How a LinkedIn Post Got Her 4 High Quality Leads - Jennifer Gerhard

Meet Jennifer!

Jennifer participated in the July Mylance Bootcamp, while she was working a full-time marketing job. At the close of the Bootcamp, she made the decision to quit her job and start freelancing full-time with a focus on email marketing. She is now working with FOUR clients on a monthly basis with time set aside for one-off projects and is on-track to match her full-time salary later this month/early next!

We asked her some questions about how she honed her niche and grew her freelance consulting career.

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What was your career like before you started independent consulting?

6+ years in marketing, previously at a Commercial Real Estate company.

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What drove you to think about working for yourself? What doubts did you have along the way?

So much of my career prior was built from being either in an extremely niche role or a team of one. I had to do a lot of learning on the fly and a ton of self-teaching. I wanted to give myself a break from figuring it out all by myself and learn from people who have already been there, done that, and succeeded in their career paths. Joining Mylance was exactly what I hoped it would be and more. Worth every penny.

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What are the biggest ways in which Mylance helped you navigate launching your freelance business?

So much of my career prior was built from being either in an extremely niche role or a team of one. I had to do a lot of learning on the fly and a ton of self-teaching. I wanted to give myself a break from figuring it out all by myself and learn from people who have already been there, done that, and succeeded in their career paths. Joining Mylance was exactly what I hoped it would be and more. Worth every penny.

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Give us some details about how you found your first client, what your pitch was like, how the negotiation process went, and how you closed them?

I found my first client post-Mylance when I shared a post to my network on LinkedIn about how I quit my job to pursue my passion for marketing as a freelancer/consultant. That post generated four solid conversations. I would send a Calendly link to set up a time, meet the potential client face-to-face over Zoom and ask them about what they were looking for. Shortly after the call I would send over a one page proposal based off the one-pager we worked on in the July Bootcamp and provide some pricing options. (Because I like options) Also, I found it helped to have half project and half hourly for the work I was doing, at least that was the feedback I received from this first client and it has helped me close even more projects since.

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What does your professional life look like now?

I'm just about 2 months into starting this journey and the projects I brought into August/September have me close to matching my after-tax salary for the month of October. I'm projecting to hit again in November and then some with some repeat clients asking for additional projects and a client referral rolling in this month. I'd like to think I'm off to a very good start!

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What are some of the biggest challenges you face today as an independent consultant? How do you handle them?

I'm a pretty social person and working from home all day can get lonely, so I do try to schedule any meetings I have as Zoom meetings to get some face time. My Mylance cohort also created a weekly Zoom meeting for us to connect each week, check on each other's journeys, and help keep each other accountable. These things help!

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What are your favorite parts about freelance consulting?

My favorite part is definitely the flexibility and the break from the toxic office environment! What a demotivator that was! Working for yourself, on projects you want to work on, with interesting and inspiring clients... extremely more motivating! Best decision I could have made for my career.