreach emails, if you really lean heavy on my experience, because we all started where you did. We all start with zero clients, and I would name drop the one main client I had at some point. So name drop her. I would talk about what I did in my past, you know, and I would bring up that too to kind of demonstrate the proof that I could do the work, and I had other assets out there from that work that was related, because I did PR beforehand, so I could prove that I could write and whatnot. So I’m just thinking about anyone starting out like you can get creative before you book that first client. But that first client, I think, is the biggest Domino, because then it just becomes easier to show your work and get testimonials after that. Robyn Stoney Yeah, all it really takes is one. All it takes is one. And if your belief level is like, like, you’re really shaking in your boots, because I was shaking in my boots when my first one, I was shaking in my boots, if you’re really shaking in your boots, then take on a project pro bono and say, I’m going to do this if you’ll be, like, my designated testimonial, like, I can have you just say that you were my first client. I’m going to write this off, like, I’ll do it for you for free, if you’ll give me a testimonial. That’s what I did, because I was literally just so afraid, so afraid. I was scared to death, and so the first funnel I ever built was free and that, yeah, that person ended up sending me a ton of referrals herself. So again, pipelines don’t just have yourself, just on one job board. Don’t just be one place position. Yourself in places where you can get traffic from multiple sources, and you’ll be booked out. You will be and I saw in the chat too, someone asked, Do you have to have a website to be successful? You do not have to have a website to be successful. However, it’s incredibly helpful. And one person even said, I know I lost a potential client to Robin because of that podcast. I’m so sorry. Liz, Emily Reagan okay, who do I need to book next? Oh, my God, that is so funny. But yes, you you can do a one page website. You can have a glass of wine, you can get that out. You can get your first draft out there. But it’s, it’s, it’s just demonstrating, I think this day and age, like we pretty much need to have a website. It’s not like the 20k websites that people did a decade ago, and you can even have a Campbell sub domain now and post on there, but even a one page website where people can book a link and see that you’re serious about your business. You can do that one evening. You can do Robyn Stoney it this weekend. It creates trust, even you have never had a client. If you have a website, people like if you have someone that’s going after the same job lead as you and they have a website and you don’t do you want to be in that position? The websites are so easy to create these days, and I know, like, if you don’t have one, it’s only going to take you a day. These days, it’ll only take you a day get one up. I expect to see you at the website training. Emily Reagan Even our own work group members are like, All right, we we have set up a website a challenge in October, November, and it’s going to end with some website reviews in December. And the reason I’m saying that is people are coming in different directions. Some haven’t done it took me a few years. Some people just need to audit the current one. And a lot of us are evolving and changing our services. We just need to dedicate the time to it. So I want to speak one other thing, and then we’re going to bring Stacey up, you talked about doing work for free. And I think this was also critical for me as I learned new services. So it was like never done, but I think about where, where did I feel weak. A lot of that is my graphic design when Canva first came out, and so I was doing free little projects. I did like little graphic design projects for like PTA or soccer or flyers or invitations for a friend’s thing, and that kind of made me feel more confident about my design, not that it was like marketing ish, but it got me out there into a newer service where I felt better putting it out there and sharing it. Robyn Stoney I learned that practice of doing something for free, first as a confidence builder from another marketer, and that has helped me. I’ve done the same thing where, if it’s something brand new, I want to just build my confidence that I’d be able to offer it as a service. I’ll offer one for free, and every single time I offer something for free, make sure you’re offering it like do your research on the person you’re going to give it to. Because if you offer something for free to someone who’s well connected, established in business, just an influential person, the ROI on that has been amazing. Like, they’ll send you business, they’ll pay you for other things, like just, just do that. I think a lot of us, we’re like, oh, I need to be paid for my time, which you do. But if your confidence isn’t there yet, do something pro bono, you’d be surprised what you get back from it. Emily Reagan Oh my gosh, I love that. Okay, Robyn, thank you. At tell everyone where we can find you on the socials. Yes, for your website, Robyn Stoney connect with me on the socials. I’m at Robin the brilliant everywhere. Emily Reagan Yes, thank you. Thank you. Okay, thank you, Robyn. Now we were talking about the job leads we share in the work group, but these, these can come through any job board, like I used to be in a copywriting community that shared only copywriting