#352: How Building a Community of Like-Minded Peers Can Help You Land Business and Create a Valua...

Welcome to the High Income Business Writing Podcast, helping you propel your writing business to a whole new level. And now, here's your host, Ed Gandia. Hey there. Welcome to another episode of the High Income Business Writing Podcast, the number one podcast for business writers and copywriters who want to earn more and less time doing work they love for better clients. With over 1.3 million downloads from listeners just like you across 101 countries, freelancing can be a lonely journey, let's face it, right? But it doesn't have to be that way. It is for many people. But a lot of freelancers don't recognize that they don't have to go at this alone. Many freelancers struggle to find consistent work, navigate client relationships, and stay up to date with industry trends. They often feel isolated, unsure where to turn for support or guidance. They feel alone. Well, that's not the case for Rachel Smith, who's my guest in this week's episode. Rachel is the founder of Rachel's List, which is a thriving jobs board and community for Australian freelance writers that has been going strong for over a decade. But here's the kicker. Rachel's List started almost by accident. It's actually a really cool story. So early in her freelancing career, Rachel found herself recommending other freelancers when she couldn't take on projects. And it started happening more and more frequently. And this informal network of referrals gradually evolved over a number of years into a highly successful business that has transformed the freelance landscape for countless writers. These days, Rachel's List isn't just a job board. It's a vibrant community where freelancers share information, find overflow work, and access practical skill building masterclasses. The success has even spawned a popular podcast, the Content Bite Summit, which she creates with her good friend Lynn Testoni, and an annual conference, the Content Bite Summit. I was thrilled to bring Rachel on the show to share her insights on how freelance opportunities have grown and changed over the years. We go deep into this idea of building a small community of your own. Because even though we talk quite a bit about Rachel's List and the evolution of that, how it happened, what's it evolved to, this is way more than about that. This is really about creating your own community of peers, even if it's just two or three people. So we talk about that. And then we also get into a side topic that I feel is really, really important, where we discuss the skills that freelancers need to thrive in today's market. So whether you're a seasoned freelancer looking to expand your network or a newcomer trying to find your footing. You're going to find a number of valuable insights here on building a supportive freelance community and turning connections into business opportunities. I hope you enjoy it. Hey, Rachel, Welcome.

Thank you. This is very cool to be on your podcast.

It's so cool to have you here. And it's been a long time and I'm glad we're doing this and we finally made it happen. I want to make sure that for people who don't know who you are, maybe give us a little bit of the origin story, and then we're kind of going to get to talk a little bit about networking and, you know, how to kind of create a group of trusted peers. But tell us a little bit about your freelance business, how you got started, what you did before, and how you ended up here.

Yeah, well, I, you know, I find with freelancing, there's often two stories, like people who are pushed into it through redundancies or something happening, and people who really take the leap consciously and make that choice. I was the pushed one. I mean, I'm in that case. Yeah. So I sort of got out of uni. I moved to London and worked there as a sub editor on magazines and then got back to Sydney and worked for various magazines and also worked as a movie reviewer for a long time. And then the dot com bust happened, this is around 2000, 2001, and the market was just awash with journalists. And that was really hard. So I was sort of, you know, I had. At that time, I was working for a company called Scape, that was sort of a website that was a little bit ahead of its time. It was a joint venture between sort of a TV company and a big digital movie company. And they just sacked everybody. And so I was. Yeah, I ended up working for the TV for Channel 10 for a while, and I was, like, doing their email marketing. This is years ago, like, so different to the email marketing we do now.

Back when people actually love getting email.

Yeah. And I was mail. So weird. Like, back then, I was taking the scripts from, you know, the anchors and the TV journals and turning them into stories and putting them on a newsletter for their subscriber list. And then that whole entire content department got the sack as well. And so I was really like, right, okay, I'm in this flooded market, there's no jobs. What do I do? And I was like, right, I'm going to freelance. I'm never going back. This is it. I'm starting. And, yeah, it was a hard Couple of years and I slowly started to pick up work and jobs. And that's when I started doing the movie reviewing. I got one gig and then I got a second one. So I was really isolated. I'd sort of been pushed in this direction. I didn't know any other freelancers. It wasn't like it is now, where, you know, there are all these communities and stuff like that. I really felt alone and very disconnected. So I met these other two freelancers who, through a job share arrangement and we didn't know each other. We were just like communicating through notes on our work. Because I would come in one day and then I'd have to pass on a story, they'd finish it. And we just realized these notes got funnier and funnier and we were like, let's go to lunch and meet each other. So we did. And that sort of started this, this list of freelancers who wanted to meet and kind of get out of the Garret, so to speak, and have lunch every month. And that list completely snowballed. It would have been over the space of about two years, it went from three people to maybe 200, and then it got to 800 people. And around that time, because I was very much in the magazine world, then editors started to send me jobs and say, can you put this on your list? Can you put a job on for a feature writer? Or we need a sub editor for next week, or we need, you know, an editor, or we've got a perm job coming up. So I just started, you know, sending these jobs to my list of hundreds of people. And the only stipulation I had even back then was to be on this list, you had to have a track record but behind you, so you had to have experience and that sort of thing. So this list became this curated list that was very well known for being very high quality freelancers who could hit the ground running. And editors loved it and they used it a lot, to the point where it became so big that I had to make a decision, like, what do I do? Because I was splitting it in two to send the newsletters out. Otherwise they'd hit spam folders and that sort of thing. And I was like, right, I really need to create a website and try and monetize this because it's bigger than Ben Hur. And I remember back then I did a survey to the list and I said, you know, are you guys interested? I'm at the crossroads. And everyone was overwhelmingly, please, please keep it going. So that's when the first Rachel's List website started, that was in 2012, and I have always juggled it with my freelance work, so I've never just gone all in on Rachel's List. I've always had both running both hats. And I kind of went online first with another journalist, Leo Wiles, who had since moved on. So I now run it with a small freelance team. But, yeah, it sort of evolved from there. Yeah.

