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Welcome to the 25th edition of Expert•ish Freelancer, a newsletter that helps you launch or elevate your freelance business. Every other Friday, get tips, tools, and insights based on my 35⁺ years as a freelance writer.

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Happy Spring 🌺, Friend!

It’s definitely March Madness in my house, but not because of basketball. I’m in the middle of a big project (worth about $8,000 🤑) in addition to some ongoing work for other clients.

Plus, my husband (who had cancer surgery last fall) now needs radiation treatment 5x/week for 7 weeks, and I’m trying to go with him most days. It’s been a bit challenging, honestly. But I’m glad I’ve got the flexibility as a freelancer to be able to prioritize my family and support my Boo.

And, as much as I can squeeze it in, I still try to make it to my yoga classes. Self-care is so important, especially when life feels very out of balance.

Anyhoo….ready to dive in? 

Today’s newsletter highlights how I use AI to find clients.

🔍 Key Takeaways: 

✅ Use AI strategically.
✅ Generate quality leads.
✅ Optimize your outreach.

Today’s issue is brought to you by Lulu. Sponsors help keep the newsletter free, so please click on their link to check out their offer! ⬇️ 

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Freelance Focus: Unlock Your Freelance Client Pipeline with AI

The most common struggle I hear from freelancers is how to find clients. It's a time-consuming slog that often generates little to no results. Sound familiar?

Finding clients shouldn't feel like waiting for the Peaky Blinders movie to finally hit the big screen after the series ended. (C’mon already, Thomas Shelby!)

Instead, thanks to AI, it's like having the inside scoop on all the best leads. In fact, think of AI as your freelance superpower 🦸‍♀️, as I pointed out in EF #21: How to Leverage AI to Boost Your Freelance Business.

As I continue to play around with AI tools to improve my business, I keep finding new ways to maximize these powerful “business assistants.” I’ve mostly been focusing on project-related uses, such as conducting initial research, identifying subject matter experts (SMEs), generating interview questions, and creating outlines. These “use cases” are in themselves a huge time saver!

But I’ve been tapping AI 💻 to help me generate leads, too. If you’re like me (and most freelancers I know), you’re always looking to have a steady stream of clients in your pipeline. When you lose a client or two (for whatever reason), you’ve got to have several that you’ve been nurturing who are ready to move forward with projects.

Rather than slogging through Google results, online directories, and hit-or-miss approaches on LinkedIn and other platforms, I’m taking a more efficient approach.

I’m leveraging the power of AI to do the grunt work for me.

Choose Your Own AI Adventure

I hop back and forth between various AI tools, depending on my needs. My favorite so far is Perplexity, due to its superior research capabilities. But I also like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and CoPilot for tasks like generating headlines, tweaking social media posts, or analyzing/summarizing documents.

Play around with a variety of AI tools to discover which ones you like best, as they all have their strengths and weaknesses.

With that in mind, I turned to Perplexity—my AI tool of choice when it comes to research. And I wanted to walk you through the step-by-step process I used to identify and engage with the right prospects.

Note that I’m just starting out with this, so I can’t share concrete, long-term results (yet)—like landing new clients. But I have already connected on LinkedIn with a few prospects I discovered in my AI search.

The point of this client-finding AI task is to simply cull through all the possibilities and point me in the right direction. Ready to do the same thing for yourself?

Step 1: Do your prep work to write an effective prompt for this lead generation task.

All good AI “conversations” start with a good prompt.💡So, for your AI tool to generate a more tailored answer, you should be ready to provide the following information:

• Type of Service: What kind of freelance services do you offer (writing, design, translation, etc.)?

• Target Market: What niche(s) are you interested in targeting?

• Geographical Location: Are you looking for clients in a specific region or globally?

• Client Size Preference: Are you interested in working with small startups, medium-sized businesses, or large corporations?

• Budget and Pricing: What is your pricing strategy, and what budget range are you aiming for with potential clients?

Step 2: Create a short description of the above that you can use to provide context about yourself for customized lead generation. You’ll include this as part of your prompt.

Example: I'm a freelance writer with 10 years of experience specializing in technical writing, SEO content, and digital marketing copy for tech startups in the AI and software development niches. I primarily target small- to medium-sized startups in Orlando, FL, but am open to global clients. My pricing strategy is project-based, with rates typically ranging from $500 to $2,000 per project.