jobs, so you sometimes have to pay to play to get in the right directories and the right communities where these jobs are being shared. Otherwise, as you see some of the jobs on LinkedIn, it’s open nationwide, and everyone’s applying for it. It just becomes more competitive. So it’s a way to increase your chances. So we have shared over 3000 jobs that I’ve actually tracked. That doesn’t count the things where a size like my client’s hiring, and Connie is like my client’s hiring, and then I say my client needs support on this webinar. Those aren’t really tracked in there. And so we have a form hire a unicorn.com, I get a lot of Google traffic. I get a lot of referrals from my friends, from Amy porterfield’s community. And we get all kinds of jobs. We get starter ones, we get more advanced, Launch Manager, marketing manager, jobs. It is the spectrum. And then we try not to make it super competitive in the sense that we ask that up to 10 unicorns reach out. We don’t inundate the client. We keep the process very easy on them. But these tips that Robin shared would work in any community where they are sharing jobs. You can’t just say, Oh, me, pick me. There is strategy behind it, and we do have a training in the work group and you do me. School because we share job leads in UD may school too, how to respond. It’s almost like the art of applying for a job, you have to reflect back the company mission say the right buzz words, just to say, like, Hey, I’ve read this. I’m not just like copying and pasting 100 different applications. So that is the training she’s talking about. I brought in a marketing manager who hires people to tell us exactly what she’s looking for, and then we give you a template, which is actually one of our work group members who killed it. So let’s keep talking about some of these job leads and how you reach out. And I have Stacy Covitz here. She’s an ads manager, and I’d love to hear from you about your art of reaching out. Stacy Covitz Well, goodness, thank you, Emily. It’s so great to be here, and I can’t believe I am following the brilliant Robin, because, holy cow. But my beginnings are a little bit different. I did not come loaded with experience. I stayed at home with babies for 21 years, and talk about scared, talk about terrified. I was a hot mess, and then I found Emily, and I found the work group, and I knew I was smart. I knew I could learn things. I’ve been on online since, like 2008 doing things. And I started out as a VA. So I started out at, I don’t even, I don’t even want to share how much I got paid for my first job, doing just everything. And Emily Reagan wait, who got paid less? You or me? I was $10 an hour. What did you do? Stacy Covitz Okay, I was more than you. But it was later. It was later. It was 2020, right? So, yeah, I think it was, I don’t know, $20 an hour, 1819, I thought it was. I don’t have to go to an office and I’m going to get $20 an hour. It didn’t take long before I realized, Oh, that’s not very much. I can get so much more, and I will piggyback on what what Katie had said, and that’s like specializing. So I started, I became a Facebook Ads Manager, and then got into the strategy and became that. And as far as the warm job lead, when I was pitching my services, I would see a job and the one that I can think of specifically that ended up being one of my favorite clients of all time. You know what Robin had said? Like, do your research. See who this person is. What are they like? What you know, like, get to know them as a person. And I think my my strategy was, like to really show a little bit of my personality, because I’m I’m, I’m a lot. And I figured I want to show who I am, because I want to be able to be myself when I’m working with this person, whoever it is, so I always show a little bit of my personality, and it’s a little bit humor, and I try not to be like inappropriate humor. But so I the one, one client I’m thinking of specifically, she was a blogger, and she was kind of an influencer as well. So when a chef and food and all of the stuff, and when I reached out to her, you know, first, I complimented her business, and, oh, it seems so great. And I see that you’re interested in this. And, you know, I talked about my experience and how I could do that. I would love to, you know, showcase her with the work that I’m doing. And I signed off like, All right, well, time to go make some lousy chicken, or some boring chicken, or something like that. And she wrote back, oh, I could help you with chicken if you help me with my social media, you know, and she ended up being a, just a great fit. I’m a different demographic than a lot of people. I’m a little bit older, so I think that I speak to that, you know when, when there’s job leads for that you own Emily Reagan it, which is good, because not everybody wants to hire a 19 year old in their business. Stacy Covitz Yes, yes. And I do. I think I even have that in my one sheeter, which is, you know, Gen Xer. And this particular person actually said to me, you had me at that. You had me at Gen Xer. Oh, my God, this should Emily Reagan give people so much hope to show up as them, because we don’t want to work with a client where we’re not comfortable or we hate life, otherwise, we go back to our corporate job and our boss is, you know, breathing over us there. But I love that, because it can, yeah, work with clients who you’ve just messed with, Stacy Covitz yeah, because I worked before. I worked in corporate, in a office, a bro office, financial industry. I