Building a freelance Career from Scratch (S1E2)
In the first episode of the Freelance Success Podcast, we talked about fear — and how it shows up at every stage of freelancing, but especially at the beginning. This week, we get to see what happens when you push through it.
A few years ago, Nick Baird was freshly graduated with a public policy degree, living back home in Indiana next to the cornfield he grew up on, and desperate to get back to Germany, where he'd fallen in love with living while studying abroad. He’d done some SEO work earlier in his career, but had no idea how to turn any of that into a real freelance business that would support a digital nomad lifestyle. So he did something smart: he found someone who was already a few steps ahead of him and asked for help.
That conversation turned into a mentorship relationship with Liam, which helped Nick launch his freelance career. Today, Nick is living full-time in Germany, juggling six clients across journalism, ghostwriting, SEO, and science communication — and his most recent problem is having too much work.
In this episode, Nick and Liam dig into the full arc of that journey: how Nick built his first client list from cold outreach with no network, why he eventually dropped his SEO niche entirely when the market shifted, how he repositioned himself around reliability as a brand, and what a real follow-up process looks like when pitching feels like shouting into the void. They also get into the less-talked-about side of freelancing — the isolation, the importance of community, and why getting advice from people who actually understand freelancing makes all the difference.
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Episode Transcript
Liam: I don't remember the first time I met Ron, but I do remember that he had an impression on me immediately. He had a big bushy mustache, and every time he came to visit us, he would bring me a present from some exotic country that he'd been to somewhere around the world.
Ron didn't have a wife. He had a long-term girlfriend. He lived alone in San Francisco and he was the first person I ever met that was living a lifestyle that was really unconventional. He prioritized travel and adventure over most other things in life, and he always was looking for the most unconventional and strangest path that one could take.
Ron was a family friend and I always adored him as I became an adult, he really became my very first mentor. Watching Ron, I became aware that there was another way to live life, and I credit Ron for the fact that I am today a digital nomad who travels all over the world and who's living a rather unconventional lifestyle myself.
I didn't know the word when I first met Ron, but he turned out to be my first mentor and not my last. He was a life mentor, but I've had a number of career mentors who have really helped me. A bunch of bosses at my different marketing agencies that I worked with have helped me. Austin Church is a fantastic freelance mentor and he's really helped me as I've grown into my freelance career and now I myself am a mentor because I have been doing this freelancing full-time since 2019, full-time. I've been part-time freelancing since 2012, and I've learned a lot along the way. I never really set out to become a mentor, but eventually people started asking me questions like, how do you manage to travel while you're working? Or, what do you do to run this aspect of your freelance business, or what happens when you do this?
And so I eventually started offering mentorship as a more formalized service, and now it's one of my revenue streams. That is how I met today's guest, Nick Baird. He found me of all places on Reddit, and he was in that moment in his career where he had just decided to start freelancing and was looking for the best path forward.
And Nick did something very smart, which was seeking out people who were just a few steps ahead of him in the process. That was three years ago, and I'm just amazed at how far Nick has come, and that's why I invited him on to talk today.
On my last episode, I talked a lot about fear and how the beginning time when you are first starting out as a freelancer is often the scariest time. But I wanted to show what happens if you keep with it and push through that fear, and I couldn't think of somebody who could be a better example of that than Nick Baird.
He's a freelance writer, he's a friend of mine, and he's here to talk today on the Freelance Success Podcast.
Freelance success is your go-to community for all things freelancing. You can learn more about freelance success and get a free one month subscription at JoinFreelanceSuccess.com.
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Nick Baird, welcome to the Freelance Success Podcast. How are you doing today?
Nick: I am very well. How are you, Liam?
Liam: I'm good.
I'm so glad you joined me. This is the first season of the Freelance Success Podcast, and I wanted to have you on here actually, because of something you said to me the other day. Nick is a former mentee of mine, he's a member of the Freelance Success community. I've known you for what, three, three years now?
Maybe four. Three at least.
Nick: Yeah, that's right.
