Identify one segment of your audience (i.e. target market). What type of gig/opportunity is going to be the best kind?

For example: Maybe you’re a writer who wants any type of gig you can get, but you do find that you make more money in less time on English editing work than you make when you do someone’s resume/cover letter.

What types of work are most efficient for you? Here’s a good question to consider: If 15 people contacted you tomorrow and they all needed your help with the same type of job, what type of job would that be?

Choose a few specializations.(i.e. Why should anyone hire you?). A specialization makes you perfect for some clients, but it also just shows everyoneyou’re a real pro with well-developed interests and experience.

1. Don’t just be a wedding photographer; be a wedding photographer specializing in some unconventional new techniques.
2. Don’t just be an accountant; be an accountant who has developed a unique method of optimizing efficiency designed specifically for small businesses.
3. Don’t just be a landscaper. Be an innovative lawn care team with a special discounted service available exclusively to members of the local community.

Let’s sharpen your brand’s focus. During week one, you can type a list of ideas about exactly how you want your work life to be.

FOR BEGINNERS: In this first week, you’ll get a lot of free content to show you how quick and easy it is to

1. set up a page where people can find you, and
2. a payment system they can use to pay you. (Optional): Getting a domain, hosting, and SSL (if you want a website and don’t already have one). You don’t need a website, but if you want one you’ll learn how to make it happen.

Learn to create a “moment of legitimacy” – a moment when a client gets excited about the idea to hire you for help solving a problem or achieving a goal. Enjoy our ebook Moment of Legitimacy, included free to help you build a brand.

The Big Reddit Challenge (part 1):Start using reddit if you’re not already. You’ll need to be familiar with it, so you can use our unconventional Reddit marketing strategies. We will give you some “challenges” to complete on reddit. It might be a good idea to register two reddit accounts: one for personal use, and the other for self-promotion.

Start another social media account using your brand name (in addition to the ones you already have): Facebook Business Page, Twitter, Facebook Group, Instagram, a subreddit, a YoutubeYouTube channel, or even a LinkedIn profile if you don’t already have one. Which social media platforms will you use to connect with your audience?

(Optional) If you’re an online freelancer, register at a freelancing website like Upwork & Guru if you have not already. Or, if you are a commercial contractor it’s better to go with Thumbtack or Angie’s List. These websites are not the best way to get gigs in the long run, but if you’re just starting out there’s no reason not to use one of them.

Improve your brand’s messaging. This includes your tagline, and the first ideas you share with them when they visit your page. You have this opportunity to put an idea in the person’s mind. What idea do you want to share? You may have many different types of people in your target audience, and they may have many different needs, but we need to think about one audience at a time.

Download some tools we recommend. It’s easy to make simple videos, record audio, save time with automation, send recurring emails, and do other great stuff if you use the tools we recommend. (This is mostly for people new to freelancing, but even if you have a lot of experience you might find some tools you like).

Do something for free to help a business or another freelancer. Choose one lucky business or personal brand, and mention them on social media. Or you can mention them in an article you post to your own blog. Maybe you can ask a question about them on Reddit. Or, go write a Yelp review about them. Make sure it’s a company you like, and do something nice to help their brand.

The Big Reddit Challenge (part 2). We will suggest some ideas for making posts about your brand on reddit. Reddit hates self-promotion, but we have found several ways to effectively self-promote on reddit.

Write a useful article or blogpost. (It’s okay if you suck at writing). Just collect useful information the same way you’d write an email to a friend – and that makes a great article. This is not about writing. It’s about using your expertise to collect information helpful to people in your target audience. You are an industry-insider. Identify the needs of your audience and write an article with rock-solid information and advice to help them.

The Big Reddit Challenge (part 3). Now it’s time to put your brand name on your reddit profile and start joining subreddits with people who are likely to be in your target audience (and need the kinds of services & products you offer).

Share your article or post on social media. Try a few options for achieving your goals by sharing articles. For example, publish the article to LinkedIn to make your profile more impressive. You can also share only some of an article on social media and then truncate it and give a link with ‘read more….’ So they have to navigate to your website to read the rest. These are just a few of the strategies we’ll share.

Create one new social media account under your brand name. In addition to the social media accounts you have already created, create a new social media account. Be sure to use your brand name. This social account will become one of many search results people see when they Google for your name or the name of your brand. When someone Googles your brand and sees a lot of search results, it shows them you brand is legit.

“Invent” a new service or product (in addition to the ones you offer already). It’s time to rethink your audience and their needs – and invent a product or service that is perfect for addressing a set of needs common among many people in your audience.

Write an effective classified ad. Classified ads are WAY better than typical ad campaigns. But you have to do it in a smart way. Use our method, and you’ll get a lot more responses to your classified ads.

The Big Reddit Challenge (part 4). Now it’s time to start your own subreddit (Don’t worry! It only takes 10 minutes). This is going to be one of the most effective things you do to build your brand. This is Jay’s favorite part of the Eight Great Weeks. We’ll share our step-by-step method for setting up a sub that can function exactly like a website. This part of the Eight Great Weeks is particularly awesome.

Post your classified ad in three places. This week, we’ll discuss the places people go when the need to find freelancers like you. If you’re a writer-for-hire, maybe you need to post classified ads on reddit or keep an account active on Fiverr. But if you own a roofing/siding company, it might be best to focus on Yelp, Thumbtack, or Angie’s list.

