ChatGPT đŸ€ DALL-E 3

Author

Jim Hamilton
September 22, 2023

Happy Friday! Welcome back to The Freelance Gig. Tomorrow is the first day of fall, but apparently someone forgot to tell Starbucks, because pumpkin-spiced lattes have been back on the menu since late August.

Discussed in today’s issue: DALL-E 3, Google, and X. Plus how to apply rush fees without ticking off your clients, and why you should batch your client work into half-days.

Read time: 3 minutes and 11 seconds

Together with Ariyh

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New evidence on marketing, business, and human psychology emerges every day. But best practices are often based on outdated studies and old wives’ tales.

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Every Tuesday, you get 1 actionable marketing insight based on a recent scientific paper in 3 minutes or less. That’s why it’s read by employees at Amazon, Google, and Procter & Gamble.

Making the Rounds

  • TL;DR: OpenAI announced the latest version of their text-to-image generator, DALL-E, will roll out to paid ChatGPT users in October.

  • Why it matters: DALL-E 3 integrates with ChatGPT to make prompting easier and can produce much higher-quality images than its predecessor.

  • TL;DR: Google has sometimes increased search ad prices by up to 5% just to hit revenue targets.

  • Why it matters: The revelation came during the company’s antitrust trial, which began last week. The federal government is seeking to prove Google has maintained a monopoly on search.

  • TL;DR: Elon Musk said in a recent interview that X plans to roll out a lower tier subscription that will be mandatory for all users.

  • Why it matters: Musk says it may be the only way to combat bot accounts. But with U.S. ad revenue reportedly down 60%, this could drive even more users away from the platform.

Working With Clients

How to Apply Rush Fees Without Ticking Off Your Clients

Time is money.

That’s why it can be so frustrating when clients blow up your inbox or DMs with last-minute requests.

One way to discourage this is with a rush fee.

But how much do you charge?

When do you charge it?

And what do you say to clients to avoid ticking them off?

Check this out article from our friends at Millo to get all the answers:

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Working For Yourself

Batch Your Client Work Into Half-Day Blocks to Get More Done

Your productivity suffers every time you switch tasks.

This is known as “context switching.”

And unfortunately, it’s par for the course for most freelancers.

When you’re juggling multiple clients and projects, not to mention your own marketing and prospecting efforts


It’s easy to get distracted and lose focus.

That’s why you should experiment with batching your client work into half-day blocks.

This way, you’re guaranteed to be able to put in a solid deep work session


Without having to carve out an entire day.

It does require more planning in advance to ensure you can still hit all your deadlines


But it’s well worth the increase in output.

Tool of the Week

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Credibility (or a lack thereof).

And the fastest way to build credibility is to “borrow” it from somebody else


By getting booked as a podcast guest.

Studies show podcast listeners are typically more educated, affluent, and active on social media than the average American.

And when prospects see (or hear) you being interviewed by someone else they trust, those feelings are instantly transferred to you.

That’s where Guestio comes in.

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  • Entrepreneurs On Fire with John Lee Dumas

  • Build Your Network with Travis Chappell

  • Franchise Secrets with Erik Van Horn

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So if you’re looking for the simplest and easiest way to build credibility and attract more of your dream clients


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Bonus Points

đŸ€“ Learning: 13 life lessons at 33 I wish I knew at 23 (Twitter / X)

đŸ’Œ Careers Why the most successful people are quitters (Instagram)

✍ Content: 2 unconventional metrics to track performance in your creator business (LinkedIn)

đŸ€ Sales: Use this 7-step “belief ladder” to close high-ticket clients (YouTube) 

💰 Business: The $5 Stanford Business Challenge (TikTok)