đŸ“© Sliding into company DMs

Author

Jim Hamilton
June 09, 2023

Happy Friday! This is the Freelance Gig. We’re the newsletter here to help you see through the smoky haze of the freelance world and climb to the top where all that fresh mountain air is.

Discussed in today’s dispatch: LinkedIn Company Pages, Twitter, WordPress, Substack, and Barcelona. Plus what to do when a needy client asks for one too many meetings, a counterintuitive productivity hack, and the best way to look like an idiot on client calls.

Read time: 3 minutes and 48 seconds

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Making the Rounds

  • Now you can slide into company DMs on LinkedIn. The feed is out and DMs are in. At least that’s where many social media platforms seem to be going, and LinkedIn is no different. The company just launched a new option for Company Pages to send and receive DMs. Our take: this is great news for freelancers! It offers another way to reach potential clients directly without having to go through a 3rd-party like Fiverr or Upwork.

  • Twitter’s ad sales down 59% year-over-year. According to a new report from the NYT, Twitter’s new CEO Linda Yaccarino has her work cut out for her, with the company’s ad sales sliding 59% year-over-year in April. For what it’s worth, Elon claimed the site was breaking even just two months ago. Something doesn’t add up.

  • WordPress launches paid newsletter feature. Look out Substack, a new challenger has entered the chat. WordPress, the world’s most popular content management system powering 43% of the internet, is now throwing its hat into the paid subscription ring. This might get messy.

  • Meta’s Twitter clone gets a logo. The discovery, made by app researcher Alessandro Paluzzi, shows the app is getting closer to launching. Codenamed “Barcelona,” the new app will be connected to Instagram, with users porting over their handles. Considering Instagram has 4x Twitter’s user base, there’s plenty of reason for Elon and Co. to be concerned if you ask us.

Working With Clients

When a Needy Client Asks For One Too Many Meetings

Meetings can be a major timesuck.

Especially if you’re working with clients across different time zones.

So if you want to protect your time and maximize efficiency


Encourage clients to embrace asynchronous communication instead.

What is asynchronous communication?

It’s any one-way message where the sender and recipient are not synchronized.

  • Emails

  • DMs

  • Voice notes

  • Screencast videos

  • Etc

The benefits of using voice notes or screencast videos over written messages are that it’s much easier to provide context and illustrate your point


Plus hearing someone’s voice or seeing their face helps build a stronger connection.

When it comes to recording screencast videos, our weapon of choice is SnagIt.

But Loom and Tella are two other options.

And nowadays, most messaging apps like Slack, WhatsApp, and Telegram have voice notes as a built-in feature.

Just make sure to keep them punchy.

As with everything in client relationships, this all comes back to managing expectations.

So if you set the expectation from the beginning that your main method of communication is async


But that you’re happy to meet when it’s truly necessary


Then clients are more likely to respect your time and avoid hitting you with a barrage of meeting requests.

Working For Yourself

Try This Counterintuitive Productivity Hack When Your Focus is Fading

Struggling to stay on task throughout the day?

Here’s a counterintuitive hack to try:

(and don’t worry — it’s not dancing ;)

Instead, it’s taking short breaks anytime you start slowing down.

These breaks can be anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes long


But the important point is you step away from the computer.

Pushing through when your focus is fading can actually be counterproductive


So next time that happens


Take a quick breather and you’ll come back refreshed.

Bonus points if you pair this with the 20-20-20 Rule to prevent eye strain.

Tool of the Week

The Best Way to Look Like an Idiot On Client Calls

There are few things that make you look more unprofessional than jumping on a client call with a ton of background noise.

That’s why we’re big fans of Krisp.

It’s a free software solution that completely eliminates background noise.

And when we say completely, we mean it.

Whether it’s a barking dog, crying baby, or the hustle and bustle of your local Starbucks


Krisp uses AI technology to cut out background noises from your mic and speaker so you (and more importantly, your clients and colleagues) can finally enjoy distraction-free calls.

Bonus Points

Looking to level up in life and business? We’ve scoured the internet to find even more helpful content for you:

đŸ’Č Entrepreneurship: 1-person business makes $4m at 94% margins? (link)

đŸ€ Interviews: 9 ways to supercharge your interview prep w/ ChatGPT (link)

✍ Copywriting: 279 copywriting tips in one mega swipe file (link)

📈 Productivity: How to build your business by buying back your time (link)

Gig Alerts:

Looking for clients? These freelance jobs were posted on Upwork in the last 24 hours:

NOTE: We only share job postings from Upwork. We’ve found it to be the most trustworthy platform with the highest-quality clients.

Furthermore, job postings must be for high-income skills like copywriting, media buying, funnel building, graphic design, remote closing, etc in order to qualify.

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