Liam: And the other day I asked you how are things going just out of the blue. because we chat on WhatsApp and you said, I have the best problem ever. I have too much work. Which is not something we hear very often in the year of our Lord 2025 from freelancers.
It's certainly not. The first thing you said to me years ago when we met, which was, I don't have any work and I don't know where to start, so I just wanted to bring you on here because the podcast is called Freelance Success. If your current quote unquote problem is not an example of freelance success, then I don't know what it is.
So. I'll stop talking there. That's, that's the context for this conversation. But Nick, why don't you talk today? How would you, how do you introduce yourself to people today? What do you do and, and who are you?
Nick: I keep it really simple. I tell people that I'm a writer and I let them just ask. I tell them I do a little bit of journalism.
I do a little bit of ghost writing. I do a little of SEO blog writing. I do a little bit of editing. When I first started working with you I wanted to learn SEO but the industry changed so much in the last couple years that I ended up pivoting and removing my niche entirely. And it just opened up a lot of opportunities.
Because I don't know what the future of SEO is like. I know it's still important. I know Google is like still the big dog. But finding work there, I was finding tough. And when I opened things up, I had a lot of o other opportunities come my way.
Liam: Interesting. So you had SEO as your niche, and then how did you go about like removing that?
Did you like take it off your website, stop talking about it? How did that, what did that look like?
Nick: I revamped my LinkedIn profile. So I went back and talked to everyone I'd ever worked for and I asked them the same questions. It was like, tell me about your best and your worst experiences with subcontractors.
And you know, I just follow up based on what they said. But the thing that came out of it was that people that. Couldn't hit deadlines were the most frustrating thing in the world. So I put up my byline. I'm a writer for marketing directors and editors who don't have time to babysit a freelancer.
And that's how I promote myself. I tell people I'm reliable. I'm on time. You don't have to edit the things I send you. You know, so. If you don't have the time to, to babysit, then you can take what I write and you can be sure that there's not going to be any typos or grammar things or any, any of that weirdness.
It's just ready to go. So I think I really focused on the problem that they all faced and I made sure that I addressed it head on and I make sure that I make good on those commitments with all my clients. Now,
Liam: great example of. Just asking people what they need. You know, I think a lot of people run into that problem of like, I don't know what, where should I find my next customers?
How do I market to them? What should I be saying? When you actually did the work that people should be doing, what were the, what kind of like what did you ask them? Was there a specific question that you used that you found useful?
Nick: It was, it was really simple. It was. Tell me about your experiences with other contractors.
What frustrated you and what did you love?
Nick: And, you know, I got a lot of responses from like, you know, some people would send walls of text. Wow. But the common theme that everybody brought up was deadlines. So I just, I decided to hit on that.
The other thing people always talked about was finding someone who can write in their voice. And I'm, I'm still not like the greatest at it. You know, I have my own voice and it always comes through whenever I write, and oftentimes my clients are happy with it. And that's fine. And then sometimes I can't find the right voice and I move on with them.
But like, I don't make that a selling point with me because it's still something I'm not great at.
Liam: Well, speaking from experience, the idea that someone could ever nail your own unique voice, if you have a developed voice as a writer or, or content creator. It is going to be almost impossible for anybody else.
It's like a snowflake. It's so special and unique. Okay, so what kind of work are you doing today? Like, I know that, you know, you don't have to reveal too much about your clients, but what gimme a day in the life of, of Nick Baird, the freelancer, four years in.
Nick: Most days I'll touch on things for probably three clients. I have six right now. So for one client, I do SEO blogs and all of their social media. For another client, I edit their SEO blogs. So there's a subject matter expert that I don't know his industry. And so he writes the draft and I tune it up to fit with SEO best practices and just personalize it.
So, like he, he sent me something today that was like so far in the weeds that unless you're already an expert, you're not going to read it. So, like, I'm working through and, and putting it into a perspective that a layman would better understand. I also, I ghost write for a CEO on LinkedIn. I also do some like science communication work for an old professor.
