You Need to Do Something With What You Already Know | Internetly Vol. 14

Hi there,

Last Tuesday, I came back from my vacation in Tulum and I’m still recovering.

But it’s not from an excess of tequila reposado or tacos al pastor. Rather, it’s from the tumultuous process of rushing back to work.

My inbox was flooded with emails. At first, I felt terrible. I’d start each message with “Sorry for the late reply!” before deleting it and rewriting “Thanks for your patience,” because I shouldn’t feel bad about how I spend my time.

As I caught up with all my messages, I was reminded of Pat Wall’s iconic tweet:

It’s a subtle reminder that whoever is in your inbox is trying to accomplish something on their agenda. Why beat yourself up for not fitting onto their schedule?

This doesn’t mean you should dilly-dally with your response and be a fickle communicator. Rather, I urge you to rid yourself of guilt for taking a break and remember you live for yourself.

On another quick note, I’m so excited to announce that (🥁🥁🥁)...

I’m launching my own digital product! Woohoo.

I’m part of Justin Mikolay’s 10xCC course where it teaches creators how to package their big ideas into a flagship digital product. Super interesting stuff.

I’m planning on releasing some kind of miniature ebook where I recount essential insights, templates, and frameworks for the clumsy first-year freelancer. And I would love your help.

Do you have any burning questions about online writing? About whether freelance writing is right for you? Want to know how to land $250 articles on your first try without having any professional experience (and never using crummy sites like Fiverr)?

If you’re chock-full of ideas, let’s get on a call. You ask me questions that help me write this book, and I provide some answers. Win, win.

🖼 On Becoming a Prolific Creator

This Week: Take Action With What You Have

I still think about this DM I received a few months ago.

The abundance of information the internet provides is both a blessing and a curse.

Gobbling up all these precious resources is a gift. But not doing anything with this knowledge is one of the worst things a creator can do. As eloquently put my fellow creator Craig Burgess:

Ask yourself: when is the last time you’ve actually used the info you’ve been absorbing?

If you’re learning about financial literacy, have you bought any stocks yet?

If you’re learning about freelancing, have you pitched for clients yet?

If you’re reading about breaking up with your phone, have you turned it off for a weekend yet? (I’m directly guilty of this. The attachment to a phone is real, man).

If you can’t think of any of these in the next five minutes, it’s a sign you might need to stop learning and start doing (poetic, I know).

TL;DR

You need to do something with what you already know rather than learn new information. 🙅🏼‍♀️

🥒 Content Diet

A little hit of vitamins for your noggin.

1. A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle

In my conspicuous quest for spiritual enlightenment, I’ve picked up “A New Earth.”

So far, so good. It’s challenging, inquisitive, and calming.

This quote’s been bouncing around in my mind lately:

Consumerism and materialistic wealth are overrated, although I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t tempted by the idea of a mansion. But the excerpt reminds me of a tweet put out by Nicolas Cole where he reflected on achieving his dream condo by the beach.

What I’m trying to say is don’t get wrapped up chasing materialistic markers of wealth. Because:

1. It serves mainly as a way for the ego to reaffirm its dominance

2. Once you’ve hit your goal you’re hit with a pang of “Now what?”

TL;DR

Lofty, expensive goals don’t equate to happiness. Shocker. 🙄

1. Bouncing Back From Burnout with Danny Miranda

Earlier this week, Danny Miranda interviewed me for his podcast.

It’s pretty nuts, considering I used to listen to Danny’s podcast during my babysitting gigs. I’d push strollers, change diapers, and spoon-feed strawberry yogurt while listening to high-achievers spill their morning routines. Several months later, I’m on the show. Crazy.

In this podcast, we talk about skydiving, burnout, working with a life coach, and how I built my freelancing business.

If you’d like to give it a listen, I must let you know I have a bad tendency to talk extremely fast. So if you like to listen to 1.5x speed...well..good luck trying to understand a lick of what I’m saying.

TL;DR

I was on Danny Miranda’s podcast and we talked about freelancing, burning out, and how to take advantage of the internet to realize your true potential. 🌞

✍🏼 Freelancing Journey

This Week: Fees You Shouldn’t Forget When Drafting a Project Proposal

If you’re a first-year freelancer, there’s a good chance you’re going to lose money.

I’m 100% serious here. I’ve lost thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours in my first year of freelancing. There is a huge learning curve when trying to manage your time and price yourself accordingly.

But one of the biggest reasons that freelancers lose money is because they don’t know how to properly structure their project proposals.

In a nutshell, here’s what you’ll want to add to each project proposal:

1. Include a 10% fee on each additional revision. Art is subjective. It can always be tinkered to look a little bit better. You will meet a client who will want endless revisions. Make a clear mark (I include three revisions) and then include a 10% fee on each additional one.

2. Include an additional fee if the client adds on last-minute work. If additional work is added at the last minute without additional time, you should charge extra for it.

3. Don’t break down the pricing of your services. This one might seem a little controversial, so I’ll let this Tweet do the heavy lifting for me.

If a client goes “That’s still too expensive!” don’t freak out. Agree with them.

“I know, it is expensive! But this price is how I continually assure high-quality content for my clients and gives me the flexibility to work with clients as closely as possible. Let’s figure out how we can collaborate, and see where I can reduce the scope of my services to make this work for you.”

It’s only ever a conversation.

TL;DR

To avoid losing money as a freelancer, make sure you charge for last-minute work and additional revisions. Oh, and don’t include the pricing of your services. 🎯

Thanks so much for reading this week! It feels good to be back.

We’re now at 278 subscribers. Grateful for each and every one of you.

If this newsletter helped you, why not share it? I spent approximately 106 minutes writing this (yes, I counted!) so a share means a lot. 🌷

Good luck this week.

Love,

Alice 💌