Differentiate yourself as a freelancer with your authentic life story.
Sometimes I come across freelancers who are trying to create a new brand or image for themselves, but are ignoring their own, authentic, life story.
The more freelancers I speak with, the more it becomes apparent that most of us had a professional life before becoming a freelance copywriter or writer.
I know freelancers who once worked as investment advisors, veterinary assistants, flight attendants, photographers, farmers and more.
But it seems that in most cases these people decided to put their "past lives" behind them when they turned to writing.
They learned their new craft and then looked for a niche they could target.
So the veterinary assistant ends up writing copy for the financial industry. And the photographer ends up writing fund raising letters.
If the idea of working in the industry you came from fills you with dread, don't do it.
But otherwise, why not target the industry you are already familiar with?
One of the challenges all freelancers face is the growing competition of other freelancers. And the very worst place to be is in that large pool of generalist freelancers who will work for any client in any industry.
To succeed faster, you need a niche. More than that, you also need to differentiate yourself from other freelancers within that niche.
If you were once a flight attendant and now try to carve out a niche as a copywriter within the health care industry, you really have no advantage.
But if you were a flight attendant and now, as a freelance copywriter, you target the travel industry...you have an authentic point of differentiation.
That authentic story about your background will do more than almost anything else to help you set yourself apart from competing freelancers.
Put yourself in the shoes of a prospective client selling vacation packages and having to choose between two freelance copywriters...
One freelance writer simply claims to specialize in the travel and hospitality business.
The other freelance writer worked as a flight attendant for 15 years and spent thousands of hours in the company of families on vacation.
Which copywriter will the client choose? The one with the fabricated positioning statement, as in "Your travel and hospitality writing specialist"...or the one with the authentic story to tell about a career spent in the travel industry?
Using your authentic life story may not always yield opportunities for you as a freelancer. But more often than not it will.
What work did you do before becoming a freelancer?
How can you use that to your advantage right now?
Do you want help transforming your freelance business? Find out about my coaching service...
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