So like, he, he runs an academic journal. They publish articles that are really heady about finance and I translate that for the layman. And then I also have a client in Utah who's a, like a regional newspaper, and their editor sends me and assigns stories. And then there's a nonprofit. Support company that as part of their, like top of funnel marketing, they interview other nonprofit leaders, talk about their story, talk about their challenges, talk about how they help people.
And so I hop on calls with folks. I talk, I ask 'em questions for about 45 minutes and I do a write up on it. So it's, it's really all over the place, which I love. I get to write all kinds of styles, short form, long form, all kinds of topics. And it keeps things interesting because I'm not doing the same thing every day.
Liam: Hmm. How do you I wanna, I want to go back to the beginning of your journey in a second, but just thinking about this, I know a lot of people, you know, are going to hear that and hear how many different types of clients you're working for and how much writing and editing you're doing. What do you say to people who are.
Saying, because I read this sentiment a lot, that freelance writing is over as a career, that AI has taken all of the jobs. You don't seem to be in that boat. What do you, what's your take on that situation?
Nick: I use ChatGPT every time I write, but. I heavily edit everything. because the stuff that, you know, everyone's heard this before. The stuff that ChatGPT is going to give you is bland. It's basically fancy, auto complete. And it sounds like everybody else, and we've been around long enough, you and I especially, and people in the industry, like we can smell and AI copy paste from a mile away.
And I think clients are starting to pick up on that as well. They know the quality. Isn't there if all you're using is ChatGPT. So and then the other thing I tell people is like. AI is a tool, but clients still need reliable, consistent help from people that are actually thinking about their businesses.
The strategy behind the words, like it's, I, you know, I order taker is something that people often describe themselves as when they're kind of where I'm at right now. And I do take assignments from clients, but I don't just write to the brief and then move on like I want to know. Where is this in the funnel?
Where am I sending people to? Where's the call to action? What's the strategy behind it? What are the pain points of your customers like there? There are a lot of really good questions you can ask to show that you're thinking about the business and their success. And a lot of initiative you can take to show that you're a reliable, supportive contractor.
And, and they're always going to need someone reliable. And they, there are tons of people who don't have the time to do all this themselves that will need help and do need help.
Liam: I'm sure I've said this to you before, Nick, when we worked when we were in our mentorship together. But one of the things I say about the most successful freelancers are people who make themselves, the solution to a problem. So, you know, what you've done is you've identified this problem that people have.
Freelancers are unreliable. They, they miss their deadlines, they can't trust 'em to get the work done. You've turned yourself into the person who is actually the solution for that problem and that keeps you in business and that's, that was one of the core fundamentals I wanted to hammer home to you. I hope, I guess it worked during our mentorship time because that's really like the people will keep paying you if they feel like you are keeping the anxiety at bay.
And missed deadlines. That's anxiety, bad quality copy that's clearly just regurgitated from ChatGPT that causes anxiety for clients when they, you know, anyway, I could talk about that forever. But let's go back and talk about where you were when you came to me a few years ago. So I can't even quite remember how you found out about me, but what was going on then?
This is, we're going back in time. I don't remember the year, but tell me what was going on with you then. You were at the very beginning of your freelance journey, were you not?
Nick: Yep. So I was at the very end of the master's program. I'd started it during COVID because I didn't want to fight with a tanking job market.
And I was like, all right, let's go back to school. And then the second year of the program I had the opportunity to study abroad and so I went to Germany and you know, I was only supposed to be there for one semester, but I extended it to two because I liked it so much. And then, the end of my second semester, I'm about to graduate.
I have got this public policy degree and, you know, all, all of my peers either work in government or nonprofits or advocacy or p you know, something along those lines. And I just, I couldn't imagine my life not only doing that, but not doing it in Germany. And so, you know, I had this problem where I was like, I'd fall in love living in this place, but there's no way I can get a job here.
I don't speak the language. What can I do? I had like a brief experience with SEO from the beginning of my twenties, and so I was just like, well, if I can work online, I can do it from anywhere. I can do it from Germany. I have a little bit of experience with this, so I could go do that again. So I needed to become a freelancer basically.