was invisible, you guys, invisible because I’m not only a woman, but I’m an old woman, Emily Reagan and here you’re saying you turn that into your advantage, and that is also part of that positioning piece we talked about right where you’re very clear who you are, what you stand for, and what makes you different, and you own that. Okay, so you had a signature sign off. And sometimes I do that in my emails. I’m like, you know, I don’t know. All I can think of is the middle finger jokes that I did in a couple emails because I was in middle finger physical therapy, but the sign off is a good one to add a little little bit of humor. Are there any other places in the email where you can showcase that? And I like what you did there, because you’re paying attention. You were doubly smart with the lousy chicken because you tied it back to her business, which was really Stacy Covitz strategic. Yes, yes. And I did. And there was another one I reached out to too, that she was a she did something with theater, and I think I phrased my reach out email subject line based on the name of her business. And I stood out to her, and she immediately wanted to have a discovery call. So you know, if you’re a little bit unsure of your experience or something like that, we can all be a little bit creative to make ourselves stand out, right? And and the work group, honestly, was Emily and all of the other people in the group, as far as mindset, it is so much mindset. You have to know your worth. You have to know I might not have ever done this, but I know I can do it. I know I can do it. And you have to position yourself as someone who is going to go in and really help their business. It’s all about their business. What are you going to do for them? And whatever you can do up front so they can start immediately thinking, wow, you know. And follow up, Emily Reagan yeah, follow she cares. Like, wow. She actually cares about my business. I think that’s what you’re saying. Well, 100% Stacy Covitz and, you know, a lot of times, if you don’t hear back right away, you feel like, oh, you know, you could start telling yourself stories. Oh, I wasn’t good enough someone else, you know, all of that garbage. And instead of following up, follow up, because I follow up and got a response, oh, thank you, and thank you for being so organized. So now, oh, she’s organized. I need someone organized. I’m a mess, you know, so that there’s a lot of little ways to stand out when you’re trying to get a client that is a warm lead. Because even though it’s a warm lead, doesn’t mean you’re a shoe in there’s still other people. So Emily Reagan glad you said that. And it really is about being memorable. And I’m going to tie it back to a looking serious about your business, but looking like you’re going to be fun to work with, because the client’s thinking the same thing. Like, I don’t want to Debbie downer on my team, or, you know, I’m the personalities need to fit. And like, that’s like a whole nother topic, but I want to know that this is going to be a good fit on many different levels, Stacy Covitz right, right? And I think also positioning yourself as not the Pick me, pick me, pick me energy, right? Because, you know, I’m certainly not everyone’s cup of tea, and I’m not going to present myself as a good fit for everybody, because I’m not, but I’ll just, I’ll let me give some numbers, because this is fun. I like to know people’s numbers, just from two clients in the work group I have brought in $53,000 Emily Reagan my god, I had no idea I Emily Reagan might start crying. Oh, my God. And I think about your older daughters, like, going through college and get, you know, married crew, boo and, like, how much that brings back to your family? Like, what does this do for you? Stacy Covitz Yeah, no, it’s, it’s amazing, because I don’t do project work. Typically it’s retainers. So you get one or two good retainers. It’s like you don’t have to have that feast or famine. Oh my gosh, where am I going to get my next client? You know, do a good job. And yeah, so I thought that would be a fun thing to share. To cloud ROI, right? Oh my Emily Reagan god, thank you again. I did not ask for that. You’re like, surprising me. It’s like the best gift ever. Crushing it and owning who you are in the same process like that’s so inspirational, and that’s why it’s good to be in a collective where people are showing you what’s possible and inspiring you. They’re not always your direct competition. There’s a couple people who do ads in the work group, but you guys aren’t right for every client. We offer different packages. We have different capacity. You know, there’s different types of ads, let alone. And so it’s just nice to know that we come from a place of abundance here, and we support each other and we use it for good. Stacy Covitz Honestly, you do this kind of work, which I’m an introvert. I love being alone and behind the scenes. But once a month to get to see everyone’s faces and to be able to have someone to bounce things off of like, Oh, what do you think of this? And it’s just amazing to have like, colleagues, you know, and we can refer each other. And plus Emily, even though I’m older than she is. She’s like, Mama Bear, and she like, takes really, really good care of us, and she wants to make sure people are treating us well as well. So anyway, Emily Reagan oh, thank you for that. I was just kind of rattling in my head. I was thinking about, yeah, mother of unicorn. I think we put that in some of my