I went through 123 LinkedIn posts & found 7 steps to Alice’s success

I stumbled on Alice’s content in December 2022.

And I’ve been addicted ever since.

She’s a ghostwriter and the creator of Internetly — a newsletter with over 2,200 subscribers.

In it, she shares “hand-curated writing tips, creative resources, and the (occasional) unhinged travel story.”

Alice made $86K last year while travelling the world, but it’s not always been like this.

She’s dealt with the same creeping doubts we all face:

“Going from $5,000 a month to $0 after losing 3 clients out of nowhere. Handling client assignments during Thanksgiving and Christmas. Burning out — twice. My first year as a freelance writer was mind-melting and frustratingly slow.”

3.5 years later, Alice now works with creator economy companies and shares helpful tips on social media.*

I went through her last 11 months of LinkedIn posts to learn:

The mistakes she’s made
What makes her writing so addictive
How she’s set herself up for success as a ghostwriter

So, if you’re interested in making a full-time income from writing — just like Alice and I — here’s what you should do.

*Sidenote: Lots of Alice’s client work is published without her name attached, hence the “ghostwriter” title.

Step #1: Find paying clients and THEN…

When Alice started freelancing in 2020, she was able to earn $5,000 a month without:

A newsletter
A fancy website
Drool-worthy bylines
A massive LinkedIn, Twitter, or IG following

Instead, she:

Networked on Twitter
Joined freelance writing and creator communities
Wrote her own articles and posted them on Medium
Sent dozens of cold pitches (and followed up a LOT)

Her advice?

“Start by focusing on your craft and finding paying clients — *then* focus on the fun personal branding stuff.”

Alice hammers home something I know to be true: Landing clients should be your number one goal as a new freelancer.

Everything else falls under Shiny Object Syndrome.

“These side-projects *seem* necessary, but they’re not explicitly helping you earn money from writing. They’re shiny objects distracting you from your goal.
Instead, focus solely on:
1️⃣ Writing high-quality articles so you can refer to those when you…
2️⃣ …cold-pitch clients via email.
That’s it.”

How did Alice land her first client with no experience?

She posted articles on Medium.

“My first article is about ‘The Breakaway Movement,’ a ludicrous MLM that recruits young girls to peddle a $5,000 Japanese water filter […] A few weeks later, I get a DM.
It’s from a guy who knew the people who’d founded The Breakaway Movement. That’s how he stumbled on my article. By pure coincidence, he was looking to hire writers for his own business […]
We get on a call. He asks for my rate. I’d just started working with a freelance writing coach who told me to charge $250 per article. At the time, Medium was paying me pennies. $250 seemed bananas.
“$250,” I said.
“Sounds great!”
And that’s how I landed my first ever retainer client, at $250 x 4 articles a month for 3 months (a $3,000 deal).”

I had a similar “bananas” moment last year.

It resulted in me landing a $5,000-a-month retainer client.

Step #1 summary — here’s what you should do:

Keep your day job for as long as possible. It’ll take the pressure off your writing. Trust me.
Build a writing portfolio of at least five articles. You need a portfolio to convince clients you’re the best writer for the job. Think of it as your personal coach, hype man, and best friend all in one.
Work through my client outreach method (by following step #3 in this post I’m linking.) TL;DR: Write about people you admire and email them your articles.
Apply for jobs on Write Jobs PLUS+. This is hands-down my favourite job board.
Don’t say, “I’m looking for freelance work if anybody is hiring.” Instead, say something like, “I have [X] slots open for [Month] in 2024.” It signals to clients that you’re intentional about who you work with. (I can’t take credit for this tip. It’s one of Alice’s.)
Love the process. You have to love the writing, the waiting, and the rejections. Getting results—views, money, recognition—is the cherry on top.

Step #2: “90% of clients aren’t malevolent. They’re more likely clueless on how to work with freelancers.”

It’s your responsibility to lead clients.

Be upfront. Set your boundaries. Tell them how you work.

“[…] calmly take the reins through clear, upfront communication […] The amateur freelancer gets upset. The professional freelancer gets clear.”
— Alice Lemée

Alice tells the story of how a client drove her “nuts”.

The client would:

Want an article overnight
Ask Alice to interview 5–8 sources (although it wasn’t in their original agreement)
Add her to last-minute calls

Looking back, she realised she should have done the following:

Told the client that expedited work comes with a fee
Specified how many interviews a long-form article comes with
Explained their retainer included [X] hours of conference calls

Here are some more of Alice’s top tips:

Unpaid tests — Tell them your rates upfront if you do an unpaid test for a client. It takes two minutes but will save you hours of time (and headaches).
Iron-clad proposals — Proposals should include clauses like this: “1.1 Schedule. The proposal serves as a partnership agreement, which begins on the date of deposit receipt.”
Ask— “If you don’t ask, the answer is always no. Plus, it’s not some far-fetched fantasy to want to be paid for your time!”

