Kris Hughes 🪓

Social Media Content Creator

Zanate Ventures

Coaching Freelancers to Maximize Their Potential + Content Strategy For Growing Companies

Zanate (Zuh-nah-tay) is Spanish for grackle.
Grackles are ubiquitous in Austin and I like their style.

Here's the website: zanateventures.com

Founder

MentorCruise

Offering monthly content strategy mentorship packages to help founders and freelancers build stronger content strategies to help them lean on storytelling, and build stronger connections with their community of potential clients.

Content Strategy Mentor

Several Clients

* I'm a LinkedIn ghostwriter for 3 founders: The owner of a CRO consultancy, the owner/CEO of a SaaS company, and my friend who runs an eCommerce growth consulting company.
* As a ghostwriter, I publish a total of 36 posts per month on these accounts and do 30 hours a month of community cultivation work to help drive more interest for my clients with their ideal clients.
* The goals are to increase profile views, attention on content, and cultivate leads for my client's business.
* LinkedIn Ghostwriting has been a core service offering of Zanate Ventures since I founded the company in March 2020.

LinkedIn Ghostwriter 👻

Point One Navigation

Helping to develop and manage the content pipeline operations for a major precision navigation company with clients across industries like agriculture, drones, and self-driving cars.

Content Operations Consultant

Prospology

Working with Prospology.com as a fractional brand strategy coach to help the medical writing community's students develop a strong presence on LinkedIn and a storytelling strategy that supports the growth of their freelance medical writing businesses.

Brand Strategy Coach

Optimist

Fractional managing editor for Optimist's link building project, Juice.

Responsible for progression of articles through developmental funnel from topic generation to writer assignment, to the final product that's ready to be pitched to guest post websites to land links for our clients.

To date:
* Overseen hundreds of articles through the editorial and publishing process, all of which required my topic generation and editorial touch
* Managed a team of writers across timezones and around the world which has helped Juice become profitable in less than a year and maintain that level of profitability to date

Managing Editor

Mayple

* Working as a freelance email marketing consultant for Mayple via their contract with MailChimp/Intuit. 
* Audit MailChimp client email accounts to find areas for improvement through health checks. 
* Present on findings and implementations to solve gaps in use.
* Conduct implementations based on these identified gaps and report to clients.
* Occassionally continue with Mailchimp clients following process as an email consultant.

Email Marketing Consultant

CB Company

Social media ghostwriting and niche community building for the CEO of a series of cannabis industry events held each year in Switzerland.

Audience & Income

Member

DataHawk

Content Creator

Coaching ambitious freelancers to build better businesses.

Freelancing isn't easy.
Building your business can be as clear as mud.
There's a ton of conflicting advice and recommendations.

I get it.
I've been a freelancer off an on for a decade.
And I've seen and heard it all.

My path to a six figure ARR business was brutal.
Plenty of pivots, restarts, uncertainty, and anxiety.
But it doesn't have to be that way.

I'm here to make it easier for all you ambitious freelancers and ghostwriters out there to find an easier path than mine has been, so you can beat your competition to the punch, and build the business you've always dreamed of.

For now, I'll be sharing here on LinkedIn about the 'Painful 11," the 11 most common pain points freelancers and ghostwriters fight through as they share their businesses, and along the way will be adding some personal videos with some specific tips and tricks to follow.

For more ways to engage with me:
* Subscribe to The Strategic Freelancer newsletter --> https://bit.ly/tsf-newsletter
* Book a 1:1 coaching call (paid): https://bit.ly/tsf-calendly-via-LI
* Book a 'coffee chat' so we can network (free): https://bit.ly/coffee-calls

Or visit The Strategic Freelancer website for more --> thestrategicfreelancer.co

Founder --> Ghostwriter & Content Creator for Growing Coaches & Solopreneurs

I'm tired y'all.
Full of light anxiety these days.
For a variety of reasons.

That's it.
That's the post.

If you're in that boat don't think you're weird.
It comes with the territory as a freelancer.
Or someone building a business.
It's not all sunshine and daffodils.

Freelancers:
Your business can build momentum in slow times.
If you zig while everyone else is zagging...

When things are slow, you can:
1. Complain about the lack of opportunities.
2. Complain that you're getting overlooked or ghosted.
3. Convince yourself that you're failing.
4. Decide that freelancing's not for you.