coffee. Oh, hilarious. Stacy Covitz I didn’t know. No, I mean, because it’s, you know, sometimes, like I remembered we did a, we did a one sheeter program together, like I didn’t even have that. And sometimes you hear stuff that might hurt your feelings, but that’s what I need. Emily Reagan Like, you can do better. You can do better. Stacy Covitz Yes, absolutely, absolutely, anyway. So thank Emily Reagan you. Thank you for sharing that, for having me. There’s one thing I really love about the work group, and I love when you do this, and other members do this and they’re like, Hey, this is what’s changed. This is what’s new. Did you know? I don’t know, a popular ad is this, or this is working with strategies, or Facebook got rid of that, and that’s always helpful too collectively, but it does good for each member, because you’re also positioned as a person who’s staying top of mind within that service. And so I think about you with ads, and I’m like, I know we can go to Stacey, we can go to Robin, and we can ask, like, what’s what’s happening here? What did we get rid of? Oh, no, more domain verification. Okay, great. So thank you for how you show up in the work group and helping all of us too. Thank you No, and it’s so it’s so true, and we all get to know each other and what each other does, and you’ll get tagged in the work group. It’s like, oh, thank you. Yes, yes. Okay, cool. Thank you so much. Stacy. I’m gonna bring our next speaker here, and we’re going to talk about this powerful thing that happens when you get that first client and what can happen after that. So I have a Easi Arasi here to talk about the power of client referrals. Now this doesn’t require you to sing or dance on social media. I want to know what does it take to get a referral. And I know this is a big source. I was going through the intake forms. A lot of you said you’re doing this well already. We’re going to talk about how to do it. Even better, Emily Reagan share it with us. Esai Thanks, Emily. And I’m not at all surprised a lot of people are doing this well, because if you are good, you’re going to get referrals. I know I said this when I was on your podcast, Emily, that how do you grow? How do you get business? Just be really, really good at what you do, and the business is going to automatically grow, right? Once you have proven that. But again, times have changed. Economy has changed, and I completely over prepared for the segment because I wanted to really share what it takes, because I made so many mistakes when I started this, especially when I wanted to get referrals at the beginning, some of it was, I would do great work, but I come from Chennai, India, and have an Asian heritage, and your thing is, you put your head down, you do your work, and you don’t pee, right? And you don’t brag, and you don’t say anything. So while my work was bad, my communication with clients was really bad. They don’t know what was going on. Because I would say, this is, this is when I will give you, I’ll give you the project and put my head down work. And they wouldn’t hear beep from me until then, and they would have no idea what’s going on, even though I’m doing fantastic work. One two, there’s so many little things. I know a lot of freelancers do that. We do so many little things. We put in a little bit of extra effort. We add a little bit of a player. We add something like a little extra special in the automation. We do a little extra special with the copy, with the graphics, and we just give it to them like it’s nothing, instead of actually showing them. Look, here’s what I did, and here’s why it’s special, right? I did that so badly. So a lot of clients, which could have turned into referrals for me, turned into nothing. And after a while, I started believing that the work I was doing was nothing, and I started under charging because I wasn’t giving myself value on credit for what it is as well. So that’s the first thing I did wrong. Second, the way I would ask referrals for clients is just whenever, hey, I’m looking for more clients, if you have any referrals, I would really appreciate that they say, Oh yeah, that’s it. And why am I making them do homework after they’ve paid me, and they’re not going to go and think about how to do it, who to refer. It’s not their job, and they’re gonna forget it and move on. And even worse than that, after building goodwill, I did zero job at educating clients on what a good referral is going to look like. So I got some terrible, terrible referrals, and now I can’t turn them down, because it can. In from somebody who went out of their way to educate and convert somebody to and convince somebody to work with me. So I would do it like for whatever rates they asked for. I would do it. But the worst thing was, when somebody sent me a client, which I clearly knew was a red flag, I still I knew I shouldn’t work with them. I still took it on. It was terrible, and it burnt a bridge for them, even though I worked so hard on their project, Emily has actually heard me tell the story and cry in like multiple but it was a terrible experience. So everything that I’m going to share everything is based on the hundreds and hundreds of mistakes that I’ve made over the course of the last five years, and I’ve learned and a lot of these mistakes I make every six months, because I forget how much it hurts to work with bad clients. So it’s so number one, it’s your work. You have to do a really, really, really, really good job. If you don’t do that, you never. Doesn’t matter how