Step #2 summary — here’s what you should do:

When a client opportunity arises, hop on a call with them. Listen to what they say to understand their needs. Ask questions and dig deeper. By the end of the call, confirm a date for when you’ll send over a proposal.
Send them an “iron-clad” proposal. Your proposal should include things like the scope of work, timelines, clauses, responsibilities, and a menu of options. Here’s the Google Doc I used to land my first client in 2021.
If something doesn’t feel right, say no. There will be other opportunities.

Step #3: Tactical writing tips

Want to add a little spice to your writing?

Alice has you covered!

Let’s start with something she wrote five months ago:“The harder it is for you to write a piece, the less likely it is to resonate with the audience. The inverse of this is (almost) always true.”

I agree. My most-read Medium article to date, with ~100K views, took me less than one hour to write.

But the pieces where I’m second-guessing every sentence?

Tumbleweed.

Here’s another tip from Alice about posting authentically:

This writing tip is one of my favourites.

Alice calls it the “second-order description technique”:

Lastly, Alice demonstrates the importance of words.

Just a single change can make all the difference.

You should never give readers the impression they’re about to lose something:

Alice shares a bunch more copywriting tips — both on her LinkedIn and newsletter.

She’s well worth a follow.

Step #3 summary — here’s what you should do:

Study the best writers. There are so many great books about copywriting. I’d start with Write to Sell by Andy Maslen. It’s brilliant! Then, study other writers you admire. This list of people I follow on Medium is a great place to start.
Practice, practice, practice. You’ve got to put in the reps. I churned out 30 articles before people noticed. It took another 70 to find my voice.
Let the words flow. Remember: The harder it is for you to write a piece, the less likely it is to resonate with your audience.

Step #4: Use these ninja tricks

Okay, ready for some more advanced freelancing tips?

Here’s one Alice shares about pricing.

Instead of individual pricing, lump everything together:

Alice also recommends asking clients if your name will be on the deliverable.

If not, you should charge more:

Worried you’re sending too many pitches to potential clients?

Don’t be.

In fact, Alice implores writers to do more experimenting:

Want to be a dream freelancer to work with?

Alice discusses Neil Gaiman’s commencement speech at the University of the Arts in 2012.

In it, he says the dream freelancer has three traits: punctuality, affability, and talent.

The real kicker is you don’t need all three!

To wrap this section up, here’s a question for you posed by Alice:

“Imagine you have two potential copywriting clients. Both want a tagline and slogan. But one will pay you $1,000 while the other pays $100,000. Do you know why?”

Let’s dig deeper:

“Say Client A is Coca Cola 🥤 and Client B ☕ is the coffee shop down the street.
The coffee shop is going to use the slogan on their cups, storefront, their website, etc.
But Coca Cola?
That slogan will be on millions of bottles around the world. It’ll be in commercials that cost millions to produce. It’ll get translated into dozens of languages, be in tens of thousands of homes, etc.
Coca Cola’s reach and influence is exponentially greater. They *can’t* afford to mess up on a slogan…
…hence why they’re willing to pay a premium.”

Moral of the story?

“When pricing freelancing projects, don’t forget to consider the clients’ reach before you set the price.”

Step #4 summary — here’s what you should do:

In your proposals, batch your pricing together rather than separate individual items. This way, if a client wants a lower price, you can negotiate a smaller scope. This sure beats slashing your income!
Charge more if your name won’t be on the deliverable. “Without a byline, it’s harder to scale and build a reputation. A premium covers the opportunity cost” — Alice Lemée
Experiment. You’re going to hear crickets when you pitch. It happens. But see if you can mix things up to get more responses. Could you make your pitches shorter? Could you follow up three times instead of just twice?
Lean into dreaminess. Clients will love working with you if you’re punctual, affable, and talented.
Change your prices depending on the client. There’s nothing wrong with this. It’s just being business savvy.

Step #5: Embrace reality

You’ll see freelancers paint a picture of everything being rosy.

I’m guilty of this.

The truth is, going self-employed is HARD.

Here are some of the realities Alice knows all too well since going full-time freelance in 2020.

Let’s start with income:

I can attest to this being true.

Before quitting my 9–5, I had three clients on the side. Two were steady, and the other was brand new.

This meant that with all my income streams, I made just over $4,000 in my first month of full-time freelancing.

The very next month?

Those two “steady clients” ghosted me — and the other didn’t work out.

Sh*t.

I made $862.57 and $2,330.80 in the next two months.