OR

You can:
1. Find an hourly gig (online or off) to make ends meet.
2. Stop cold pitching and hammering out applications.
3. Pitch to gaps rather than 'cold' pitching.
4. Search for 'unsexy' opportunities where you're needed.
5. Build something creative for yourself.
6. Network like there's no tomorrow.

Zig where everyone else is zagging.

The choice is ultimately yours.
With positivity, you'll catalyze momentum.
With negativity, you'll dig your hole deeper.

With the right point of view, the slow times are HUGE opportunities.

What are you doing with the downtime?

---
👋 Hi y'all, I'm Kris.
🎒 A former startup guy who now runs a successful content studio.
🖋 Building my business has been hard. I want it to be easier for you.
🤝 To learn how I work more closely with clients, check out the links I share in the comments of these posts and the Featured Section of my profile.


Freelancers:
Use ChatGPT as a detective.
Ask it to do a little investigative work on blogs.

Let's say you're considering pitching a website to write an article for them.
Don't just add them to your 'cold pitch' list.

Do some investigative work first.

Ask ChatGPT something like this:
"Hey ChatGPT, I write on content strategy, marketing, and developing your presence as a thought leader. I'm interested in writing for [insert site name here]. Their blog is located here: [insert site's blog URL].

Given what they've previously published and the topics I write on, what are ten ideas I could pitch them that they still need to publish?

Your topic ideas should be a mixture of text:text, listicle, and How To formats."

So when you provide this prompt, ChatGPT will use Bing to research the site's blog and provide you with some fresh ideas to pitch that fill 'content gaps.'

You should ALWAYS pitch to fill content gaps, not just provide topics you want to write about.

It's about the immediate value that the editor sees in your pitch when they open it, and when you can provide potential topics to them that fill a gap, you'll have a leg up in the process.

How do you use ChatGPT to think about your pitches?
Tell me about it in the comments below!

---
👋 Hi y'all, I'm Kris.
🎒 A former startup guy who now runs a successful content studio.
🖋 Building my business has been hard. I want it to be easier for you.
🤝 To learn how I work more closely with clients, check out the links I share in the comments of these posts and the Featured Section of my profile.

So today's one of those days.
I unexpectedly lost a client this morning.
So....

I have some availability for April and going forward.

If anyone's looking to take their brand to the next level through ghostwriting and community development, needs some content strategy direction for your startup or growing business, needs some emails written, or some blog content knocked out, I'm here to help.

Hit me up or tag anyone you think could use some work taken off their hands.

I appreciate it y'all!

---
👋 Hi y'all, I'm Kris.
🎒 A former startup guy who now runs a successful content studio.
🖋 Building my business has been hard. I want it to be easier for you.
🤝 To learn how I work more closely with clients, check out the links I share in the comments of these posts and the Featured Section of my profile.

Freelancers:
Creativity is your number one asset.
And how you apply it will tell a tale.

A fair amount of doom and gloom is going around in the freelancing community these days. And it's justifiable, but only to an extent.

The landscape is certainly shifting, but opportunity awaits the creative like at any other time when a business landscape shifts.

And they shift all the time.
As cliche as it is, change is the only constant in business.

Simply put:
* You can't do what everyone else does and expect to succeed somehow where they are struggling. 
* You don't retain the right to complain when you're doing what everyone else is doing and somehow expect to succeed, but you fail.

Instead:
* Zig where others are zagging.
* Pitch to editorial content gaps.
* Network like hell.
* Seek out opportunities in the margins.
* Approach 'unsexy' businesses with an offer to help.
* Have more casual conversations with random strangers.

There's still plenty of opportunity out there, but only the most creative freelancers will find it with consistency.

Ask yourself an honest question today:
Are you fully tapping into your creativity?

Need to bounce some ideas around?
Book 30 minutes with me.
And you'll walk away with something to put into action.

---
👋 Hi y'all, I'm Kris.
🎒 A former startup guy who now runs a successful content studio.
🖋 Building my business has been hard. I want it to be easier for you.
🤝 To learn how I work more closely with clients, check out the links I share in the comments of these posts and the Featured Section of my profile.

1/2 of you said you like earnings reports.
So here comes my March report.

For March 2024, I earned $16,563.40.

