Jimmy Daly: How to Avoid Freelance Failure and Know When Self-Employment Isn't for You

Today’s guest is Jimmy Daly. Jimmy is the marketing director at Animalz, an NYC based content marketing agency for SaaS businesses.

In this podcast you will learn:

  • How to look past hourly rates and secure ongoing projects

  • How to use freelancing to land your next big career move

  • How Jimmy could have avoided failure in launching a freelance career and his tips for freelance success

Jimmy Daly on freelancing:

  • How Jimmy almost closed down Swipe File but an email from Noah Kagan saved it and how 5000 people signed up to his list in one day

  • Learn Jimmy’s process for article research and curation

  • How Jimmy’s content marketing strategy was inspired by the success of writing about his strategy

  • Jimmy’s results on trying his hand at passive income with online courses and why should apply an economic value to your writing

  • How Jimmy navigated being let go and how he tried freelancing

  • Why trying to make the same salary as a full-time employee becomes a challenge as a freelancer

  • Activating his network landed a few writing placements at Sumo and Animalz

  • Why figuring out your pricing and rates is vital to freelance success and why you should look past hourly and think about projects

  • How Jimmy used freelancing on the side to help him land bigger and better clients, then onto a great full time job

  • Look automating or outsourcing so you can focus on the work that pays

  • Tips from two editors that will significantly increase your chances of getting work

  • Why Pat Flynn is the ultimate freelancer

Jimmy Daly on writing:

  • How learning to write quickly has powered Jimmy’s writing process

  • An insight into Jimmy’s process for writing content for the Animalz blog and how departments like finance and HR inspire him

  • Learn Jimmy’s secret for developing his content speciality and why the body of the blog is more important than the blog itself

  • Music being an essential part of productive writing sessions

  • Why writing is the cure for feeling “better”

  • How Jimmy uses a journal to brain dump to power his writing and workday

  • Why writers block is different for novelists and b2b content writing

  • How sketching is the key to Jimmy’s first draft

  • Why you should study writers that aren’t in content marketing to improve your writing

Make sure there is something you can sell without having to put in time for every dollar earned.
— Jimmy Daly

Tools and resources:

About our guest, Jimmy Daly

Jimmy Daly is the marketing director at Animalz, an NYC based content marketing agency for SaaS businesses. Jimmy’s scaled a great marketing career working at brands like Vero and Quickbooks while dipping in and out of freelance work. Jimmy is one of the most insightful writers in the B2B content marketing space and you can find some amazing insights of his and the great minds at Animalz on their blog. For some of the most influential reading and an insight into what inspires Jimmy—and many other content marketers—check out his weekly email Swipe File.

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About our host, Adam Rogers

Adam Rogers is the host and producer of the Boston Content Podcast. By day, he is a content marketer at Shopify, the ecommerce platform. By night, he is still Adam Rogers but it's nighttime. He loves writing, but he's sure it hates him. He's a lover of books, music, guitars, and his wife Lacey.

Find Adam on: