Hey Reader,

Ready to feel inspired?

Last year, Alice Lemée made $86K as a ghostwriter while travelling around Paris, Brazil, and Costa Rica 🌍

But it’s not always been like this.

She’s been dealt her fair share of sh*tty hands:

Here’s how Alice turned things around.

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✅ Step 1: Find paying clients and THEN…

“Start by focusing on your craft and finding paying clients — then focus on the fun personal branding stuff.”

Alice hammers home something I know to be true: Landing clients should be your number one goal as a new freelancer.

Everything else falls under Shiny Object Syndrome.

👊 What you should do

1. Write high-quality articles so you can refer to those when you…
2. …cold-pitch clients via email
3. Apply for jobs on Write Jobs PLUS+. This is hands-down my favourite job board.

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✅ Step 2: Be upfront with clients. Set your boundaries. Tell them how you work.

It’s your responsibility to lead clients.

“90% of them aren’t malevolent. They’re more likely clueless about how to work with freelancers.”

👊 What you should do

1. When a client opportunity arises, hop on a call with them. Ask questions. Identify their pain points. At the end, confirm a date for when you’ll send over a proposal.
2. Send them an “iron-clad” proposal. Your proposal should include things like the scope of work, timelines, clauses, responsibilities, and a menu of options.
3. (Reply to this email with the word “Proposal” if you want the template I use 🤘)

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✅ Step 3: Keep working on your craft

My most-read Medium article to date (100K+ views) took me a couple of hours to write.

But the pieces where I’m second-guessing every sentence?

Tumbleweed.

👊 What you should do

1. Study the best writers. There are so many great books about copywriting. I’m a big fan of Write to Sell by Andy Maslen.
2. Practice, practice, practice. You’ve got to put in the reps. I churned out 30 articles before people noticed. It took another 70 to find my voice.
3. Love the process. You have to love the writing, the waiting, and the rejections. Getting results—views, money, recognition—is the cherry on top.

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There are so many things that impress me about Alice.

One of the most impressive?

She took that first step.

Taking that first step might be the most important lesson of all.

Like Alice, I urge you to take it.

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Want to learn more about Alice?

Check out my full profile of her work and learn where you can follow her.

Thanks so much for reading, and have a wonderful weekend! :)

Scott

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