Jay Clouse (he/him)
Creator of Freelancing School • Host of Creative Elements
Hey! I'm the creator of Freelancing School and the moderator of this community. I've earned more than six figures freelancing myself, and I'd love to help you too!
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Hey all! Passing along this role with my friend, Jay Acunzo.
HELP ME STOP SITTING ON A GOLD MINE AND ACTUALLY MINE IT.
I create a lot of content. Most of it is heavier-lift to produce and longer-form than the usual flurry of cheap-sounding podcast episodes and quick link roundups found in newsletters. It’s very story- and big idea-driven. As a result, I have a mountain of great stuff in each podcast episode or newsletter edition, plus plenty of videos of my keynote speaking and new, one-off videos I hope to create.
But these things need to be mined. The original text, audio, or video all can be raided for the best bits and turned into social content.
To use another metaphor: I call this the “try the wine” strategy. If you want someone to pick up a whole bottle of your wine (i.e. go consume the bigger thing), give away samples. Let them actually taste some goodness. Don’t tease the goodness or link to it everywhere. Don’t advertise that you have some wine over there, and won’t you please come check it out? No! Just give away tastes. If it’s actually good, some people will go get a bottle. If not, they’ve still had a great experience and may tell others too.
I want to give away the very best parts of my writing and podcasting, native to social media.
THIS ROLE IS A GOOD FIT IF...
- You’re very mission-driven. (I’m nothing if not that.)
- You can create a lot of content, without compromising quality. (That likely means you’re a craftsperson who understands how to pair your craft, your intuition, and your intrinsic desire to create with smart systems and tools to stay organized and be prolific.)
- You think about each social network as a magazine instead of a feed. (What “regular” or one-off pieces do we need? What recurring, named series can we create? How does one episode or one newsletter turn into a mini-magazine about that topic across X days, published natively to a given social platform?)
- You believe business content should feel a lot more emotional, entertaining, and original than the usual tropes -- and you have a healthy disdain for all that usual stuff, too.
THIS ROLE IS NOT A GOOD FIT IF…
- You’re motivated by fame or you’re only doing social media marketing now as a stepping stone to be more front-facing (e.g. the bylined writer, the author, the speaker, the podcaster, etc.). While I love helping others master the crafts that I love and work hard to master myself, in this particular role, I need a true complementary player -- someone who genuinely loves and wants to improve at being a producer, strategist, and process-minded marketer, so I can get back to doing the front-facing things more fully. Thanks for thinking hard about this bullet in particular.
SPECIFIC TASKS INCLUDE…
- Working with me to ID the best quotes and ideas inside (1) episodes and (2) newsletters to turn into social content. My main social channels are:
- (You will also help syndicate each newsletter to my blog.)
- Owning and evolving the documented marketing playbook (strategy and process) for these projects.
- Owning and growing the @UnthinkableShow twitter handle.
- Creating sponsor assets as brand sponsors are secured for the podcast + newsletter. (Q4 2021’s sponsor has already been signed, so you’d hit the ground running here.)
- Helping me test new content for social, including specific content formats (Tweets, Instagram content, social videos), as well as which other channels behind Twitter can prove fruitful. (Do we improve on IG? Start on TikTok? Lean into YouTube? Something else?)
- Report on Unthinkable’s show growth + the progress of our social media experiments.
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Hey everyone – it's time for our monthly meetup! We'll be focusing a lot on this month's New Client Challenge, but even if you haven't started (or want to start it today) you are welcome to join us!
DETAILS
Friday, September 24
11am ET (10am CT, 8am PT)
Register here
We'll spend some time checking in with each of you, sharing some of our challenges, questions for the group, and so on. These are always a great start to my day and end to my week!
Looking forward to seeing you all again!
DETAILS
Friday, September 24
11am ET (10am CT, 8am PT)
Register here
We'll spend some time checking in with each of you, sharing some of our challenges, questions for the group, and so on. These are always a great start to my day and end to my week!
Looking forward to seeing you all again!
Share
Hey friends! I'm checking in with some of your updates from last week...and I'm seeing a bit of theme with, "I'm having some conversations, but I have some challenges in navigating them."
I cannot stress enough the importance of leading those conversations. The leading starts from, "So catch me up on what's been happening in your life!" all the way through to any potential project conversations.
You want to learn:
I cannot stress enough the importance of leading those conversations. The leading starts from, "So catch me up on what's been happening in your life!" all the way through to any potential project conversations.
You want to learn:
- What are their current priorities?
- Where do they feel stuck?
- What does success feel like to them?
- What dates/timeline is important?
Even if it's not YOU who can help with some of these things, it can be YOU helping them navigate the situation and find solutions!
Comment below with any challenges you're having guiding or moving conversations along 👇
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Hey team! We're about a week into the New Client Challenge...how have the first seven days been?
- Have you collected a list of advocates or former clients?
- Have you begun reaching out to those people?
- Have you had any conversations yet?
Don't limit yourself with this list! Right now, the name of the game is more conversations and not less. Any conversation with an advocate can be a fruitful conversation even if it's not a project with THEM. It's useful to get back on peoples' radar so they can keep you in mind with the people THEY are meeting!
Some of the best advocates or new friends you can make are hubs/connectors of other communities. It's good to know people who know people!
Comment below and let us know...