So I knew that. And then the next thing I did is I knew I needed help because I didn't have any experience really recent in the field, and I didn't have any idea really what I was doing. So I went out and found someone who had done exactly what I'd done already and. I was asking them for help and I found you on a Reddit thread and then I reached out to you on LinkedIn and just started asking questions.
And I think I sent you like a an SEO blog draft. because you said if you want to get hired, you need a portfolio. And I was like, well, I don't have a portfolio. And you're like, well write a pretend piece and optimize it and use that. And I sent it to you reviewed it and you know. You helped with everything I brought to you very generously.
Like you didn't charge me anything. You're just, just walls of text of things that you suggest to people and at the very end you're like, Hey, by the way, this is a service I offer. Here's how it works. And then, you know, we went back and forth for a couple weeks and after I'd seen how attentive you were and how responsive you were, I knew that I wanted to hire you.
So, and, and I chose you because you'd done exactly what I wanted to do. You were a freelancer, you're an SEO, you were a digital nomad. That's all the things I wanted to be, right. I.
Liam: Yeah, lucky, I commented on that Reddit thread. I don't even remember what Reddit thread it was, but let this be a testament to people out there that Reddit is a valuable marketing platform.
Great. So yeah, you went out and you found someone who was doing what you want to do, which is actually what mentorship is all about, right? You're supposed to find someone who's a few steps ahead of you, not a mile or 10 miles ahead of you, but someone who's a year or two ahead of you and learn from them so that you can follow their, their footsteps.
So we did start working together. And can you tell me more? What was that process like when we started working on a more formal capacity?
Nick: So the first thing that we worked on was finding my first clients. And I don't remember if it was already written or if, like I was a beta student of yours where you took the problems I was facing and literally created a resource for it.
I think that's what happened.
Nick: But you put together a lead gen doc and it was. Here's how to find opportunities. Here's how to send cold pitches. Here are three or four scripts you can use in emails. You know, and, and, and here's how I would start looking for your first clients. So you're like, what do you know?
Who do you want to write for? Who do you want to help? Go make a list of 50 to a hundred of those kinds of people and start sending emails. So. You, you really got me from to get going on cold outreach. because I was starting from zero with no network and no experience and that got me some wonderful opportunities on sales calls which worked out.
And then you also provided a bunch of resources on how to create inbound leads as well. So that was like LinkedIn advice from your profile to posting to what to post about. I still remember you sent me like a document with 30 post ideas and I. I just wrote, and a lot of it, I actually, you know, a lot of what you're supposed to do on LinkedIn is demonstrate your expertise, of which at the time I didn't have much.
So like a lot of what I wrote, I just hopped over to your teaching of SEO and I was like, here's the best practice. And I presented it as my own. In, in, in a sense it was, because that's exactly what I do for anyone that hired me. But like you gave me all the materials I needed to pull from all kinds of prompts, all kinds of scripts, and the direction I needed to get going.
Liam: Hmm. Well I have to say thank you to you, Nick, because I think you're right that back when we got started, I had the SEO course. Ready to go to train people on SEO. But what was missing was what you kind of did what, what you've asked your clients to do for me is I was like, what actually is missing from this that you need?
And I think the answer was, how the heck do I find clients and how, like I have no experience. How do I find clients? Where do I start? And so I didn't end up making that lead generation course for you. The lead generation document, which is now a huge document. It's, it's one of our most popular resources in freelance success.
I think anybody who's in there can access it. Now, the same thing with the LinkedIn document. I, there's those 30 prompts that's been turned into a full course now that's in the freelance success community because. People like you just found that really helpful. And gosh, I would've found it helpful too.
It's too bad that I had to make it because it would help me when I was starting out a million years ago. So from there. You started finding new clients and yeah. Can you talk a little bit about like, what I always find interesting being a mentor is that often I'm like, well, people have all of the skills and talents that they need to succeed.
It's just a matter of applying them. And that was definitely the case with you. I read your work and I thought this per, you know, of course I'm an editor too, so I will never say it was perfect, but I knew that you had the talent to, to succeed. Was there an accountability side of the mentorship that you found helpful?
Just having someone there to prompt you along.