good your marketing is, you’re never going to get referrals. I And somebody asked this. I don’t have a website. I’ve been running a multiple six figure business, and I have a team of four people, and I’m in the process of expanding it to a team of eight people, because I’m like, I’m poised for growth. But I grew that over the course of the last year and last two years, and all of this I was able to do because, one, I knew that for me to be able to do a really good job and take on anything that comes, I know I have a network, I have a community and work group that people I can lean on, people I can ask questions, and if I get stuck, I don’t have to get scared, because I have a community that I’ve built around. Like Emily and I have been on the phone troubleshooting in a while because we really got stuck and we needed one more person to, like, really talk things through and, like, get it set up right. And sometimes the fix is simple, but when you’re in it, it’s very hard to really know what, what is wrong and when you’re feeling the pressure. So you need to have that community, and you need to have you need to have your work. You have to do a really, really good job. But it’s not enough to do a good job. Your clients have to absolutely love it. It’s not that they’re happy, they’re satisfied, they’re content. They have to love it, and they can’t stop gushing about it. Number one, I know none of this is easy, but this is what reliably works. Number two, you’re not just your clients. You have to find ways in which the work that you do, the way it interacts with your clients, audience, they have to love it so much. And ask your clients who did this for you. This is so brilliant. Who did this? This is so beautiful. Who did this when that happened? It’s jackpot. Now you don’t have to ask your clients. They’re like, I had a call booked on my calendar. I had no idea who that person was. As I was going to get on a call with them, and even as I got on, she’s like, Oh, hi, I’m this person. Your client, cat, referred me to you, and I have, I have a practice of 15 people, and she wants help with marketing, like a huge retainer. I did zero work for except that I did a fantastic job for cat. And this person saw it, and she loved it, and she reached out and asked, okay, who did this? This is Esai brilliant. I want it right? Emily Reagan So that is genius, because if you did it and nobody like, I just can’t get over that, because you have to be strategic where your clients want to share your name and talk about you. But I don’t know this is so this is so good, because I just, I see this with funnels or websites or copy, and I’m like, who wrote that? And I see people do that to me. We’re like, Oh, my God, there’s such a good line on your sales page. I think I have a line about, like, the year of Beyonce on there, and everyone’s like, oh, like, it wasn’t me. It was my friend. It was this copywriter, she wrote that line for me. And so giving them credit, and it feels good to do that too. Esai Yeah. So you definitely want that, and that’s so easy for you, because that’s your signature that I did this, and you don’t even have to brag your clients, and everybody else will do it for you, right? The third thing you want to do is like I said, you want, you have to do do the work, and you have to keep communicating with your client. You have to tell your client, especially in retainers, clients can sort of take it for granted that, hey, you’re brilliant, and you’re going to do brilliant work for me. But you have to tell them, hey, this is where we were, and this is how far we have come, and this is the work that we’ve done. We’ve done it this way so that it will have this impact for you, and a lot of times for my clients, I predict. I tell them, hey, we’re doing this now, six months later, you’re going to see the impact. And I sat down, I had this I said, like, in two months, you’re going to see the impact, and then when it hit, our enrollments doubled. I told her, See, I told you, if you made this change, it’s gonna happen. And she never questions me again. And right? So you have to do that. You have to have that communication, because clients are not going to realize so that is in terms of what you need to do in your work. Second, you need to ask for referrals. Doesn’t even if you do all of this, does not mean your clients are going to give you referrals. You have to ask for referrals. And that does not mean asking at like, the end of the call or when they’re already writing down to do’s and thinking about what they need to make for dinner. That is not the time to ask for referrals. You have to ask for referral when they are happy. It’s either in the middle of the project or at the end of the project. At the start of the project, you have to ask them if they’re very, very happy. Be that they got you and you have proven some sort of value to them. How do you know when they’re happy when they specifically say things like, Oh, this is brilliant, that you have done this and I like this, or I never would have thought something that they can go, if they go and say to another person, that person will want to work with you. Okay, right? So you have to, it’s not general, oh, this is great. It’s not a general, specifically something that that’s a really good question everybody. I would not have thought to share that. But like specifically mentioned, something that you have done, which can you ask for referral now, the compliment they paid you and your request will both stick in their mind. And