[100k] #20 Content Marketing & Collaboration w/Brian Casel
Brian and Chris discuss content marketing for freelancers, how collaboration can help you build a team without taking on employees, and how Brian diversified into products.
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You can find Brian on Twitter and his blog, or visit his business AudienceOps online for help with your content marketing.
Highlights:
Started freelancing as designer in 2008
Went through transitions
2010 — sought to diversify into products
Wanted to build something of value
Grew into something bigger than a solo but smaller than an agency by outsourcing
Restaurant Engine was first product leveraging freelancing skills
Built as a standalone & able to run without Brian
Goal: build systems & processes, put people in place, build a machine
Liked the “Solo operator building a team of specialists” due to flexibility:
- Helps you learn to manage & collaborate
- Helps develop partnerships
Found that higher-rate freelancers are much easier to outsource to:
- Professional
- Reliable
- Better skills
- Better w/clients
How to manage skilled freelancers:
- Try to be a good client to your team
- Upwork & overseas labor at first
- Hire better people as you grow & get better projects for higher rates
Having a chance to team up w other freelancers helps to combat isolation
Sometimes it’s easy to miss the camaraderie of working a regular job with a team
Agency experience was critical to learning the process of managing web development projects for clients
Merely having the technical skills is not enough
First few projects came by referral Got a number of jobs from job boards, craigslist, and maintaining a portfolio:
- Job boards are a numbers game
- 100 contacts > 10 conversations > 1 closed job
Won a job because of being the high bid:
- Realized not all clients are price-shoppers
- Confidence to bid higher
- Some clients use your prices as a proxy for competence/skill/reliability
Used guest blogging to develop personal brand:
- Clients responded to the demonstration of expertise
- Used tailored pitches to approach accessible blogs
Content marketing works best after you know exactly what product/service you’re offering:
- This is why content marketing is of limited use to generalists
- Better to get specific and niche down
- Automate your editorial calendar
Full Transcript:
Pending
Originally published at www.100kfreelancing.com.
