Alright…I don’t know what’s in the freelancing air, but EVERYBODY’s talking marketing right now. (I even just ran across an article about a shortage of marketers in the U.S.)
Maybe it’s a fad. Maybe we’re all waking up to just how important it is at the same time, but I know for me? It was a reminder that I could be a lot more deliberate about my marketing.
The same is probably true for you, but you might be stuck at the beginning, not knowing where to start. That’s why I want to do an exercise this month.
It’s a simple one, but it takes a little time and accountability and is something you should do even if you aren’t ready to start or only have a vague idea of what your niche is. That’s why before we get started, I want you to decide something…
…if you do want to move forward in your business, you’re going to commit to this exercise. If something comes up, you’re STILL going to document every week the reason why you couldn’t get around to doing it.
Deal? OK, so here it is.
I was on a way to a friend’s graduation and was listening to Ed Gandia’s (the high-income business writing guy) podcast. He was talking about an exercise he does with all his coaching clients. It’s basically finding and emailing 100 prospects.
That might sound like a lot, and it is, but we’re going to break it down.
I’m not going to ask you to contact them…I just want you to find them and document their info. I’m also only going to ask you to do 25 a week. If you break that down, it’s only 5 a day during a usual work week.
If you want to jump in and do them all at one time, that’s fine, but by the end of the month, you should have somewhere between 0 and 100 prospects, and somewhere between 0 and 4 things that got prioritized over
prospecting.
A couple things you’ll need…
- If you already have a CRM (like Streak or Insightly), you can use that (it’s probably best), but if you need a spreadsheet, just download a copy of this basic template.
- If you have NO clue where to find businesses, check out the “The process is simple” section of this post.
That’s it.
Remember, this is something you’re doing for yourself and your future. It’s also not optional
for your freelance business…the great thing though is that if you stick it out, you’ll have a great source of contacts to help you get more clients for your business.
Megan
Here are the Academy resources that you’ll want to check out this month…
How to Choose Your Best
Niche