So how long did it take to go to that point in 2012 from when it started? What time span was that?

That's a good question. I wonder if it was like a few years. It was probably about 5. Yeah, I definitely started it. Once I was sort of established in the freelance world and was in this job share, it would have been around maybe 2007. Yeah. So it was a few years that it sort of built up and built up slowly because people got wind of it and were like, can I join your list? And can I come to the monthly lunch? And eventually the monthly lunch was so massive, it became a night in a pub and then that became too big and, you know, so I kind of like stopped the community events because they were so overwhelmingly big and to manage and stuff like that. And it just became an email list for a while before it went online. Yeah.

So it was. The intention originally was just to network both online by just, you know, having conversation and to meet monthly. Right. So there was never an intention of, hey, we're going to make this a referral, some sort of referral list. That wasn't the original idea.

No, it was really trial and error. Like, there wasn't the memberships back there or the subscriptions that there are today. Like, you know, you look around and they're everywhere. And I really was just lonely and I didn't really know that many people in the same boat as me. So for me it was like, I have this agenda. I really need to meet people, I need to create this tribe around me. And that was the vehicle that let me do it. But then it slowly evolved and became more. Yeah.

And how did it spread so quickly? Was it just sheer word of mouth? Oh, I know someone, you know, a couple of people, and they really need to be on here.

Yeah. So when we went online, so that was 2012, we had about 800 job seekers on the list, 800 freelancers. And back then it was free for the freelancers to join and we started charging the job posters, the editors and the companies to put jobs on. And that has grown to about 4,000 now. So we've got 4,000 job seekers like freelancers, job posters, companies that post. And we have an entry level writers list as well that's external to the website. And I think it grew because it had a really good reputation for, like I was saying before this quality, you know, instead of going to a big job sport and putting your job on and getting 300 applications and you'd have to sit through and find five that you wanted to shortlist, you might get 20 people applying and you could hire all of them because they were all really great, talented, had the experience, they could hit the ground running. So it became known for that. It's USP was this really high quality list. It was curated, it saved you time because you didn't have to, you know, wade through all the. A relevant application. So editors passed it on to other editors and it grew from there sort of thing. And then obviously other journalists. So it's interesting because journalists originally were the core business on that list. Journalists, sub editors, editors, that sort of thing. And then it really expanded as the market changed. And I've really seen that happen as well.

And so today you have. I want to make sure I understand the 4,000. Those are companies looking for freelancers or those are freelancers on the list.

Yeah. So fourth, we've got about 3,000 registered job seekers who are like, they're in the membership, but they're also just registered and approved because you come on and you register. These are all Australian job seekers and we'll check them out, make sure they've got a track record in a creative field, usually journalism, content or copywriting. And then we approve them and then they will get newsletters with the job headlines and all the information. And it's up to them to say, well, I actually want a membership and we've got a couple of tiers that are really reasonable and they can either do monthly or annual. Then we have a list of job posters that register to post jobs. And they are publishers, academics, agencies, blue chips, small business owners, a whole range of different kinds of job posters that need writing content now they need a reporter, they need editing, all kinds of sort of creative things they can put a job on and find someone at Rachel's List.

And you vet those as well. You vet those.

Don't vet them because the job posters need to pay to post.

Okay, that in a way, yeah, it's sort of.

Yeah. Vet them if they're not serious and that sort of thing. Yeah.

Okay, so. So that's pretty impressive. And then people can join the list for free, but they don't get all the opportunities it sounds like, or access to all the opportunity or the opportunities, period. Unless they're a paid job seeker.

