This week Rachel & Lynne are super excited to have Eman Ismail on the podcast. Eman is a specialist in email marketing, which is such a growth industry and she shares her tips, tricks and the story about how she ended up working in this niche. During our conversation, Eman talks about: What it takes to create a great email campaign Mistakes that business owners and copywriters often make when creating email campaigns How to not sound sales-y in your emails Using storytelling in emails to cre...
Mar 10, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Season 14Ep. 7
This week on the podcast, Rachel & Lynne are looking to the future - and helping us all to understand what's in our pipelines. We are chatting with writer and content creator Bec Haddad, about her career and Web3, which is the next iteration of the Internet. So fascinating! We talk about: What Web 3 is and how it relates to content marketing The tools you need to understand it How it affects freelancers How to prepare yourself for this new frontier Working with agencies Find Bec through her ...
Mar 03, 2024•40 min•Season 14Ep. 6
This week on the podcast, Rachel & Lynne chat with a freelancer who keeps adding more skills to her arsenal - stylist, writer and now photographer Jessica Bellef. Specialising in lifestyle and interiors, Jess has carved out an enviable career that includes working with beautiful things and creating amazing work, including a beautiful coffee table book. Jess talks about: How beginning as a visual merchandiser influences her work Discovering writing later in her career How relationships help t...
Feb 25, 2024•40 min•Season 14Ep. 5
This week Rachel and Lynne are chatting with successful freelancer (and tree-changer) Julie Lee. Julie was one of the first employees at Medium Rare Content, a highly successful content agency with lots of high-profile clients. Julie talks about her years with Medium Rare - what it was like building up the business and working with clients as well as some of the secrets of the agency's success. She talks about: Moving from consumer magazines to content work What makes a successful freelancer Off...
Feb 18, 2024•35 min•Season 14Ep. 5
This week on the podcast, Rachel and Lynne revisit SEO. We think that it's been a little overlooked lately with all this talk about AI and it's so important. Our guest this week is Abbey, half of marketing experts, the Duo Collective. In a wide-ranging chat, Abbey talks about: Domain authority with search engines and what that means Keywords, search traffic and backlink strategies And why you absolutely need a backlink strategy plan to supplement your content strategies in order to grow with sea...
Feb 11, 2024•45 min•Season 14Ep. 4
This week's it's just hosts Rachel and Lynne as we get back into the swing of things - and set ourselves up for a new year of freelance work. And, as the saying goes, it's not what you know, it's who... so this week we are talking about collaboration. We believe in an abundance mindset - that there is enough work to go around and that it's good to share tips and tricks on securing solid, well-paying gigs. We share our tips (and real-life examples) of how collaborations with other creatives can b...
Feb 04, 2024•27 min•Season 14Ep. 3
This week Rachel and Lynne have a special guest talking about how nicheing down (or specialising) can bring you higher income clients and a more successful and resilient business. Funnel strategist and conversion copywriter Abi Prendergast shares her story on how she found her niche of working with course creators and why specialising works for her. We talk about: Why she loves the 'laptop lifestyle' Working with Copyhackers and how it set her up for success Going viral in the copy world Why she...
Jan 21, 2024•44 min•Season 14Ep. 2
And we are back for 2024 - and with such a useful episode! This week Rachel & Lynne chat with LinkedIn expert Adam Franklin on how to use this super-helpful and useful social media tool to get more work and improve your visibility. He shares his top 6 tips on starting the year by optimising your LinkedIn profile and ways that you can make the medium work for you (and it's much easier than you might think!). Connect with Adam on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamfranklin/ Bluewire Med...
Jan 15, 2024•49 min•Season 14Ep. 1
As the year draws to a close, hosts Rachel and Lynne chat about our favourite episodes of the year - and some of the things we have learned from our marvellous guests. We chat about: What we learned from organising our first Summit Our favourite guests from the year Keynote speaker Ed Gandia's concept about 'moving up the value chain' in our content offering What we love about podcasting The powerful lessons we learned from Emma Grey's novel about grief Charlotte Wood's chat about her novel and ...
Dec 17, 2023•24 min•Season 13Ep. 8
This week on the podcast, Rachel and Lynne chat with Kim Kerton of Unemployed and Afraid, talking about the growing opportunities in podcast production. We chat about all thing podcasts, including: Owning a business from a young age Creating branded podcasts How do you serve an audience Realism in storytelling for brands Being prepared for change as your business grows Resources she mentions: Podcast Workers Aust - https://www.podcastworkersaus.org/ Her two favourite resources for podcast indust...