I’m going to tell you later how to ask, what to include, and how to educate and all of that, but it’s gonna stick. And when they actually make the refer that they mention you, they repeat the compliment that they paid, okay? Because now it’s fixed in their mind, right? So that, and then you have to again, it’s not once. You have to also say you can’t go to a client and say, Hey, I need another client, so I can split my attention between you and them, and I can give you less time, and because that is what’s going to go through their clients mind that, oh, but she’s, I don’t want to share her, right? So what you want to say is, hey, hey, I’m I haven’t spot opening up next month, and I hate doing marketing. I love focusing on things. So if you already know somebody who’s brilliant, if you can make a referral, I would love to just not focus on marketing and just focus on thing like that, your version of what that is. And clients are always happy. Now, what I tell them is, hey, we are expanding. I’m hiring another person, and I am hiring another copywriter, another graphic designer. So I tell them, I’m going to be training them, and they’ll probably have bought if you know somebody, I’ll have capacity opening up in a couple of months, and I would love to work with somebody who’s as brilliant as you, and they want that, and they’re going to want to share that, especially when they’re really they feel gratitude, gratitude for everything that you’re doing for them. And you want to go a little bit above, over and beyond what you do. But all of this you cannot do for every single client. It is not feasible. It is not because you also need to educate them, which I’m going to talk about next. About next. So you have to find the client who have the same audience as clients you could also work with, so like business coaches and service providers who work with other businesses, somebody who has the network and connections to actually give those referrals to you, right? And then I’m going to keep it really short, how do you actually make it easy for them to referral number one? Your service has to promise a specific result, especially when you’re speaking to somebody know, my niche is wellness practitioners. They don’t care about marketing. They don’t know marketing grows. No amount of name dropping, like, oh, Joanna, we wrote about me in her book. Like they don’t like they don’t they don’t give an S. They have no idea who it is, and they don’t care about that, but if you tell them that, here’s the result, I promise. I had a client who who I got a job lead for, like a $400 project turned into a $3,000 retainer. She has no clue who I am. She knows I don’t have a website, I don’t have a social I have nothing. And I have a results promise, and I have a well defined package, which she can clearly understand. She understands how I’m making this promise. The promise is good and the path is clear. So it’s easy as for me and easy as for her, and she’s going to work together. So your result has to you have a results promise. You have an easy to understand, easy to explain package, and you have to educate them. Tell them that, hey, can you refer me a client who is this and who is not this? So I tell people who, some who wants results, who wants clients, who wants a pipeline, but not somebody who wants to go viral on social or become an influencer, because we don’t do that. You have to tell them not. Who is not is also important. And finally, you have to create, turn your service into a framework, as the reason for why you can get them predictable results. Todd Brown is a fantastic person who teaches how to create frameworks, even if you don’t have a unique IP. So it’s a great person to learn from. But most of all, I’ve been I’m with Emily in multiple groups, and I’ve seen how much, how generous she is in making connections and making referrals and just the work group she mentions at every place that every chance she gets, and there is a mark of quality. Whenever somebody says, I want somebody good, the first person, the first place I see referred is Emily’s work group. Emily’s hire a unicorn, and she’s built that, and she continues to build and put effort into that. So I know she mentioned there are a lot of job boats, but I don’t see anybody putting in that effort that like the personal care and concern, no matter how big or small you are, or how big or small the group is. Not seen anybody do it as well as Emily Reagan anything. And you said something fun, like you quit the work group. Let’s call you out on that. You quit the work group and came back right yes. Call you out right now? Esai Yes, because, oh yeah. So I came in and I saw all these people. I had no idea who these job leads were, so I was, like, I pitched a few. And I had no idea what I was doing back then, so I pitched a few. I didn’t hear back. I thought, okay, these are just probably, you know, like, random people. And then I saw them with the following and the real business on Instagram. And, like, What the hell did I just do? Like, I came back. It’s like, okay, so can I come back and apply again, please? And that was like, three years ago. And, Emily Reagan yeah, it was a while ago. You didn’t leave. Esai Tense, yeah. And I did the math that other people were talking I have made from the last two years. I have made $103,000 that I can directly attribute to job leads posted in the work over 100,000 Emily Reagan Yeah. Oh, my God, girl, Esai yeah. And the hundreds of dollars that I pay for the thing is