Freelancing was step one

^{Making a living as a creator shouldn’t be some elusive thing. And what’s the best way to learn how creators are making it work? To go behind-the-scenes. These bi-weekly interview issues are like having coffee with your favorite creators. If we haven’t met before, I’m Amanda Smith. I write about solopreneurship and the creator economy.}

Good morning. As a veteran freelance journalist and writer, I’ve long admired this week’s guest. She’s public about her earnings and life as a freelance writer, so it’s no wonder her audience was asking for products. 

She straddles services and products and belongs to a new wave of creators who are legit professionals, not influencers. It’s an exciting time to be creating. 

Enjoy the read.

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Lizzie Davey has carved out a nice niche as a freelance writer for SaaS and ecommerce brands. Companies like Shopify, Klaviyo and Zapier that power millions of online businesses. 

Davey was getting a ton of questions from others online who wanted to go freelance but had no idea where to start. The elusive “how to get clients” was a weekly one, so she started answering these questions via a blog. 

She was travel blogging at the time, but that slowly morphed into freelance advice. With a thriving client services business under her name, Davey became a passionate voice for transparency around freelance rates and rights. 

Davey’s first paid product was a course about starting out as a freelancer. Today, her most popular product is Pitch & Prosper, priced at £249 ($330 USD). She’s revising and rebranding it into a new program called The Hello Effect, which focuses on teaching warm networking for freelancers. 

Davey said she’s released a lot of products over the years, some of them successful while others a total flop. 

Her current mix is: 

She has a mix of templates, tutorials, scripts, workflows, and walkthroughs. She also has five free offers (on topics like pitching, client acquisition and onboarding), as well as a podcast and newsletter. 

“The main thing I want to help people do with Freelance Magic is build long-term, sustainable businesses they love. I'm very vocal about there being no quick fixes, no "overnight strategies,” Davey said. 

Davey hasn’t gone all in on her products and left client work. In fact, it’s the opposite. Freelance Magic accounts for a small percentage of her total income. She uses Gumroad and has made 250 product sales in the past year, which came in around $14,000. 

“I don't see it overtaking client work and I'm not sure I'd want it to, as I always want to be able to practice what I preach. The goal eventually is to have a 50/50 schedule, where I can work with a handful of amazing clients and then focus on Freelance Magic courses and mentoring the rest of the time.” 

In terms of her marketing mix, LinkedIn is her main source of subscribers/traffic. Davey started the Friday Freelance Tips newsletter in 2021 and the It’s Fine, I’m a Freelancer podcast in 2024. 

“My content strategy consists of a lot of repurposing. I'll write a newsletter, which will then become a couple of LinkedIn posts, an Instagram carousel, and a podcast episode,” she said. 

Davey has just shy of 16,000 LinkedIn followers, close to 3,000 on Instagram, and 7,500 newsletter subscribers. 

She blocks out time on Mondays to record the podcast, writes the weekly newsletter on Wednesdays, and batches LinkedIn/Instagram content on Fridays. 

Davey’s top performing content types are LinkedIn posts that either share a specific technique or something vulnerable about business. Her “how much I made as a freelance writer this month” series is my favorite. 

She uses ads sparingly and currently only runs them (£200 a month) to promote her upcoming training workshop.

Davey believes we’ll see more freelancers and service-based businesses move into the creator space. 

“Personal brands are becoming more and more important in building trust and visibility with potential clients. Even if freelancers don't "plan" on becoming creators, they technically are when they're posting on LinkedIn and Instagram regularly. 

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Amanda

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