Dec 10, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Season 13Ep. 8
This week on the podcast, Rachel and Lynne chat with copywriter and coach Krystle Church, who is living her best life in tropical Mauritius doing work she loves. We chat about all things copywriting, including: Writing great copy The best courses to learn about copywriting Creating great landing pages Email marketing Being a digital nomad Mistakes she made in her early days of running the agency Connect with Krystle on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/krystle.church/ or through her website: ...
Dec 04, 2023•46 min•Season 13Ep. 7
This week on the podcast, Rachel and Lynne chat with communications professional and novelist Clare Fletcher. Clare talks about juggling all her roles, how she found time to write her novel (and what got her started). We chat about: The difference between writing commercial fiction versus literary fiction How a course helped her start writing Why she started her own podcast And all about her deep love of rom-coms Find Clare on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/clarefletcherwriter/ Listen to C...
Nov 26, 2023•45 min•Season 13Ep. 6
This week on the podcast, Rachel and Lynne chat with writer Alley Pascoe. Alley has just completed her latest ghostwriting project, My Mother's Eyes with Shanelle Dawson. She talks about ghostwriting, working with celebrities and the special bond she shares with her authors, as well as how she maintains a successful freelance career as a feature writer. We chat about: How she secured her first ghostwriting project How to channel someone else's voice Dealing with the publicity machine Long-form f...
Nov 19, 2023•29 min•Season 13Ep. 5
This week, Rachel and Lynne chat with Bernadette Schwerdt, one of the legends of the copywriting world. Bernadette is also a trainer of new copywriters and in this valuable episode, shares her copywriting tips on what you need to know if you want to add copywriting to your freelance arsenal. We chat about: Writing persuasive copy and how it's a mindset The sales journey and how copywriting fits in How to use AI tools in a constructive way Mistakes new writers make Essential courses and skills th...
Nov 12, 2023•57 min•Season 13Ep. 5
This week on the podcast, Rachel and Lynne talk with branding expert Carlii Lyon about how to increase awareness of you and your work, without making you feel uncomfortable. Carlii chats about: Why personal branding is important How it can grow your business How to reduce the 'ick' factor How introverts can survive networking functions How feeling confident comes after 'confident action' Carlii's website is: https://carliilyon.com.au/ Her LinkedIn page is: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carliilyon/...
Nov 05, 2023•39 min•Season 13Ep. 4
This week Rachel & Lynne are chatting with Anfernee Chansamooth, a marketer and social media guru, talking about how you can use social media to build your business and get more leads. We chat about: His favourite social platforms for freelancers Mistakes that freelancers make Why targeting a broad market doesn't work How consistency pays off on social media How much you should share on your social channels Anfernee's website is here: https://www.anferneec.com/ He has compiled a bonus page o...
Oct 29, 2023•53 min•Season 13Ep. 3
This week Rachel and Lynne have successful financial journalist Michelle Bowes on the podcast to talk about creating a business mindset with your freelance business. Michelle has successfully juggled the worlds of words and money and she shares her tips on common mistakes freelancers make, how to earn more and how to cut down your business costs. She talks about: Finding confidence to talk about money How to quote and invoice without fear How to set up your freelance business the right way Super...
Oct 22, 2023•48 min•Season 13Ep. 2
We are back after a short break - and we have a great episode to share today. This week, Rachel and Lynne chat with award-winning novelist Charlotte Wood about the ups and downs of writing literary fiction. Charlotte shares her early days as a writer, including how she supplemented her income before she found success. We chat about: What literary awards mean and if they help your career Choosing the right publishing team Working with difficult topics Going on the publicity trail for your books S...
Oct 15, 2023•58 min•Season 13Ep. 1
This week, Rachel and Lynne are recovering from our first-ever The Content Byte Summit. It was a whirlwind of two and a half days of learnings, connections and aha-moments. This week, before we both take a break, we are going through our favourite tips and tricks from all the speakers and panels - and what we are taking to our own freelance business. We talk about: Ed Gandia's keynote talking about how to charge for the value that you add to your clients - not strategy, but advising The panel wi...
Sep 24, 2023•24 min•Season 12Ep. 36
This week, in the midst of last-minute preparations for our exciting event - The Content Byte Summit – Lynne and Rachel take you behind-the-scenes for a sneak peek into some of the presentations and panel chats that are occuring during the two days of the Summit. The Summit will be held from September 14-16 at the Australian National Maritime Museum in Sydney and we wanted to share some of the highlights that we are really excited about, including Keynote speaker Ed Gandia - moving up the value ...