Here's the breakdown:
* Retainer LinkedIn ghostwriting - $7,890.00
* Content strategy consulting - $6,000.00
* Fractional editorial work - $1,853.40
* Freelance and brand coaching - $820.00

I hope this is helpful for you to see the breakdown of retainer, fractional, and coaching work, which makes up my monthly income.

I often discuss income pillars and how important it is to build each of these to support your business. 

This is an example of the numbers behind why I preach this and teach it to my coaching clients.

Do you want to see this from me again in early May for April?
Do you never want to see one again, or think it's annoying?
Please let me know in the comments.

---

👋 Hi y'all, I'm Kris.
🎒 A former startup guy who now runs a successful content studio.
🖋 Building my business has been hard. I want it to be easier for you.
🤝 To learn how I work more closely with clients, check out the links I share in the comments of these posts and the Featured Section of my profile.

So, I give away a lot for free.
All of the posts I create are tactically focused.
Some people think I'm nuts for this.

They think I should be 'gating' all of the tactical stuff.
'Monetizing' it.
Nah.

The way I figure it is this:
If each of my posts helps at least one person have something tactical to try for their freelancing business, which allows them to grow incrementally, then that post was worth it.

Not everything is about 'monetization.'

I need to book some paid coaching appointments now and then for this approach to be sustainable, but I also have a successful content studio that's the core of my business.

I'm a solopreneur, so I have to think about my time versus the return on that time, as I do with anything else, but it's not dominating my mindset.

So, my intent here isn't to chase money.
It's to help.

I hope that shines through in what I share with y'all because it's my goal and intent.

If I earn a little from it now and then, that's great.
But what matters is that I help.

And build a community of awesome folks like y'all that I can share the journey with!

PS: All this said, I'm still going to offer coaching for those of y'all who need some 1:1 guidance. Link below 🙂 

---
👋 Hi y'all, I'm Kris.
🎒 A former startup guy who now runs a successful content studio.
🖋 Building my business has been hard. I want it to be easier for you.
🤝 To learn how I work more closely with clients, check out the links I share in the comments of these posts and the Featured Section of my profile.

Freelancers:
What's your anti-goal?

We all talk here all the time about goal setting. 
And, justifiably. 

Setting goals that propel you forward and help to laser target your activity is essential.

And give you a reason to wake up and keep pressing ahead.
Especially on those days, it's the last thing you want to do. 

But what do you fear returning to? 
That's the question I'm asking.
What do you absolutely dread?

You want to freelance - or are already a freelancer - for a very specific reason. 

Something about the 'traditional' work world triggered you to want to do something different.

What was it?
What is something you CANNOT do again?
What is something you CANNOT experience again?
What is something you dread deep in your bones?

That's your anti-goal.
Give it a name. 
Paint a picture. 
Hang it on your wall.
Avoid it at all costs.
I promise you, it's a fantastic motivator.

Mine?

Having my fate lie in the hands of one decision-maker, who could end my livelihood simply because they're having a bad day.

Never again.
NEVER.

---
👋 Hi y'all, I'm Kris.
🎒 A former startup guy who now runs a successful content studio.
🖋 Building my business has been hard. I want it to be easier for you.
🤝 To learn how I work more closely with clients, check out the links I share in the comments of these posts and the Featured Section of my profile.


Freelancers:
A time will come when you need to spend to earn.
Investing in some help to take the next leap.

Knowing when that time is is challenging.
It's different for everyone, depending on your goals.
And depending on your skill set and dislikes.

I'm likely hiring someone to help in Q3.
Because I've taken the time to identify 'time sucks.'

Things that are either:
* Actively dragging our business down
or
* Sitting untouched and, by proxy, leaving opportunities behind

As you journey from transactional freelancer to solopreneur—something that's going to be the core of my content going forward here—you need to always consider when it's time to hire someone to work in the background.

It could be to:
* Do outreach & pitching on your behalf
* Manage your calendar
* 'Ghostwrite' for you - I know, shocking! 😉 
* Run your bookkeeping

When you get off the 'transactional treadmill' and work primarily on fractional projects and retainers, you will identify the blind spots that need attention.

When you do, don't let those dark spots get too dark.
Or you're willingly killing your momentum.
And making it harder to hit Pillar 5 - real financial freedom.

If you could do so today, what would you hire someone to do that you either can't stand or know is festering in the background and shouldn't be?

Tell us about it in the comments below!

