“per my last email” = fuck you

“apologies for the delay” = fuck me

“cc’ing for visibility” = you’re fucked

“checking in in this” = i’m fucked

“let’s revisit in Q4” = fuck this

“i’m not sure that’s aligned” = fuck that

“respectfully yours” = fuck all y’all “let me know if you need anything else” = give me something, fucking anything

“could you clarify” = this is some fucking bullshit

“i hope this email finds you well” = i couldn’t give a fuck as long as this email finds you

“attaching below” = oh fuck actually i forgot

I've never seen a SaaS product do this before.

Scribe got my attention and brought me from a newsletter ad to first workflow created in 15 minutes.

When you hit the CTA button you get a somewhat typical signup process.

But it had something unique that had me hooked. The (super short) signup flow appears over a blurred mockup of the Scribe dashboard.

That's what got me.

It piqued my curiosity—I wanted to see what was in there, dammit.

The rest of the flow was pretty fantastic, too.

Company roles, according to Taylor Swift lyrics:

Marketing: “I go on too many dates, but I can’t make ‘em stay”

Sales: “There’s a blank space baby, and I’ll write your name”

Customer success: “I knew you were trouble when you walked in” Legal: “It must be exhausting always rooting for the anti-hero”

Product: “You’re beautiful, every little piece, love. And don’t you know you’re really gonna be someone?”

People: “Everybody here wanted something more”

Procurement: “You need to calm down”

Being an excellent freelance writer instead of an average one is only maybe 70% about good writing (and that's being generous).

The rest is about how you build and exceed expectations.

So: here are 7 ways to stand out as a freelancer. 1/ Ask good questions

In my recent round of interviews with 50+ freelancers, most asked about the project, timelines, budget...

Very few asked about who our ideal customers are and how we're helping them.

Good questions will highlight your understanding, not undermine it.

Becca just published 4,500 words on freelancer money management.

Why?

Because none of us learned this sh*t in high school.

My biggest takeaway?

You need two shifts in mindset:

#1 You are a business
#2 You are a salesperson

More in the thread below (and the link at the end) Stage 101: "Oh sh*t"

1. Start with a solid contract
2. Set up a payment and invoicing strategy
3. Get an MVP version of your rates (and iterate)
4. Build a safe financial cushion

I'm not out here trying to be some personal brand hype bro.

But... this year I've closed $500k and driven $2.5M in pipeline.

All from inbound or referrals, by way of social.

I'm not fancy with it, but these are the 5 social selling rules I try to follow.

🧵 First, some context: I started thinking about this thread after two client conversations stemmed from two entirely opposite social media experiences.

I had the opportunity to ask Camille Ricketts (of Notion and First Round Review fame) about how to create an interview process that is focused without being overly prescriptive.

(Thanks to Jimmy Daly and Superpath for holding the AMA).

Here's the exchange in a 🧵 Q: What’s your best advice for keeping articles focused on a central theme, while balancing that with wanting to bring in the interviewee’s perspective on multiple topics or experiences?

"Dr. Feelgood: or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Social"

I'm not out here trying to be some personal brand hype bro.

At the same time, 100% of my sales for the past 2 years have come from inbound or referrals, by way of social.

These are the 5 rules I try to follow. Some context, first: I started thinking about this thread after two client conversations stemmed from two entirely opposite social media experiences.

Being an excellent freelance writer instead of an average one is only maybe 70% about good writing (and that's being generous).

So: here are 7 ways to stand out as a freelancer.

(This is off the top of my head, not a polished thread. So bear with me.) 1/ Ask good questions

In my recent round of interviews with 50+ freelancers, most asked about the project, timelines, budget...

Very few asked about who our ideal customers are and how we're helping them.

Good questions will highlight your understanding, not undermine it.

Hot take:

Most freelancers should be using LinkedIn Sales Navigator to find new clients/partnerships instead.

It's 100% worth the $80/month.

Here's how: #1: Find new guest post opportunities

- Search for editors, content marketers, and SEOs, saving to a list as you go.

- Follow them on Twitter, connect on LinkedIn, and make note of the kind of content they create.

- After some time, follow up with your pitch

Looking for more freelance work? Send cold emails.

This is the cold email I spent 90 minutes on back in June to land a $25k contract: Subject — "Quick question about content"

(pt 1)
"Hi [name],

I had a question for you: what are your goals for content marketing this year?

I saw on LinkedIn that {your company} is hiring. As you expand your team, are you looking at growing with content too?