065: I’ve had a lot of fun so far talking to editors and guest experts and creating solo shows for the Edit Boost Podcast. Receiving so many wonderful messages from people who’ve been inspired to do more marketing and get more clients has been really rewarding. But I’ve decided I need a bit of a break; I’ve created a lot of podcast content and it’s time to step back. And just in case you need to hear it from me, it’s ok to stop doing something or hit pause on something, even if others are...

064: Featured editor: Michelle Bourbonniere, Edited by Michelle Feeling daunted by the thought of SEO? ‘Search Engine Optimisation’ for your website can sound complicated and like it’s only for technical types. There are several things you can do to help your website to appear near the top of online search results (that’s the point of SEO) but, actually, is SEO the most important thing you need to be doing right now? Many editors tell me they have to get their websites ‘right’ before...

063: Featured editor: Elen Turner, Elen Turner Editorial Services  Given the challenging times we’re in, it’s understandable we can feel afraid of not having enough work. This worry can lead us to taking all the work we can, even if it leaves us stressed out and overwhelmed. And the recommendation is always to continue marketing, even in good times, so we continue to have clients ‘in the pipeline’, opportunities lined up at the end of each project. After bouncing back from an unfortunate...

062: Featured editor: Andrew Pelechaty When you’re changing careers into the field of editing, it’s challenging to make a start and find paying clients. You can feel unsure of yourself and completely ‘green’, a newbie. But rarely do we start with a blank slate. We can make use of all of our professional experience and current contacts. Today we’re talking about the situation my guest editor, Andrew, is experiencing. He’s done significant voluntary work as an editor and proofreader immersed...

061:  As editors, we like to learn, read and look at things from all angles. If we’re not feeling ready and confident in our business, we can focus too much on consuming more content. We convince ourselves we need to know more to do more; we need to learn more before we can take action. But most people know what they need to do. The problem is that they are not being the person they need or want to be. Becoming a confident business owner means taking action before you’re ready. Which means...

060: As editors, when we’re putting our content out into the world to attract more clients, being scared of rejection and fearing criticism can be seriously debilitating to business. When you’re assuming the worst and not wanting to deal with negative feedback, it’s safer and easier to just not put things out there. But it’s not a useful approach when you’re trying to get clients I know it’s hard. We’re the face of our business. Any comments and feedback on the work we put out in the world...

059: Often it seems that, in our minds, we’ve equated helping people with giving things for free. And at the same time, we believe that making money is somehow a bad thing. But in the end, we’re running a business, and the purpose of a business is to make money. In this episode, I explain how we can think differently about the action of helping people with our editing services. We post information and editing tips online to be helpful. Being helpful online is great and it builds our brand...

058: When it comes to running a business, it’s really important to acknowledge our emotions. Our actions come from how we feel. So while most of us want to be given a to-do list, most of the time that isn’t enough. We have to change the way we think and feel in order to do the things we need to do to find more clients and earn more money. However, when it comes to some business decisions, we need to look at the numbers and NOT rely on our emotions. For example, when you’re spending time...

057: This is the first of a series where I’ll be talking about the most common mistakes I see freelance editors making when trying to promote their businesses. In this episode I’ll be talking about the problem of not understanding what your clients want. I see this mistake when editors are posting online about what’s involved in editing. Most likely it’s only editors who are interested in editing. Authors have different concerns -- maybe they don’t understand the publishing process or they...

056: Featured editor: Jen Tolnay, Jen Tolnay Editorial and Writing Services Jen has plenty of corporate editing experience and wants to move toward her ideal work in fiction book editing. She’s almost finished a course and has gained a bit of experience from pro bono projects. So what’s stopping her from pitching to clients who could benefit from her skills? Feeling hesitant at switching to a new field of editing is entirely normal. We’re confident in our own skills in the work we’ve done...

55: Building an email list of people who are interested in your business, so you can contact them directly, is a great idea. We’ve talked about email marketing on the show before, when I spoke to email expert Yael Keon (Ep039 ‘How can email marketing benefit my editing business?’). It’s recommended to have an email list for your business, rather than relying on people randomly seeing the content you post to your social media pages. But clients often ask me how to go about getting people to...

54: Today I want to talk to you about what coaching is, as well as what it isn’t. The term ‘coaching’ is used widely today, and conjures up different meanings for different people. Some people turn to a coach when they seek to be held accountable to their goals. Others want someone to give them advice (which I think of as mentoring) as to which direction they should go with their business. Regular listeners to the Edit Boost Podcast will have heard me coaching editors to help them identify...