Nick: I wouldn't necessarily say it was accountability. 'Cause I was a maniac when I started. Like, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I wanted to get back to Germany. That's where my community was. My, my time abroad as a student had ended. I had to go home to Indiana, next to the cornfield I grew up at, you know, I moved back in with my parents.
Like, that's, that's not the life that was for me. So, like, I knew exactly where I was going and I worked eight or 10 hours a day just of my own own volition. Like I didn't, I didn't socialize much for like that six months. It was all just work. It was very helpful to have the path set out by you.
because I didn't spend any time getting paralyzed by what do I do? I already knew what to do. But what was really, really helpful about your mentorship was. Not just the, like, tactical, strategic details about what I should be doing, but also just like the warm, empathetic, encouraging voice in my ear that said, nah, you can do this.
You do have the talent to pull this off. And it was having a peer that I could reach out to and ask questions of, but also vent to like, ah, the sales call went horribly. I wish I'd have done that better. Or, I am, I'm getting really frustrated. I keep getting ghosted on things and you know, you were, you were there and be like, Nick, that was a really good email.
They just weren't ready for you at the time. Keep at it and you'll find your success. So like the, be having, having someone encouraging was probably the most helpful thing there.
Liam: That's, that's good to hear. 'Cause I am the biggest cheerleader for you and for other freelancers. I just love to see people think, see it as freelancers.
And I think what you said here also strikes me as having, you know, freelancing can be so isolating, especially when you're starting out especially these days where people are just, I find more isolated in general since the pandemic and just less willing to socialize. So maybe that's changing a little.
But one of the reasons I, you've just mentioned about having a mentor is it helps you get that sounding board. And I would say a step beyond that is community. And I know you are a member of several communities. I've seen you, obviously you're here in the freelance success community. I've seen you in the tofu community.
I've seen you in Austin Churches community. So obviously you find value in freelance communities. Talk about that. What is the value to you in those communities?
Nick: You touched on part of it, it's community. You know, in, in my personal life in the last year. In real life, I've met two people that are freelancers and they're not even in the same field I'm in.
It's just two people total that are self-employed. So it's just really unusual to have someone in my life that actually understands what I'm doing, what I'm trying to do. And so being in a room full of people that do get it and have been there and have made it work was really, really valuable. 'Cause like.
I'm sure a lot of people are open to advice, but if you take advice from the wrong person or from someone who's well-meaning but doesn't know that they're giving you bad advice, that can also be really detrimental. Like being in a room full of people who get it was important. And then the other thing is when you're networking with other people, there are referral opportunities that come out of that.
So like, of course, in the back of my mind, I know that I'm, I'm going in there because I want to help build my business. And the more people I meet, the more people that know what I do, the more opportunity I have to make an impression on people that could turn into work down the road.
Liam: Mm-hmm. Have you gotten clients from your time in communities?
Nick: Yes I was in the first Gen Entrepreneurs community. I worked with a couple of people from there. That was a couple years ago. And then I've gotten referrals from you. I've gotten referrals from Austin Church. And you were actually my first client. So, you know, I met you, or originally I hired you to teach me the ropes, and then two or three months down the line you're like, Hey, you you've got a degree in finance.
I have got this accounting firm. They need a writer. Do you want to help? And so, you know, I don't know how many people you knew at the time, but I suspect I was probably the one that you knew that had the most finance knowledge. So you're like, well, Nick's probably the guy.
Liam: Yeah, I think that, and the fact that I had seen you go through my training program and go, you know, learn, you were following in my footsteps.
So obviously I wanted to work with you because you did the same process as you had the same standards as me. But, and for me, it's one of the benefits of being a freelancer. I kind of get top pick of talent people who go through my training and. And also I, I, like I said, I like to see you succeed. I know that you wanted to build your portfolio freelancers look out for each other.
That's part of the deal.
Liam: There's a lot of time passed between those early days and where we are now. And I know you talked a little bit about, you know, taking SEO and, and expanded your niche and that helped. What are some other, like rungs on the ladder that you have found to be really helpful advancing your freelance career over the last four years?