That's right. Yeah. It's paywalled for the jobs. But we have started a new thing called the gold key. So you can come on and register and say that we approve you and say, yes, you can be part of the list. It's then up to them if they want to upgrade to a membership, but if they don't, and a lot of people are in a perm job, but they're looking around and they don't need full membership, but they might see a job come through that they want. So we have this gold key and they can just pay this one off cost, it's $30 and it opens the job sport for 24 hours so they can go on and buy for anything on the job spot and then it shuts again.

Yeah, Pretty creative. I like that idea.

Yeah. It actually works so well. So many people buy multiple gold keys when they could just buy annual membership and it would be a lot more economical. But they.

You need to have an automated email that's triggered by someone who's paid for so many gold keys that says, hey, man, what's up? Yeah, what's going on here? You know, you could be doing. Yeah, save some money. That's really cool. All right, so I love that story because for many reasons, but one is that it shows that many times we get all these opportunities coming to us that we don't really recognize as opportunities at first. We're just doing it for fun or because, I don't know, we want to help others. And unless you're really perceptive, you may not realize that you are sitting on a gold mine. And you know, I love the fact that you saw this, that you saw a business opportunity here that you were what I like to call a market maker. You are matching buyers and sellers and you had build this brand and this level of trust with your audience and you had a process that companies and people who needed writers really trusted you. They trusted your process, the quality of your list, and I mean, what a great opportunity for everybody. So kudos to you for seeing it and for getting creative with it. That's really cool.

Oh, look, it's been a journey. Like I said, lots of trial and error. I had to, you know, hire the right developers. I stumbled there a few times. I had to learn about project managing, custom site builds and, you know, planning all that out marketing, SEO. And it was really interesting. You know, I was listening to One of your episodes with, I think we've talked about this before. Shane Sams.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

He talks about, you know, you create this product that fulfills. It's like a painkiller, a pain you fulfills a pain point for somebody and then you add the community. And so they come for the product and they consume that and then they stay for the community. And I remember listening to that and thinking, oh, I did that with Rachel's List without really realizing it because you asked earlier, when did it snowball again? It really snowballed when I realized, hang on, what's missing from this is the community aspect. And I started the Facebook group. I'm pretty sure I started that in about 2016 or maybe 2017. And then it just went because, you know, people love a jobs board, lots of well paid jobs coming through that they can see that there's work in the market. But I really now hear over and over that my members pay their membership fees for that community. I'm biased, but it's a lovely place to hang out. There's a wide spectrum of experience in there and a lot of sort of self appointed mentors. You know, there's a lot of advice going around. You can go and ask a question, feel safe to ask it in there. And that is the real goal in the Gold membership. Really. That's it. It's that community rather than the job sport. It's funny, I never thought that, but I kind of like. Yeah, it was a realization for me.

I learned that about eight years ago. I forget the gentleman's name, but I was trying to a better job with a continuity program. It was a membership program where people had access to all these courses that I had created. And that's one of the most important lessons I've ever learned. He said you can have these amazing products and they need to be great courses and great materials. Very, very helpful. But keep in mind that people come in for the product and they stay for the community. So if you don't have a strong community, you know, you could have the best products in the world and that's just not gonna last. And it was hard for me to believe, but I've proven that to be true over and over again. One of my coaching options is a group based program and that I would say is number one or number two in terms of the benefits is the community. I don't sell it. In other words, I don't really tout the quality of the community. I want it to be a surprise for people because it's Unexpected. And with Community, I found that we're getting a little off track here. I am. But I find that everyone has different expectations and if you oversell it, then, you know, it may not meet those expectations. So I don't even sell much of it at all. I let people see it for themselves and they're so surprised, pleasantly surprised, that it's. I think it works better that way.

Yeah, it's funny because, you know, I see that with my own community there's so many things, threads that might happen that I think are so valuable and I've polled the community before saying, you know, because I think I should perhaps make more of it, make out that it's this really valuable part of the membership. But nobody wants anything shared, obviously it's a private community, so it all just stays in there. And I don't really get to promote what is happening in there. So it is a surprise. Yeah, it's a great.

Yeah, keep it that way, Keep it that way. Because it's.

Create something like that. It's amazing. You just. Yeah, it goes from strength to strength really.

Well, let's talk a little bit about the underlying core message here, which is really this idea of developing and growing a network of peers, the value that that brings to your business and to others and how it enriches your life as well. So tell us a little bit about maybe some of the lessons you have learned just from seeing not just yourself, but others get involved in a community of like minded peers and how it's changed people and made their businesses better, their lives richer.

