The Freelancer Marketing Habit

Image by Merakist @merakist on Unsplash

I don’t like rollercoasters. There, I said it.

They just aren’t my bag and definitely not the place I look to get my thrills in life.

However, I love watching a film or TV show that’s an emotional rollercoaster. That’s the whole point of a drama, to get ourselves wound up at a distance, knowing that it’s just a story. We can step out of it at any moment, and we might even learn a thing or two along the way.

But there is a rollercoaster that I’ve often found myself on. I know many other freelancers who've found themselves on this wild ride too. It’s one that provides few thrills (unless a nervous, sinking feeling lights you up). It doesn’t provide much learning or growth either. Most people who successfully navigate it would never return for another hit.

I call it the Freelancer Rollercoaster of Feast and Famine™ and it’s a doozy.

As a freelancer, you have probably experienced it. In fact, right now, you might very well be in the middle of it and this post might trigger feelings that are hard to face because they feel so true.

Its a classic “Two Step”, going as follows:

1) You scramble for work, reaching out to contacts, cold-emailing, scouring your communities, and channels for people you can serve. It’s a raid on your connections, a trying-not-to-be-desperate ask of anyone you know, as well as those they might know.

2) Some work comes in, so you focus on that. The frantic energy of step 1 subsides as you serve your clients. Until…that work comes to an end.

And repeat.

I know this because this was me. I flailed into work, let my guard down as I served clients, and then fell into the panic pit once more as that work came to a close. My cash flow was a lumpy mess, my confidence took a hit every single time and the constant setbacks meant I was spending more time working and acting in haste, rather than delivering a quality service.

I spent a lot of time wondering how others seemed to be constantly busy? I wondered to myself “Where do they find their customers and where do they find the time to find them?"

Everything is a remix. A spark of insight came to me after reading James Clears Atomic Habits, remembering the Gretchen Rubin quote “What you do every day matters more than what you do once in a while." and finally being reminded of Jerry Seinfeld’s chain.  It was a hell of an inspiration quartet but it made sense in a moment. I wasn’t compounding my marketing efforts. I had no system that grew over time, that returned more the more I worked on it. I was Investing 101, applied to my work. But, I wasn’t doing it.

An unlikely trio of inspiration

Either way, the answer lies in the habit of marketing yourself every single day.

My friend Amir dropped a thought-bomb on me when I mentioned this to him. He said, “your job isn’t to be a freelancer, it’s to sell freelance services”. This reframe blew my mind. The freelancer’s job is to get your work and yourself in front of more people, which helps to build your skill AND your credibility.

I had to do something about it. As per James Clear’s advice, I aimed to start small. 30 minutes a day, for 30 days. That time slot went in the diary. First thing every day, right after I sat down to work. The first 2 days, I put together a rough plan of what I needed to do. For the rest of the days, I executed that plan. 

I didn’t expect immediate results, and I didn’t get any. That’s the early day of trying to compound anything, and I knew that getting beyond those breakers was a “Dip” I would have to endure. I worked on a few different projects in the 30 days that slowly started to bear results. I was getting my work out there consistently, and I was surprising myself in him much it was helping me refine my story. Instead of wondering about how to pitch my services from time to time, I was doing it consistently, and getting answers.

I created lead magnets, wrote blog posts, updated my website, reached out to new clients, created a Bootcamp course. I strategized 30, 60, and 90-day plans and set them in stone. All in just 30 focused minutes a day. I guarded that time. No phone, no email, no Slack. 

And people started to notice. I was no longer starting cold every time. I had things to show clients, roadmaps of how to reach them, and ways to structure the relationships. I had a map, instead of wandering.

This has all been a recent revelation for me and after 30 days, I realized that the only thing that would make this better is to do it with others. I mentioned the idea to other freelancers and the response looked like one of relief. Focused time, on a specific task, with a community of others in the same boat. 

Introducing…The Freelancer Marketing Habit

How does it work?

You commit to showing up every day for 30 days, for 30 minutes each day.  In those 30 minutes, focus on your marketing only. After 30 days, the habit of marketing yourself will be a part of your everyday cycle. It’s a matter of not breaking the chain.

What you get…

1) The power of community.

Together is better. The majority of freelancers work alone. But going it alone is no fun, and hard work. Having a community is easier, and way more fun.

2) The power of accountability.

It’s 30 minutes every single day, for 30 days. No excuses. 

3) The power of consistency.

If you go through "feast and famine" periods of being a freelancer, you know how it feels to be swamped by work one week, then have nothing at all coming in for the next month. It's an emotional (and financial) rollercoaster.

3) The power of learning-by-doing.

In a 30-minute window, there is no real choice but to do the work. We learn when we do.

And most importantly: Continuous Momentum.

Warning! Marketing your services daily may encourage:

New ideas - As freelancers, it’s rare that we take the time and space to think creatively about our marketing strategy. 

New relationships - Being a freelancer can be lonely, and having a community of people holding each other accountable to build a marketing habit can be immensely valuable.

New opportunities - Ideas lead to more ideas. Relationships lead to more relationships. Ideas + Relationships = new opportunities.

New ways of thinking - Often we are too close to the problem to see what we actually need to do. Having a community and a 30-minute constraint to work on your marketing can help you think in new ways.

You've got the skills, you just need the customers. Consistently marketing your services is one of the most valuable things you can do as a freelancer. It helps you understand those you seek to serve better, as well as increasing your opportunity footprint. More marketing creates a higher demand for your services. Higher demand for your services means you can charge more.

As a freelancer, marketing must be a consistent process. The freelancer scramble is mentally and emotionally draining, and in the long term, not sustainable. Having a consistent marketing process means you can spend more time with your clients and less time worrying about where those clients will come from. Even when you’re booked solid, you still need to invest time and energy into acquiring new clients. Small steps toward marketing yourself every day lead to a point where the system starts working for you.

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