My VERY first paid freelance gig was for a combat sports company
back in 2012(ish).
I was just hitting my stride in my jiu jitsu bloging and new Internet business, and I really don’t think I could have done it without
Copyblogger. (That’s why you always see me hyping their stuff.)
Over the last 5 years, they’ve grown a LOT and between reading their work, speaking on webinars, and buying their
platforms and products (like the one BlackFreelance is hosted on) keeping up with them in content marketing has helped me in more ways than I can count.
Thing is, I connected early, and I stayed connected.
Sometimes that meant full-on involvement in their paid courses. Other times it was just hanging on with their free materials and following them on Twitter. The point is though, that I stayed with them and it provided a consistent
presence in my freelance career that I’m still really happy to have around.
Your Skills Library: An Ongoing Resource
Freelancing is a long haul and it helps to have friends around to help you through the process (that’s why you have access to our Skype group…
come on over
and say hi!).
Everybody in our community is awesome, but if you can make some connections specifically within your skillset too? That’s even better.
Thankfully, building out communities and resources around specific skillsets is really popular right now, so you shouldn’t have any problems finding someone who’s already committed to sending out emails, free materials, and maybe even managing a community for freelancers who do what you
do.
I already mentioned Copyblogger which is great for content marketers, but there are also sites like
MakeALivingWriting for writers,
Brad Hussey for developers, and
this guy for graphic designers.
I’m not endorsing any of those…MakeALivingWriting aside (whose materials really are useful), I just found them with a quick Google search for the skillset and course.
Do the same for your skillset, sign
up for a few, and see how you like what they send out. There are people all over the Internet with multiple skillsets looking to connect with you. Most really are selling something, but even in that, you can learn a lot about your own options as a freelancer and entrepreneur.
Megan