Absolutely. Well, I think it's crucial, I think in freelancing, you know, you can feel like you're operating in this vacuum all the time. It's a really lonely life and it's not good living in your head too much and not having people to bounce things off like you would perhaps in a perm job if you're a bum on a seat somewhere. And I think, you know, it's a really unique position, isn't it, to be working for yourself. And our families can be sympathetic to bad days, but there's something really powerful in being able to pick up the phone to another writer and say, hey, this crappy thing just happened to me. How would you handle it? You know, And I have slowly over the years brought together a tribe of people who I can do that with and feel like I can trust them to do that with. And they do the same with me. Not a lot, but just a handful. But it's just those people you can call on, you can commiserate with them, share your wins and share those bad times. And for me, I don't think I would have made it this long without that big and ever growing network of writers around me. And I think that one, when I created that community at Rachel's List, it had this other sort of snowball effect in my own freelance business because suddenly, instead of, you know, being solitary in my own work, I started meeting so many other people. And it's like when Lynn and I started the podcast, the Content Bite, we were suddenly interviewing guests and my network was expanding again and I was going on other people's podcasts and meeting more people. And, you know, it's a really conscious thing, but it does so much for your business. The more people, I think, in your network, the more chances of referrals, and especially if you have a really unique selling point because people start to get to know you for that thing and you're remembered. So it's, you know, we see it all the time on LinkedIn. Something comes up, other people go, oh, you know, Ed Gandee is your guy for that, or Rachel Smith is your girl for that or something. So it's, the more that you are out there, the more visible you are, the wider your network, the more people trust you. It's just opens doors, constantly opens doors. And yeah, I don't think you can operate in freelancing without some kind of community. I think you can go overboard and be in too many and that dilutes, you know, your focus on your actual work and, you know, so it's good to find one or two that are a really good fit for you and then engage in those and go deep.

Go deep in one or two. I couldn't agree more. Couldn't agree more. I learned this long time ago it seems like it would be better to diversify, enjoying a bunch of them, but you stay very shallow and you never really develop the momentum you need because these things are not linear. You know, they, they're kind of really slow going at first, and then the relationships start developing and, and then the value grows exponentially. But that takes time, and you won't see it unless you put in the time, the effort, and you're there being open and authentic. Right. And that, you know, to feel comfortable doing that takes a little bit of.

Time, I think so. But a way to do it is to almost build it into your week a little bit, you know, joining and engaging in those groups, or build it, you know, build it into your month, like set up lunches with freelancers that you gel with, have make it a regular thing. It's just so enjoyable and beneficial to talk shop with people that you really like and trust and who get you and know what you're going through. It's just, you know, it's a highlight of the month when you can meet with a group of like minded freelancers. But I also think a really good way to expand your community and people's trust in you and build those like friendships and those professional relationships is to support and champion freelancers on LinkedIn and other socials. So leave comments, like their stuff, you know, share their posts and all of that just compounds really and comes back to you. And I think you were mentioning as well, like creating your own online groups is a really big thing because they could be just maybe three people that share leads or that have discussions about what they see going on in the industry. Like what's the word on the street? You get a bit of intel about a magazine that's, you know, frozen its freelance budget and no one else knows about that but you. Your friend does because she's one of their key freelancers or you want to pitch to someone, someone shares a contact with you. So it's all of those little things that kind of become more seamless. I think when you're in an online group, I'm in a few, like One is a WhatsApp group with some other writers. I'm also in a new business owners group with different businesses. Not specifically writing businesses, but they're all sort of kind of small businesses. And the value from that is incredible because I think I'm very nosy and very curious as a person. And one of the things I love is being surrounded by other businesses and seeing how they tick, seeing, you know, I like to know what they're doing, I like to learn from them. I can take that information and put it into my own businesses. It's just invaluable. So that's another reason to create a little mastermind or create a group of really amazing people that you gel with. You know, the people because you kind of light up when you see them come into your inbox and you think, wow, I'd really love to hang out with that person or I'd love to talk to that person more. And so reach out and see if you can create some kind of informal route because the value you get from it is unbelievable.

I think let's maybe get a little bit more in the weeds with this. If somebody's thinking, okay, I get it, I'm sold on the idea. I don't even know where to start. You know, let's maybe come up with two or three very practical ways that people can take the first few steps.

What do you think to creating a group or a community?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because I know as simple as it might sound, I get it. You know, you might be paralyzed by ideas or options, or maybe you think this is too big a leap. So you say, okay, I'm going to think about this, where I'll get to it. But you never do. So how do we simplify this so that people can take some very simple initial first steps and not have to make it perfect from the start? Because I get it. Sometimes we want the perfect group. We want to create. Oh, that'd be amazing if I had this trusted group of peers and it was only a few of us and. But I want it to be just right. And you're focused on perfection.

Yeah.

And. And not on taking action. So you never take action.