Nick: I, so I, the, in, in, in my twenties, I worked in politics and I had a volunteer experience where I worked with this woman. She was a house representative for the state of Michigan and I helped her with fundraising. And, you know, this is 10 years ago, but I still remember her telling me like. The, the best donor to contact is someone who's already donated to you.
So now for that, for me, in my freelance business, that means when I do have a client that I am working with. I make sure I hold onto them as long as I can by doing what I say to them I'm going to do and making good on all of my commitments. Making, making sure that I'm the easiest person for them to work with, that I'm personable, that they like me, that like they'd like to get a beer with me and that they can count on me.
To take something off their plate reliably. 'Cause finding new clients is really hard, really, really hard. Like I don't think I have to tell anybody this, but like, the number of pitches that you have to send cold before you actually have start a conversation is ridiculous. So, like, I would much rather respond quickly to a client in my inbox and make sure they get everything they they need.
Then go try to find the next client.
Liam: Hmm. Upsells and retainers right are actually so much easier to get across the line than a brand new client. And that doesn't change. That is still the case. You know, even for me, I've been in this game, what now? Seven, six or seven years as a freelancer, I still find it's hard to start from cold.
Which is why it does get easier as a freelancer. I think over time you build this sort of portfolio and people get to know who you are. But you could find ways to keep clients in your good books. I like what you said about they would want to have a beer with me. Right. You know, people may not realize it, but a big part of being a successful freelancer, you have to have a little bit of.
I don't want to say charm, but certainly some social graces can go a long way to making sure you know, just that, that you are friendly, that you have banter, that you are responsive, all those things you were just talking about. They make such a big difference. Even though they're pretty, they can be hard to quantify.
Do you know what I mean?
Nick: Yeah. Another thing that I would say is. You know, I still spent a lot of time looking for clients and I, we started this call with, you know, Nick has more work than he knows what to do with, but like, that's only been true for like three months out of my three year freelancing journey.
That's, that's brand new. So like, I did, I do, and I did spend a lot of time looking for new clients and two things that really helped, I stopped sending such long introduction emails because I don't think people are reading them. Basically I'd say, hi, here's who I am, here's how I found you. Here's what I do.
Would you like to start a conversation? And then. It's kind of like asking for permission. And if they say, sure, then I can go into detail. So it also saved me a lot of time on outreach. because if I'm not writing a novel a hundred times a day, I can write a lot more emails. And then I found the All Things Freelance Writing newsletter.
It's put together by Jessica Walrack.
Nick: And every Friday at 8:00 AM it's like 20 or 30 different curated opportunities from people wherever online with freelancer call outs. And so, you know, I'd, I'd, I'd run through that every Friday morning. I'd find anybody who was looking for a SEO or a finance focused writer, and I'd send them an email and you know, it wasn't the most successful endeavor.
You know, I probably sent. 50 emails for every two that would get a reply, but like, at least it was a list of opportunities that I didn't have to hunt up myself and two of my current clients came from doing those pitches.
Liam: Hmm.
Nick: And
then,
Liam: and just for people listening, we have the same list every Friday morning in the Freelance Success community as well.
So if you're not part of the subscription that Nick is talking about, you see the same ones every Friday morning at the same time. Here at FLX, so you can just start replying to them immediately. That is a lot of emailing to get a couple clients across the board, but that's how it is when you start out.
Hey.
Nick: Yeah. And then the other thing that I figured out is that the fruit is really in the follow up. You send one email, it's very, very likely to get ignored. And so I, I'd send that pitch or that introductory message basically asking, could you tell me more about the project? And then I'd set a scheduled email to myself for like three days and then in a week, and then when that email would pop back to my inbox, I'd send them another message saying, Hey, just checking in.
I, you probably found someone by now, but if not, I'd love to have a conversation just reminding them then that I'm there. And I found that being persistent worked out a lot more frequently than sending one message and just giving up. Hmm.
Liam: Well this was something I remember talking about with you during mentorship.
because I remember, I think you referenced this earlier, you sent me a message saying, I don't know what's going on. I have all these leads, but nobody's ever getting back to me. And I said, Nick, what's your follow up process? You know, and I think the answer was like, what? Follow a process or I don't have one.
