Hey, ProWriter!

You know what today is. 🎃

It’s the day your kids will be at their most entrepreneurial all year, as they plot the most efficient neighborhood coverage strategies in order to make an absolute killing in the candy collection market.

But even the kids (and parents) with the most stamina won’t come close to the killing the sweets industry makes every Halloween.

Americans alone purchase 600 million pounds of candy for the spooky season (that’s 6 Titanics) and individually consume nearly 3.5 pounds of the sugary stuff. 🍬

For us, it’s a day of discipline as we desperately attempt to exercise moderation at the office candy bowl (to maintain our gainz 🏋️).

Still, even we aren’t immune to the spirit of the season. Here’s what we wore to the office today:

In all seriousness, if you’re going out tonight, be safe and have fun.

Before tonight’s sugar rush, let’s get into this week’s headlines:

• Better questions to ask instead of “how do I make more 💰?”

• Why we think the current era of AI is coming to an end

• This content guru will help you when your career is struggling

• Some MAJOR insights if you want to work for big brands

• Good mix of gigs in marketing, SEO, cyber, and more!

Have a spooky one!

- Dave and Dusten

#ProWriterTips 💡

Questions to ask instead of ‘how do I make more 💰’

“How do I make more money” is by far the question we are asked the most.

Don’t get us wrong, it’s a fair question. Everyone on the planet wants to know how to maximize their day-to-dollar ratio, whether they wait tables or run a multi-million dollar business.

But it’s the wrong question.

Instead of asking how to make more money, ask questions that will help you become more valuable.

Questions like:

I. Am I investing in my brand?

It’s easy to get bogged down trying to find work and forgetting to invest your time into brand building.

But it’s building your brand that will make you more valuable in the eyes of the employers you want to work with.

Imagine that you’re not a freelance writer, but the owner of a bakery.

If you owned a bakery you’d be thinking about everything from location to logo.

You’d be thinking about what kinds of baked goods to show in the storefront window.

You’d be thinking about the impression a customer gets when they walk through the door, before you even open your mouth to say “welcome.”

A writer who isn’t investing in professional branding doesn’t have a welcoming bakery. Instead, they’re like a baker trying to sell cupcakes on Craigslist.

Would you buy cupcakes from Craigslist?

Seems sketch.

Start investing in your brand as a freelance writer.

Does this mean you need to stop looking for gigs and develop a huge omnichannel strategy for yourself?

No.

If you start big, you’ll just burn out, because most of your time will be spent managing strategies and platforms. You won’t see a ton of traction, you’ll get dispirited, and give up.

Instead, start small.

And honestly, it doesn’t take much to get started.

Career coach Charles Miller specifically advises writers to pick just one topic to specialize in, develop one social strategy, and stick to one main platform.

Once you start seeing success, double down and start branching out.

II. What’s my value proposition?

What’s the main thing you’re known for?

Are you (or are you on your way to becoming) one of the top blog post writers in your niche? How niche are you within your niche?

Are you a conversions guru? Can you design and write landing pages in Hubspot?

Are you just really, really good at optimizing headlines and email subject lines?

Back to the bakery, think about your signature product — one kick-ass thing you’re known for that no one else has. Your superpower.

We all have those recommendations at the tip of our tongues. Best cup of coffee, best burger, best cupcake in town.

What’s your thing?

That, my friends, is your value proposition.

A lot of writers get discouraged about this one. Maybe you’re just starting out and you don’t have your “thing” yet, or maybe it feels like another well-known writer has the market cornered on your “thing.”

But have you noticed that there are other places to get a cup of coffee, besides Starbucks? Have you noticed that there is more than one company that makes TVs? Or cars? Or toothbrushes? Or, anything and everything?

You’re competing with other freelance writers the same way these huge companies compete with each other: by highlighting your unique value proposition.

