"A day in the life..."

And fresh freelance and remote jobs I found.

Author

Diana Kelly Levey
November 20, 2024

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I was interviewed by fellow freelance Jennifer Philips April (hi Jen!) last year for her column on Medium.

Here’s that draft with some late 2024 updates. I always enjoy reading these when it comes to learning about how other freelancers work so I thought I’d share mine.

Some of you might know these answers and others are new here so I wanted to make sure you had some background into me and my business. If I’m landing in your inbox each week, you deserve some details! 🤣

Q. How did you start freelance writing? 

It was 2006, and I had my first job at WeightWatchers.com. I lived in NYC and wanted to learn how to write about different topics. I had a lot of writing opportunities at work, but I also found writing jobs on Craigslist, elance, and odesk. (Now, fiverr and Upwork)

I got a website that legitimized me as a freelancer when I reached out with a pitch. 

I may have linked to college newspaper clips so I had samples to share. 

In 2024, editorial writing is maybe 20% of my work vs. content marketing making up about 60% of my income. Most of the editorial work I do is more on personal finance, weight loss/fitness topics, and some reviews/ecommerce topics.

Q. What makes for a perfect workday? 

I drop the kids off at their schools. I am working on a creative task at my desk by 8:15, with coffee. I do writing tasks in the morning and post and/or comment on LinkedIn since 9 or 10 a.m. ET seems to be a good time.

I might get a workout in and/or walk the dog after I’m done a tough task

In the afternoons, I work on admin tasks. My perfect workday doesn’t involve calls!

Q. What part of what you do is often misunderstood? 

People don’t understand the business and marketing side of freelance writing. I didn’t understand it until I started tracking my time. Reaching out to people, working your network, and updating your newsletter and blog all take time and are unpaid hours. 

Besides writing, I’m creating digital products and coaching. I enjoy helping people. 

I wrote an ebook geared toward freelance writers. It’s on Amazon. I have a pitching guide where I share the actual pitch I sent and the editor’s response. I also have a marketing plan. 

Q. What are some common misconceptions about content marketing? 

People who don’t know how to write for content marketing and what it is. Some people think it’s a brand beating you over the head with their message. But I like to describe it as if you type a question in Google and you find yourself reading a nice, magazine-style article, and it turns out you’re on a brand’s website, like Neutrogena or Dropbox or Chewy. (All clients.)

Q.  What’s the most challenging part of your job? 

Managing my time in this phase of life. I have two kids, 4 and under. One is in part-time care and anyone with school-age children knows they have a lot of days off. I have about 15 to 18 hours a week to work.

This means I have to make sure the clients I have are high-value and ongoing, about to become anchor clients ideally. One-off projects aren’t worth it by the time I get set up and learn their voice and tone, so finding the right clients I want to work with long-term is important.  I let clients know I’m only taking on projects that start with a $1,000 minimum worth of work right now to make it worth it.

Q. How many clients do you have at a time? 

6-10; my ideal is 8-10. Actually, I’d probably rather have four clients that I’m on retainer with through the end of the year. 

Q. How do you find clients? 

About one-quarter of my clients find me on Contently, Skyword, and Clearvoice. Maybe 10 to 15 percent is through referrals or previous coworkers. The rest I’m getting through LinkedIn.

Q. What’s your approach to content strategy for yourself? 

It needs work.

I wish I had a better system for taking the copy I use for LinkedIn posts and recreating it for Instagram, X, and Facebook. 

I’m better at this for clients. I feel like I’m leaving content on the table for myself.

I know my freelance audience wants more content, but it’s hard to find the time to create the content. 

I have made an effort to be consistent on LinkedIn since 2022 and I can see growth, going from 4,000 followers/contacts to 12,000 followers on LinkedIn. (Follow me there for more up-to-date advice and freelance business musings.)

Q. What advice would you give your younger self? 

[At the time, I said] wish I had a better system for pitching. I’ve been doing this for over 20 years and would love to have a good system for keeping track of my ideas. Processes to streamline anything in your business will help you a lot. 

I’m working on updating client outreach through Notion. Most of the business comes in the follow up and I need to ensure I’m doing that for every cold email I send or outreach to former clients.

Secondly, I’m learning to be easy on myself. As a solo business owner, there’s always more I could be doing. I’m learning how “to be okay with what I didn’t get done” at the end of the week. 

What else would you like to know? Send me a note and I’ll try to address it in a follow-up newsletter.

Thanks for reading!

Diana

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Freelance Jobs and Remote Content Marketing Jobs I Found

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