Which, you know, that's so common. And actually again, in the freelance that, that, again, that same conversation then became a lesson that is now in the Freelance Success Community Library because, you know. I remember you saying like, people keep ghosting me. And the thing is, people are busy. They get a million pitches a week.
If they're in a, you know, marketing position and they forget about you, they're just not thinking about you. You know, what's that book? He's just not that into you like that. They're just not thinking about you. And so if you just quietly slink away after your first email gets goes unanswered, then you will never get another client.
So. What have you, is there a recipe that you've found that works for you? I mean, you said it what, three days and then a week. Do you give up after that? What's your problem? Is there anything else to the process?
Nick: Yeah. Three days in a week. You, I still remember that conversation we had. You gave me like three or four like angles to take on those follow up emails.
I can't remember them off the top of my head, but you know, one of 'em was like walking away. One of 'em was just, Hey, I saw, I saw this thing that's related to something we've talked about or something I know you're interested in. I just wanted to send it your way. And I'm sure there are more, and you could probably share too right now, but like.
More than just, Hey, bump is more effective. Right?
Liam: Yes. Yes. Exactly. I think having something that catches their interest, like you said, a news article or something you've done, you know, those are all listed in the lesson on, in Freelance Success, if anybody wants to check them out, there's like a e email templates based on this conversation that we had so long ago of how to reach out to people and get them to come back into your good books.
I want to shift a little bit to talk about. Digital nomadism, because that's another thing that we had in common. Like you said, when you came to me, I was living the full-time digital nomad life. So I think I was truly didn't have a home. I'm, I'm now, I would say hybrid. I'm about six months in Boston, six months out on the road.
But you're living in Germany full-time, having come from the cornfield of Indiana. And so what, so first of all, how's it going? How are you liking the digital nomad life?
Nick: I am so blessed that I get to take my work with me. I spent September in Japan and Korea with a friend. I reconnected with him when I visited the US for Christmas last year, and he was like, Hey.
I'm graduating, I'm celebrating my master's by taking a trip, and I was like, can I come? You know, and I tell people like, when, when all of my friends have nine to fives, it's rare that they have the opportunity to just go take a month and travel. And so. It's, it's a, it's a huge blessing that I have the ability to just pick up and join them.
Now I, of course I had to work while I was there. I was there 30 days and I probably worked 14 or 15 of them. But I still got to see in another two countries and five cities and spend a lot of quality time with a good friend that otherwise I wouldn't get to. And I also spent the beginning of last year in Tanzania.
I have, I had one of my clients happen to run a nonprofit down there. And, you know, I needed somewhere to go and for German immigration visa things. I had to leave the country for three months. And I was like, well, why, why don't I go to Africa? I can, why not? Right? And it was a wonderful, wonderful experience that I wouldn't have been afforded with a traditional job.
Liam: Right. And so when you're on that trip with your friend and you have to take 15 days or however many to write or, or work, you know, how do you stop yourself from just giving up and being out there all the time and, and seeing all the things like how, you know, were there moments where your friend got to go out and do fun stuff without you, and you had to stay in and write?
How did you deal with that?
Nick: The, the first thing I had to do is set expectations with my friend that I'm not on vacation. I have to work while we're there. And I just kind of laid out for him how it would probably work. I'll get up, I'll do my morning thing, I'll probably work until four or five in the afternoon, and then I'll link up with you in the evening and then we'll hang out.
And that's, that's how it worked. There were a couple things I didn't get to do. He went to go see the DMZ, the line between North and South Korea.
Liam: Hmm.
Nick: And. I was, I wanted to join him, but like the bus out there started at 7:00 AM and I was just like, Nope, that is not happening.
Liam: Yeah, that's the whole work thing on.
Nick: But as far as the temptation to just, you know, shirk off and not work, it's a balance there. I did send a couple of emails to folks saying, Hey, I'm going to need a little longer on this deadline. Or maybe not so direct. I tell 'em, Hey, I'm abroad. This, this piece needs me to do an interview with somebody and time zones just don't work right now, so why don't we do this next month?
