I will use the freelancer as an example, but I will also include the role of the Solopreneur, as I see them similar in this context.
The definition of Freelancing is already familiar and understandable to everyone. This is a specialist who works independently without a permanent client contract.
Most freelancers limit themselves to the role of executor, leaving self-promotion in the background. The client sees in a similar way - "a freelancer works all day on someone else's task." As in the popular phrase: "All you do is paint all day."
And it would seem that the process that brings new customers is taken out of the brackets, as if it does not exist, they appear on their own. Like "well, you do post on the Internet, right?"In this article, I will look at the pros and possibly cons of every freelancer having to be a content writer first and foremost. Let's look at the toolkit, the resources needed, and be inspired by the examples of those that are already taking steps in this direction.
The process of moving from Freelancer to Content Creator can be both exciting and lucrative. Otherwise, what we all doing here?
Freelance today
Today Freelancing is a very popular way of "type of employment". Freelancer is a one man business.
Like any business, it has all the necessary components, such as: accounting with reporting and drawing up contracts, discussing the project with the customer, receiving all the necessary data, fulfilling the order, completing the transaction and closing it with all necessary procedures, advertising and promotion on top of that.
Many freelancers work on an hourly rate. That in itself has no right to exist. We will discuss this in another article.
Freelancers provide a service and have to move from client to client. The frequency of switching between clients may vary depending on your direction, but in general - this is a standard part of the process.
Some of these components, of course, can be delegated to online service tools. First of all, bookkeeping. If you use advertising, then it can also be a semi-automated element. But marketing should be left to yourself. Your promotion is you - your soul and your unique brushstroke on the canvas.
Thus, the Freelancer attracts the attention of some clients from the established base, and new ones. Working with a loyal customer base deserves a separate article, but this is also an important detail that many people miss.
Attracting new customers brings with it many advantages:
- You can increase the price tag on each next client.
- You can try new directions.
- Establishing new connections for future projects.
Freelancers are highly dependent on customers, especially beginners. When there is no client base yet or it is small, you have to agree to projects that are on the verge of your tools-skills. And while, like any specialist, you need to devote time to gaining new knowledge and skills, the constant dispersal of efforts will greatly slow down the work process.
All of the above limits resources, opportunities for income and its increase.
Content Creators today
The content writer industry is booming today. Content creators are individuals who monetize their audience in a variety of ways. There are estimated to be 50 million authors most active in this process.
A process that began back in the 1990s allowed companies to enter this market. After that, stars and individuals began to appear, who began to pave the way for the modern industry of Content Creators.
If earlier large companies that own the rights to copyright content managed the authors and dictated the terms, today a new distributed network of tools in the form of social networks, platforms that allow you to directly communicate with the audience, gives the authors full control over the process.
I can say that the Content Creator is the evolutionary step of the Freelancer - Entrepreneur. The line between Freelancers, Entrepreneurs and Content Creators is blurring.
Fundamentally, Content creators solve the main task of any business - attracting an audience. This is the basis of purchasing power.
Today you can find content from any area of our lives, Created by Authors who dedicate to it as part of their time, as well as fully working in this industry.
The intersection of Freelancing and Content Creators
Here are some of the misconceptions that can keep you from thinking about creating Content:
- Content Authors, they don't place orders, do they?
- Is this entertainment or some kind of side job?
- It can't be combined with work.
- For this to have an impact on your career, you need to do it full time
The last two points touch on the possibilities of your personal resources and trust in this industry. Working as a Full Time Author is another evolutionary stage of the full transition, if you wish for it yourself.
Undoubtedly, along with your main profession, you will need to learn a whole range of additional skills for a successful author. An interesting detail is that for content production, your core skill will be deepened, since any presentation of material requires a thoughtful structure and organization. By preparing a product for others, you deepen your knowledge about it.
You, as an interested professional or a novice specialist, have an undoubted, I would even say dishonest advantage over those who do not practice in a similar field. You live by your profession, you are the content. Everything you do is of interest to everyone who works in your field. Take advantage of this.
You will also immerse yourself in such disciplines as marketing, audience persuasion, brand building. Plenty of successful influential authors have learned all of this along the way. And, as I already noted, today there are more than enough tools to help you. There is no better time to pick.