Yeah. Well, you know, I'm in the midst of trying to create something at the moment, and for me, I don't think it's something to rush. If you want it to be a professional group that is going to complement everybody in the group and they all come from slightly different angles or, you know, have something different to share, that's really what you want. Because all those people will have different viewpoints on, you know, a problem that you might be having. So for me, like, I have just been. There are two freelancers that I know and work with separately, but they know each other. So it feels like a natural progression for me to bring the three of us together. But then I also am thinking, who else might be a really good addition to that group? And then just reaching out and saying, are you interested in this? Is it something that we can, you know, like perhaps formalize in a monthly thing or maybe a WhatsApp group or a private Facebook group where we're just the only ones in there. I've seen those work really well, too.

Or Slack. You could do a free Slack.

I love Slack. Yeah. So it's really just about thinking what is going to work for me? Who are the people I really love talking to? And I get a real buzz out of talking to them because they have this incredible knowledge and they get a buzz out of talking to me because I have different skills to them or experience we can share and we can all grow from this experience. And it's just about planning that and then seeing if people are open to it. And a lot of that I can see comes from already being in a community where you get to know people online and it just sort of happens a little bit organically, like you're talking to someone else or they're commenting and joking with you on your posts. And then there might be a slight breakaway group from just a few people who want to, you know, talk only about travel writing, or they're all content marketers and they want to talk about industry trends that they're seeing or share work. And it just makes sense to have a niche group that's separate from the bigger community. So yeah, that's what I would say.

I like that. So when I guess what to summarize, you know, a couple of people that you really enjoy, they may not know each other and it could start with just two or three people. You invite them into this very informal, you don't have to have a plan or a structure. A very informal online hub where you guys can communicate, share ideas, ask questions, get feedback and just see what the excitement level is. And you could do it in WhatsApp, we could do it in Slack, you could do a private Facebook group, whatever. But start there and see where it goes. And then trying, rather than trying to figure out steps 2, 3, 4, just let it evolve. Right? That's one idea.

And then you can think, well, as a group, do we want to invite someone else in? Do we really like, you know, Beck from who's got this small business that would, you know, is really interesting to all of us and she has different experience, so she's bringing another viewpoint in. So it's about really consciously building that. What am I trying to say? That kind of different experience level and skill set in this one group.

Yeah, I've seen groups or I've heard of, I haven't seen them, I've heard of groups that started out this way and then it ended up being four or five people and they kept it small, but then they met a couple of times somewhere. Like they planned a trip to have like a weekend meetup. And I thought that was really, really cool. Like I said, I have in my group coaching programs, we have just a community and we do it in Slack and we also in one of my groups, we meet twice a year in person. And that just changes everything because once you meet somebody, you're there collaborating with them and small breakouts and one on one discussions and then going out for dinner, talking in the hallways during the breaks, it just changes the relationships, it elevates it dramatically. And then they are getting together and they're having discussions, you know, amongst each other, and then even when the program is over, I've had some people who. There's one group of three ladies who I want to say they're going on six or seven years after my coaching program, still meeting every Friday. Every Friday they meet and. And they collaborate, of course, throughout, you know, the month. It's pretty amazing. So, yeah, it happens organically. But I would say don't wait. Right. Don't wait for somebody to take the lead. If you're inspired by this, you know, you take the lead.

I agree. The other thing I was going to mention, which is an amazing app that has sort of inspired me to do this with this group that I'm currently looking at putting together, is Voxer. Do you use that, Ed?

I use Voxer, yeah.

Love Voxer. So, like, I've only got maybe eight people on my Voxer, but they're really amazing people, you know, and they're all super busy. Like, we're all crazy busy, but sometimes we'll need advice from one of the other people, and so we'll just send a quick Voxer and then get, you know, the response when it's convenient for them. And that has been a game changer for me and made me think. I would love to get more of these people in a more informal arrangement so that we can all share.

Yeah. And for those who don't know what Voxer is, we should mention that it's like a walkie talkie app. So it is like a group text or you can form groups or it could be one to one, but it's really just spoken voice and it's really cool.

Groups, actually. You can create groups on there.

Yeah, that's what I meant. It doesn't have to be groups.

Yeah, right.

Yeah, it could be. I've used it one on one. I don't use it. I have a very unusual way of using it. Different application for it, but the benefit. Not only is it asynchronous, but you have the voice element as well. And sometimes if you think of something and you're maybe you're cooking dinner and, you know, you thought of something that you want to ask the group, you could do it while you're stirring the sauce or whatever. You don't have to, like, sit there and type the whole message.

Exactly. And I found out about it through a couple of coaches that I know because I know that coaches sometimes will sell Voxer, you know, communication as part of a coaching package and that sort of thing. So anyway, I'M all over that. But the other thing we didn't talk about is events. And that can be a really good way because it's such an intense, like couple of days. That can be a really way to meet like minded people, you know, real kindred spirits who do similar work to you. I know from the Content Bite Summit we had a mastermind, a couple of masterminds come out of that and some writers groups that evolved out of that, which is just incredible to hear. Like, I love that. And because it's in person, you do create those stronger bonds, you know, and you're out to dinner and drinks and sitting next to that person and absorbing all this incredible knowledge and. Yeah, it's invigorating. Yeah.

