6 Steps to Starting a Resume Writing Business as a Side Hustle

I was asked a question today about starting a business as a side hustle (in addition to a 9-to-5 job). I'd estimate about 75% of resume writers get started in business this way. I know I did, more than 20 years ago.

I put together this list of advice for getting started. If you’re thinking of starting a resume writing business as a side hustle and you have questions, leave me a comment below or contact me!

Step One: Avoid Conflicts

First step is checking your current contract (if you have one) to make sure there is nothing that prohibits side work. Most important, if you’re doing work that relates to your 9-to-5 job, you want to make sure that you wouldn’t unintentionally be giving your current employer the rights to your side hustle work (or clients). That can really happen.

You also want to make sure that you’re not using company resources for your side hustle. So you wouldn't want to use your work computer for your business, for example. Or, if you have a company-provided cell phone, get a separate one for your business. (That’s smart anyway, so you can answer calls with your business name. “All About Resumes, This is Jan!” Or have your voicemail reflect your business: “Thank you for calling All About Resumes. If you want more information about how we can help you meet your career goals, visit our website, allaboutresumes.com, or leave us a message and we’ll get back to you.)

Step Two: Identify Yourself

Step two is coming up with a business name. You do NOT need to incorporate as an LLC at this point. It’s not necessary and is a lot of paperwork and expense that isn’t required.

This article explains why:

LLC vs. Sole Proprietorship: Which one is best for your business?

As a small services business (under $100K in revenue to start), your legal liability risk is low. If you want to shield yourself, an E&O policy (errors and omissions) would be sufficient (and probably overkill). If you do choose to pursue E&O insurance, check out Hiscox or your homeowner’s insurance. (If you’re seeing clients in person at your home or an office, also ask your homeowner’s agent about a business liability policy.)

Get an EIN from the IRS:

https://www.moneyunder30.com/benefits-of-getting-an-ein

Here’s how to get one (it’s free):

https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/apply-for-an-employer-identification-number-ein-online

Step Three: Establish Your Business

The next step is opening a business checking account. All your income and expenses should be run through this account. It can be as simple as “Your Name dba as ___” (dba = "doing business as"). My first sole proprietorship was “YD Creations” (my maiden name is pronounced “Why Dee” — like the letters Y and D). So my bank account was “Bridget Weide dba YD Creations.”

Start as a sole proprietor. Your income and expenses will be reported on your personal tax forms. 

Register your business with the state. Google “start a business in ___” (your state). 

For example, I live in Nebraska:

https://www.nebraska.gov/osbr/index.cgi

You also want to check into whether you will need to collect sales tax on your sales.

Your state’s department of revenue can help you identify the specific services that are taxable.

Again, here’s my state’s guidelines:

https://revenue.nebraska.gov/businesses/starting-business-nebraska

This is especially important if you are providing taxable services. In some jurisdictions, resume services are taxable. In others, they aren’t. Sometimes they are taxable if it leads to the creation of a physical product (resume printouts) but not digital files. It’s important to get this right from the beginning, so don’t skip this step.

You may also need to register your business with your local city or municipality. Check to be sure.

Step Four: What Will You Sell?

Next is figuring out what services you are going to offer and your pricing for each. Will you provide resume development only, or also provide interview coaching? How about salary negotiation services? Career coaching?

Will you bill by the hour, by the project, on retainer, by results generated, or other?

Step Five: Getting Paid

The next step is figuring out how you will accept payment. You may want to set up a Square account (or similar third party service). Your bank may use Zelle but your customers would need to also. You probably don’t need a credit card (merchant account) at this point. Keep your expenses low to start.

Step Six: Now It’s Time to Make Yourself Known

The final step is all about marketing. Register your business domain (www.____.com). Set up an email (and website, probably). Register your social channels if you’re going to use them. Put the word out to your network and contacts that you’re “open for business.” Reach out to anyone who had inquired about you doing work for them in the past.

Starting a business can be daunting, but starting as a side hustle can give you the security of your regular paycheck with the ability to start growing your business on the side. These six steps will help ensure you get off on the right foot.

And someday, when you’re ready, you can make the leap to being a full-time career services professional (if you choose to!).

Struggling With Marketing Content Creation for Your Career Services Business?

You know you need to create content to market your career services business.

Content is at the center of your email marketing, driving traffic to your website, marketing, branding, conversion, list-building, authority-building, relationship-building, credibility, social media presence, revenue generation, and everything else you do to generate benefits for your audience and profit for your business. 

But do you sit down at the keyboard and think, “What should I write about?"

If so, you’re not alone!

In December, I added a new Bronze member benefit for BeAResumeWriter.com members that is designed to help increase the productivity and profitability of the marketing content you create!

Content Checklists are a series of checklists — really, mini blueprints — that give you an overview of the steps you need to take, plus plenty of tips, ideas, insights, examples, templates, dos and don’ts, and more to make your marketing content creation faster, easier, and better.

I’ve already uploaded five of the checklists to the Paid Members Resources section … and I am adding a new one on the 7th and 21st of each month.

The ones already up there are:

• The Ultimate Checklist – gives you an overview of everything you need to do to create high quality, highly effective content to grow your career services business.
• The Goal-Setting Checklist – helps you decide how to use your content in the most profitable way.
• The Topic Generation Checklist – helps you quickly and easily generate dozens — if not hundreds — of topic ideas that your audience is sure to love.
• The Brainstorming Checklist – shows you how to expand your creativity to brainstorm topic ideas, content angles, and more
• (NEW! Added today!) The Idea Starters Checklist – helps you generate dozens or even hundreds of content angles and ideas for ANY topic and ANY niche.

Whether you have a blog or online newsletter you need to create content for — or you’re looking for ideas for LinkedIn Publishing posts — these checklists will give you a boost, giving you only the best and most important steps and strategies and ideas to help you with your content-creation needs.

You can download one of the Content Checklists for free here:
Download the Ultimate Checklist

It’s just one of the many benefits of Bronze membership in BeAResumeWriter.com – including Pass-Along Materials (done-for-you content you can use to educate, help, and inspire jobseekers), Special Reports to help you be more effective in managing your career services business, Career Worksheets to help you gather impactful information from clients to create interview-winning career documents, Ready-To-Use Social Media Graphics to increase engagement with prospects and clients on social media, and now the Content Checklists! (Plus, more great stuff is coming soon!)

Join now:
BeAResumeWriter.com/join

Membership is $13/month or $144/year currently. You get immediate access to content you can put to work in your business right away!

And if you’re facing writer’s block when creating your marketing content, be sure to check out the Content Checklists first!

Here are the ones scheduled through the end of 2022:

The Talking Points Checklist (Jan. 21, 2022) 
Shows you what to include in every piece of content you create so you always have something helpful to share. 

The Knowledge and Experience Checklist (Feb. 7, 2022) 
Shows you how to maximize your knowledge and experiences to create unique, highly effective content.

The Research Checklist (Feb. 21, 2022) 
Shows you how to do great research for any piece of content so your audience grows to trust what you say.

The “Know Your Audience” Checklist (March 7, 2022) 
Shows you how to get deep insights into your audience so you can create content they want that really resonates with them. 

The Surveying Your Audience Checklist (March 21, 2022) 
All about the RIGHT way to survey your audience while avoiding skewed and biased answers. 

The Titling Checklist (April 7, 2022) 
Delivers a surefire process to help you create attention-getting content titles that stand out and get clicks.

The Outlining Checklist (April 21, 2022) 
Helps you create a logical order for your content to make it more useful for your audience (which makes them happy).

The Organizing Checklist (May 9, 2022) 
Goes a step beyond outlining to help you organize your content in a way that makes it faster and easier to write.

