🎁 Beat the rush

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Happy Friday! We live in strange times. Consumers are still shopping and job openings are at historic lows, but there are storm clouds brewing on the economic horizon. More on this in today’s Making the Rounds section.

Mentioned in today’s newsletter: Online shopping, time vs location flexibility, and the U.S. economy. Plus 13 genius tips to get more freelancing clients, the starting point for a healthy sense of work-life balance, and 5 rules not to break if you want to become a better writer.

Read time: 3 minutes and 55 seconds

Together with AdSkills

A Match Made in Direct Response Heaven

Mastering high-income skills multiplies your options. You can apply them for clients or for yourself. And that’s one of the big reasons why so many freelancers get into copywriting — so they can launch their own offer one day. But here’s the problem: you still need traffic. And unless you’ve got a massive audience on social media, that means learning how to run paid ads.

Luckily, that’s where AdSkills comes in. They represent the gold standard in paid traffic training. Which is why 9-figure companies like ClickFunnels, DigitalMarketer, and VShred rely on AdSkills courses to train their media buyers. So if you want to learn how to write killer ads, craft campaigns that convert, and scale your offer to the moon on Facebook, TikTok, or YouTube, click here to try a free AdSkills class today.

Making the Rounds

  • Online chatter about early holiday shopping up by 62%. A new study from Cision found consumers are talking about early holiday shopping even more than usual, with the entertainment vertical taking the top spot. What’s not clear yet is whether this reflects a gradual shift of the traditional holiday shopping window, or inflation and other economic concerns. Of course, like being forced to choose between pumpkin and key lime pie for Thanksgiving dessert, the best answer could be a little bit of both.
  • Is time flexibility more important than location flexibility to remote workers? New research from the Slack Future Forum says yes. The study found that employees with flexible schedules were 29% more productive and 53% more able to focus versus those with fixed schedules.
  • 4 reasons why the U.S. economy is in for a rough 2023. The economy continues to give mixed signals. But there are 4 key factors converging that could make 2023 a difficult year for consumers and businesses alike.

Working With Clients

13 Genius Tips to Get More Freelancing Clients

Need more clients?

Inflation may be up…

But so is demand for freelancers with high-income skills.

In fact, annual earnings by U.S. freelancers went up by $100M last year, totalling a whopping $1.3 trillion dollars.

And the party’s just getting started.

So if you’re a copywriter, media buyer, remote sales rep, funnel builder, or graphic designer…

Check out this article from our friends at AutoGrow to discover 13 tips to help you land more freelance clients in 2022 and beyond:

[READ]: 13 Genius Tips to Get More Freelancing Clients

Working For Yourself

A Healthy Work-Life Balance Starts Here

One of the hardest parts about working remotely is maintaining a healthy work-life balance. 

Because we don’t come with an off switch. 

So, what’s the solution? 

Creating a “shut down” ritual. 

Whether it’s turning off your computer, closing the office door (if you have one), putting Slack on snooze, or going for a walk — developing a routine that signals the end of the day can do wonders for your mental health. 

For example, author and digital minimalism advocate Cal Newport actually says the phrase “schedule shut down, complete” out loud at the end of his workday.

We’re not quite ready to go that far…

Instead, we prefer checking in to see how much our crypto portfolio is down 🙃📉

From The Copywriting Gig

Do Not Break These 5 Rules (If You Want to Become a Better Writer)

Writing is a deep skill.

You can spend an entire lifetime working on it and still have room to improve.

So no matter how long you’ve been in the game…

Here are 5 rules to help you write better.

RULE #1: Omit needless words

The Elements of Style was originally published in 1918.

Anyone who writes for fun or profit should read the updated version.

One lesson that’s just as relevant today is to “omit needless words.”

Bloat is the enemy.

Cut out everything that isn’t necessary.

RULE #2: Use the active voice

Writing for impact is different than writing for academia.

Powerful writers avoid the passive voice at all costs.

Instead, use declarations, active verbs, and direct commands to make your writing hit hard.

RULE #3: Read it out loud

If you’ve ever written a script before…

You know some things look great on paper but then sound terrible when you read them out loud.

Always read what you write out loud *before* you publish.

Find all the rough edges & choppy transitions, then smooth them out.

RULE #4: Vary your sentence length

All writing has rhythm.

Using the same sentence length over and over again puts people to sleep.

So mix it up.

Go for short, medium, then long.

Think about it like music and pay attention to how it sounds.

RULE #5: Don’t use a $5 word when a $2 word will do

If you want your writing to slap, avoid big words.

They turn people off.

Plus they clog up your writing.

Write to a 5th-grade reading level so more people can read & understand your message.

More readers = more reach, sales, and impact.

Gig Alerts

Looking for clients? These freelance jobs were posted on Upwork in the last 24 hours:

Quote of the Day


“Everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you’re climbing it.”

— Andy Rooney

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