Create content you can still continue to provide services to customers. At the same time, by spending enough time on your image-brand, you win on several points at once:
- Promote your expert in the field
- Remind your potential customers
- Focus your efforts on the product
The last point requires a separate explanation. Under the product, we can also understand the Service, consultation (as a kind of service), but here you can specify the Finished product and / or the semi-finished product. More about it below.
What results can be achieved
Here we come to an important stage in the formation of a Professional. Having gained sufficient expertise in the field, we can package our services into products. The obvious example is, of course, knowledge itself.
But I would notice. that if you want to remain a freelancer, then the so-called Service "done with client" is more suitable here.
If you look, any type of Client request requires input data. The success of getting them depends on the questions you ask and the answers the client can give. After completing a hundred other (or maybe less) orders of a similar direction, you see a pattern. And you can automate part of the processes.
A more complex option is a series of questionnaires and the provision of auto-issue middle results that appear depending on the initial answers received. This will require a complex tool, but in today's realities it is possible to automate almost everything. This is also worth talking about separately with another article.
Thus, you divide your work into two parts: order fulfillment, and promotion through content creation.
It's worth getting used to the idea that you're not just selling your time. You are selling your experience and expertise.
If you manage to create a series of products, you will decide which direction to go, what to delegate, and possibly eliminate yourself from the order fulfillment process entirely. It all depends on your professional preferences.
I'm getting ahead of myself a bit, but these are important details about building your career.
Disadvantages of Author Content Creation
The first and obvious disadvantage, for many, many freelancers, is exposing yourself: your thoughts, physical appearance, details of your personal life.
But the fact is that you are not obliged, for example, to listen to videos for YouTube or Instagram with your own image. You don't have to write about your personal life at all, though that's often an attraction too. You are free to speak, write, show exactly as much as you are ready to.
If you do not want to be shown in the frame, but you want to make videos - these can be cutting scenes around your workplace, or just a screen. You got the point.
You can stay completely in text form. Write in twitter (x) and starting a blog.
All this can reflect both a narrowly niche focus of content, and a broader one. I'm for half a day option. Since we, as living unique people, tend to trust people with similar interests. I would even put it at the top of the list of important parts of Authored Content. Perhaps this is the brand - it's you.
Also among the drawbacks, it should be noted the speed of obtaining the result.The biggest content creators paint an unrealistic picture of both audience and earnings. This process takes time. And many may not guess, but behind the strongest authors there is a team that helps in certain aspects of running this business.
But even with a small audience of real fans, you can feel great. Here the quality-preparedness of the fans plays a big role. Better to have 10,000 loyal fans than 100,000 mixed visitors. People tend to trust and buy from those they know and love.The threshold for entering the industry is very low, everyone has phones, which is more than enough today. Presumably 2% of authors earn enough to live on. Most of those who have a substantial income started building an audience more than 3 years ago. These figures may be scary, but in my opinion, this is an excellent indicator that there are much more consumers than Authors, which undoubtedly inspires hope for a bright future for the industry.
Sources of income
We've already touched on this area from the Freelancer's perspective Let's see what the Creator industry can add to this.
Platforms like YouTube, Twitter and more recently Instagram allow you to monetize your their ads through your posts. This is not much money, but such an opportunity exists. Perhaps YouTube stands out from the general background, for which the authors love it.
But more important is the pulling of the audience to platforms controlled personally by the authors. The most famous and at the same time very effective is the Email Newsletter. In addition, the authors create shops with Merch, souvenirs. Or promote products through affiliate links.
And despite the fact that advertising inserts and referral marketing are a good help, the most effective and profitable is to promote your own brand that sells the product with the biggest profit margin. That is why many people promote their own online courses or other digital goods.
In the process of building your brand, this should be carried out as primarily a product-oriented positioning.
Maybe not right from the start, but it's also worth diversifying both your sources of income and the channels through which you can be found. To be less dependent on temporary shocks related to unforeseen events in the industry or platform where you are promoting.
Summary
The emergence of new tools, the spread of remote work contribute to an increase in the market for authors and inspire hope for a brighter future.
Promoting your own services or products today, in my opinion, is a necessity for an entrepreneur, freelancer and other representatives of creative and non-creative professions, designed for interaction from One to many.
Content is created on different platforms and media, which attracts a large number of people. that's how corporations make money. You can too. Whether you like it or not, you are a gear in the content creation machine. Whether or not you approach this strategically depends on you.
Successful authors have built an audience around their unique content, read around you. Like any brand, it needs a strategy.
Create content, listen to your audience, improve the quality of product services.
