💲 Top 10 most in-demand remote skills (new survey)

Author

Jim Hamilton
November 29, 2024

In partnership with

In partnership with

Happy Black Friday! This is the Freelance Gig, where we share news, tools, tips, and tricks to help grow your freelance business.

Mentioned in today’s email: Remote jobs, millennials, Gen Z, LinkedIn, Threads, and Google Chat. Plus whether you should ever work for free, and why a six-figure freelance biz needs a strong base of support.

Read time: 3 minutes and 45 seconds

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Working With Clients

Spotted: Freelancer With Zero Clients Offers Career Advice

One of the most controversial freelancing topics is whether to work for free or not.

As a comic book villain wise man once said, “if you’re good at something, never do it for free.”

But on the flip side…

How are you supposed to land clients with no experience?

It’s a tricky situation. And one that’s more nuanced than most make it out to be.

So here’s our take on the subject:

  • You should never lie about how much (or little) experience you have to a prospective client.


  • The biggest objection most clients have when hiring new freelancers is experience.


  • The easiest way to overcome that objection is to work for free.


  • One way to split the difference is to prepare custom sample pieces and include them in your proposal. This way, you can demonstrate your competence without doing the entire project for free.


  • Be strategic about who you prepare custom samples for. If it’s a big client with lots of potential opportunities for you, then it’s probably worth it. If it’s a brand new solopreneur with nothing more than a blog and a Stripe account, then probably don’t do it.


  • Any work you do for free should be limited in scope.


  • There are bad actors out there who may try to exploit you, so use your judgment and trust your gut.

Bottom line:

Most new freelancers would be better served by checking their ego and working for free to get their foot in the door with legit clients and companies.

Whatever amount you’re getting bent out of shape about is likely going to be small potatoes in the long run.

So don’t sweat it.

And focus on doing whatever you can to prove yourself to quality clients.

Making the Rounds

POLL: Should freelancers ever work for free?

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

Working For Yourself

A Six-Figure Freelance Biz Needs a Strong Base of Support

They say you should always invest in a good pair of shoes and a good mattress.

Why?

Because if you’re not in one, you’re in the other.

Well, we’ve got one more item to add to that list:

A good office chair.

Because if you’re spending 4-8+ hours working on the computer in a crappy chair…

You could easily end up with back, neck, or wrist pain.

And your skeleton deserves better than that.

Our favorite budget-friendly choice is the IKEA Markus.

But if you’re looking for a side-by-side comparison…

Check out this article buying guide from our friends at WIRED:

AI Prompts For Freelancers

Prompt of the Week: The Viral Ghostwriter

This AI prompt is designed to help you write a viral thread on Threads.

Here is the prompt:

You're a world class content writer with expertise in writing viral threads for Threads. My audience is [AUDIENCE]. I want you to create an outline for a viral thread on [TOPIC]. The hook (first post in the thread) must be irresistible and highly attention-grabbing. Remember that each individual post within the thread must be no more than 280 characters. The entire thread should be 10 posts long, including the hook (first post) and recap (last post summarizing all of the tips). It should be optimized for consumption on mobile devices. This means lots of line breaks, bulleted lists, and short, punchy sentences. Emojis are NOT allowed, so there should not be a single emoji in the entire thread. Be creative, specific, and emotional.


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Tool of the Week

Harness the newsletter platform built for growth with Beehiiv

Looking to start your own email newsletter?

(HINT: you should be)

And if so, we strongly recommend Beehiiv.

At this point, it’s basically an entire newsletter business-in-a-box.

With it, you can replace:

  • WordPress (or any other content management system)


  • Website hosting (like Siteground or HostGator)

  • Email service provider (like Active Campaign or ConvertKit)

  • Recommendation widget (like SparkLoop)

That’s why they’re trusted by many of the fastest-growing newsletters in the world, including Exec Sum, Miss Excel, Milk Road, and lots more.

As a freelancer, having an email newsletter is a great way to establish authority and set yourself apart from the competition.

So if you’re ready to start building an audience you actually own…

P.S: They’re running a big Black Friday sale right now.

So you’ve been thinking about signing up, now is the best time of year to do so 💪

Bonus Points

🤝 Sales: Prospects ghosting your follow up call? Watch this (link)

📊 Productivity: Craft 3 is shockingly close to my ideal productivity app (link)

🎧 Work Beats: Halo but it's lofi beats (link)