53: Featured editor: Sue Toth, Sue Toth Writing and Editing Services Today’s episode talks about the fear many of us experience when quoting for editing jobs. Even if we’ve had a consistent run of incoming leads and enquiries, something makes us worry about never getting another client. The fear of not having enough work actually kept Sue overloaded with work she didn’t really love. Taking on as many projects as she could that came her way didn’t leave her with any capacity to find the work...

Featured editor: Michelle Waitzman, http://michellewaitzman.com It’s fairly common for editors to pick up whatever work is going, even if it’s not their ideal type of editing, type of project or type of industry. We think, ‘we’ll do this for a while until that ‘thing’ comes along...’, the ideal project that will set us on the path to the work we most enjoy. But after a while it’s become a habit to do the same work, and we’re stuck, getting known for doing work that we’re not keen to continue...

051: Featured editor: Olivia Wroth, SuperScript Writing and Editing and Accessibility Matters Over the years, your editing business might change in structure, while you try out different projects or outsourcing, and there might be ups and downs in your ongoing client load. You’ll start to work out what parts of the business are most enjoyable to you. And one of the advantages of having our own businesses is that we can start to create an editing business that works for us, plays to our...

050: I’m not really one for celebrating the numbers in business but this one seems significant. I’ve now recorded 50 podcast episodes, being a mix of solo shows, coaching calls and expert interviews. I receive lots of positive feedback about the value of the podcast, and I’m so glad to be delivering value through this medium. The podcast is also a tool in my business. Presenting this podcast has come at a time of growth for my business as well. While I’m committed to helping editors develop...

049: Featured editor: Kerry Murphy, Kerry Murphy Editor  When you’ve come from a high-pressure work environment where multi-tasking was the norm, it’s not unusual to carry through those work habits to your freelancing efforts. There’s so much to be done when running your own business, and it all seems important. The pressure you feel to need to do it all at once can lead to you spreading yourself too thin. If, like Kerry, you’ve found yourself running from client work to sample edits,...

048: Featured editor: Glenda Cohen, GCC Editing  Glenda is wondering when will be the right time to take the leap from her teaching job into full-time freelance editing. While no-one can tell someone when’s the best time to transition to freelancing, there are certainly some practical steps you can take to set yourself up for success. When transitioning into a freelance editing business, it’s common for self-doubt to creep in. Starting over can be scary and we can suffer from a lack...

047: Today’s episode involves me musing about my business. I hope that it will show you the power of self-reflection in uncovering why we don’t do the things we say we want to do. The lightbulb moment for me was that, even though I have a list of editors who want to appear on the Edit Boost Podcast, my timetable was too busy to organise a guest for today’s show, so I had to do a solo show instead. It was a sure sign I needed to change something. I realised that I have stretched myself...

046: Are you feeling like social media is a waste of time for generating leads? Are you lacking confidence to start posting? If you’re not being purposeful about it or taking consistent action on social media, you could be missing an opportunity to find clients for your editing business. In this episode, I’ll be sharing some tips to help you make your social media marketing efforts more effective. There are a few aspects I find editors struggling with, including: not being in the right...

045: Featured editor: CaTyra Polland, Love for Words CaTyra wants to be earning a full-time income from her editing business. She knows she can’t do it all herself, so she’s brought on a proofreader and a virtual admin assistant to allow more time for her to do editing. But she’s had to turn work away and wants to grow her team so that she’s not the only editor doing the projects. It’s a big change, and it’s easy to feel worried about the time commitment for recruiting a new team...

044: Featured editor: Eve White, White Editing Thank you to our featured editor Eve who has opened up to the challenges so many of us experience in the search for clients. This is the episode we all need to hear. We cover a lot of ground, including niching, your marketing message and method, and the all-too-common imposter syndrome. Whether you’ve moved into editing after a career in a particular field, or have been doing a small amount of editing and are wanting to ramp up your...

043: Featured editor: Belinda Pollard, Small Blue Dog Publishing Is your overflowing inbox taking up precious time in your day? Belinda is rather like me, a multi-passionate editor with many different interests. But looking into all of the multiple opportunities that come her way leaves her constantly busy and working long hours to get through the work that does get booked in. We talked about some ways to screen enquiries to help protect her time for the leads and proposals that...