That's all for today. see you in next issue,
Dmitry.
The definition of Freelancing is already familiar and understandable to everyone. This is a specialist who works independently without a permanent client contract.
Most freelancers limit themselves to the role of executor, leaving self-promotion in the background. The client sees in a similar way - "a freelancer works all day on someone else's task." As in the popular phrase: "All you do is paint all day."
And it would seem that the process that brings new customers is taken out of the brackets, as if it does not exist, they appear on their own. Like "well, you do post on the Internet, right?"In this article, I will look at the pros and possibly cons of every freelancer having to be a content writer first and foremost. Let's look at the toolkit, the resources needed, and be inspired by the examples of those that are already taking steps in this direction.
The process of moving from Freelancer to Content Creator can be both exciting and lucrative. Otherwise, what we all doing here?
Freelance today
Today Freelancing is a very popular way of "type of employment". Freelancer is a one man business.
Like any business, it has all the necessary components, such as: accounting with reporting and drawing up contracts, discussing the project with the customer, receiving all the necessary data, fulfilling the order, completing the transaction and closing it with all necessary procedures, advertising and promotion on top of that.
Many freelancers work on an hourly rate. That in itself has no right to exist. We will discuss this in another article.
Freelancers provide a service and have to move from client to client. The frequency of switching between clients may vary depending on your direction, but in general - this is a standard part of the process.
Some of these components, of course, can be delegated to online service tools. First of all, bookkeeping. If you use advertising, then it can also be a semi-automated element. But marketing should be left to yourself. Your promotion is you - your soul and your unique brushstroke on the canvas.
Thus, the Freelancer attracts the attention of some clients from the established base, and new ones. Working with a loyal customer base deserves a separate article, but this is also an important detail that many people miss.
Attracting new customers brings with it many advantages:
- You can increase the price tag on each next client.
- You can try new directions.
- Establishing new connections for future projects.
Freelancers are highly dependent on customers, especially beginners. When there is no client base yet or it is small, you have to agree to projects that are on the verge of your tools-skills. And while, like any specialist, you need to devote time to gaining new knowledge and skills, the constant dispersal of efforts will greatly slow down the work process.
All of the above limits resources, opportunities for income and its increase.
Content Creators today
The content writer industry is booming today. Content creators are individuals who monetize their audience in a variety of ways. There are estimated to be 50 million authors most active in this process.
A process that began back in the 1990s allowed companies to enter this market. After that, stars and individuals began to appear, who began to pave the way for the modern industry of Content Creators.
If earlier large companies that own the rights to copyright content managed the authors and dictated the terms, today a new distributed network of tools in the form of social networks, platforms that allow you to directly communicate with the audience, gives the authors full control over the process.
I can say that the Content Creator is the evolutionary step of the Freelancer - Entrepreneur. The line between Freelancers, Entrepreneurs and Content Creators is blurring.
Fundamentally, Content creators solve the main task of any business - attracting an audience. This is the basis of purchasing power.
Today you can find content from any area of our lives, Created by Authors who dedicate to it as part of their time, as well as fully working in this industry.
The intersection of Freelancing and Content Creators
Here are some of the misconceptions that can keep you from thinking about creating Content:
- Content Authors, they don't place orders, do they?
- Is this entertainment or some kind of side job?
- It can't be combined with work.
- For this to have an impact on your career, you need to do it full time
The last two points touch on the possibilities of your personal resources and trust in this industry. Working as a Full Time Author is another evolutionary stage of the full transition, if you wish for it yourself.
Undoubtedly, along with your main profession, you will need to learn a whole range of additional skills for a successful author. An interesting detail is that for content production, your core skill will be deepened, since any presentation of material requires a thoughtful structure and organization. By preparing a product for others, you deepen your knowledge about it.
You, as an interested professional or a novice specialist, have an undoubted, I would even say dishonest advantage over those who do not practice in a similar field. You live by your profession, you are the content. Everything you do is of interest to everyone who works in your field. Take advantage of this.
You will also immerse yourself in such disciplines as marketing, audience persuasion, brand building. Plenty of successful influential authors have learned all of this along the way. And, as I already noted, today there are more than enough tools to help you. There is no better time to pick.
Create content you can still continue to provide services to customers. At the same time, by spending enough time on your image-brand, you win on several points at once:
- Promote your expert in the field
- Remind your potential customers
- Focus your efforts on the product
The last point requires a separate explanation. Under the product, we can also understand the Service, consultation (as a kind of service), but here you can specify the Finished product and / or the semi-finished product. More about it below.
