GM Thinkers! It’s Friday, and we go at it again. I often get ghostwriting questions, which usually fall into 3 categories.

• How to get started or land your first client

• What do you do for the clients

• How to get clients (again)

So, today, I will dive deep and give you all the alpha I learned over the last 90 days.

Content

• How to start a ghostwriting business

• 2 FREE ways to get clients

• How to get more clients

• Understand the workload

How to start a ghostwriting business

The first thing you need to focus on is your storefront window. When you go shopping, you check the display in each store, and that tells you what the store sells. If you like something, you might walk in. If the window is empty, there’s no way you’ll even consider it.

It’s the same on X. If your content is consistent and appeals to your dream audience, you’re already 2 steps ahead of the competition.

The best leads are inbound ones. If someone sends you a DM enquiry, that means they already like your content, and that’s half the battle, so ask yourself:

• Is my feed good? Would I DM myself if I scrolled my feed?

• Is my bio clear? Is it easy to understand what I do from a glance at my profile?

• Do I cater to a specific industry? Nobody wants to hire a jack of all trades. They want a content specialist.

Okay, now we have niched content appealing to our dream clients. We have a great bio displaying our skills and services and posting consistently.

It’s time to believe in yourself and “be” a ghostwriter. You are already a writer since you post content for yourself, and there’s not much difference. Many don’t consider themselves writers or content creators because they’re not monetising it. That’s Bullsh*t. You write? You’re a writer. Period.

2 FREE ways to get clients

Now, it’s time to get clients. The part where most beginners struggle… And I get it: leads don’t come daily, or maybe you’re not getting any leads.

Inbound Leads

The best type of leads are people reaching out to you. But that will only happen if you put the work on your profile. I’m not going to get a fashion stylist who wears the same outfit as my grandpa, or I won’t get a fitness coach who’s overweight.

You need to create great content about your niche AND about ghostwriting or writing. This will do 2 things for you.

1. Great content will give you the reach to be seen by as many potential clients as possible.

2. Talking about your business will drive more business, whether it’s a ghostwriting enquiry or someone else looking for tips earlier than you in their ghostwriting journey. Both are monetisable.

3. Talk about your business again. Again and again. The tweet below is living proof that you need to sell yourself shamelessly. It works.

Cold Outreach

Most people are scared to send DMs, but it’s the best way to get new clients if you have a small profile/reach. With this simple method, I know some ghostwriters with 2k followers landing $2k/mo jobs.

Here’s how it goes.

• Find 20-50 accounts in your niche, preferably businesses.

• Ensure they have funding or an actual revenue stream to pay you.

• Check if their presence on X is weak. Most businesses don’t know how to talk about themselves.

• DM them with your offer.

You don’t want to DM an account that is already doing well. The ideal target is a business doing well as a business but with a weak presence on X.

I did this myself in June, and here’s a preview of one of the DMs I sent. Looking back, it wasn’t great, but got a few replies.

I had experience working with newsletters, so I gathered 10-15 large newsletters in web3, crypto, and NFT and DM’d them all. I got 4 responses, 2 calls, and almost closed one client in 2 days. But I made a mistake; I wasn’t targeting a well-funded business, so the above response led nowhere as they couldn’t afford me.

How to get more clients

Once you get into the rhythm and your network becomes aware of your new profession, you must have a tight circle with other content creators and ghostwriters. This is CRUCIAL to take it to the next level.

There is no reason to take this journey alone. The bigger your network, the easier it will get.

Referrals will become an integral part of your funnel once you establish yourself. I’ve had 4 friends sending me potential work in September alone.

Lastly, once you have a client and you do an excellent job for them, they might also refer you to their friends. The network effect is powerful.

I’ve recently onboarded a client through an existing client, and as he’s pleased with my work, it was a no-brainer for him to mention my name. The trust is already established. I’ve not spoken to the referral. My client has done all the work for me.

Understand the workload

My best piece of advice is to learn to say No. Most clients will ask you for replies, engagement, DM management, etc.

Those things are no longer part of the content creation work and move into community management. That’s not what I do.

Any engagement work will also be the most time-consuming work while driving a pretty low ROI.

I estimate a full week of content to take up to 6 hours. 1-2h for the single tweets (for a standard 2 tweets per day) and 3-4h for 2 threads per week.

That means I can manage 5 clients weekly and still have time for my content, managing leads, growing the business and taking my dog for 2 walks a day.

The biggest mistake beginners will do it take on extra work out of fear of losing a client. I get it, but the more you compromise, the more you’ll be taken advantage of.

Thanks for reading all the way through. I hope you got some value from today’s newsletter.

If you’re serious about writing content and ghostwriting:

• Download my Notion FREE Template to create better content faster.

• I have 2 coaching spots available for November. If you want to speed up your growth, reply to this email and let’s talk.

Here’s what Salamander had to say about our last call from yesterday.