Get Clients Bootcamp: Where Are You Now?

Next week, I’m offering a Get Clients Bootcamp for Bronze members of BeAResumeWriter.com. One of the exercises I’m giving as homework is to figure out “Where Are You Now?”

One of the best ways to get more clients is to figure out what’s working and do more of that. You have to figure out where you are on the map before you can plot a route to where you want to go.

Sounds simple enough, doesn’t it? The problem is that you first have to know exactly what’s working and what isn’t. The best way to do that is track! From there you look at your data and make a plan for what you should and shouldn’t be doing going forward.

Your first step will be to decide what you want to track. A good place to start is to look at how you currently are attracting clients, your income and expenses, what services (and products, if you have them) that are contributing revenue, and of course where you spend most of your time. 

Exercise One:

How do you get your clients currently? Go back and review your records from the last month. (You should be asking clients how they found you. If you’re not doing that, start now!) Make a list or chart of how those clients found you. If you have the time, go back and look at the last 6-12 months of clients and collect that data.

Exercise Two:

How much money are you making currently? Look at your current year financial data. Here’s the metrics we want to know:

• How much do you make per client (on average)

• How much revenue are you bringing in each month (on average, and a total for each month)

• How much income have you brought in so far this year?

Exercise Three:

Which of your services or products are selling? Are you primarily selling resumes and cover letters? Resumes and LinkedIn profiles? Interview coaching? Salary negotiation coaching? How about products — do you sell ebooks? Online training? Do you receive affiliate commission payments?

Exercise Four:
Next you want to look at expenses. What “fixed” expenses do you have per month or per year (for example, website hosting or email list software)? Do you pay for your own health insurance? 

What “variable” expenses do you have? For example, your estimated quarterly taxes vary with the income you earn. You may work with a resume proofreader/editor who charges you based on the number of projects you send her way. 

Exercise Five:
Last but not least, look at the amount of time you’re spending to generate your income. If you’re not already tracking your time, you should be. In particular, you want to track the amount of time you‘re spending on each client project, in order to make sure you’re pricing your services appropriately.

With this information, it will be easier to decide what you should be doing more off, what you should be doing less off, and what you should stop doing. Focus most of your time and energy on the most profitable products and income sources. 

We want to do more of what’s working, and less of what isn’t!

Time Management Strategies for Subcontractors

Today, I hosted a webinar for members of my “Making Money as a Resume Subcontractor” membership site. The topic was “Time Management Strategies for Subcontractors.”

As a subcontract resume writer especially, time is money.

One of the biggest complaints of subcontractors is the pay. It’s true — subcontracting often pays less than you could charge your own clients directly. But it also offers you the opportunity to smooth out the peaks and valleys of your own business, get exposure to new systems and processes (learning how other resume writers run their businesses is interesting!), and potentially earn a pretty good per-hour rate.

It’s that per-hour rate that is important.

What you’re paid for a subcontracting project is usually a fixed amount.

The formula looks like this:

The only input you can change in the formula is to lower the amount of time you’re spending on a project in order to increase your profitability.

Therefore, you need to control the time you spend on the project and take charge of that variable.

The first tip is to track the amount of time you spend on each project. Only then can you know how profitable the project really is for you.

That means tracking both the administrative work (your interactions with the contracting writer and the client) and the time you spend writing.

Also track your assignments so you stay on top of project deadlines — this is #1 with contracting writers: You must meet your deadlines.

The second tip is to make your writing more efficient. Members of the “Making Money as a Resume Subcontractor” membership site can watch the “Writing Strategies for Subcontractors” webinar recording. You’ll also find tips in the “Write Great Resumes Faster” book (watch the webinar at the bottom of the page.)

Remember, time is money.

If you’re looking to get started in subcontract writing (or move up), check out Making Money as a Resume Subcontractor (MMRS). You’ll get access to the “Making Money as a Resume Subcontractor” special report, the Directory of Subcontract Opportunities, and access to the recordings of the previous MMRS webinars, including “Project Management for Subcontractors,” “Writing Strategies for Subcontractors,” several Q&As, and all the tips in the “Time Management Strategies for Subcontractors” webinar.

How to Fictionalize Your Resume Samples

What is “fictionalizing” your resume samples — and how do you do it?

When responding to a request for a subcontract writer — or when publishing resume samples on your website, you should ficitionalize the samples first.

Fictionalizing means taking a real resume and removing any identifying information that may make it possible for a reader to determine the “real” identity of the client. 

This allows someone to see the style of your writing while protecting your client’s confidentiality.

Here are some basic steps to follow to fictionalize a resume sample:

1) At a minimum, change the client’s name and contact information, including changing the street address, phone number, and email address. I recommend changing the city and state to an entirely different area of the country (and make sure the area code you use for the phone number corresponds to the “new” city). If there is a link to LinkedIn profile, you can change it to link to your LinkedIn profile (great marketing strategy) or just to the LinkedIn home page. 

For example, you might change:
5050 Grover Street, Omaha, NE 68106
to:
1111 Main Street, York, ME 03902

Laura Slawson, CCM, CPRW of The Creative Advantage reminds writers to change the footer (the person’s name may be there too!). She suggests using 111-222-3333 for the phone number and email@email.com for the email address.

Based on Laura’s advice, I’d recommend you check the document header too AND the Document Properties field in Microsoft Word.

2) Change the name of any/all companies listed. For example, instead of “Varian Medical Manufacturing,” you might change it to “ABC Medical Manufacturing.” Other “generic” or placeholder company names are: Acme, Ace, Mom and Pop, Sample, Widget, or XYZ

3) If the job title is really unique, you may consider changing it as well. (When in doubt, do a Google search for the job title. If it comes up with hundreds of links, you’re ok.)

4) Change the name of any organizations, clubs, or activities — and/or change the dates that the client participated. For example, if the client has earned a specific credential or designation, make sure that information would not be able to be used to trace the person’s identity.

5) Review the client’s educational history. It may not be necessary to change the name of colleges or universities, but you may want to consider changing a graduation date (or omitting it entirely) to avoid identifying the client. (An online directory of graduates for a small university, combined with a graduating year and job title could potentially be used to “find” a specific person.)

6) Consider changing some of the numbers in the $$/##/%% data so that exact phrases can’t be searched for on LinkedIn or Google.

Finally, review the resume one more time as a whole — is there any information that would potentially be able to be linked to the original client? If so, change it!


FAQs:

Q: Should you ask clients for permission to use their resume?
A: Yes. Most resume writers do this in their client agreement, asking clients to allow the use of the resume for promotional purposes if it is fictionalized to remove their identifying information. You can use a phrase like this:
Unless you request otherwise, your resume may be used for promotional purposes, with the guarantee that all information will be fictionalized to protect your confidentiality.


Q: Should I let people know the samples on my website have been fictionalized?
A: Yes. When publishing samples on your website, use this phrase, or something similar: Please note: All featured samples have been “fictionalized” — the client and company names and locations have been changed to protect the privacy of the original client.

Use Facebook to Get Clients

I’m friends with a lot of resume writers on Facebook. Some of them are really good about letting the world know what they do. Others aren’t.

If you’re looking to get more clients, Facebook can be an excellent source of referrals. People do business with people that they know, like, and trust. People who know you from Facebook can be an escellent source of referrals — or even become clients directly.

When was the last time you actually talked about your business and what you do for people on Facebook? Do the followers of your personal profile have any idea what you do for a living? Or are you on Facebook keeping up with college buddies and parents from your kids’ school?

I know you know this, but it bears repeating: If you don’t toot your own horn once in a while, nobody else will do it for you. Don’t sit back and wait for people to find you. Be proactive and step out from behind your computer and tell people you’re a resume writer.

True, you don’t want every single post to be self-promotional, because that definitely gets old and could turn followers away from you. Instead, develop a social media plan so your posts are a good balance between personal, business, and fun.

Facebook allows at least three different ways to reach your audience — and if you’re on Facebook for business, you should utilize all three, because not everyone will see every single post you publish. Using three different avenues raises your odds that the people in your target market will see something of interest.

Step One: Optimize Your Personal Profile
Prospective clients will check out your profile if it’s public or semi-public. So, in order to grab their attention, post consistently and be sure you fill out ALL the space on your personal profile page as completely as possible.

• Add a bio — describe to your followers what makes you tick, and how you’re unique 
• Add featured photos — a nice, visual way to grab attention with photos from conferences, workshops, speaking engagements, etc. 
• Add your workplace information – link to your website, Facebook Group, and Facebook Business Page 
• Link other social media profiles — under the About >> Contact & Basic Info section 

Even though your personal profile is meant for personal stuff, you can certainly announce the launch of your book, post photos of your recent conference you attended. While these are business-related, you’re not purposefully promoting your business via your personal profile.

Step Two: Create a Business Page on Facebook
The standard rule of Facebook is you use a business page to promote your business while your personal profile is meant for personal communication. So, to stay in good standing with Facebook, create that business page and optimize it in the same manner as you did your personal profile.

Business pages have come under fire recently because users complain that they never see page posts in their news feeds, even though they have liked the page. While this is aggravating, don’t give up yet. If for nothing else, you can add your website link and other contact information here and, since it’s a business page, you can talk about your business and promote your products every single day, even multiple times a day, without penalty. You can also run contests from your business page as well as add an opt-in offer to one of the tabs. Consider this a quick overview of your business where your followers can decide if they want to move forward with a consultation. Put a “Send Message” button on your business page to make appointment booking even easier.

Step Three: Consider Using Facebook Groups to Woo Prospects
Facebook groups can be another great resource to chat directly with prospective clients. Public groups are a good way to handle customer service questions. Closed or Secret groups are best used for specialty discussion topics, or memberships. Keep in mind that successful groups need daily interaction from their host so they don’t forget about you but that’s easy to add to your overall Facebook marketing plan.

I don’t know of very man resume writers using public groups, but there are a few using Closed or Secret groups as a benefit of working with them.


Remember this important note: finding clients is all about building relationships, and that doesn’t happen overnight. Talk about your business, showcase your expertise, reach out to your followers, and when the time is right, they will remember your name because you talked about what you do.