Today marks the end of the holidays for me 😢
But… I’m looking forward to working with a new client from Monday. And starting a cool project 😊
Will be a fun way to start the year!
Seeing it’s the end of the weekend… now’s the time to fossick around in the mailbag and pull out a question from the audience…
This question is about (what seems to be) every freelancer’s favourite topic:
Hi Chris
When looking for email marketing clients, let’s say on Upwork, did you start off with one specific niche that you like (even though there might not be many job opportunities on that niche) or just picked whichever job that requires email marketing?
Should I niche down or not when starting email marketing/copywriting?
Dee Seejuns
Hey Dee… always the “million dollar question”: niching.
I’ll give you my 2-cents take on this…
When I started out I didn’t go for a particular industry niche. And still haven’t.
Mainly because I just wanted the experience at the beginning.
But I also like learning new things. So I’m happy helping clients in whatever niche they happen to be in.
I did start out on Upwork. And still have ongoing work through there.
Lately I’ve redirected my energies into my own projects. So it’s primarily client-intiated contact that I’ve been getting lately… rather than me writing a million proposals like in the old days.
I’m also using LinkedIn now for connecting with clients.
On the niching thing…
My advice is: don’t niche down to start with.
(Unless of course you have experience and passion for a particular niche… in which case: go for it!)
Just focus on getting experience and some initial $$ (no matter how small).
With every client I was able to use the experience as leverage for the next job.
For job proposals I could include something like: “I’m working with a client on their X project…”
And do ask for testimonials. They are gold when you’re getting going.
My only niching (of sorts) was around skills.
The first jobs I did through Upwork were for things like website About pages and Home page rewrites.
Then I pivoted to email. Became a Klaviyo partner. Learned a mammoth amount about email marketing. Started my own lists. Picked up ecommerce clients. And here I am now… LOVING email 😃
Hope that’s useful for you… and anyone else here who’s thinking about the whole niching thing.
It’s certainly not bad to niche by industry. And as the saying goes:
“The riches are in the niches” 🤑
Now, for this to rhyme you have to say “niche” like “nitch” — the original way, apparently.
I live in a corner of the world where it’s pronounced “neesh”… so doesn’t quite work for me!
But what DOES work is the idea of being compensated well for knowing an industry deeply.
And if you’re ready to get your niche-specific (or not) freelancing website up and running. Systeme.io’s free-forever plan is a great place to start. Sign up here with my affiliate link:
https://a.chrismilham.com/systeme
Where we’re going, we don’t need roads,
Ready to build your email list? Go here…
EmailForTheWin.com
Chris Milham