---
👋 Hi y'all, I'm Kris.
🎒 A former startup guy who now runs a successful content studio.
🖋 Building my business has been hard. I want it to be easier for you.
🤝 To learn how I work more closely with clients, check out the links I share in the comments of these posts and the Featured Section of my profile.

I've been thinking a lot about something.
The term 'freelancer' is a little self-limiting.
Here's why I'm saying that 👇

Freelancing is too often tied to a 'transactional mindset.'
It's important to establish consistent transactions.
You write an article, and you get paid for the article, etc.

But that's only one of four income pillars you need to build.
To establish a foundation that will stand the test of time.

Transactional. 
Fractional. 
Recurring. 
Passive.

Here's the progression I've worked through over the past four years that has our company on track for a quarter-million(ish) pre-tax ARR in 2024:

1. Build your transactional foundation.
* Do transactional work (articles etc) for a set payment.
* Do incredibly well at this work so you can push for retainers.
* Turn your transactional clients into retainer clients slowly while building some fractional work.

2. Find a fractional role or two.
* These are roles that pay you an hourly rate for occasional work.
* For example, I am an operations manager for a link-building company, and I get paid hourly for 7-10 hours a week and get paid 2x per month.
* Ask yourself: What skills do I have that I could charge hourly for? (Editing? Proofreading? Data Entry?)

3. Throttle down your transactional work as you solidify more retainer relationships, and your fractional work flows.
* Once you have a few retainer clients, do increasingly less of the transactional work.
* Augment retainer pay with the fractional.
* Charge more every time you bring on a new client. EVERY TIME.
* NOW start thinking about a package or strategic element.

4. Stop 'freelancing' and start offering 'strategic consulting.'
* Help others share & tell better stories through strategy consulting.
* Offer a set content package for all new clients.
* If you have the budget, you may not write at all.
* This work is less variable, opening up your time.
* As more time opens up, you can make more tactical decisions.
* Which opens more time, earning potential, etc.

5. NOW create a 'passive offering.'
* This is usually taught in reverse - 'build a course that pays you while you sleep' etc.
* The problem is that passive income is anything BUT passive.
* You'll need to be able to dedicate substantial time - while income is consistent and flowing in - to make it work for you, so it should come LAST.

If you truly want to maximize your potential, the goal is to work toward becoming a strategist and a 'retained freelancer.'

Not to continue to slog along as a 'transactional freelancer.'

I'm practicing what I preach here and will continue to share more about this as the business evolves throughout 2024!

---
👋 Hi y'all, I'm Kris.
🎒 A former startup guy who now runs a successful content studio.
🖋 Building my business has been hard. I want it to be easier for you.
🤝 To learn how I work more closely with clients, check out the links I share in the comments of these posts and the Featured Section of my profile.


Certain guru types make a nefarious promise.
'Buy my course, and passive income will change your life.'
The problem? Passive income is anything but.

Passive income has a horrendous time ROI.
It requires back-breaking, tedious, long hours.
Constant iteration, experimentation, and pivoting.

There's no magic formula. 
No silver bullet.

Despite what Russel Branson and Grant Cardone promise you.
Those guys... spare me 🙄

Passive income is only worth pursuing when:
1. You have worked through the evolution of the three other income pillars: transactional, fractional, and recurring.
2. Your recurring income is so predictable you can isolate some of it to spend on building the mechanisms necessary to drive passive income.
3. Investment opportunities you'd like to pursue are still outside your reach.

If other types of investment opportunities are within your reach—e.g., a second property, getting more aggressive with retirement savings, investing in companies—then passive income should STILL take a backseat.

TLDR: Passive income comes last, if ever.

Please don't fall prey to the promise that it'll change your life with minimal work.
Because those promises are pure BS.

Instead, build your pillars and catalyze a natural evolution from freelancer to solopreneur, which will open the door to investing and, maybe, someday, something passive.

Not sure how to move from one pillar to the next?
I can help.

---
👋 Hi y'all, I'm Kris.
🎒 A former startup guy who now runs a successful content studio.
🖋 Building my business has been hard. I want it to be easier for you.
🤝 To learn how I work more closely with clients, check out the links I share in the comments of these posts and the Featured Section of my profile.


Freelancers:
Do you track your time on projects?
If not, here's why you should 👇

For example, let's say a website contracts you to write four 1500-word blog posts for them in a month - averaging one a week.

And they're paying you $400 for each post or $1600 for the month.

