Happy Monday! Welcome back to The Gig, the morning paper for A-Player freelancers.
Discussed in today’s newsletter: Meta, Twitter, and TikTok. Plus 13 things successful freelancers do differently, and why cost-per-acquisition goes up as you scale.
Read time: 3 minutes and 3 seconds
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Making the Rounds
- Meta working on decentralized Twitter alternative. The company confirmed they’re working on a “decentralized social network for sharing text updates.” Mastodon is another decentralized Twitter alternative that gained traction after Elon’s acquisition. But it sounds like Zuck and co could have the bird app in their sights.
- Twitter planning to enable 10k character tweets. After recently lifting the character limit on tweets from 280 to 4,000 for Twitter Blue subscribers, the platform is reportedly now planning to bump the max length up to 10,000.
- TikTok continues to pitch big agencies on search ads. Select advertisers have been testing search ads on the platform by invite-only since March 2022, but now the company is ramping up the program before potentially unveiling to the public later this year.
Working With Clients
13 Things Successful Freelancers Do Differently
Success leaves clues.
So if you want to become an A-Player service provider with the fees to back it up…
The best place to start is studying what they do differently.
Here are 13 things that set successful freelancers apart:
1. They work fast
2. They never miss deadlines
3. They’re highly-responsive
4. They’re enthusiastic about client work
5. They invest in themselves
6. They’re always managing expectations
7. They focus on one niche
8. They specialize in specific tasks
9. They pay attention to trends in the market
10. They build relationships with other service providers
11. They’re not afraid to step outside their comfort zone
12. They practice radical accountability
13. They actually get results
Producing results for clients is key if you want to climb the ladder…
But as you can see, that’s only one piece of the puzzle.
The elite freelancers who have the clients and income you want embody every item on the list.
From The Paid Ads Gig
Why Cost-Per-Acquisition Goes Up As You Scale
The default setting on ad platforms like Facebook and Google is “lowest cost.”
In other words, you’re telling the algorithm to find the cheapest conversions possible.
This is great for testing…
Or if you’ve only got a small budget to commit to paid traffic…
But what happens when you increase budget?
Cost-per-acquisition goes up as you scale because the algorithm has found all the cheapest conversions.
So the more you want to spend, the wider it has to cast its net to get you more conversions.
This can be a little counterintuitive, especially for clients…
Who often assume that because the campaign is “optimizing” the longer it runs, costs will go down.
When usually, they do the opposite.
Keep this in mind with any clients who are running paid traffic so you can better manage expectations.
Gig Alerts
Looking for clients? These freelance jobs were posted on Upwork in the last 24 hours:
- Copywriter for lead generating landing page
- Website Content Editing (Copywriting)
- Facebook & Google Ad Campaign Expert Needed
- Looking For Complete SEO Expert
- Graphic designer needed to design ad creative
- Graphic Designer – Marketing Materials
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.
Quote of the Day
“Don’t explain your philosophy. Embody it.”
— Epictetus
Leading by example is the only true form of influence.
No one likes being told what to do.
And not everyone wants to get better.
Demonstration is the most persuasive action you can take.
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.
* Some of these are affiliate links. This means we may receive a small commission if you sign up for a paid subscription (at no extra cost to you.)