Do some work for free. Let’s make some friends. Find two businesses or individuals who could be great clients for you, and do something nice for them. Make it unexpected. Just do something for them like the way you would if they were your own grandparent, or uncle or something. There’s no harm in giving away some time to hone your skill and make a friend. That person will be glad to give you a nice review on Yelp later, or a skill endorsement on LinkedIn.

Join discussion forums with your target audience. It’s time to join online groups, like FB groups, subreddits, and other discussion forums, where you can interact with your target market. Example: If you’re a landscaper in Massachusetts, maybe you participate in r/landscaping – but do you participate in the discussion forums where your clients will be? It’s time to go join a subreddit where property owners and property managers in Massachusetts. How about r/Massachusetts?

Improve your LinkedIn profile or your freelancer profile on Upwork. Even if you already have a website for your brand, letting people see an impressive profile on sites like LinkedIn and Upwork shows that you’re legit. It’s also a fun way to think about your brand and come up with ideas about what you want to say to people who find you online. What do you want them to know?

The Big Reddit Challenge (part 5). This is secret. We’ll tell you if you buy the Eight Great Weeks. It’s our best strategy, and we want to share it only with people who support FreelancerChurch.

Try our “Magic sentences” that make clients want to hire you. They work for email sales, promotional copy, verbal persuasion, and every aspect of marketing & messaging.

The big reddit challenge (part 6). We’ll share some of our secret methods. We keep them secret because we don’t want our competition to use them – they are exclusively for you.

Write another useful article for people in your target audience. Again, it’s okay if you suck at writing. This is not about writing. It’s about using your expertise to collect information helpful to people in your target audience. Example: If you own an Early Learning Center (i.e. daycare), your target audience is: local people who need an early learning center for their kids. Use your knowledge of the daycare industry to type a list of suggestions – your best advice for someone choosing a daycare. DO NOT let yourself start thinking you’re not good enough to write an article. You obviously have a lot of helpful suggestions to offer people who are trying to choose a daycare. You are an industry-insider. You know exactly what you would look for in a daycare. So go ahead and type up an article. You can do it, and it’ll be great.

Publish your article to your LinkedIn profile and/or other social media. Share this helpful article so people who research you online will see the article and know that you are an inspired, knowledgeable, and motivated.

Use Screencast-o-matic to make a simple video in 20 minutes. It’s easy to learn. We’ll talk you through it in part of this week’s brainstorm. As far as we know, screencast-o-matic is still free and it works great.

Improve your website (or any other page where people contact you). A lot of research has been done about consumer behavior when visiting web pages like yours. Some people have developed sophisticated methods for designing web pages in ways that get visitors to convert. The writers at BossContent&FreelancerChurch are those people. We’re going to tell you the best stuff we know.

The Big Reddit Challenge (part 7). We’ll share some of our secret methods. We keep them secret because we don’t want our competition to use them – they are exclusively for you.

Collect some clients like friends. Use social media to connect with some people who are likely to need services or products like the ones you have to offer, and gain insight about why people should hire you). Try our suggestions for improving your brand presence in search results and on LinkedIn, Reddit, FB, Upwork, other social media, and classified ad websites where people are searching in the moments when they’re ready to hire.

Meditate on the reasons people will hire you. Sometimes freelancers wonder, “Why should anyone hire me when there are other freelancers who seem more qualified?” But this is an absurd question. It’s like asking, “Why should anyone be my friend, when there are other people who seem like they might be better?” Now, maybe you’re someone who makes friends easily, and maybe you’re not. But during these eight weeks, you’re going to be someone who gets clients easily, and they’ll offer you a lot of gigs. This week we’re going to list several types of situations where people decide to hire YOU even though others might be more qualified. Then, you can try to create one of those situations.

(Optional) Register as a seller on another freelancer website. If you have already registered at Upwork, maybe you want to use the same information and set up profiles and Fiverr, Guru, or other freelancer websites. Some people have big success freelancing through those websites. But we don’t recommend sticking with them long-term. We want you to experience what these sites have to offer, and become familiar with them – even if you don’t plan on using them for long. A professional freelancer is familiar with the major freelancing websites, and getting some gigs through these sites will really go a long way to help you develop your brand’s messaging.

The BossContent writers will make a simple (45 seconds) video about your brand. We’ll upload it to YouTube. That way, people will see at least one video result when they search for the name of your brand.

The BossContent writers will also submit a reddit post to your subreddit.

Send an email to the writers at BossContent. Tell them about the progress you’ve made during these eight weeks. They’ll reply with their best suggestions for taking you to the next level.

The Big Reddit Challenge (part 8). Try some more of our unconventional strategies for collecting clients on Reddit.

List a new product (or service) for sale. During these eight weeks, you’ve identified your favorite types of gigs and the audience that can offer you those gigs. We challenged you to design a service or product customized precisely for the needs of the clients who offer the types of gigs you want the most. It’s time to list this new service or product for sale and use social media to let some people know about it.

Listen to the brainstorm and complete some more challenges. The last few challenges are fun, and they’ll give you some new ideas about how to continue to grow your network, improve your brand authority, and get more gigs.