On the surface, this may seem like a solid project.
That's solid money. Right?

The answer?
It depends.
On your ideal hourly rate.

If this project took 30 hours for the month, your hourly rate would have been $53.33/hour. Not bad.

But what if your ideal hourly rate is $70/hour?
Then, not so great.
You may even lose money taking on this project.

If you've never tracked your time, you can't know what you're making per hour because that's data you don't have.

So, I encourage you to use a free tool like Toggl to track every minute you spend on your next project and think about how much you made during that time.

Does it meet what you need? Great!
If not, can you charge more next time to get there? YEP.
Or, can you find ways to be more efficient? You bet.

Try this soon!

It makes your decisions on whether or not to take a project purely data-driven, as your business matures, and that's a good thing.

PS: Your ideal hourly rate also needs to consider things like tax savings, personal savings, insurance, etc., but that's a topic for another day...

---
👋 Hi y'all, I'm Kris.
🎒 A former startup guy who now runs a successful content studio.
🖋 Building my business has been hard. I want it to be easier for you.
🤝 To learn how I work more closely with clients, check out the links I share in the comments of these posts and the Featured Section of my profile.


I could sell you on my freelancer business coaching.
I'd rather do something else.
Let you read what my clients have to say.

If you have a burning freelancing problem you're sick of stressing out over and want a solution, book 30 minutes of my time.

You'll walk away with an action to take and some peace of mind.

Check out the link in the comments to learn more and grab your time!

---
👋 Hi y'all, I'm Kris.
🎒 A former startup guy who now runs a successful content studio.
🖋 Building my business has been hard. I want it to be easier for you.
🤝 To learn how I work more closely with clients, check out the links I share in the comments of these posts and the Featured Section of my profile.

What My Coaching Clients Have to Say

There are two parts to your freelancing presence.
What people see online.
How you treat your clients offline.

People don't see the second here.
But it certainly is important.

It's fantastic to have an authentic, engaging personal presence on social media, and in other places you promote who you are and the work you do for clients.

But it's 1/2 the battle.

Your 'offline' behavior matters as much, if not more.

A simple 5-step list here:

1. Always 'onboard' your clients. 

* Have an onboarding process constructed so it's crystal clear from the outset what you expect from your clients and what they expect of you so everyone's working in the same direction.

2. Do more than expected in the first 60-90 days.

* Wow your client in those first few months - or your first few articles. 
* Do more than is anticipated - turn in your drafts a day early, ensure they require a light editorial touch, and communicate when you have questions. 
* But better yet, identify areas of improvement in their processes and offer suggestions now and then, within reason.

3. Do what you say you will do.

* Well, yeah, Kris, obviously.
* I've been managing writers for almost 20 years now; I'll tell you, it's less common than you might think.
* It's a simple but powerful way to be memorable.

4. Make your editor's job easy.

* When you deliver your first draft, it should almost be publish-ready.
* Be meticulous about details, grammar, and tone.
* It'll be appreciated and rewarded by the right clients.

5. Learn how to be a sponge.

* Ask for foundational materials at the outset of any new work.
* Ask what you can learn and how that applies.
* Be curious, ask open-ended questions, and be a sponge.

If you can master even 4 of the five here, your personal presence will be well-rounded both online and off.

What is No. 6?
What is one you'd add to the list?

---
👋 Hi y'all, I'm Kris.
🎒 A former startup guy who now runs a successful content studio.
🖋 Building my business has been hard. I want it to be easier for you.
🤝 To learn how I work more closely with clients, check out the links I share in the comments of these posts and the Featured Section of my profile.

I can't wait for this month's freelancing webinar!
I'll be chatting with a very special guest.
He's one of my favorite voices in the branding world...

But I'm not going to tell you who just yet 😉
That's coming on Thursday the 18th at 7 am CST!

For now, I'll leave it to you to ponder. 🤣
But be ready to grab a seat for only $7 next Thursday.

PS: Thanks to everyone who reached out with their support this week. It's been a rough time lately, but there's light at the end of the tunnel, and as always, I appreciate those of you in my community SO MUCH.

Have a great weekend y'all!

---
👋 Hi y'all, I'm Kris.
🎒 A former startup guy who now runs a successful content studio.
🖋 Building my business has been hard. I want it to be easier for you.
🤝 To learn how I work more closely with clients, check out the links I share in the comments of these posts and the Featured Section of my profile

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