🐦 FTC won’t let him be

by

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Discussed in today’s newsletter: Twitter, Elon Musk, the Federal Trade Commission, Grammarly, and money vs happiness. Plus 3 types of jobs to avoid on Upwork, and 4 ways to position any offer so it becomes irresistible.

Read time: 3 minutes and 37 seconds

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Making the Rounds

  • Federal Trade Commission probing Twitter after mass layoffs. According to the WSJ, the FTC has sent a total of 12 letters to Twitter since Elon took over. Their concerns? Mass layoffs, Twitter Blue, and the company’s ability to comply with a previous $150M settlement for privacy violations.
  • Grammarly launching AI-powered writing add-on. Not to be left in the dust by its cybernetic competitors, writing tool Grammarly has announced GrammarlyGo, a set of AI-powered features to help users write faster.
  • Maybe money can buy happiness after all. A new study contradicts previous findings from 2010 that happiness plateaued after $90,000 in annual income. Researchers found this plateau actually only exists in a small percentage of the population, and that for the rest of us, happiness tends to rise steadily with income. Long live the side hustle!

Working With Clients

3 Types of Jobs to Avoid On Upwork

Upwork has 100k+ open jobs on any given day.

But if you’re not careful, you’ll end up wasting lots of time applying to jobs with nothing to show for it.

Here are 3 types of jobs to avoid:

1) Clients with no previous hires

The best clients have experience hiring freelancers.

If they’ve got no previous hires, they might not be serious about hiring someone…

Or they might not be willing to pay a reasonable rate.

Either way, avoid these.

2) Clients with multiple bad reviews

When you click on a job description, you can scroll down to see the client’s past reviews from other freelancers.

If a client has multiple 1-star reviews from other freelancers, with written explanations to back them up, steer clear.

These are not clients you want to work with.

3) Jobs with 20+ proposals

Speed is key to landing jobs on Upwork.

Once a client has received more than 20+ proposals, your chances of getting hired go way down.

You’re better off focusing your time and effort on jobs with less than 20 proposals.

And ideally, less than 10.

This is why it’s so important to check Upwork at least once a day.

From The Copywriting Gig

4 Ways to Position Any Offer So it Becomes Irresistible

There’s a science to crafting offers so irresistible people can’t say no to them.

But as a copywriter, you’re not usually involved in the offer creation process.

It’s up to you to position the offer in writing so it becomes more compelling.

And there are 4 main ways to do this.

Think of each one as a multiplier…

Because the more of these you can leverage, the more appealing your offer will be.

Here we go:

Positioning Trick #1: NEW

Most people suffer from shiny object syndrome.

Something that’s new (or feels new) naturally gets attention.

And to flip this on its head, no one wants an old solution.

Because if it’s old, they’ve probably heard about it before.

Or it doesn’t work.

So always aim to position your offer as being new (even if it’s not).

Positioning Trick #2: FAST

The next way to make your offer more compelling is to emphasize speed.

How fast will they see results?

Prospects want solutions that work faster, not slower.

Stretch this as far as you can (while still being truthful, of course).

Positioning Trick #3: CHEAP

Everybody wants to feel like they got a great deal.

This desire is universal, regardless of what the price is — because it’s tied to value.

It doesn’t matter if it’s a $2 stapler or a $20,000 watch…

Demonstrate how the value they’re getting is 5-10X more than the price they’re paying.

Positioning Trick #4: EASY

The final positioning trick is to focus on ease.

You can execute this by “chunking down” the solution into its atomic form.

  • It only costs $2.97 a day
  • All it takes is 30 minutes, twice a week
  • Repeat this process just once a month

By lowering the bar and minimizing the time / money / energy commitment required, you make it feel more achievable…

So they’re less likely to doubt themselves…

And more likely to feel confident enough to pull the trigger and buy.

Gig Alerts

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

NOTE: We only share job postings from Upwork. We’ve found it to be the most trustworthy platform with the highest-quality clients. 

Furthermore, job postings must be for high-income skills like copywriting, media buying, funnel building, graphic design, remote closing, etc in order to qualify.

In Case You Missed It:

Quote of the Day

“If there is no fear, there is no will.”

— Matteo Berrettini

Stepping outside your comfort zone is scary.

But fear is fuel for the fire.

(Share this on Twitter)

Tools of the Trade

Looking to upgrade your toolkit? Here are some of our favorite tools we use to powerful our freelance business:

  • ConvertKit — Email marketing for creators. Simple, easy to use, and very cost-effective.
  • ​Kinsta — Super fast website hosting trusted by 25,000+ small businesses.
  • Fireflies — AI note-taker that can record client calls + create searchable transcripts.
  • ​Krisp — Eliminates echoes and background noise on calls and meetings using AI.
  • ​Wise — Unbeatable rates on currency conversions. Saves you a ton of money if you’re an international freelancer.

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