(NOTE: This is part of a series. Check out Part 1 here.)
One thing that separates “yet another freelancer/solopreneur” from a thriving business owner:
The thriving business owner spends as much time doing business development as they do fulfilling their customer/client orders/projects.
You aren’t an employee, after all. Your goal is to make sales, not complete tasks. Signing a client as a freelancer is the equivalent of making sales.
Once you learn this, you unlock a WHOLE new world of potential growth.
You realize you’re just getting started. That’s exciting… but overwhelming.
How the hell do you:
- Make new connections
- Do outreach
- Follow up with past clients
- Create content
- Post on social media
All while juggling client work?
One answer is SolidGigs, a lead gen platform that can help gather the best opportunities from around the web to shorten your prospecting.
That way, some of that precious biz dev time you DO have can go toward long-term stuff, like creating content (hint hint, that’s what this blog post is).
Not trying to sell you SolidGigs. I want to set the stage because this very belief-shift is the foundation of an email I received from them.
Since I’m in this market, I figured I’d break the email down and show you why it’s so strong. Keep on reading…
| Table of Contents |
| About SolidGigs The Email: The Subject Line and Sender Name: The Body Copy Takeaways What to Do Next |
About SolidGigs
SolidGigs is a premium freelancer job board that blends AI and human expertise to help freelancers and good clients connect.
The site is adamant that it is NOT just a freelance marketplace,like Upwork and Fiverr. Neither is it a job board. It is more of a lead gen tool freelancers can “plug into” their business, although it sources opportunities from these (and other) sources.
SolidGigs lets you set search rules, then the platform scours the web for quality opportunities and sends you the details.
The big goal: To save freelancers time!
It was founded in 2016 by Preston Lee and Bryce Bladon. Both had succeeded in the freelancing world already, but like many freelancers, they went through the pain of hunting for high-quality clients constantly.
They wanted to fix that for other freelancers, so they created SolidGigs.
Since launch, SolidGigs has focused on what any good online tech/SaaS product does:
Listen to user feedback, then add new features and tweak existing things to improve continuously.
The platform costs $21/month (billed yearly) or $35/month (billed monthly) at the time of writing, but you can try it for free for 7 days. SolidGigs also offers lifetime access for a one-time fee of $179, but only to 50 people monthly.
Not bad if you can make that money back — which is a big theme SolidGigs hits on in its emails…
As you’ll see in this blog post.
The Email:
Today’s email is one of my favorites — a belief/mindset-shifter — with a light touch of fear-based copy:
Like the previous Email Breakdown, this email is almost 100% plain text. Nothing but a logo at the top and a CTA button at the end for visuals.
At first glance, I see good use of white space, line breaks, and formatting to break up the text and boost readability.
The bullet points only add to this.
So let’s get into the “meat and potatoes”…
The Subject Line and Sender Name:
The subject line was insanely effective because it got me to open with a keen interest:
Perfectly targeted to freelancers. It looks like a client or colleague asking if you’re “still freelancing.”
I’m 90% sure I’ve received real emails from prospects or past clients with this SAME subject line when they suddenly need help (or need it again).
And it’s not even entirely untrue that this is a client opportunity… since SolidGigs’ whole thing is that it helps you get clients.
But the send name is what seals the deal:
If it came from SolidGigs, it would lose some “from a client” feel. But “Preston” could be someone at any company where I’ve applied for jobs or spoken with about potential projects.
Not to mention that using your first name instead of the company name just feels more personal.
Perfect for the type of copy SolidGigs uses in the body copy…
The Body Copy
The email pays off the subject line almost immediately by asking the question in the subject line and then elaborating:
See, the reader might’ve thought that “actively freelancing” means just being a freelancer. Perhaps a full-time one.
But SolidGigs adds an attention-grabbing twist:
They create a specific definition for “actively freelancing” by focusing on the “actively” part — whether or not the reader is actively working ON their business instead of just IN it.
You probably know what this means. Looking for clients, not just doing client work. The reader’s smart enough to maybe guess at this but not be entirely sure.
This is a smart move. The ambiguity amplifies the “anxiety” the last line creates in the reader. The reader risks having this existential problem if they don’t do this thing that SolidGigs has yet to reveal (or, rather, confirm).
SolidGigs then begins to clarify things by introducing some authority-based proof:
That quote right there is brilliant. So is SolidGigs for selecting it. It’s pithy. It has a nice ring to it. And it conveys the idea well:
The job of a freelancer (and any business owner) is to FIND MORE CLIENTS/CUSTOMERS. The actual client/customer work just comes with it.
The presupposition is you’re good at what you do. The average client will love your work since you have a systematic way of delivering results. Thus, the actual “work” is finding more clients.
That is the mindset shift this email revolves around. It’s key to moving beyond “just a freelancer” to a real self-employed professional consultant/strategist/writer.
(I can attest to this personally.)
It’s also crucial for freelancers to understand this to become good SolidGigs customers since that’s exactly what SolidGigs helps with.
If your main job — the highest-ROI thing — is to find more clients, you’re more likely to invest in platforms like SolidGigs that help with it.
And yes, SolidGigs bolded the quote to emphasize the point and differentiate it from non-quote text.
But that’s not the end of the quotes:
Another crucial piece of the mindset shift is setting some expectations.
The reader glimpses what working ON the business more than IN it looks like.
It’s spending just as much or MORE time and effort on developing the business (aka client acquisition, but also other things).
Which, of course, brings new problems. How does the reader do that when they’re swamped in client work? They don’t want to take a revenue hit, especially if this is their sole income.
That is what SolidGigs solves. Again, quite important to the latter half of the email.
(That last line of this section adds a bit of personality, particularly the “nerd glasses” emoji.)
Speaking of “the latter half,” that starts next:
Boom. SolidGigs solves the freelancer’s problem — it does all the work of scrolling job boards and finding great gigs for you.
That means you can get much more biz dev in without increasing your time investment…
Or do your OWN biz dev on top of SolidGigs to accelerate your lead flow…
OR start on the long-term game, such as producing content (like this very blog you’re reading!)
I like how they hyperlinked SolidGigs. Implicit CTA right in the middle of the solution copy will drive some clicks.
Now that SolidGigs’s big benefit is introduced, some social proof would go a long way in securing trust hitting the point home.
So SolidGigs drops a list of testimonials:
Smart brands rarely pick testimonials at random. They often pick those that address key objections or provide examples of selling points.
Let’s look at what each SolidGigs testimonial does:
- Hits on the ease-of-use selling point and speaks to the “are these legit opportunities?” objections. Also includes a website name for added credibility. People can google the name + website name.
- Builds on the ease-of-use selling point. Adds some excitement with the “hope in your inbox,” especially for freelancers stuck in feast-or-famine. Again, attaching a website name adds credibility.
- ROI-focused. Not too much detail here, but it emphasizes you’ll get a return using the platform.
- Positions SolidGigs as a tool you can add to your toolkit. Almost like something you add to your regular biz dev routine. It’s not exactly future-pacing, but it seeds the expectation of using it regularly and making it indispensable (thus reducing the chance of the customer churning).
So SolidGigs took the “emphasize the main selling points” approach (ease-of-use/simplicity) with a touch of objection-busting.
Fair, since it offers a 7-day free trial (although I believe they just upped that to 14 days). The free trial’s enough to overcome most other objections.
Props to SolidGigs on using a list format for these and keeping them short but full of key selling points/objection answers.
The email closes with a CTA and signature:
I like the phrasing “ready to be more intentional about building your sales pipeline.” It’s more thoughtful than “get more leads in less time” or some other bland sentence.
It also implies the reader committing to something. They are seizing the day. They are taking their business growth into their own hands. It sounds more high-status, too — their “sales pipeline.”
And hey, the button has “get more leads” copy anyways.
Oh, and don’t forget the “then join us!” bit at the end of the pre-button sentence. That adds a community feel. Like they’re joining a group of other motivated freelancers who want to control their business’s destiny.
The email concludes with a signoff from Preston. No last name, no title, nothing but a first name.
So it starts like it ends:
Nice and personal.
Takeaways
Here are some big takeaways:
1. The Copy Mechanics
Here are some mechanical takeaways:
Formatting
SolidGigs uses a few formatting and punctuation techniques to break up the writing and make it feel natural:
- Line breaks: SolidGigs doesn’t go into “LinkedIn Guru” overdrive but uses line breaks where natural. It makes the email easy to read, pulling you down the page and creating a nice variety of line/sentence lengths.
- Bolding: Key information — quotes and powerful pieces of testimonials — are bolded to draw attention.
- Capitalizations: Capitalizing offers another way to emphasize things but have the reader read it differently than bold. Bold is more of a visual emphasis. All-caps is a mental-verbal one. You read it as someone saying it louder than the words around it.
Proof Elements
SolidGigs has a lot of proof relative to the amount of copy:
- The “freelancer on YouTube”: SolidGigs doesn’t mention the name (maybe for legal reasons) but they cite who is likely a freelancing influencer on YouTube. That carries some authority and makes the advice feel less like an abstract assertion.
- Testimonials: SolidGigs narrows down from the email’s concept to their product… using more proof in the form of testimonials.
Notice how both big claims — the “working ON the business” and SolidGigs’s sales pitch — each use proof.
It’s a classic and effective tactic. Back up every claim with some form of proof.
Lists
Speaking of testimonials, a bullet list of testimonials is an interesting arrangement. It works for these short testimonials and helps group them as their own “section.”
Implicit CTA
The first CTA is implicit, meaning it doesn’t directly urge someone to “click here” or something similar.
Instead, SolidGigs hyperlinks its name. This gets some curiosity clicks since seeing a hyperlinked word in an email that doesn’t urge action is a bit more unusual.
It also helps get some clicks from the less-skeptical or ready-to-buy people.
Implicit CTAs can get some curiosity clicks (even if curiosity is not used in any specific instance) since it’s a link without a direct urge to action.
2. The Email Structure
The email structure is as follows:
- Belief-shift
- Twisting the knife (the “risk going out of business”) part
- Proof backing the belief-shift
- Product intro
- Big benefit
- Social proof of product
- Testimonial section
- CTA and signoff
3. The Overall Strategy
The strategy here was to cause the reader to have a crucial belief shift that primes them to buy SolidGigs. Call it a “eureka” moment.
That doesn’t mean making them believe lies. Belief-shifting here means moving the reader’s mindset to a true belief that positions your product as a solution.
But it doesn’t stop at making what your product offers a sudden need in the customer’s mind. They’re also “captive” in a way.
They’re already reading your email and want a way out of the problem they’ve awakened to. They see you as an expert because you’ve awakened them to this problem.
So naturally, they look to you as the quick, easy way to seek relief from the problem.
What to Do Next
- Get on my email list using the signup form below for more Email Breakdowns and other helpful marketing content.
- Share this with someone who might find it helpful (or entertaining).
- Reach out to me if you want help writing emails like this one.
- Check out SolidGigs if you’re a freelancer/self-employed service provider looking for more leads, clients, and projects!