You’ve made the leap. You’ve decided that freelancing or consulting is your next chapter, and you’re ready to hang out your digital shingle. But then you sit down to write your first LinkedIn post or update your website, and suddenly you’re staring at a blank screen, paralysed by the question: how do I even begin to market myself?
If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. Most of my clients can do their job with their eyes closed, but ask them to explain what they do in a way that makes someone want to hire them? That’s where things get tricky.
Here’s the thing though – marketing yourself doesn’t have to start with a fancy brand strategy or expensive photo shoot. It starts with something much simpler: clarity about what you actually do.
Start with the basics
Before you worry about LinkedIn algorithms or Google rankings, you need to be able to explain what you do to your neighbour over the fence. I’m talking about a description so clear that someone who’s never worked in your industry could repeat it back to their partner over dinner.
This isn’t as easy as it sounds. When you’ve been immersed in corporate speak for years, it’s natural to describe what you do using industry jargon that means nothing to outsiders. But here’s the reality: most of your potential clients aren’t experts in your field. They have a problem, and they need to quickly understand whether you’re the person who can solve it.
So grab a piece of paper and write down what you do in plain English. Pretend you’re explaining it to a smart twelve-year-old. Who do you help? What problem do you solve for them? How do you do it differently from everyone else offering the same service?
If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough yet.
Become a question collector
Once you’ve got your basic explanation sorted, start paying attention to the questions people ask you about your work. And I mean everyone – your family, friends, former colleagues, the person sitting next to you on the plane when they ask what you do.
Write these questions down. All of them.
The questions from people who know you are just as valuable as the ones from strangers. Your sister asking “But what does a compliance consultant actually do day-to-day?” is giving you insight into what your website’s services page should explain. Your former colleague wondering “How do you price something like that?” is highlighting content your potential clients need to see.
These aren’t annoying interruptions to your real work – they’re market research happening in real time.
Think like your client
Here’s where it gets interesting. Stop thinking like the expert for a moment and put yourself in your potential client’s shoes. What would you want to know before hiring someone like you?
You’d probably want to understand how the process works, what it costs, how long it takes, what you’d need to provide, what the end result looks like. You might wonder about their experience with businesses like yours, whether they’re available when you need them, what happens if things go wrong.
These aren’t just practical questions – they’re emotional ones too. Will I look foolish for not knowing this stuff? Can I trust this person? Will they judge my current mess of a situation? Am I making the right decision?
Write down every question you can think of, then write honest, helpful answers. Don’t worry about making yourself sound impressive – focus on being useful.
Turn questions into content
Now comes the magic part. Each of those questions becomes a piece of content. That question about how your process works? That’s a LinkedIn post, or a blog article, or an FAQ section on your website. The worry about pricing? Perfect content for demystifying how you charge for your services.
Here’s what I tell my clients: aim for just a couple of lines per social media post. Not because you can’t write more, but because you’re developing the muscle of explaining complex things simply. Every post should leave someone thinking “Oh, now I get what they do” or “That’s exactly the problem I’ve been having.”
Keep a running document – a spreadsheet or Google doc works perfectly – with your questions in one column and your answers in another. This becomes your content library, but more importantly, it becomes the foundation of how you talk about your work everywhere.
The unexpected benefit
What usually happens when my clients start this process is that they discover they’re much clearer about their value proposition than they thought. All those years of answering questions about your work haven’t been wasted – they’ve been preparing you to market yourself effectively.
You’ll also find that the language you develop through writing these simple posts starts showing up naturally in networking conversations, client meetings, and proposals. You’re not just creating content – you’re developing your professional voice.
The beauty of this approach is that it grows with you. As your freelance practice evolves, you’ll get new questions, and your answers will become more sophisticated. But you’ll always have that foundation of clarity about what you do and why it matters.
Start small, but start
You don’t need a perfect brand or a comprehensive content strategy to begin marketing yourself. You just need to be clear about what you offer and helpful in how you communicate it.
Start with one question and one answer. Write a two-line social media post. See how it feels. Then do it again tomorrow with a different question.
Before you know it, you’ll have a library of content, a clear way of talking about your work, and most importantly, the confidence that comes from knowing exactly what value you bring to the table.
Need help getting clear on your freelance message? Sometimes an outside perspective makes all the difference. Get in touch to talk about developing the language that helps your ideal clients find you.