The Writing Checklist (May 23, 2022) 
Provides tips and tricks for making the writing process itself faster, easier, and better. 

The Opening Checklist (June 7, 2022) 
Helps you get your readers’ attention immediately and builds anticipation so they keep reading. 

The Closing Checklist (June 21, 2022) 
Provides instruction for closing your content, including encouraging readers to click on your links or take your other desired action.

The Transitions Checklist (July 7, 2022) 
Helps you create content that flows smoothly from beginning to end so that your audience doesn’t get “stuck” anywhere.

The Revision Checklist (July 21, 2022) 
Shows you how to turn your first draft into a high-quality piece of content that makes you look and sound like a pro.

The Say More Checklist (August 8, 2022) 
Helps you decide when you need to expand on parts of your content to make it more useful to your audience.

The Say Less Checklist (August 22, 2022) 
Helps you determine when to cut portions of your content to make it more focused and fluff-free. 

The Simplify Complex Processes Checklist (Sept. 7, 2022) 
Shows you how to better help your audience with how-to processes (which, in turn, helps establish your expertise). 

The Readability Checklist (Sept. 21, 2022) 
Helps you create content that’s so easy to read that your users are more likely to stay glued to the page right until the very end. 

The Fine-Tuning Checklist (Oct. 7, 2022) 
Reveals how to do those final tweaks on your content draft to create something your audience truly will benefit from. 

The Graphical Enhancement Checklist (Oct. 21, 2022) 
Shows you how to provide extra value to your readers (and increase effectiveness) with a variety of graphics. 

The Formatting Checklist (Nov. 7, 2022) 
Shows you how to format your finished content so that it looks professional and easy to read. 

The Recycling/Repurposing Checklist (Nov. 21, 2022) 
Helps you speed up content creation by showing you how to repurpose your existing content. 

The Using Pass-Along Materials Checklist (Dec. 7, 2022) 
Provides another way to speed up content creation by licensing other people’s content. 

The Engagement Checklist (Dec. 21, 2022) 
Offers ideas and insights for creating content that engages your readers right in the beginning...and keeps them interested right until the end. 

The “Persistence Effect” and How It Can Help You Fill Your Appointment Book in 2021

 Have you heard of the “Persistence Effect”?

There is a direct connection between the level of effort you put into marketing and the results you get, even when it seems the results are completely unrelated to your efforts.

But it can be hard to figure out what marketing you SHOULD be doing. Should you advertise? Post on social media? Write articles or a blog? Work on networking? Cultivate new referral sources? Start a podcast? Do videos on YouTube?

I have the answer for you:



Yep, sounds simple. It doesn’t matter so much WHAT you do as THAT you do.

But it works. 

It’s like that saying: “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.”
How do you fill your appointment book? One action at a time.

Do one or two simple things each day … consistently.
(The consistency part is important.)

You may look at your resume writing colleagues and wonder: Why does that person seem to have all the business they can handle, and I’m struggling with “feast and famine”? The Persistence Effect is one answer. Even if the things you’re doing aren’t DIRECTLY bringing you new business, the fact that you’re doing SOMETHING can bring you results.

I asked my Bronze members what they’d like to learn more about and the answer was how to get more clients. So I put together a mini course to help: 5 Simple Strategies for Securing More Sales.

In the course, you’ll discover three things you may be doing now that might actually be preventing you from getting clients, you’ll learn how the Persistence Effect can dramatically transform your marketing, and one simple habit that you can begin TODAY that may bring you all the clients you ever need.

Because it’s a mini-course, you can get through it quickly. It’s also designed to help you get results right away. There’s one 25-minute video and two homework assignments. It’s something you can start before the new year. (Although you can save the homework until Jan. 4 if you want.) 

The mini-course is regularly $27 but because I just launched it, you can enroll for just $18 through Dec. 31.

It’s a gift to give yourself to get 2021 started on the right foot. It’s partly about mindset, but there are also practical, actionable strategies you can implement to start filling your appointment book for next year.

Tools for Offering Free Webinars for Marketing Your Resume Writing Business

I got this question today from a Bronze member:

I’ve decided to go back to hosting webinars as part of my marketing tool box and have been researching various companies. I found one -- Zoom -- that seems to fit my needs for about $55 a month which is about ½ of what I paid for Go To Webinar. 

However, I’ve spoken to the folks at join.me a couple of times and would like to work with them because of price and just because they are so nice. My problem is that, as you know, they don’t offer registration.

I offer both free and paid webinars using Join.me. I analyzed a lot of different webinar platforms because I'm pretty picky. I wanted something easy for attendees to use (without requiring a download) and no Javascript. Join.me has affordable pricing and good technical support. I like that attendees can use a variety of platforms (desktop/laptop, tablets or phones) to access the calls. I also like that recordings take just one click and they can be directly uploaded to YouTube.

Downsides:

• There is no built-in registration. I use a third-party registration option to handle that (EventBrite is a great option).
• No built-in toll-free number options (most attendees don't care about this, but if you did want a toll-free call-in option, you can use a third-party service)
• It doesn't track who attended versus who didn't, so you can't do follow-up marketing based on who actually was on the call or not.

So how do you let people know about your webinars? I use EventBrite -- here's my affiliate link:
http://www.eventbrite.com/r/rwdigest2

I like EventBrite because it's free if you don't charge for your webinar. If you're using your webinar for marketing, you're probably not charging for it, and EventBrite is great for this.

EventBrite gives you a landing page to provide all your event information, full-service registration (including automated reminder emails) and event promotion (you can integrate your EventBrite event with your Facebook page and EventBrite will also promote the event on their "master list" of events). For paid programs, EventBrite also has a built-in affiliate program so you can reward referrals. (It also allows you to do special discount codes for referral source tracking too.)

If you offer a paid program, EventBrite is still a great, affordable option. You can use EventBrite's built-in payment processor or your own PayPal or Authorize.net payment processing. The EventBrite cost for paid events is 2.5% of the ticket cost plus $.99 (up to $19.95/ticket) if you use your own payment processing.

Add 3% if you use EventBrite's payment processing. I find it's about 5-10% effectively. (That is, if you sell a webinar for $59, your takehome would be between $54.76 (EventBrite: 2.5% is $1.48 plus $.99 = $2.47 plus 3% EventBrite fee = $1.77 = $4.24) and $56.63 (EventBrite: 2.5% is $1.48 plus $.99 = $2.47, plus separate PayPal or Authorize.net fees).  With the example given, that's between 4-7% net.

7 Ways to Get More Clients for Your Resume Writing Business

Clients are the lifeblood of a successful resume writing business. Without clients, there is no business! Here are seven tips for attracting clients. You probably know most of them, but it's a good reminder that if your appointment book isn't full, you can change that!

1. Tell Everyone You Know 
This may seem obvious, but you would be shocked to learn that some people you know probably don't know what you do. You want to get the word out to everyone you know, because they may know someone that needs you and tell them about you. Hand out business cards, share resources with them (the BeAResumeWriter.com Pass-Along Materials make excellent special reports that you can use as lead generation magnets), and post updates on your social media platforms about the work you're doing (and the people you've helped -- without identifying your clients directly). 

2. Get Involved
Being involved in your local community and online communities, both business and personal, will help you become a known entity. Use the strategy of "Give To Get" -- be helpful to others. Remember, jobseekers are hungry for information that will help them in their job search -- FEED THEM! Remember the Zig Ziglar quote: "You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help enough other people get what they want."

3. Partner Up
A joint venture is a temporary partnership in which you join forces with someone who markets to your audience but who is not direct competition -- for example, a career coach. Partner up to host a free webinar teaching their clients something to solve one of their most burning problems (anything related to the job search is fair game -- LinkedIn is almost always an in-demand topic). They will promote the webinar to their clients and you'll teach it. You can give them a referral fee on any projects that result -- and, you can solidify a stronger referral relationship!

4. Be Social
Make all your profiles on social media compelling and informative. Post a good profile image that shows your face and eyes. It doesn't have to be a professional headshot, but it should be clear and show a good depiction of your personality. Join various groups online, consisting of both your audience and other resume writers (if you focus on a specific niche, colleagues can be a great source of new clients). Get to know people, help people, and let your profile speak for itself. Share information regularly -- become a resource people will depend on for careers content!

5. Build Your Reputation 
If your current client flow is slow, take time now to work on reputation building. The way you do this is participate in webinars, discussions, and even livestreams (Blab.im or Facebook Live), showing your professional knowledge about your careers industry niche and how you can help jobseekers. Write a book, blog, or guest blog and/or develop a freebie (lead magnet) to give away so you can build an email list. Content can help you capture new clients!

6. Optimize Your Website
Your website is the hub of all other activity. Ensure that it works on any device, that it loads fast, and that it is pleasing to the eye. Use keyword-rich titles, appropriate anchor text, and publish informative blog posts. Ensure that you have at least a Home page, About us page, Service page and a Contact page, and that there is no mistaking what it is you do when someone visits your website. (Refer to the "What To Write On Your Website" special report for more details.)

7. Be Your Own Client
I talk a lot about resume writers and the shoemaker's kids. (Referring to the old story about the shoemaker's kids being barefoot.) One of the best demonstrations of what you can do involves being a bright, shining light that shows the world what it is that you do. Your LinkedIn profile should be top-notch. Your "About Us" page on your website should tell a compelling story of you. If your personal communications are outstanding, prospective clients will see exactly how you can do the same for them.

If you're looking for a specific program to help fill your appointment book, the Earlybird registration and the 3-pay option for the next session of Get Clients Now end this Friday. (There are only 3 spots left too.)
Details here: Get Clients Now.

Not Enough Clients? What's In Your Way? (Guest Post)

C.J. Hayden

By C.J. Hayden

What's stopping you from getting all the clients you want? Do you know? The answer to this one question may be the key to making your marketing more successful.

It would seem from the questions people ask me about marketing that everyone is trying to fix just one type of problem -- how to fill their marketing pipeline with more new prospects.

"What else should I be doing to attract potential clients?" they ask. "Where else can I go to find people who might hire me?" or "How can I be more visible online so people will contact me?" or "Should I be finding prospects by cold calling, using Twitter, running ads, giving talks, writing articles...?"

All their questions -- and it seems all their efforts -- are aimed at finding ways to make contact with new people who might become clients. And every time they identify another activity that might help their pipeline get fuller, they want to add it to their ever-growing to-do list.

But is this really what's stopping them from getting more clients? Is this what's stopping you? If you are already marketing yourself in four or five different ways, will increasing that to seven or eight different ways produce better results? Or alternatively, if you drop everything you're doing now, and start using four or five brand new marketing approaches, will that do the trick?

In my experience, it probably won't. Continuing to try new and different approaches to fill your marketing pipeline will more often result in overwhelm, wasted effort, and failure than it will in new clients.

Instead of trying to fix your marketing by just seeking out more ways to meet people or collect names, email addresses and phone numbers, stop for a moment. What is the problem you're trying to solve? In other words, what's really getting in the way of your marketing success?

Listed below are the five most common marketing problems, and questions to ask yourself to see which ones might be yours. They're presented in order of priority -- problem #1 needs to be fixed before tackling problem #2, and so on. Consider whether making changes in one of these areas might be exactly the fix your marketing needs.

1. HANDS-ON TIME: Are you spending enough time proactively marketing? Not just getting ready to market, or thinking about how to market, or feeling resistant to marketing, but actually taking steps that will lead directly to landing clients?

If you're not spending enough time marketing your business, fixing other problem areas won't help much. Start keeping track of how much time you spend actively marketing each week. Most independent professionals find they need to spend from 4-16 hours weekly -- less when you're busy with paying work; more when you're not.

2. TARGET MARKET: Do you have a clearly defined target market which you can describe in five words or less? Does this market already know they need your services? And are you spending most of your time marketing to exactly that group?

Once you feel confident you are dedicating enough time to marketing, the next hurdle is making sure you're marketing to the right people. Focusing your efforts on a specific target group with a defined need for your services will make everything you do more effective.

3. MARKETING MESSAGE: Do your descriptions of your services name the benefits you offer and results you produce for your target market? And are these benefits and results that this market is looking for? Do you deliver your message every time you make contact?

Letting prospective clients know exactly how you can help them will make the most of the time you spend marketing to a defined audience. Your message needs to be clear, focused on the client's needs, and typically delivered multiple times to the same prospects.

4. FOLLOW-THROUGH: Do you have a system for following up with every prospect until they say either yes or no? Are you able to complete all the steps for each marketing approach you are using to make it pay off?

Without follow-through, much of your marketing effort is wasted. The typical prospect will need to hear from you (or about you) 5-7 times before deciding to work with you. And most marketing approaches need a follow-through element to succeed. For example, attending networking events requires post-event follow-up with the people you meet. Online networking requires regular participation, not just posting when you have something to promote.

5. MARKETING APPROACH: Are the strategies and tactics you are using to reach your market the most effective approaches available to you? Are they appropriate for your target market, and a good match for your skills and personality?

Only after addressing the first four problem areas above should you think about changing how you market. Because in truth, your tactics may not need to change. Whether you've been marketing yourself with cold calling, public speaking, or social networking, once you are spending enough time, marketing to the right people, delivering a targeted message, and following through on all your efforts, your results will improve dramatically.

So finding new or different marketing approaches -- the place where most peoplestart to fix their marketing -- is actually the last area to consider. The most effective approaches are those that include personal contact with your prospects, increase your credibility, and lend themselves to building relationships over time. And, approaches that match your skills and personality are more likely to succeed because you will actually use them instead of resisting them.

Once you know what might be stopping your marketing from being successful, make a commitment to fix what's really wrong. Resist the temptation (and hype) to keep trying new "silver bullet" marketing tactics or overloading yourself with endless possibilities. Finding the best marketing solutions will be much easier when you're trying to solve the right problem.

Copyright © 2013, C.J. Hayden

C.J. Hayden is the author of Get Clients Now!™ Thousands of business owners and independent professionals have used her simple sales and marketing system to double or triple their income. Bridget is a licensed facilitator for Get Clients Now!n Learn more about the Get Clients Now! program here.

Get Clients Now! is a trademark of Wings Business Coaching LLC and is used under license.

12 Ways to Increase Visibility and Market Your Business Services

I'm always looking for opportunities to learn — especially marketing strategies for career industry professionals — so I was happy to see that Debra Ann Matthews was presenting a teleseminar for the National Resume Writer's Association (NRWA).

Debra Ann shared "12 Ways to Increase Visibility and Market Your Business Services." (Usually, the NRWA allows you to purchase the recording/handout after the call — but the link to do that wasn't yet up by the time I posted this.)

While some of the strategies will already be familiar to experienced resume writers, she shared a couple of surprising tips.

For example, #8: Share who you are with your colleagues.
Did you know that other resume writers can be a GREAT source of clients for you? But that's only possible if they know who you are, and who you serve.

"You must understand what you have that is valuable." via @Letmewriteit4u on her @TheNRWA teleseminar.
— Bridget Weide Brooks (@RWDigest) October 24, 2014

Debra Ann is also a strong believer in using public relations/media relations to increase your profile, attract the attention of prospective clients, and justify your value to clients. Like me, she advocates using strategies like article writing, podcasting, radio and television interviews, sending news releases, and subscribing to services like Help A Reporter Out (HARO) to take advantage of media opportunities.

No More Feast or Famine in Your Resume Writing Business

On yesterday's call for "Make 2014 Your Best Year Yet," I got a question from Laura in New Jersey about how to handle the "feast or famine" aspects of running your own resume writing business.

Laura: I’m a new résumé writer. I’m going into my third year. And many of my clients are getting jobs and getting hired and I’m so excited. But my biggest goal is just getting more business. That’s the key for me. I can do the work. It’s just getting the business and that’s, I guess, my biggest dilemma, my biggest goal.

Me: I talked earlier in the presentation today about CJ Hayden’s program, “Get Clients Now.” 

She has a book that you can work your way through, or I’ve actually been through her coaching program for it that’s a four-week class. And you put together a 28-day action plan that’s oriented around marketing activities like speaking and writing and referrals and those sorts of things. And like I said, her emphasis is on taking specific actions and doing them repeatedly because they’ll lead you to results. And that’s probably one of the biggest challenges we have as resume writers is that it’s kind of “feast and famine.”

So you’re like “Okay, right now it’s December and I need clients. I’m going to start working on these marketing things.” And then all of a sudden, we’ll get calls on Thursday, January 2nd, and your phone is going to ring off the hook for about 35 days with people who have New Year's Resolutions to get a new job, and you’re just going to be writing and consulting with clients and doing drafts and all this stuff. And then you’re going to get to the middle of February and there is a drought. And then you’re like “Okay, I’m going to get back on track with my marketing here” and then all of a sudden all the new grads come in April, wanting their resume. So C.J. talks about really creating the systems in place so that you’re just doing even 10 minutes of marketing a day to help even out that feast and famine cycle.

Laura: In other words, instead of waiting for the drought, market as you go.

Me: Exactly. She talks about creating a pipeline of prospects. And one of the big programs that I want to put together for 2014 from my side of things is list building because I’ve talked about this on a couple of previous calls and it’s one of my staples that I really emphasize to resume writers — building an email list of your clients and prospects so that you can turn on that pipeline when you need more business and then you can kind of turn down the volume of the flow. You always want to keep your pipeline flowing so that you constantly have existing clients coming back for updates and making referrals of new clients, but you want to have a steady flow of leads and prospects that are coming your way, and one of the easiest ways to manage that is to get them into your email system and provide them with information.

Obviously one of the biggest benefits of the BeAResumeWriter.com Bronze membership is the content that I give you that you can use with these clients. And I have a lot of the Bronze subscribers who don’t put this stuff out publicly to the world. They’re not putting the content on their blog or their website. What they’re doing is packaging it and sending it to their existing email list. It might be excerpting it or it might just be putting a cover on it and sending it out as an e-book, but using that content to keep in contact with your prospects and your existing clients and the people that they have referred.

And again, C.J. talks about this a lot. You’re more likely to get business from people who know, like and trust you. And one of the biggest ways to do that is through content marketing because it establishes your expertise and it gives you a reason to be contacting you via email. I know that it’s hard to think, when you’re looking at your email box, “Oh my gosh. There is so much stuff in here.” But aren’t there some people that you really look forward to seeing what they have to say? And so, being that kind of person is going to help solidify that pipeline so that you’re keeping in contact with the existing clients and the past clients, you’re encouraging them to make referrals, and if somebody contacts you but they’re not ready to start working with you right away or maybe price is a barrier initially, putting them on that email contact list helps you develop that reputation as a credible expert and a trusted authority so that when it’s time for them to pull the trigger and actually have somebody work with them on their resume and LinkedIn profile and all that…

Laura: They’ll remember you.

Me: They remember you — "top of mind marketing." So I think you really might benefit from CJ’s book. And like I said, if you need a little bit more hands-on instruction, then you go through the course with a trained facilitator and a group of accountability buddies. I didn’t really talk a lot about accountability buddies today, but that’s a big part of it too is just having somebody on your team who is going to keep you accountable. That might be a colleague or it might be a friend or a family member — somebody who you can put this stuff out there to and have them make sure that you’re on track for your goals.

Laura: Thank you very much. And I do use the Pass-Along Materials. I put them in a binder when I send [the finished] resume out to them, but I’m thinking now maybe that should be an email marketing project.

Bridget: I would say digital use of it is probably more cost-effective. I love the value that you get when you send it out hard copy because it really has a high perceived value, but just from the standpoint of making them accessible to more people since you’re only sending them out to folks who are getting the finished documents, you might consider putting them in digital format too so that you can just either give them access to a special page on your website where they can look at [them] or excerpting them in the emails or just having a special folder on your computer where you’re like “Okay, I’m going to send people a link to this Pass-Along Material this month.”

How to Optimize Your Resume Writing Business Profile on Bing

In yesterday's post, I emphasized the need to develop an online presence on Bing, the fastest-growing social search site on the web. One of the best ways to do this is through a free profile on the Bing Business Portal.

In the Bing Business Portal, you can list your business details, profile, create your mobile website, upload photos, and even create business cards, QR codes, and more. It's important that you use every aspect of your Bing business listing in order to get the very best search results. Here are some ideas to help you optimize your resume writing business profile on Bing.

1. Consider your target audience. As with all types of marketing, it is very important to understand intimately who you are targeting with your profile. You need to know their demographics, their desires, fears, and needs. If you don't know those things you can't effectively attract them to your profile.

2. Fill out your complete profile. Use every inch of space to fill out your profile. Even if you work primarily with clients online (which most resume writers do), fill out the geographic-specific information too so that it makes it easier for your market to locate you in their search. In the "More Details" area, list your payment method, professional affiliations, when you started your resume writing business, and fill out your tagline. In the Description area, use all the keywords you can think of to describe what it is that you do for your audience.

3. Complete your mobile site. Even if your normal website is already mobile friendly, it won't hurt to fill out all aspects of your mobile site on your Bing business listing in the Bing Business Portal. The more information you provide and the more keywords you use, the more likely you are to show up in the search results.

4. Upload relevant photos. This is a good place to upload photos of examples of your work (before-and-after resume samples are an excellent example). You are able to fill in a caption for the photo, which can describe the photo in a keyword-rich way. This will ensure that your target market can find you and see examples of your work, or photos of your products if you publish information products (ebooks, for example).

5. Check for errors. Always double-check every aspect of your Bing business listing for errors. It's easy to make a spelling error, or a typo, so check to be sure that you have it written correctly and that everything looks the way it should in the Preview area. You can always update it later, but as with any content, it's best to edit and optimize from the start.

6. Fill out the "What I Sell" tab. Even though it may seem like duplication, the "What I Sell" tab is very important as it's yet another chance for you to enter search terms that your target audience will use when they're looking for a resume writer like you.

7. List all your events. Do you offer teleseminars or webinars on career topics? Speaking to any groups, or at a national conference? Whether the events are online or offline, this is a great place to list every event that you have so that when people search for events like yours they can find them easier. Again, this is another chance to enter search terms (keywords) that your target audience is using to find you.

8. Integrate your social media. Within your listing, under "Details" there is a space for your Facebook address, and your Twitter address (with more to come later). Ensure that you complete this area so that your target audience can connect with you on your other social media sites too.

9. Verify your site. This might seem like an obvious tip, but you may be shocked to learn that a lot of people forget to verify their Bing business listing. Depending on how you choose to verify, you may be sent a code via snail mail 7 to 10 days later. It can sometimes be mistaken as junk mail, so be on the lookout for it, because it has a PIN number you will need to enter in order for your listing to go live.

Once you have created your Bing profile, remember that it's not "Set it and forget it." Check back every few months to make sure that your profile is still up-to-date. And remember, the more complete your Bing profile, the more effective it will be for you.