easy, no brain. And I keep hiring people, expanding my team. The one thing I never have to worry about is, where are the leads going to come through? Yes, for me, it’s referral. But every client in Emily that every lead she posts, for me, it’s potentially five to six clients, because I know I can get referrals out of them as well. I have done with every single job post client I’ve landed from the work group, I’ve gotten two or three clients from them. So for me, every lead is like four to six clients. So Emily Reagan you’re talking about like this. It’s a like a web you get one client, and then your network expands, and then they they recommend you to two other clients, and it just increases. This is how you build a network out of nothing. Yeah, it does take that first client. It takes a client who, like you said, refers the right one, the right type of clients. Because I love that you brought that up. I’ve had a client not want to share me before because she thought it would affect things. So I’m really glad you brought that up. But it’s not just about anyone. So being very clear and concise what you’re looking for, and positioning it and saying it in a way that’s like, Oh, I’m not desperate. You know, this is opening up here. Like, I love, I love how you gave us the framework for exactly what to say. Is there a good time to do this? Like, so say, I’m at the beginning. I booked my first client. You know, maybe they’re giving me some kind of vague compliments or whatever, but if I haven’t gotten anything amazing like from them yet, is there a good span of time after working with them that I should maybe go in for that first referral request? Esai I would say it’s not really a timeframe, but like I said, you have to, when you do the work and you present it to them, you have to sell it. You have to keep selling your clients, not just at the beginning when you were trying to land them. You have to keep selling them on every call. You have to sell them on you, and you have to sell them on the work that you’re doing. That selling never stops. So when you sell them, that’s when you initially, they will give you away compliments, because they have no notion of like, what is it that you do? They don’t know how easy it is, how tough is it, how much work that goes into it, and how brilliant something that you said was. So you have to sell it. And so when you sell it to them and make them see it, that’s when you’ll start getting those real compliments. So again, I would say it’s not a time frame. Don’t fix into a time frame, because you will miss these moments where you could have made that ask. So don’t have it in your mind that I will ask at these times, but think about, well, when this happens, I will ask for referral. When client says something like this, I’ll ask for refer. So I would say that, but typically, it is definitely not when you’re asking them to pay. It’s definitely not at the end of the project because they mentally moved on from you. That’s a good point. The worst times to ask, and that’s usually when we ask, and it’s Yeah, and those are the two worst times. Emily Reagan I wouldn’t do it too early either. If you haven’t really wowed their socks, I feel like that could be damaging, because I would sense desperation if you’re like, we just started working together, yeah, but yeah, I think that it’s like, really paying attention to those social cues of when you go Emily Reagan in for it. Yeah, exactly. Esai And there are different ways to ask you start is first you mentioned as a throwaway. I would say, Hey. I would like, you know somebody first, maybe you do it as a throwaway. Like, hey, if you know somebody like this, that’s how I get clients. If you know somebody may know. And then you can make a more formal pitch Esai a little bit later. Emily Reagan Okay, thank you so much for that. And I think it’s really like, it’s very critical that that first client, you wow them out, wow them up. Like, I don’t know, how do I say that in English, you really wow them and demonstrate your skill. Your soft skills are just as important as your hard skills. But you see that the potential of that network to expand. It’s like exponential there. So it’s, don’t forget about the current client. Is really what we’re hammering aside. Where’s the best place to connect with you? Esai So like I said, my website, socials, they’re all a bit of a ghost town, but LinkedIn is the best place to connect. That’s where I am the most active. But I am Instagram is good. Even though I don’t post. I am active on there. I’m active in my stories, so that’s the second best place to connect with. Emily Reagan Okay, cool, and it is a good exception. I think once you have one client, because I did this for years, I didn’t have a website for years, too, and I know we’re kind of contradicting what Robin said here, but when you’re already in the work, you can kind of get away with it a little bit, because you can depend on the client referrals, but you don’t want that to be your only source, and so that’s why we’re bringing in other strategies for you to start thinking about as well. Gosh, I’m so affected, like, sometimes it gets really hard to show up and do this outward facing marketing stuff. Sometimes I think, oh. My God, my and I don’t I’m not like, looking for sympathy here, but sometimes it would be so much easier if I just did client work only. And then I think, I can’t, you see somebody who’s like, oh, I need help doing this. And this, I’m like, Well, I know a girl you should talk to Allison, you should talk to Janelle. And I can’t help it. It’s my nature. I want to connect people. And I know we can go so much further if we do this for each other. I have a master plan with the work group. I can see how it will connect service providers. I see how it’s a support system that we didn’t know we needed, but it makes it makes life fun. When you have a place that you can talk shop and you can share results, and you have people who nerd out on marketing with you who want to get better, who actually care what their clients are doing. But then there’s this whole other realm of things where you work with a client who’s doing something freaking amazing, and then you get to impact the world through that client without being the face of the business. Like the first time my clients started making money online because I helped them monetize their skills or sell digital courses, or create lead magnets, or do affiliate income, or add monetization that feels so good to help out other people, and that’s really what the work group is. It’s not a take, take, take situation. It’s a let’s all elevate rising tides. Lift all boats. Let’s elevate each other. And how do we do that? We refer each other, we letting each other know of other opportunities that we see? We let each other know when there’s updates that we all need to know about so we can look smart to our clients and just cement, cement our position on the team. We tell people how we did things so they don’t have to waste time and effort and and energy and worry on things that aren’t working out. We give them what work for us. I mean, that’s the fastest way to get ahead, like learn from other people’s mistakes, just having friendships in the online place. I know that’s what the work group is all about. When people told me, you can’t sell a community that does more than one thing, I’m like, I just don’t I just, I know it’s not true. I know we have something special here now we don’t let just anybody in. We do vet people. We do make sure their business is solid. We do want you to make sure that you’re a giver and not just a taker. We want to make sure you’re professional, that you show up and do what you say you’re going to do. We want people who are ready to take on the work and do good by their clients. There’s this thing about excellence. I don’t know, the online space can feel so funny, and sometimes it’s quite tiring. All these promises of 10k 20k months, and all these business coaches who don’t actually teach implementation and help their clients can feel MLM ish, the 30k mastermind, like I don’t love that part of it, Emily Reagan but there’s a lot I love, and it feels really good to help, especially women, get back into the Emily Reagan workplace, if they’ve had a break, or if they’ve had a bad boss, or they want to do something new, or they’ve had a baby break, and it’s so, so hard to get back out there when you had any kind of pause, when you’ve gone through life and bad things have happened, and you’re panicked, you’re wondering how you’re going to pay the bills. What is your retirement going to look like? Are you going to be able to take that vacation? Do I have to sell my soul and go back to corporate? Not everybody wants to work a 60 hour, 80 hour work week. Some of us want to just do the work that we love. Some of us are experimenting. We’re just in a learning mode, and we want to do as much as possible, because we know we’re on that journey. I know things are weird in the world. Feels like a scary time to invest in yourself. It feels like a scary time to start something new, can feel kind of shaky, but I also know human connection and the online space is never going away. Because my fear was I was just going to feel like an influencer, that I had to sell my soul, be someone I’m not, put on a fake face, do my hair every day just to be successful, and it’s not like that. You can just be behind the scenes and do the work for really cool clients, and life can be very simple. This is a community I wish I had when I started. I would have skipped a lot of years of mistakes under charging, not valuing myself, not valuing my talents. It’s not even about money that fell off the table, leaving money on the table or whatever. It’s not even about that. It’s about the mental energy I wasted. You know what the best feeling? One of the best feelings in the world is when a business owner is like, oh, yeah, I hired one of your unicorns, and she’s still on my team. I just gave her a pay raise. She helped me do this in my business. I’m like, yes, it’s one of my people freaking love that. All right, I’ll see you in the next episode. Thanks for tuning in to the marketing freelancer. If you’re ready to connect with other marketing freelancers, learn advanced strategies and take your business. Us to the next level. Check out our digital marketers work group. It’s my exclusive membership where you’ll find the support community and tools to land premium clients and grow your income. Visit marketers workgroup.com to learn more, or just use the link in the show notes. Apply today. Step into your power, own your expertise and command the rates your work deserves. See you next time on the marketing Freelancer unicorns, unite. Hey, it’s Emily Reagan, and I’m bringing you a special replay of our seven ways to land clients as a freelancer. Now what I’m going to do in this series, I don’t know. If that should be in the bloopers. If it’s too whiny, don’t use it. I teared up a lot so that your business is set up. No wait.