What results can be achieved
Here we come to an important stage in the formation of a Professional. Having gained sufficient expertise in the field, we can package our services into products. The obvious example is, of course, knowledge itself.
But I would notice. that if you want to remain a freelancer, then the so-called Service "done with client" is more suitable here.
If you look, any type of Client request requires input data. The success of getting them depends on the questions you ask and the answers the client can give. After completing a hundred other (or maybe less) orders of a similar direction, you see a pattern. And you can automate part of the processes.
A more complex option is a series of questionnaires and the provision of auto-issue middle results that appear depending on the initial answers received. This will require a complex tool, but in today's realities it is possible to automate almost everything. This is also worth talking about separately with another article.
Thus, you divide your work into two parts: order fulfillment, and promotion through content creation.
It's worth getting used to the idea that you're not just selling your time. You are selling your experience and expertise.
If you manage to create a series of products, you will decide which direction to go, what to delegate, and possibly eliminate yourself from the order fulfillment process entirely. It all depends on your professional preferences.
I'm getting ahead of myself a bit, but these are important details about building your career.
Disadvantages of Author Content Creation
The first and obvious disadvantage, for many, many freelancers, is exposing yourself: your thoughts, physical appearance, details of your personal life.
But the fact is that you are not obliged, for example, to listen to videos for YouTube or Instagram with your own image. You don't have to write about your personal life at all, though that's often an attraction too. You are free to speak, write, show exactly as much as you are ready to.
If you do not want to be shown in the frame, but you want to make videos - these can be cutting scenes around your workplace, or just a screen. You got the point.
You can stay completely in text form. Write in twitter (x) and starting a blog.
All this can reflect both a narrowly niche focus of content, and a broader one. I'm for half a day option. Since we, as living unique people, tend to trust people with similar interests. I would even put it at the top of the list of important parts of Authored Content. Perhaps this is the brand - it's you.
Also among the drawbacks, it should be noted the speed of obtaining the result.The biggest content creators paint an unrealistic picture of both audience and earnings. This process takes time. And many may not guess, but behind the strongest authors there is a team that helps in certain aspects of running this business.
But even with a small audience of real fans, you can feel great. Here the quality-preparedness of the fans plays a big role. Better to have 10,000 loyal fans than 100,000 mixed visitors. People tend to trust and buy from those they know and love.The threshold for entering the industry is very low, everyone has phones, which is more than enough today. Presumably 2% of authors earn enough to live on. Most of those who have a substantial income started building an audience more than 3 years ago. These figures may be scary, but in my opinion, this is an excellent indicator that there are much more consumers than Authors, which undoubtedly inspires hope for a bright future for the industry.
Sources of income
We've already touched on this area from the Freelancer's perspective Let's see what the Creator industry can add to this.
Platforms like YouTube, Twitter and more recently Instagram allow you to monetize your their ads through your posts. This is not much money, but such an opportunity exists. Perhaps YouTube stands out from the general background, for which the authors love it.
But more important is the pulling of the audience to platforms controlled personally by the authors. The most famous and at the same time very effective is the Email Newsletter. In addition, the authors create shops with Merch, souvenirs. Or promote products through affiliate links.
And despite the fact that advertising inserts and referral marketing are a good help, the most effective and profitable is to promote your own brand that sells the product with the biggest profit margin. That is why many people promote their own online courses or other digital goods.
In the process of building your brand, this should be carried out as primarily a product-oriented positioning.
Maybe not right from the start, but it's also worth diversifying both your sources of income and the channels through which you can be found. To be less dependent on temporary shocks related to unforeseen events in the industry or platform where you are promoting.
Summary
The emergence of new tools, the spread of remote work contribute to an increase in the market for authors and inspire hope for a brighter future.
Promoting your own services or products today, in my opinion, is a necessity for an entrepreneur, freelancer and other representatives of creative and non-creative professions, designed for interaction from One to many.
Content is created on different platforms and media, which attracts a large number of people. that's how corporations make money. You can too. Whether you like it or not, you are a gear in the content creation machine. Whether or not you approach this strategically depends on you.
Successful authors have built an audience around their unique content, read around you. Like any brand, it needs a strategy.
Create content, listen to your audience, improve the quality of product services.
That's all for today. see you in next issue,
Dmitry.
