đź“š A&B #152

"The Art & Business of Ghostwriting", 10 Must-preorder books, and more.

July 30, 2023

🙏 Support:

This week's newsletter was made possible by my friend Nicolas Cole.

Cole has ghostwritten for 300+ industry leaders and built a ghostwriting agency to $2,000,000+ in revenue.

He recently released a free email course to teach people how to become a ghostwriter and make $5,000 from their first client. I’ve worked as a ghostwriter in the past and have learned a ton from Cole.

đź‘‹ Hey everyone,

Here are a few popular posts you may have missed:

PS: I set up a referral program so that you can earn rewards for referring your friends to this newsletter. Scroll to the bottom of this email to get your unique link to share with friends.

Let’s inspire more people to become readers (and you’ll get cool rewards for doing so)!

đź“š Book Summary:

This week's book is “The Art & Business Of Ghostwriting” by Nicolas Cole.

Cole shares how to niche down as a ghostwriter, find new clients, make 6-figures as a writer, and scale your business into an agency.

For key lessons about ghostwriting from Cole’s book, check out this thread.

Below are 3 more general lessons from the book that you can apply to any business:

đź“–

1) If You Can’t Charge A Fee, Work for Free

Working for free may sound negative, but it has a ton of benefits if done strategically.

If you’re starting a service business (like ghostwriting, video editing, or something else) and you’re having trouble getting clients, chances are you aren’t good enough yet to charge for it and should work for free.

This isn’t a bad thing.

By working for free, you’ll get real work and level up your skills. If you do a good job for the clients, you’ll have results and testimonials to show future clients. And if you do an amazing job, your free clients will be happy to pay you since they already know you can deliver value.

Don’t think of "free work” as being taken advantage of or being undervalued, instead look at it as a marketing expense.

đź“–

2) How To Get More Clients

There are 3 main ways to get more clients in any service business:

1) Word-of-mouth:

Ask your happiest and best-paying customers if they know anyone who could benefit from your service. You’d be surprised how many of your clients would be happy to refer you more business.

You could make it even more enticing if you offer them a discount or bonus for each client they refer. Make it a win-win and they’ll be more incentivized to send people your way.

2) Build an audience:

Building an audience is a great way to get more clients because it shows that you’re good at what you do. You can share best practices, client results or transformations, tips and tricks, and more helpful content.

Not every follower will become a customer, but the bigger your audience grows, the more messages you’ll get from followers asking to learn more about your service.

3) Cold outreach:

If you want more clients you should be DMing or emailing prospects. But don’t just copy and paste the same message over and over again. If you do, the potential client will instantly know and just ignore you.

Instead, go for quality messages instead of quantity. Take a minute or two to customize every message. Also, include results from previous clients or testimonials as proof that you’re good at what you do. These simple tweaks will 10x your chances of turning them into a paying client.

đź“–

3) Apply The 80/20 Client Law

When you’re first starting your client business, you are likely going to accept whatever clients at whatever price you can get.

However, a way to keep yourself from getting stuck here is to reserve at least 20% of your time for landing bigger and better clients.

For example, if the maximum number of clients you can work with is five, then when a project finishes with one of them you should not immediately say yes to the next client that works in the door.

Instead, try pitching higher and higher prices. Your downside is mitigated (you still have four other clients to pay your bills) and your upside is unknown (maybe your next client has a huge budget to spend).

This is a risk-free way of raising your prices (and income) over time.

âś… Actionable Advice:

1) Grow your business using these sales tactics:

  • Ask your happiest and best-paying customers if they have any friends that could benefit from your service.

  • DM or email 10 potential clients a personalized message with results of what you can do.

  • Tell your followers about your service and what you can help them with.

    • Example: I recently set up a 1:1 consulting call service where you can hire me to create a strategy to grow your social media audience, become a better reader, or become more productive.

2) Appy the 80/20 Client Law:

  • Spend 20% of your time seeking out bigger and better clients.

  • Whenever you have an open slot, raise your prices instead of continuing working at the same rate (you’ll get a few No’s but eventually you’ll get a Yes).

3) Spend 1 hour learning from Cole (and taking notes):

đź“– Reading Lesson:

đź’Ž Weekly Gem:

If you only study 1 entrepreneur this year it should be Alex Hormozi. He drops so much knowledge in a concise and actionable manner that it blows my mind every time.

Whenever you're ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

2. Grab a 1:1 consulting session with me to talk about book marketing, my best reading tips, building a social media following, or anything else.

3. To sponsor the newsletter or promote a book, reply to this email for details.

Thank you for your support, I'll see you next Sunday!

Read on,

Alex W.

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