Happy Tuesday! Trekkies everywhere are celebrating First Contact Day — a holiday in future history to mark the date of April 5, 2063, when humans made first contact with the Vulcans in the movie First Contact.
And if you’re not into Star Trek, well, it’s also Deep Dish Pizza Day. So today’s got a little something for everyone.
Here’s the latest…
Freelance Economy News
- Anti-piracy bill may be lost at sea. Pinterest, Etsy, and Vimeo have come out against a new anti-piracy bill that would force them to use government-developed filtering tools to combat copyright infringement.
- 3 new Twitter ads to test. The social media platform is experimenting with new ad formats: Interactive Text, Product Explorer, and Collection Ads (similar to carousels on Facebook).
- Meet the purple squiggly. Google Docs is rolling out a new feature to improve your writing. In addition to fixing basic grammar and spelling errors, the purple squiggly will soon help you write punchier copy.
Working With Clients
The Secret to a Successful Sales Pitch
… is to ask a barrage of questions during the “discovery” process.
Here’s why:
What’s important to a new client may not be the same as your last client.
So by asking things like:
- What’s the #1 biggest challenge right now?
- What makes this a priority right now?
- Have you hired anyone else to help with this in the past? How did that go?
- Is there anything else you think I should know?
… you can tailor your pitch to address their specific concerns and desires.
On a related note — if you want to take your sales pitches to the next level, refer five friends to The Gig and we’ll send you a free copy of our Ultimate Freelance Sales Call Cheatsheet ($97 value).
It’s a step-by-step roadmap to closing freelance deals over the phone, complete with specific questions and word-for-word transitions to help you navigate calls like a pro.
More details on that at the bottom of today’s newsletter.
Working For Yourself
The Downside to a Short Commute
Blurred lines are an occupational hazard when working from home.
Sure, the morning commutes may be a breeze…
But when the office is always just a few steps away, it can be tough to turn off your work brain.
That’s why one of the best ways to stay sane is…
Create a structured work schedule and stick to it.
That means getting up, starting, and finishing work around the same time each day.
Establishing boundaries like this will not only help you be more productive…
But you’ll sleep better too.
Tools We Love
Achievement Unlocked: Ludicrous Speed
Page speed is a hidden conversion killer.
According to Hubspot, conversion rates drop by an average of 4.42% for every added second of load time 😬
So if you’re running traffic online in 2022…
There’s no excuse for having a page that doesn’t load in two seconds or less.
Enter PageSpeed Insights.
Developed by Google, it analyzes your website’s page speed and identifies opportunities to optimize it by:
- Compressing images
- Reducing unnecessary JavaScript & CSS
- Avoiding redirects
- And more
If you want to achieve Ludicrous Speed so you can maximize sales, conversions, and profits, try PageSpeed Insights for free today.
Quote of the Day
“You only have to do a few things right in your life so long as you don’t do too many things wrong.”
— Warren Buffett