- Any wins or progress you've made
- Any struggles you're running into
We're here to celebrate you and to help!
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Hey everyone! I'm a day late, but I wanted to formally invite you to the New Client Challenge running through the end of September!
→ Click here to join
The challenge will be email-based, but I'll be popping into the Challenges space here every week to check in with you and your progress. At some point this month, we'll host a live meetup to get together and share notes too.
Whether you're looking for your first client or just your next client, I hope you'll join us!
→ Here's that link again
I can't wait to hear the success stories here. We could all use another client...so there's no reason not to join us!
If you're on board, comment below with a quick re-introduction to your work and the type of client you'll be looking to find! 👇
→ Click here to join
The challenge will be email-based, but I'll be popping into the Challenges space here every week to check in with you and your progress. At some point this month, we'll host a live meetup to get together and share notes too.
Whether you're looking for your first client or just your next client, I hope you'll join us!
→ Here's that link again
I can't wait to hear the success stories here. We could all use another client...so there's no reason not to join us!
If you're on board, comment below with a quick re-introduction to your work and the type of client you'll be looking to find! 👇
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Hey everyone! It's high time to get another Challenge running here in the community. So consider this your advanced warning – New Client Challenge in September!
My goal with these Challenges moving forward is to create them in such a way that they can be undertaken even after they've concluded. So in September, we'll work through the New Client Challenge together (live) but then it will live in the community here as something folks can enroll in (for free) even after it ends.
For this Challenge, a lot of my prompts and guidance will be with NEW freelancers in mind – i.e., I want to design it so people can find their FIRST client. However, I want to also invite folks who aren't completely new to participate as a bit of accountability.
How's that sound?
If you're interested in joining, comment below! I'll circle back with you once I have registration ready to go.
My goal with these Challenges moving forward is to create them in such a way that they can be undertaken even after they've concluded. So in September, we'll work through the New Client Challenge together (live) but then it will live in the community here as something folks can enroll in (for free) even after it ends.
For this Challenge, a lot of my prompts and guidance will be with NEW freelancers in mind – i.e., I want to design it so people can find their FIRST client. However, I want to also invite folks who aren't completely new to participate as a bit of accountability.
How's that sound?
If you're interested in joining, comment below! I'll circle back with you once I have registration ready to go.
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Hey everyone! A couple weeks ago, I put out a call for some help in moderating the community here, and folks answered!
I'm excited to introduce our three new Moderators who will help us keep the place orderly, useful, and fun!
I'm excited to introduce our three new Moderators who will help us keep the place orderly, useful, and fun!
Matt Woicik
Matt Woicik
is a digital marketing strategist living in Seattle who focuses on websites, SEO, PPC (Google Ads and Facebook Ads) and analytics. He develops an integrated digital marketing strategy and tactics to increase awareness on the Internet and get more leads.
Stephanie Cosgrove
Stephanie Cosgrove
is a technical writer living in Omaha focused on software development. She's also a freelance resume writer. And apparently she's currently focused on a city-wide karaoke contest!
Tom Peraccio
Tom Peracchio
is our resident Geek History storyteller. A long and diversified career in technology makes Tom uniquely qualified in understanding how technology impacts your life and business.
These three have been really involved in the community for months now, and I'm grateful that they've stepped forward to help make this community even better!
I'm not going anywhere – I just want to make sure this place thrives even when I'm not actively checking in. These three will help ensure that is true.
Please join me in thanking them for their help! 👇
These three have been really involved in the community for months now, and I'm grateful that they've stepped forward to help make this community even better!
I'm not going anywhere – I just want to make sure this place thrives even when I'm not actively checking in. These three will help ensure that is true.
Please join me in thanking them for their help! 👇
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Hey everyone – we are overdue for a meetup! It's been too long since I've seen you all.
So I scheduled another meetup for us a couple of weeks from now!
DETAILS
Friday, August 13
11am ET (10am CT, 8am PT)
Register here
We'll spend some time checking in with each of you, sharing some of our challenges, questions for the group, and so on. These are always a great start to my day and end to my week!
Looking forward to seeing you all again!
So I scheduled another meetup for us a couple of weeks from now!
DETAILS
Friday, August 13
11am ET (10am CT, 8am PT)
Register here
We'll spend some time checking in with each of you, sharing some of our challenges, questions for the group, and so on. These are always a great start to my day and end to my week!
Looking forward to seeing you all again!
Share
Hey everyone!
I love this community. I love our meetups. I want to get back into hosting challenges. But lately, I recognize my own involvement hasn't been where I want it to be.
I wanted to share that I'd love to work with a volunteer moderator or two IF you have the capacity and interest. Helping welcome new members, start some conversations, pretty lightweight.
This is a free community, so it would be volunteer, and so there is ZERO pressure here.
But, if you're interested, shoot me a DM!
I love this community. I love our meetups. I want to get back into hosting challenges. But lately, I recognize my own involvement hasn't been where I want it to be.
I wanted to share that I'd love to work with a volunteer moderator or two IF you have the capacity and interest. Helping welcome new members, start some conversations, pretty lightweight.
This is a free community, so it would be volunteer, and so there is ZERO pressure here.
But, if you're interested, shoot me a DM!
Share
Rediscovering my absolute love for Bon Iver's 2016 album, 22, A Million.
Take a listen:
Take a listen:
