I’ve talked to hundreds of freelancers and consultants, and I hear more fears, frustrations, and “thought defects” related to this than anything else.
See if any of these lines sound familiar:
- “I suck at marketing.”
- “I don’t have enough time for marketing.”
- “I try to stay on top of it, but it’s exhausting.”
- “Marketing doesn’t work for me.”
- “I just really don't like (and probably fear) the act of self-promotion or self-marketing.”
Let's take a closer look at each of them, shall we?
“I suck at marketing.”
Some freelancers do suck at it. They don’t have the knowledge, plan, or gumption.
When they hear cocky marketers talk about their buckets of inbound leads, they feel skeptical, envious, and embarrassed all at once.
That was true for me.
Only within the last couple of years have I truly accepted my past failings and really committed to learning through small “bets” and marketing experiments.
If marketing isn’t a point of pride for you, you’re not disqualified.
Don’t give up on it just yet. Keep reading.
“I don’t have enough time for marketing.”
Other freelancers are quite good at marketing WHEN they do it.
The trouble is, they do it in erratic, ineffective bursts. Like eating vegetables.
“I’m too busy with client work for marketing” for 3 months turns into
“Uh-oh… My project pipeline is dry as dinosaur bones. MUST MARKET NOW!!”
Starts and stops in marketing produce feast and famine.
That was me, circa 2018. I had one big retainer client paying all my bills (and consuming all my time). The reckoning came in March 2019.
[The memory makes him shiver.]
To break out of the cycle, you have to tell yourself a different story: “There’s always enough time to do what’s most important, and marketing is really important.”
Consistent marketing and consistent income go together like my kids and popsicles.
The key is when you do your marketing. More on that in a bit.
“I try to stay on top of it, but it’s exhausting.”
Some freelancers try to be everywhere.
✅ You set up all the accounts—TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Myspace.
😰 You laid out elegant content lanes, beaucoup topics, even an editorial calendar. Maybe you’ll even use them one day!
🌔 Your email newsletters were like eclipses, seen four times a year.
There’s an awful lot of activity but no momentum you can really feel. Is anything actually working?
So many platforms, posts, and tasks leave you feeling a mile wide and inch deep.
Perhaps you’ve even started believing this:
“Marketing doesn’t work for me.”
You took advice from attention-rich influencers, “Instagram reels are where it’s at!”
You really went after it but didn’t get the same results. Maybe you’re doing it wrong? Maybe you were too late and missed the window?
You take a break from marketing (a looong one) and go back to hoping for referrals.
Or maybe for you the marketing conundrum is as simple as what my friend Zach said to me:
“I just really don't like (and probably fear) the act of self-promotion or self-marketing.”
So yeah, marketing stirs more feelings than a middle school talent show: dread and dreaming, flat skepticism and cautious hope.
Let’s go with hope for now.