Yes. There's something magical about breaking bread with someone or sharing a cocktail or a cup of coffee. I mean, you just really get to know the person and it doesn't take that much time. It accelerates the relationship. I would say that conferences and events, I think the value of the people you meet and the relationships you form there is the most understated value of any event. Here we go again. Right. People come for the product, which would be the knowledge, the information from the sessions, super valuable. But really what they come out with is friendships, new relationships, connections. The offhand comment that somebody made during a break that just change. I've seen this happen so many times. It just changed the trajectory of your business because they thought nothing of it. And you said, well, wait a minute, tell me more about that. I never thought of doing that. I never thought of charging for the whole thing upfront. How do you do that? Oh, well, very simple. What I do is this. And oh my gosh, would you mind sending me a copy of that description? I've seen this so many times. It's so, so valuable.

That's why it's so important to have those people in your life that are in the same space as you. Like, you cannot operate in that vacuum. I just don't know that. I mean, I see freelancers who don't really have a tribe around them and are okay with that, but the ones that do, they, you know, they blossom and they thrive and they grow and they make more money, they get more work thrown at them, you know, and also in groups as well. People share work so much more. The referrals come up. I know that I get a lot of leads through my website. A lot of them I can't do. If I'm too busy or whatever. I share it in my group. And that sort of thing. So all of that is just so valuable.

So, Rachel, what are some of the key skills do you think are really essential for freelancers to develop, especially right now in the market that we're facing?

Yeah, I think there are definitely a few, and the first one is start a newsletter. So one thing that I think and that I see working really well for people, especially now when algorithms are going bananas and AI is freaking everybody out, is email marketing. And whether that's to a few clients on your, you know, your normal email once a month, or whether it's a weekly substack, I think you need to start something, show up, and share value, because we hear all the time, don't we? Build a list of subscribers. It's the last thing you have full ownership over. And I think, and I've seen from my own email marketing, that if you're consistent with it, you can definitely get engagement, especially if you get really nerdy with all the metrics, like I like to do. But, Ed, you do that so brilliantly with your newsletter. I always say your newsletters, they're like little nuggets of gold in my inbox. And I always think, how does he have this time to write this newsletter? Is it every day you send us?

So it might seem like it's every day, but it's twice a week. So let me. I'll give you the quick trick. This changed everything for me. I write every weekday. Every weekday. Part of my morning routine, actually, it ends with me taking about 15 to 20 minutes. And I take a topic that I have a whole catalog of ideas. I look through it, whichever one resonates with me the most, I don't spend more than a few seconds. I. That's what I write on. And I don't even outline it because I'm amped up about the idea. I just start writing and I'm done in 15 minutes, you know, and. Yeah, so that's the trick. Make it a habit, a daily habit. You develop a muscle. And here's the paradox is the more you write, the more ideas you get.

Yeah. Yeah.

Problem.

Wow. So you're doing your newsletter like you have, like, backed up, you know, you've got batches of them ready to go, or do you do them week by week sort of thing?

I got so much because what I do is that daily snippet that I write.

Yeah.

That becomes the basis for all of my content. I don't use it all, but what I do is I share all of those with my coaching clients so they get a daily insight in our Slack group and I actually record it. So they get the audio and it's a three minute audio. So out of those, the best ones turn into newsletters.

Yeah.

Then some of those are cobbled together into podcast episodes.

Yeah.

So it becomes the basis for all of my content. It all starts with just a three minute audio, which. Which is a 15 minute exercise.

See what I was saying before about learning from other businesses? I've learned so much from you, but that your newsletter is amazing. So if you haven't got a newsletter, start a newsletter. My second one is marketing. Obviously you want to market yourself consistently where your audience hang out, but I think that something that's really important is not just to show up, but to watch the market and listen to what's going on and tweak accordingly. So you'd ramp it up when things are slow, you dial it down when you're super busy. And I think having a plan B for your marketing and not falling into that panic marketing kind of hole is really important. Hard to do, but yeah, I think it's about watching, tweaking and being consistent. The third skill I think freelancers need is to learn SEO, even just enough to help you optimize your site. Because ranking for just a few keywords, like, it takes a while for that wheel to start turning, but once it does, it can mean fabulous lead generation. I probably share about 30% of the leads I get with the Rachel's List Facebook group as overflow work. So that's another reason to be in a community. And other people share theirs as well. So you're constantly, you know, getting stuff from a jobs board and stuff from other members in the community. But SEO for your own business is essential, and this one is invest in your business. I think that sounds really counterintuitive when so many of us are counting our pennies and that sort of thing. But every time I invest in something or someone that I think will propel my business forward or give me the advice I need, it pays off every time. I think the last thing I invested in was a Pick My brain session with Iman Ismail. Are you familiar with her?