Maybe you’re faster. Maybe you’re willing to work for less money. Maybe you can boast a higher conversion rate, or have more happy clients, or can offer extra services to your clients.

Don’t overthink this. You don’t have to have a unique value no one has ever seen before. You just need to understand what you can do and how to talk about it.

And then…

III. Do my ideal clients know I exist?

… you need to figure out how to be in the right place at the right time.

This is the part where you’re going to need to summon some patience, and a thick skin for rejection (or at least, not hearing back despite sending out tons of messages).

You should be making lists of companies and brands in your niche that you want to work with (new companies are started every day, so you’ll need to update the list constantly).

Set Google Alerts, watch Crunchbase, LinkedIn, and jobs boards specific to your industry (bet you didn’t know those existed, but yes, there’s more than Indeed out there).

Because when you finally get a client’s email address, or a connection on LinkedIn, you’re going to need to have something to say.

And it’s going to be really easy to absolutely blow it at this point.

Now, pitching a client is an entire topic unto itself, and one that we’ll spend a lot of time covering from multiple angles in the future.

For right now, though, we want to put one idea in your head:

• Don’t ask for a job.

• Instead, tell the employer what you can do for them.

Remember the value proposition?

Your main goal when you have an employer’s ear is to tell them how you can help them.

If they’re intrigued, they’ll check your profile and your links, and as long as they don’t think you’re some Craigslist baker, you can finally start a dialogue that hopefully leads to a job.

TL;DR

Ask questions that help you develop your brand, identify what unique value you have to offer, and then, questions that will help you find the people who want to pay for that value.

Questions like these combine to answer “how do I make more money.”

Because when you figure out the answers to questions like these, you won’t have to ask how to make more money.

And you’ll be qualified to set your own prices.

Want to check out all of our Writer Tips for free?

📺🎙️A word from our sponsor📲🤑

Pop quiz: How can you show a potential employer that you’re a good fit for the gig?

How about a zexy portfolio? 🕺💃🏽

That’s right, ProWriter is our sponsor once again.

ProWriter isn’t just a newsletter. It’s an entire resource for helping freelance writers launch their writing careers.

When you become a ProWriter member, you get:

✔️ A free portfolio to highlight your hard-earned skills and experience

✔️ Workshops, courses, and other resources to improve your skills

✔️ Access to a community of peers and coaches to help you succeed

Ready to grow your writing career?

Eye on AI 🤖

In this section, we bring you the top stories about AI that actually affect you. Mostly so you can stay informed, but also, worry less.

Confused about how your boss is using AI? You’re not alone.

Hard as we’ve tried in recent editions of the ProWriter Newsletter, it’s been difficult to get a finger on the pulse of AI’s presence in the corporate and labor markets.

We know a lot of businesses are testing it, we know that a lot of the marketing brass is excited about it, and everyone, everywhere has this sense of inevitability about it.

But what’s still fuzzy is the how.

And if you’re confused about the how, you’re definitely not alone. More than half of workers (54%) are totally in the dark about how their employers are using AI.

Meanwhile, 70% of leaders at companies using AI expect that their employees will be using these tools in the course of their duties to some degree in the next 5 years.

That’s a stark difference, and signals a desperate need for managers to start communicating internally to answer those how questions.

The appetite is there. Some 75% of employees said that they would be more on board with adopting AI into their duties if the brass would just tell them how to use the tools.

Other headlines:

• Erica Santiago is a marketing copywriter. She tested the top AI-copywriting tools for Hubspot. Here’s what she found.

• OpenAI has formed an internal team to address “catastrophic risks” of AI as they scale their systems.

• This marketing campaign gave people the opportunity to ask an AI-generated Arnold Schwarzenegger questions about his new book. The twist? It was really the Governator himself.

100 content people you should be following 🤝

We made a big list of the most successful and influential voices in marketing.

The main thing they have in common? They post free content advice that will make you a better writer.

