Newsletter #20 – How To Recover From Losing 50% Of Your Income


Hey everyone,
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First up – congrats to Claudia, Megan, and Laxmi who won the subscriptions to Freelancer Magazine!

As I was aimlessly scrolling LinkedIn last week, I noticed one of my copy colleagues posting about how she’d found $13,000 of new client work in May, after dealing with the stress of layoffs and lost clients in April.

That’s one heckuva turnaround.

Being naturally nosey about the lives of other freelancers (as I suspect you are too!), I asked Stephanie if she’d like to do a newsletter takeover to talk about how she coped with taking the hard hit of losing 50% of her income in one month, and what she did to turn everything around and get back on track in such a short space of time.

Take it away, Steph!

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Never have I ever imagined I would be guest writing on Rachael’s newsletter when just a few short years ago, I was drooling over her SNACKS framework and wishing I was cool enough to be a badass copywriter like her.

But life is unpredictable, and now I’m happy and honored to call Rachael a colleague and a friend (but I’m still super envious of her creativity and badassness).

So without further ado…

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January 26, 2020 was a lousy day.
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That was the day Kobe Bryant’s helicopter went down in Calabasas, California, and cut his life tragically short.
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Let’s be real, loss of life is tragic no matter what, but this one hit home for me because, well, I think a lot like him.

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Even though he’s known for his death and his skill as a basketball player, I think it’s more important to remember him for his determination — his Mamba mentality.
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It’s what set him apart from other basketball players, and the five pillars of the Mamba mentality are what I center my business and life around.
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I’ll break those pillars down for you:
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Resilience.

Fearlessness.

Obsessiveness.

Relentlessness.

Passion. ​
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When I say Kobe Bryant was the ultimate business coach, and his death was a gut punch for me, I mean it.

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So what does Kobe have to do with freelancing? Well even as a successful writer (see Rachael’s article: How To Make $100k To $400k As A Freelance Content Writer), freelancing isn’t always rainbows and butterflies.

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Sometimes it’s tough, really tough.

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This April, I found myself in a crappy situation, with clients dropping for budget reasons — leaving me with a 50% cut in income.

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But after pouting for a few minutes, I tapped into my Mamba mentality – and then tapped into my network to find some new clients.

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The results? A tsunami of discovery calls in May — tiring but thrilling all at once! 🎢

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Why am I sharing this rollercoaster ride? To highlight just how critical resilience and persistence are in our freelance universe.
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1. Resilience
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​Picture yourself after a month of losing clients. It’s a punch to the gut, right? Your confidence can easily go down the drain.

But here’s where resilience comes in. The ability to dust yourself off and keep moving forward, despite setbacks, is what separates successful freelancers from the rest.

It’s about maintaining a positive mindset, learning from setbacks, and using them as stepping stones to greater success. 💪

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2. Persistence
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​Persistence is the fuel that keeps the freelance engine running. It’s the dogged determination to keep going, even when things seem impossible.

Following that tough April, I decided to focus on discovery calls — an exercise in persistence.

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Here’s the result in numbers:

  • # of calls in May: 18
  • Yes’s: 9
  • No’s: 6 (3 were for budget reasons)
  • Future work: 3 (not ready to start yet)
  • $$ brought in from those yes’s: $13,000
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Where did these calls come from?

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Through persistent effort across multiple channels — direct referrals, LinkedIn posts and connections, reaching out to posts looking for a writer, and even making a bold move to contact someone I’d been following on Instagram.
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The takeaway? Persistence pays. It’s about putting yourself out there, again and again, even when you’re tired, even when it’s hard. Because the results, as seen above, can be pretty damn spectacular.
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And you know that pillar I mentioned earlier, Passion?

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After being heads down in my copywriting business since 2019, I realized there was something else that filled my bucket — helping people like you — that’s what I’m meant to do.
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That’s how Tough Love Copy Coaching was born. I took everything I learned about business ownership and copywriting and decided to use it to help others.
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And now, I’m thrilled to share my first workshop with you, Words That Sell: Secrets to Writing a Sales Page That Makes Bank. This workshop provides a step-by-step process to create sales page copy that makes your audience (or your client’s audience) want to race to the buy button. No more agonizing over a Google Doc for days figuring out what to say!

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But if sales pages aren’t your thing, that’s cool too. You can still learn from me by signing up for my newsletter. Either way, I’m here to help you break those bottlenecks that hurt your business growth.

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Let’s make things happen. Keep being transparent, persistent, and resilient. Your freelance dream is waiting.

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I would love to connect with you on LinkedIn as well!
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All the best,

Steph

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Free Stuff!

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Laura Belgray’s emails are the stuff of legend. And this week, the Shrimp Queen unleashed a whole bunch of business freebies to support the release of her book Tough Titties.​

You can grab the freebies here:

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Memes Of The Week

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P.S. If you enjoyed this week’s newsletter and want to support it, you can:
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