I've heard her name, but I don't now. I don't know her.

He's an amazing email marketer and I was a bit stuck with some of our email marketing and she was really instrumental in helping me restructure what I was doing and try a bit of a new strategy. And we'd seen amazing return on investment from that. And my last skill that I think is really Good for freelancers. And this might be just specific to me because I'm quite an anxious person. It sort of speaks to resilience and it's about not focusing too closely on things that you can't control. Because I see a lot of freelancers allowing themselves to get swallowed up by things they can't control, like the doom and gloom, the negativity. And I'm not saying there aren't things to be freaking out about right now, there definitely are. But I think it's easy to let despair in when something happens. And, you know, even though I've been doing this for a long time, I still have doors slamming in my face. I still lose clients like anybody, I still lose regular gigs. But I try and think of that door slamming as a window opening somewhere else and it might be opening to something new and really cool that I hadn't expected. And I feel like as a freelancer you have to believe that you can turn things around and maybe be a bit dogged about it. So not focusing on all the bad stuff that's happening and not perhaps not being around people that just want to focus on that doom and gloom, but looking for people that are more optimistic and more dogged about, you know, moving forward. Because I think once you start believing that you can't move forward and that you're in trouble, that just compounds and you might be better off. I've seen a lot of freelancers come into freelancing and decide they actually wanted to be in a perm job because they just wanted to feel more secure and not have to think all the time about, you know, where do I go now, what do I try next and all of that sort of stuff.

So, yeah, which is no free lunch because it's the equivalent of having one client.

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

And we know how that works out.

Yeah, I think those are, those are my top skills for now. They probably change all the time, but that's.

Yeah, no, I think God is a very well thought out mix and these are all the skills we can. I'll be working on. I'm glad you mentioned the fifth one because especially today I'm seeing some people who. Listen, I've fallen into this trap before where it just feels hopeless, but you know, it creates a self fulfilling prophecy. It really does, Always does. So you need to find a way to break that cycle. Once you do, things can start getting back on track.

Absolutely.

Tell me if you found this to be true. I find that some of the best networkers tend to be people who would consider Themselves shy and introverted otherwise. Right. Isn't it amazing? You would never know that people who would normally say, oh, no, I don't want to do that because, you know, that sounds scary or I'm too shy or I'm introverted. They tend to be some of the best relationship makers, if that's the thing.

Yeah, yeah.

And connectors, they're.

They're the best connectors. And I think that that's where online groups and online communities are, where those people can really blossom because there's a disconnect. You know, they can start to feel comfortable by having conversations online. It's a little bit easier to do that, perhaps, than in person.

Yeah.

And then you can grow more confident and end up at those face to face, you know, events. And yeah, I think you gain confidence from that. But it might start in those online spaces, perhaps.

Yes, I agree. But then that's when you really get to know yourself because you initially thought, oh, there's no way, and then you show up and then you get to see that everybody's thinking the same thing and everyone is just as shy and introverted. And by the end of two or three days.

You might be lurking on the side for a few months, just like a bit scared to put your opinion in a thread or something. But then something really galvanizes you and you're like, right, I've got something to say about this.

I love it. I love it. Well, speaking of conferences, you know, you and Lynn have put together a pretty amazing conference that I was just thrilled to be a part of last year, the Content Bites Summit in Sydney. And you're doing it again this September. And I want to make sure that people know about this because first of all, even if you don't live anywhere close to Australia, there are some options for you to check this out. So why don't you tell us a little bit about the summit and how people can learn more about it.

Yeah, look, we were so glad to have you and Jennifer there. It was amazing to have you guys fly in for the very first one and to kick it off for us. Two rave reviews. Of course, people just loved you guys. But yeah, so we're in the second year now, and the summit is an extension of our podcast, the Content Bite, which I do with Lynn Testoni. And last year we had very much an AI focus. This year is more about building a sustainable business, you know, getting paid well, setting up processes and systems so you're not burning out. And we have an amazing lineup again this year with your friend Austin lchurch is opening the first day for us.

And he is so great, so great. He is always just so thoughtful and shares mind blowing information.

He's opening the conference, he's opening on the first day. Then we have a really brilliant copywriter, Bernadette Schwert, who's opening day two and she will be talking about how to find high paying clients in your niche. But there are just so many exciting sessions and panels this year. I mean, you can learn about creating digital products from Lindy Alexander, email marketing from Kirsty Fanton. Susan Riock is returning and she's going to be doing like not tear downs but kind of glow ups on freelancer websites. Like how could this convert better? How could, you know, what could you do to your website to make it work better and harder for you? Which we're so excited about that. And we've got top editors talking about pitching and content chiefs talking about getting corporate work. And we've also got Brooke McCarthy coming and she's going to be talking about how to craft a freelance marketing plan that you can stick to.