This week, here’s who we think you should follow + connect with on LinkedIn: 

#95 Linda Melone

Linda is a rockstar copywriter, strategist, and podcast host who specializes in conversion copy (e.g., sales landing pages, ads, emails, i.e., where there is lots and lots of money for good freelancers).

Here’s why we like her and think you should follow her:

1. Practical, snackable tips

You all know what we like by now: Highly visual presentation content that teaches you something really useful, really fast.

Linda is a very consistent poster, sharing her headline formulas, hooks, and how-tos.

This makes her a hella useful source of free professional development for scrappy freelance writers.

2. She’ll help you get where she is

A lot of Linda’s content falls into the category of "life advice” for young professionals.

This is valuable for you because writers need more than just copywriting skills — they need branding skills, business skills, marketing skills, and more.

They also need the occasional pick-me-up when they feel like the ‘ol career is going nowhere — something to spark inspiration, and make you feel like you can really do this:

Linda is one part professional development partner, one part career coach, and we think you’ll learn a lot from her.

👉 Connect with Linda on LinkedIn

Makes you think 🤔

Writer advice from someone WE look up to

Many of you know that our goal with the ProWriter newsletter is to make a Morning Brew-style newsletter for freelance writers.

We’re big fans of Morning Brew, so when one of its founders says something, we pay attention. And if they say something about the kinds of writers they look for to work on one of the biggest newsletters on the web, well then, we want to make darn sure you see it, too.

Alex Lieberman is Morning Brew’s co-founder and Executive Chairman.

Last week, he posted some advice for writers who want to stand out when they apply for big gigs with respected brands (like Morning Brew).

The advice is so good, we’re just going to turn this section over to him today:

Keep in mind that Morning Brew is one of the biggest newsletters on the web, with over 4 million free subscribers.

So if this guy has advice on what he’s looking for in writers, it’s gold. Take it.

Top Freelance Writing Jobs 💼 

1. Five Tool Agency is looking for an SEO writer familiar with tools like Ahrefs and Semrush. About 3-4 articles a month, (negotiable) rate of $0.15 CPW. Email [email protected] with some samples, desired rate, and briefly outline your experience with SEO tools.

2. Sculpt is looking for a generalist content marketer/writer/optimizer for PT work. It’ll be $25-$50/h depending on experience. Read the full description and apply here.

3. Cypress is looking for a content strategist to help a client with thought leadership content. $46-$67/h if you’ve got the chops. Apply here.

4. Critical Start is looking for a temp content writer in the cybersecurity niche. It’s $55-$65/h. Apply on the company site.

5. Motion Recruitment is looking for a business/finance writer to fill a 1-year contract. $45-$52h. Apply on LinkedIn.

6. Solomon Page is looking for a healthcare copywriter. $40-$45/h. Apply here.

7. Artisan Talent is looking for a B2B copywriter for an airline. Must have experience working on copy for marketing campaigns and social. $33/h. Apply here.

8. Grow and Convert has an open call for product copywriters. $500 per article. Read more details and apply here.

Don’t forget — all the jobs we post here are remote and we privilege gigs with transparent pay.

A handful come from our personal networks and aren’t on any jobs boards… yet. So get on ‘em.

What’s on your 🧠?

Here’s your weekly reminder that if you’re one of our 10,000 subscribers, you can reply directly to this email.

That’s because we want to hear from you!

• We want your feedback, so we can make this newsletter better

• We want your questions, so we can create relevant content for you

• We want to build relationships, so reply with whatever is on your mind

Send us compliments, concerns, complaints, questions, story ideas, memes, whatever you got.

Thanks for reading, ProWriters!

Let’s have a great week.

Dave & Dusten

P.S. Want to look smart to all your friends? Forward them this newsletter.

If you’re that friend, subscribe to The ProWriter Newsletter here.

P.P.S. Want to really upgrade your freelance writing career?

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Until next week, see you on Twitter and LinkedIn.