Earlier this week I shared some thoughts about a particular moment in the following conversation with Kaitlyn Arford, founder of Freelance Opportunities. It was specifically about how adjusting your perspective around the time it will take to grow a project to what you dream of as a successful end result. When I first made the leap into dreaming big on myself, I didn’t have products, goods or services-but I did have writing skills and so like many people who made the leap into creative entrepreneurship I did A LOT of freelance writing in the beginning of my career. I wish that I’d had access to the Freelance Opportunities newsletter when I started. Before we get into the episode I have a quick question and a community to tell you about.
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Listen to the Episode
Become a Creator Getting Paid
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The Creator Income Collective
Are you looking for a high impact resource for your online brand building as you manage the cost of living during wildly weird times. Are you an empathetic, mission led creator who is building beautiful work and is wanting to find more people to be a part of and support the work that you’re doing? Are you looking to be in community with other creators doing the work and who understand the stress of what you’re doing? Join The Creator Income Collective today. It’s ridiculously inexpensive on purpose. I want this to be the easiest professional development tool and space that you say “yes” to this year. Go to: https://creatorsgettingpaid.com/membership All community members of The Creator Income Collective also gain access to the resource: SUBSCRIBED a growing list of different mission lead content creator newsletter and email lists that compliment the type of work or communities that you’re building.
Show Notes
I begin this conversation recording from the rooftop of a huge building in Denver. I’m so excited about this conversation
- Kaitlyn Arford-Runs Freelance Opportunities and The Unapologetic Romance Reader
- I ask Kaitlyn how has the creator entrepreneurship space changed since she first started?
- Freelance is an understood career and creative entrepreneurship has been legitimized post pandemic.
- People are being drawn to Creator Entrepreneurs during the Age of AI
- How did email become a part of the work that Kaitlyn does? I wonder about this because list building is something that I find a lot of creator entrepreneurs uncomfortable with growing a list.
- She got her degree in magazine journalism in 2016 and enjoys being creative in that way.
- The Pandemic hit and she lost clients so she began looking for clients and found projects that she shared on Twitter.
- Created simple tiers on Buy Me a Coffee and started building simply and quickly
- Began building on Beehiiv and has 19,000 subscribers with 60% open rates
- There’s more than one way to grow a newsletter-focus on community. Kaitlyn had a lot of people recommending her work.
- Send to a friend
- Cross promos
- Free workshops
- How did Kaitlyn decided to use Beehiiv and what is her process to find the best tools that work for her work.
- She like the analytics feature for Beehiiv
- The ad network
- Ultimately, what tool will you actually USE
Let’s Talk About Freelancing
- I share my experience and challenges with freelancing and I ask what are some of the tensions that Kaitlyn is noticing as tensions in the Freelance space and how she helps people navigate around those issues.
- Finding enough leads
- Editor expectations
- Pay not matching the scope of work
- Build a brand
- Curate a portfolio
- Recognize that as a freelancer you’re vulnerable to client demands-Build your business accordingly
- Figure out how you can walk away from bad clients
- How do people become freelancers?
- Some on purpose
- Others because of job loss or need to increase income
- The good news
- Growing need for real people’s work
Long-Term Goals
Kaitlyn is committed for the next 10 years. She’s thinking of herself as building a Media Brand vs. just building a resource.