So yeah, another very relevant.

Yes.

Yeah. So last year you had this virtual ticket that somebody could buy, so they were really far away or they couldn't travel. They could at least check out the conference. So can you tell us a bit about that? Cause I know you're doing it again, I believe.

Yes, so we do have a virtual ticket and basically we're not making the conference available as a digital product later. Some conferences do, you know, sell the conference later so you can watch all the videos. We only make that available to the virtual ticket holders so you can come live if you're in that time zone and it works for you. Or you'll get the whole conference as a digital product later if you buy the ticket beforehand. But you have to buy it beforehand because we're not selling it later. Yeah, but it's a great price and it's a really great opportunity to still feel like you're part of it and to get all that knowledge that's going to be there.

What I thought was really cool last year is that you did a very good job of people who were there virtually and they could ask questions. And you had a moderator who was on her phone. Claire. Right, Claire was on her phone. She could see the questions coming in and she could ask the speakers and panelists as if you were in the room.

Yeah, it's very integrative. And also getting back to that whole community aspect, a lot of virtual ticket holders, you Know they have a chat function as well, so they can chat with each other through the sessions and we would see that happening. So that was really interesting. And a lot of them, it was really lovely to see at the end they were like, so great to meet you and hopefully we'll see you there in person next year and that sort of thing. So if you are able to attend live, you will meet people in that online chat and you'll get a chance to ask questions because we, you know, we draw questions from the virtual ticket holders and the people who are there in the audience as well. So you get a chance to, you know, to get your questions answered for sure.

So where can we send people to learn more about the conference?

They can find out everything@the contentbytesummit.com Perfect.

And we'll make sure to put a link to that in the show. Notes and people who want to check out Rachel's list and you know, your stuff, where can I send them?

They can find out everything about Rachel's list@rachelslist.com Pretty simple. We're also on Instagram at Rachel's List and all the channels. So come and find us and say hello and join our community.

Yeah, there you go. There you go. Way to tie it together. I love it. Well, Rachel, this is been fun and such an important topic. I think we need to do more of this. My observation, by the way, I should mention this has been that over the past five years, but especially over the past two years, I've noticed a significant trend toward more and more writers in my communities getting a big portion of their work through their network, people they know well. And I mean the change has been dramatic. So for that reason alone, if you want a business justification, do it for that. I think you may start thinking that that's going to be the biggest thing, but you'll quickly see that the benefits go far beyond that. You know, you suddenly won't feel as lonely. You're gonna feel way more connected to like minded people and it just enriches your life. So I, I wanna encourage everyone to not just say, oh that's really nice, I should do that. No, like make it a point to take the first step over the next few days.

Yep, I agree with you. And I think like you say, it really does open up those work doors for you. You know, because we all go through those awful times where, you know, an agency drops us or a regular gig that we're really comfortable in suddenly disappears overnight. But when you're in a community, you have that layer of support. And you can say you've got these people that know you and that you trust and you can say, this just happened to me. Has anyone, you know, got anything? Has anyone got any overflow work or can I collaborate with anyone on this? And it will be amazing how many people will step up and help you when you're in that stage. I've seen it time and time again. So without that, you're kind of back to the drawing board doing it yourself, you know, ramping up your marketing and like sending, sending Lois and all of that sort of thing. But if you can go to your community and ask your tribe just if they can help you if they've got anything, anything at all, like in slow patches. I still get in slow patches. I've been doing this for over 20 years and I will reach out to people and say, does anyone, you know, know of a client that perhaps needs an extra rider right now or is outsourcing something right now? And I will get emails from people introducing me to agency content chiefs or editors that might need my particular skill set and work comes out of that all the time. Literally. That is the value and the gold in being connected to so many people and being in a community. So you can't exist without it. In freelancing, not these days.

I don't think fully agree. I think more and more clients or prospects would prefer to reach out to their network and see if they know someone than to put something out there publicly. It's just they just don't have the time. So. Yeah, well said.

Well, yeah. Recommended with people that are recommended from other people as well, so.

Trusted sources. Exactly. Well, Rachel, this has been fun. We need to do this again another year go by and I appreciate you coming in and just sharing these ideas with my tribe. Thank you.

Absolutely. Hope that's been helpful.

Super helpful.

Thank me.

Well, that's it for today. I hope you enjoyed the episode. And just a quick reminder to grab your free copy of my latest book, earn more in less time. The proven mindset, strategies and actions to prosper as a freelance writer. You can get your free copy@b2b launcher.com where you will also find the detailed show notes to this and all my other episodes. Enjoy and have a great day.