The month after that, I landed a juicy retainer client. I now average over $8,000 a month and work around 20 hours a week.

Peaks and troughs.

Here’s another reality: You’ll get rejected — a lot.

Every writer I know has an inbox full of rejections.

Step #5 summary — here’s what you should do:

I repeat: Keep your day job for as long as possible. Going out on your own is scary, so my advice? Write for clients on the side to begin with. Then, only jump into full-time freelancing once you’ve got a) At least six months of savings behind you and b) A proven process for landing new clients.
Expect rejection, and expect your income to go down at some point. It’s the rite of passage as a freelancer.

Step #6: You’ll make mistakes

I’ve made my fair share over the years.

So has Alice.

She recounts the time one of her clients said something no ghostwriter ever wants to hear:

“‘I would never say this.’
This is literally the last thing you want your ghostwriting client to say. And yet, that’s exactly what I heard one day in 2022 (cue the toe-curling, stomach-dropping, I want-to-crawl-in-a-hole-and-vanish feeling).”

But Alice got back up, tried again, and ended up working with this client again in the future.

A rocky start didn’t kill their professional relationship.

Similarly, one of Alice’s long-standing clients once asked if she could refer them to any freelance writers. They were in the middle of building out their blog.

“‘Sure!’ I said. I knew of one person. I didn’t know them personally, but…they seemed legit […]
So I connected them both. And you know what happened? A few weeks later, the client tells me they paid the freelancers’ deposit…and then the dude straight up vanished after delivering *nothing.*
This was not a good look. At all.”

The takeaway from this story?

If you refer a freelancer to your client, be 1,000% sure you trust them. It’s not just their reputation on the line. It’s yours, too.

Here’s one final mistake Alice admits to on her LinkedIn. It’s about paying taxes:

This is one thing I’ve got right.

I have an accountant on retainer, and he helps me with all my tax filings — both personal and for my business.

It’s a headache-crusher.

Saying this, I didn’t get it right straight away. The first accounting firm I used was terrible. They didn’t respond to my emails and made lots of mistakes.

So, if you can, ask someone you trust if they can recommend an accountant to you.

Working with someone who knows their sh*t is game-changing.

Step #6 summary — here’s what you should do:

When a client questions your writing skill, try not to take it personally. It’s not easy. Your ego will feel attacked. But the best thing you can do is take it as a learning opportunity.
If you’re fortunate to have more work than you can take on, only refer people whose work you can vouch for. On paper, someone might seem like a good fit. Their LinkedIn is shiny. They’ve got fancy logos on their website. But be warned: This could all be smoke and mirrors.
Find yourself a great accountant. They will save you so much time and money in the long run.

Step #7: Start today

There are so many things that impress me about Alice.

One of the most impressive?

She took that first step.

“If you’re a beginner freelancer, writer, etc remember — everyone starts with zero. Go step-by-step, brick-by-brick.”

Taking that first step might be the most important lesson of all.

Like Alice, I urge you to take it.

You can learn more writing tips from Alice by following her on LinkedIn and subscribing to her newsletter :)

Want to ditch the 9–5? Get my free 19-page guide: Everything I Did to Quit My 9–5 Job & Transition Into Profitable, Sustainable Solopreneuring :)

How Alice Lemée Made $86K Last Year as a Ghostwriter

I went through 123 LinkedIn posts & found 7 steps to Alice’s success

Step #1: Find paying clients and THEN…

Step #1 summary — here’s what you should do:

Step #2: “90% of clients aren’t malevolent. They’re more likely clueless on how to work with freelancers.”

Step #2 summary — here’s what you should do:

Step #3: Tactical writing tips

Step #3 summary — here’s what you should do:

Step #4: Use these ninja tricks

Step #4 summary — here’s what you should do:

Step #5: Embrace reality

Step #5 summary — here’s what you should do:

Step #6: You’ll make mistakes

Step #6 summary — here’s what you should do:

Step #7: Start today

Scott Stockdale

How Alice Lemée Made $86K Last Year as a Ghostwriter

I went through 123 LinkedIn posts & found 7 steps to Alice’s success

Step #1: Find paying clients and THEN…

Step #1 summary — here’s what you should do:

Step #2: “90% of clients aren’t malevolent. They’re more likely clueless on how to work with freelancers.”

Step #2 summary — here’s what you should do:

Step #3: Tactical writing tips

Step #3 summary — here’s what you should do:

Step #4: Use these ninja tricks

Step #4 summary — here’s what you should do:

Step #5: Embrace reality

Step #5 summary — here’s what you should do:

Step #6: You’ll make mistakes

Step #6 summary — here’s what you should do:

Step #7: Start today

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Scott Stockdale