Step 3: Craft a detailed prompt (incorporating the above description) to find potential clients that would be a good fit for you.

Prompt: For context, I'm a freelance writer with 10 years of experience specializing in technical writing, SEO content, and digital marketing copy for tech startups in the AI and software development niches. I primarily target small- to medium-sized startups in Orlando, FL, but am open to global clients. My pricing strategy is project-based, with rates typically ranging from $500 to $2,000 per project.

Based on the above information, generate a list of small to medium-sized tech startups in Orlando, FL, focusing on AI and software development, that have recently received funding or are expanding their marketing efforts. Include company name, website, physical address, phone number, email address, and a brief description of their services or products.

Explanation: This prompt helps freelancers identify potential B2B clients in a specific location and industry, focusing on startups with recent funding, which often indicates growth and potential need for services.

Step 4: Based on the results it generated, ask follow-up questions.

Think of using this AI tool as a back-and-forth conversation, where you keep probing until you’re satisfied with the answer. Perhaps add new criteria for your search or change what you’re searching for altogether.

Follow-up Prompt #1: Now I'd like to expand this search to marketing agencies and associations that focus on the tech industry, preferably in the Southeastern U.S. Generate at least 50 organizations that I can reach out to so I can offer my freelance writing services.

Explanation: This prompt helps freelancers expand their client base to marketing agencies and tech associations in the Southeast, diversifying income streams and networking opportunities.

Follow-up Prompt #2: Analyze the marketing strategies of the top digital marketing agencies in the Southeastern U.S. and generate a list of potential clients who might need freelance writing services to enhance their content marketing efforts. Include the agency name, website, and a brief description of their current marketing initiatives.

Explanation: This prompt helps freelancers leverage AI to identify potential clients among digital marketing agencies, focusing on those that could benefit from freelance writing services to improve their content marketing strategies.

Follow-up Prompt #3: Identify and list the names of influential women leaders in the tech industry based in the Southeastern U.S. Include their current roles, companies, and a brief description of their contributions to the tech sector.

Explanation: This prompt helps freelancers connect with influential women in tech, potentially leading to collaborations, networking opportunities, or even client relationships.

You can continue asking questions until you get the results you want. And often, AI tools even suggest follow-up questions that you might not have thought of.

As a disclaimer, I do have the pro version of Perplexity (as a subscriber perk for using beehiiv to distribute my newsletter). Like other AI tools, you can still use the free version to conduct quick searches. But you might be limited in asking a certain number of more advanced/complex searches and follow-up questions per day.

That’s why it helps to supplement your research with other free tools available online, whether it’s other AI tools, LinkedIn's basic search features, or industry reports from public sources.

When You’re Ready Here’s How I Can Help:

• Share Your Success Story. I would LOVE to hear how you’ve implemented any of the ideas in Expert•ish Freelancer and found success. I might even include your win in a future newsletter. You can reach me at [email protected]. 

• Want to learn more about me? Hop over to my (needs to be refreshed) website: www.LisaBeachWrites.com.

• Turn to Expert•ish Freelancer’s Tools & Resources page highlighting valuable resources to help you successfully run your freelance business. You’ll find recommendations for apps, tools, training, services, websites, blogs, podcasts, books, videos, and more! If you’ve got a resource you love, let me know about it.

• Ask Me Anything! Your questions and feedback help shape future newsletter content. (I’ve already answered a few subscribers’ questions in past issues.) You can reach me at [email protected]. 

• Follow me on LinkedIn. I share more freelance tips/insights most weekdays.

Thanks for allowing me into your inbox!

I look forward to sharing my freelance journey with you, and I look forward to hearing about yours. I’m just here as your guide. Take what works for you, and tweak it to your needs. Rinse. Repeat.

I’ll be back in two Fridays with another edition of Expert•ish Freelancer.

In the meantime….

Be kind. Do good. Give thanks. 😊

With gratitude,
Lisa Beach

FYI: In yoga, the instructor often closes the session by saying “namaste” as a way of acknowledging and honoring the light, spirit, or goodness within each person in the class. 🧘‍♀️ It’s often used as a closing to convey unity (we’re all interconnected), gratitude (thank you for this shared experience), respect (I respect you and your journey), and peace (may you find peace within yourself). Essentially, it's a way to acknowledge the shared experience and to leave with a sense of peace and connection. 😊