You don’t enjoy marketing?
You mean cold calling and sending 10 query emails a week doesn’t make
you feel all warm and fuzzy inside? How odd… because that’s exactly
what every other freelance blogger tells me, too.
This may be reckless, but here we go:
I give you permission to slack off and skip the marketing for a while. 5 days, to be precise.
Because there are 5 things you need to do. When you’ve done them, you can go back to your marketing and it will work better because of the benefits these 5 actions bring.
Do you wish I’d just shut up and tell you what they are? OK…
Day 1: Pull Yourself Together
You know all those things you haven’t done because you didn’t have time? Do them.
Get a haircut, wash your windows, clean up your hard drive, meet your
friends for lunch or your spouse for dinner [yes, dinner in front of
the TV still counts].
Selling your freelance blogging services and then delivering
them as promised is much easier when the rest of your life is
well-managed. Each thing that’s niggling at the back of your
mind, waiting to be done, distracts you from your primary objectives: to
get hired and to get paid.
Day 2: Read and Learn
Pick up a book, or pull up a blog.
Choose anything you like the sound of, as long as it’s related to
freelancing, writing or blogging in some way. I’m not checking up on
you.
The Art of Freelance Blogging by Kevin Muldoon just came out recently, so I grabbed a copy to check it out. It’s a thorough and detail-packed book that you could easily spend a few hours with.
Another book I recommend is Tom Ewer’s Successful Freelance Writing Online.
Now, read mindfully. Be aware of what you’re thinking and feeling as you read. Be aware of why. Take notes, not to remind you of what you read, but to remind you what you thought about it.
Notice any insights or conclusions in your reading that you can apply
to your freelance blogging career, whether that means avoiding business
mistakes you’ve read about or learning a new skill you’ve just
discovered.
Day 3: Show and Tell
Show your writing to someone. Don’t merely show it to them; explain
it to them. Why did you write it? Why choose that title? How did you
decide on your opening line?
Find a willing victim audience and dissect your work so
that they can see how it came together. If you can’t find a volunteer,
explain it to your cat, your offspring or some other semi-captive
audience.
When you’re used to explaining your blogging decisions,
you’ll find it much easier to outline a blog post idea to a potential
client and justify your rationale.
Day 4: Go Nuts
Do something completely out of the ordinary. Visit a theme park, take
up morris dancing… your choice, as long as it’s radically different to
your usual day. Shaking up your routine existence does you good in many
ways, from preventing burnout to providing inspiration and anecdotes for your next blog post.
Day 5: Rest and Plan
You’re probably tired after the adventures of the day before, so take the morning to rest and relax. In the afternoon, plan your actions for the next day. Put “reassess who my ideal client
is” at the top of your to-do list, because after your 5-day break your
perspective on who you’d like to work for may have changed.
When you go back to your usual marketing activities, you’ll be more
focused and productive thanks to the break and the planning you’ve done.
You’ll also be ready to work some of the new ideas you’ve learned into
your business.
Hate marketing? Love procrastinating?
For the next 5 days, shirk your marketing duties and play truant with this 5-day plan instead.
If anybody tries to stop you, tell them you’re allowed because you got a note from your mommy. I’ll totally forge that for you.
Comment for Your Chance to Win a Book!
Kevin Muldoon is letting me give away 3 printed copies of The Art of Freelance Blogging right here on this post, with free delivery to anyone anywhere in the world.
All you need to do is leave a comment below to enter, and tell me
what you think of my 5-day zero marketing plan. I’ll choose the 3
winners on July 3rd. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteThe Three Main Elements Of Business Planning