So it's a little more favorable I think from, for, for the light of me rather than saying, I have to push this deadline. Giving them something they can understand. But the big thing was just like. I'm, I'm committed to doing what I told people I was going to do and so like that was my priority while I was there.
It was really motivating too, because when I'm at home, I might take a nap two or three days, two or three days a week and it'll all get done when it needs to get done. But like the. The task tends to spill, fill the space you have available, and that space was cut in half when I knew my friend was going to go out and see a concert.
So it was like I have to be done by the time the concert comes around. And it made it really easy to, to keep focused.
Liam: Fun, can be a motivator to do your work so you can get out and enjoy it, but you have such good natural discipline which I think is a valuable, valuable skill for any freelancer and something that has to be developed as well.
Let me ask you, what do you think it would've been like to try and start freelancing without mentorship?
Nick: A lot of dead ends and a lot of time spent following like. There is no num, there's no end of people with content backlogs and all kinds of great information to teach. But if you're trying to learn how to be a freelancer with YouTube shorts or even like, you know, 30 minute clips from your favorite teacher or whatever, it's going to be so disjointed and it's not.
Tailored to where you are specifically in your journey, that the information you're getting may not be helpful. So like, you know, someone, someone may talk to you about how to upsell a client. Well, at the very beginning, that wasn't worthwhile at all to me because I didn't have a client, you know, I had, I had another problem to solve.
And so what I got out of working with you is that wherever I was, whenever I hit a specific barrier. I could text you and be like, do you have a resource for this? Do you have any advice for this? And it, and it would unblock exactly what was wrong at that exact moment. And I can keep going. It saved me a lot of time.
Liam: Hmm. Yeah. Instead of having to hunt for the perfect YouTube video that addresses the exact issue, it's personalized. That's the big difference, is what I hear you saying.
Nick: Yeah. Yeah.
Liam: Cool. Okay, Nick, well look, we've been talking for a little while now. I guess the last question I want to ask you, unless there's anything else you want to add, but imagine you're now talking to a freelancer who's in their first five, six months, six months.
Or maybe you want to approach it as if you could go back in time, what are the things you think they need to do right at the start to become, to build that path to successful freelancing?
Nick: There are two things. The first, I hope isn't too cliche, but you need to really understand why you're doing it.
'Cause it's isolating, it's hard. It's not a path that most people around you are going to understand. So you're probably going to get a lot of discouragement from peers or family members. It's like you've got to have a really, really good reason to be doing what you're doing. And then the second thing I would tell people and I'm not just saying this because I'm going to call with you right now, it's Generally what I tell people when they ask me, I say, find someone who has done exactly what you want to do and go ask them how they did it. It's the best shortcut you can have.
Liam: Hmm, could not agree more. And you know, I have my own mentors who did the same exact thing for me, and I'm overjoyed that I get to do it now with people like you, Nick, and, and other folks who are starting that journey out.
Thank you for that insight. Nick, if people want to learn more about you, obviously if they're in the Freelance Success community, they can just DM you there or find your, you've posted some stuff in there, but where else can people learn more about what you do and, and learn from you?
Nick: The best place is LinkedIn.
I am on there more often than I should be. It's part of my loop when I'm procrastinating. LinkedIn, WhatsApp, email, blah, blah, blah. So if you send me a message, I'll, I'll probably respond pretty quickly. Yeah,
Liam: LinkedIn. Okay. And we'll put your LinkedIn in the show notes. And then you have a website too.
Is it nick of time? Freelancing,
Nick: it's just NickBaird.com. But it is not reflective almost at all of what I do now.
Liam: Okay. We'll stick with LinkedIn because you gave that, you gave your LinkedIn a really good makeover. So if people are looking for an example of a really good freelance LinkedIn profile, definitely go check Nicks out and we'll be watching to see.
Maybe we can do another season two with you to see how things have changed for you over the coming year.
Nick: Fantastic. Looking forward to it.
Liam: All right, Nick, thanks so much for joining me and we'll talk to you soon.
