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A few weeks ago, I asked writers as part of my October 2023 State of Freelancing Survey what they are doing to help their business succeed this year and in the future.

Here were my main takeaways followed by quotations from fellow freelancers:

A common theme was marketing, marketing, and more marketing.

• This year I started a new practice of emailing all my clients MONTHLY to let them know I’m available and ask them to send me work. I’ve gotten tons of additional work this way. I also check in with past clients and warm leads quarterly and this has resulted in new work from many of them. I think the secret has been making this feel like a routine – regular check in with a light touch.
• I’m not letting up on marketing, no matter how busy I am!
• I am trying to increase and target my marketing so that I can be more choosy about my clients – I am very busy right now but have some work that is not in my preferred niche. As I focus on marketing, I’m trying to emphasize the value I bring that AI does not – for example, virtually all the writing I do is based on interviews, not just internet research. At the moment, that is better done by humans.
• I’m planning to create some packages for 2024 to make it easier for new clients to say yes to smaller projects. I want to update my website promoting these and change some other language on my website to better reflect what I do and what I can offer in 2024.

Social media, especially LinkedIn, is a top priority for many.  

• I have started spending 15-20 mins each day building and nurturing contacts. I am also now posting content on LinkedIn and Instagram.
• I’ve picked up the pace of activity on LinkedIn, which is where all of my freelance business has come from in the past. I’m making more connections, sending out brief LOIs, participating in more LI conversations (e.g. replying to other people’s posts), and posting more content (mostly sharing content I’ve written for other clients).
• Today, I think with LinkedIn marketing and the push towards relationships in sales, it’s just so much more important for me to nurture than it ever was before. It’s less costly to win a client and keep them over the long haul than it is to have high churn and send ‘spray and pray’ LOIs that spam irrelevant prospects. Volume is still a goal, so I have to think carefully about how to make this more personal and warmer while still reaching a big audience of companies. It’s a strategic shift.
• I constantly stay in touch with editors and publications throughout the year. I post often on LinkedIn and I thank every source by sending them a link to the article, which keeps my name in front of them for recommendations.

Many writers shared that they are focusing on their existing clients.

• I continue to provide excellent work on deadlines and make my clients’ lives easier. I try to bring value through clean and well-written copy and make it easy to work with me.
• Make life easier for my clients by being pleasant to work with, delivering solid work and constantly looking for clients at higher levels, e.g., larger companies or agencies with bigger budgets.
• Continuing to do good work for existing clients, nurture relationships with them and make connections with other potential clients on LinkedIn and through referrals.
• Keeping existing clients happy and seeking to expand the amount they give me.
• I’m focusing on delivering value to my clients and doing my best work. I see this strategy as my best insurance policy to maintain client relationships, build my reputation, and secure future work.

A number of writers are working with Ed Gandia to help focus their business.

• Taking a 21-day marketing course with Ed Gandia this month to develop a framework and habits to market my business so I don’t get overwhelmed.
• Adding more LinkedIn connections, following up with current and dormant clients, taking Ed Gandia’s “Business-Building Toolkit” classes and I just completed your AI course (so helpful!).
• Taking Ed Gandia’s Elevate course.
• Aiming to have half my business by copywriting and half be “copythinking” — planning and strategy. Finding too many folks desperately need a plan on what they want to do. Ed Gandia was my business coach and he’s pressed upon strategy as a a service, so that’s going to be a big part of my business in 2024.

A few writers wrote about current life changes they are navigating.

• Just trying to stay afloat. I had a baby in April, so I took three months off for maternity leave. I’m just now picking my business back up and only doing it part-time. Still made $11K in September, though!
• I’m planning how to phase into retirement so my goals for this year and the future are probably outside the norm. This year my goal was to work less and give back to the industry more, and I accomplished both, which affected my income substantially. I plan to do more of the same in 2024.

A lot of writers are trying new things with their business this year.

• I’m scaling back my client load while charging more and taking on larger projects. This lets me increase in total income while freeing up more time for my own websites and manuscripts)
• This year I started tracking how much money earned per client quarter over quarter. Because I noticed some quarters’ revenue overall was still high, but some clients gave significantly less work than the same quarter last year. I think I need to revisit those relationships.
• I hired someone to help me with administrative tasks within my business. It’s been one month of working together and I already feel a positive change. I have more energy to write again.
• I revamped my portfolio website (rachelsmith.com.au) and I get so many comments about it – from other freelancers and clients – so I know it’s doing the job as my digital shopfront, so to speak. I also split my portfolio into separate pages (a page for each niche) and optimized each page accordingly so I pop up for a range of different keywords, such as lifestyle writer, business writer. And I’ve been more proactive about going for overflow work within my own networks if it seems to be a good fit.
• I held a big conference linked to my podcast and that has opened up a huge amount of doors, brought a level of brand awareness I had not experienced, sent new companies to my jobs board and introduced me to a number of new editors/content chiefs, many of whom have offered me work or are setting up meetings with me. So while that event was a huge amount of work, it has definitely helped ‘futureproof’ my own business.
• I decided to turn my website into far more than just grant writing services. I have a publishing service and also paired that with travel advising. I’m now offering book-themed tours of different countries. I built nonprofit classes and I’m trying to get my former clients to participate in long-term support services for a nominal monthly fee.
• I’ve diversified my income streams… Substack and consulting now accounts for 30% of my income.
• I am exploring more niches. I also am getting into thought leadership style rather than pure SEO (as I see AI taking over here), including earned secrets to differentiate.

What are you doing to set your freelance writing business up for success in 2024?