Podcast

Episode 147: “I can’t get past €10k/month Freelancing…” — Solving $100k→$200k/yr Bottlenecks, With Delia Monk

By Zach Swinehart

In this episode, Zach talks with copywriter Delia Monk about some of the “bottlenecks” she’s been running into as she tries to scale from a low-six-figure soloist to a small agency.

Delia has great stats about the efficacy of her skills, including…

☑️ Getting a client’s sales page from 3% → 12% application rate (a.k.a. 4x’ing it)

☑️ Doubling open rates for her long-term retainer client who has her work on emails

…But she feels she’s maxed out her rates and that delegating work is eating so much into her margins that it’s not worth it.

In this episode she and Zach explore this and uncover opportunities to keep moving forward and address this bottleneck.

If you’re in a similar position to Delia, where you’re having trouble breaking through the mid-100k-bottleneck, you’ll probably REALLY enjoy $200k Freelancer: https://dyf.link/200kf

$200k Freelancer Coming Soon!

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AI-Generated Summary:

  • 0:00 – 2:00 — Zach introduces the podcast, Delia’s challenges scaling from a solo copywriter to a small agency, and the focus of the episode.
  • 2:00 – 4:00 — Zach describes the bottlenecks faced by freelancers scaling from $100K to $200K, including challenges with delegation and maintaining quality.
  • 4:00 – 6:00 — Delia discusses her struggle to surpass $10K per month while balancing high taxes and family expenses.
  • 6:00 – 8:00 — Delia shares her attempts to scale through courses and delegation, highlighting low profit margins and ineffective results.
  • 8:00 – 10:00 — Zach proposes tracking time to understand revenue per hour and emphasizes the workload involved in scaling through product creation over services.
  • 10:00 – 12:00 — Zach advises that scaling through courses might not be the best approach without a huge audience, and discusses the economic factors affecting Delia’s rates.
  • 12:00 – 14:00 — Delia explains her concerns about pricing based on client feedback and market trends, noting the struggle with charging higher rates in her niche.
  • 14:00 – 16:00 — Zach introduces performance-based pricing and probes Delia on what her dream clients might be willing to pay for a sales page.
  • 16:00 – 18:00 — Delia highlights factors beyond copy that affect sales, while Zach begins exploring hypothetical numbers to demonstrate potential financial impacts.
  • 18:00 – 20:00 — Zach walks through a sales page example to show how improved conversion rates can significantly impact revenue, emphasizing the value of outcome-focused copywriting over commoditized services.
  • 20:00 – 22:00 — Zach explains how to structure performance-based pricing with a baseline fee plus incentives for achieving better results.
  • 22:00 – 24:00 — Zach highlights the importance of having direct access to metrics to verify performance-based payments and explains the need for clarity in pricing models.
  • 24:00 – 26:00 — Delia expresses her preference for website and positioning strategy over launch copywriting, and raises questions about managing client data transparency.
  • 26:00 – 28:00 — Zach emphasizes the need for direct access to tools like Google Analytics to track client metrics accurately and reduce reliance on clients for correct data.
  • 28:00 – 30:00 — Zach discusses the positioning challenge with website copy as a service, suggesting that demonstrating a clear outcome is crucial for differentiating from commoditized services.
  • 30:00 – 32:00 — Delia shares her preference for website copy over launch copy due to the creative freedom and less pressure involved.
  • 32:00 – 34:00 — Zach suggests anchoring the success of website projects to concrete metrics like opt-in rates, which Delia finds agreeable.
  • 34:00 – 36:00 — Zach explains how attaching metrics to creative work can make it more valuable, while acknowledging Delia’s strength in writing heartfelt copy.
  • 36:00 – 38:00 — Delia discusses the importance of working with impactful businesses, emphasizing how it motivates her to achieve better results.
  • 38:00 – 40:00 — Zach reflects on finding purpose in work and aligns it with helping clients make a difference, emphasizing the value in aligning financial success with impactful outcomes.
  • 40:00 – 42:00 — Zach discusses the challenges of scaling commoditized services and the need to solve valuable, outcome-based problems to achieve higher rates.
  • 42:00 – 44:00 — Zach shares an example of an eight-figure agency struggling due to commoditization, emphasizing that scaling alone won’t solve the problem.
  • 44:00 – 46:00 — Zach contrasts his experiences of scaling commoditized services versus high-value services and explains how higher margins make scaling smoother.
  • 46:00 – 48:00 — Zach identifies two components needed for scaling to $200K: higher-quality offers and scalable lead flow, which Delia’s current outreach strategy lacks.
  • 48:00 – 50:12 — Zach promotes the new “200K Freelancer” course, outlining how it helps freelancers build valuable offers and control lead generation for scalable growth.