Nick Usborne

A short video on how freelancers can profit from social media.

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You don’t need to me to tell you how fast social media is growing. But you may not be aware of some of the actual figures…like how there are almost 700,000 updates being published on Facebook every 60 seconds.

Within the ongoing growth of social media, opportunities abound. And this is particularly true for freelancers who are, in many ways, ideally positioned to profit from social media.

To give you an idea of the scale of the opportunity for freelancers, I have created this short slideshow video…

The teleconference call mentioned in the video has come and gone, but you can learn more about my social media program here.

Think like Michelangelo: A freelancer’s guide to choosing great clients.

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part of the sistine chapelHistorically, artists have always needed to find a patron. Sometimes the church, sometimes a nobleman or a merchant.

Without the support of a patron, artists wouldn’t have had the resources to do great work. We all have to eat.

And those patrons often gave pretty clear instructions regarding the topic of the art. For example, painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel wasn’t Michelangelo’s idea. The work was commissioned by Pope Julius II.

In fact, Michelangelo was reluctant to take on the project. He would rather have been sculpting.

But you know how it goes…what the client wants, the client gets. (Particularly when, in addition to being the Pope, you are also referred to as “Il papa terribile”.)

The thing being, the artist’s life isn’t so very different from the freelancer’s life.

Read the full post…

3 Ways to Make Your Web Content Headlines More Shareable.

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web content headlinesMaking headlines shareable through social media? What’s that about?

Well, if your content page headlines aren’t gaining significant traction through social media, you’re missing the boat.

Today, all your content headlines have to do double duty:

First, they have to work on the content page itself. The page headline has to compel attention, hook the reader, and drive readers into the body of the content.

Second…your headlines have to be shareable through social media.

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The $10,000 coaching call. Or…Why I love coaching.

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freelance super heroI don’t work as a coach full time, but do thoroughly enjoy the clients I work with.

Why? Because coaching is a creative process. It’s about creating something new, something exciting.

Earlier this week I was on the phone with a client and were we talking about how she might best position a new direction for her freelance business.

Previously, we had figured out the general direction that she felt worked best for her. Now we had to find a way to position her service in such a way that prospects would feel enthused by the idea of working with her.

This is easier said than done. The mechanics of what she offered were not new. Hundreds of other freelancers in her field offer pretty much the same features and benefits.

So we had to dig and to find a way that would separate her from her competition, and would also make her shine.

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Talking about the importance of quality web content with Ken McGaffin of Wordtracker. [VIDEO]

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I have known Ken for a long time, but this is the first time we have got together to create a video interview.

As you can see, we touch on a few of the most important and pressing issues facing web content creators, and the connection between quality web content and link-building.

To hear more from us on this topic, you can sign up for a free,1-hour webinar we are delivering live on Tuesday, September 13th at 12:00PM EST.

Sign up for our “How to Build Quality Content and Links” webinar here…

You can achieve freelance success if you really WANT it. Discuss.

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Talk to almost any freelancer and he or she will tell you they really want to succeed.

But there are many different degrees of “wanting” something.

As a coach, working with freelancers almost daily, I often hear about how badly people want to succeed.

But the word,”want” is inadequate to the task of expressing what it really means to want something.

I want some ice cream for dessert.

I want to go away for the weekend.

I want my children to grow up healthy, happy and wise.

The degree to which I want ice cream is insignificant compared to how much I want my children to grow up healthy, happy and wise.

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