Sep 04, 2023•20 min•Season 12Ep. 35
This week on the podcast, Rachel and Lynne chat with award-winning creative business consultant Monica Davidson on building a successful creative business. Monica works with creatives of all types to help them build their businesses and gain confidence. We chat about: Practical business advice for creatives Common mistakes freelancers make Working with government departments and agencies Helping people convert a hobby into a professional business Working with and training mentors Managing staff ...
Aug 27, 2023•53 min•Season 12Ep. 34
This week, Rachel and Lynne are chatting with writer Eagranie Yuh, who’s had an interesting career journey (but isn’t that all of us, really?). Eagranie chats about about how her background brought her to working on her own, writing white papers and doing branded podcasts for clients. She shares lots of fabulous ideas and tips, including: How a career coach helped her turn her passion for writing into a career What it's like to work for big international brands What white papers are and how to m...
Aug 20, 2023•43 min
This week Rachel and Lynne chat with literary agent Lou Johnson, who has just launched her own agency, Key People Literary Management with agent, publisher, and author Jeanne Ryckmans. With more than 20 years in publishing, Lou shares her knowledge on all things book-related. In our discussion, she chats about: How publishing has changed over the years What agents do How to find one How to get a publishing deal How to market your book And whether you can really make money as a novelist in Austra...
Aug 13, 2023•41 min•Season 12Ep. 32
This week on the podcast, Lynne has been unwell so we thought it would be a great idea to re-release one of our favourite episodes from a few years ago. This episode, from June 2020 (so we chat about the pandemic a few times) is with content marketing queen Jennifer Goforth Gregory about moving from journalism to content marketing, why it's so important to have niches, positioning yourself to clients and agencies as a subject matter expert and her three-pronged approach to marketing yourself. Sh...
Aug 06, 2023•48 min•Season 12Ep. 31
This week on the podcast, Lynne and Rachel chat with one of our digital heroes - Rebecca Lowrey Boyd. Rebecca is the digital managing editor of Better Homes and Gardens, Australia's leading homes website. She also founded Wee Birdy in 2007, a London-based blog devoted to London shopping and design, an innovative site in the heyday of blogging that we both loved. Rebecca talks about working on the digital side of a large media brand and the move towards omnimedia channels of print, digital and TV...
Jul 31, 2023•31 min•Season 12Ep. 30
Freelance writer Susan Horsburgh has an enviable CV and portfolio, writing for some of the country's most prestigious titles, including the Australian Women's Weekly, The Good Weekend ( in the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age) and Qantas magazines. She has written more than 30 Two of Us columns for The Good Weekend , which we know is a highly read and sought-after commission for freelancers. In her chat with Rachel and Lynne this week, she talks about: Her career to date (lots of great stories!...
Jul 23, 2023•35 min•Season 12Ep. 29
This week, Rachel and Lynne are chatting to a different style of guest - Bec Derrington from Sourcebottle. Sourcebottle is a fabulous resource for journalists, writers and content creators and one we both use regularly. Bec shares the story behind Sourcebottle - why she started it and how it works. During our wide-ranging chat we talk about: Her background in PR and how she saw the gap in the market The challenges in running a small business The changing media landscape How she connects journali...
Jul 16, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Season 12Ep. 28
This week, we're chatting to Steve Colquhoun - a journo, editor and copywriter based in Geelong, Victoria. He started in media at the age of 17 after leaving school, cutting his teeth on mastheads such as The Age, Herald Sun and Cairns Post. He's also worked extensively as a motoring journalist - and since going freelance in 2016 has met the content needs of a variety of clients including Mercedes-Benz, Deakin University and NAB. We chat to Steve about... + what it's really like writing about th...
Jul 09, 2023•35 min•Season 12Ep. 27
This week, hosts Rachel and Lynne are responding to a question we had on Instagram from an entry-level writer asking how to get her first clients. So we are sharing our 12 tips (6 from each of us) on how to land your first freelance writing client when you have no experience. We talk about: Finding your niche Using that niche to target clients in that area Partnering with freelancers who are a little bit ahead of you and might be able to sub-contract to you, so you start to get some clippings Ho...
Jul 02, 2023•18 min•Season 12Ep. 26
The life of a freelance travel writer sounds like a dream gig (and one we have always wondered about) - so this week Rachel and Lynne are chatting with freelancer and columnist Dilvin Yasa. Dilvin talks about the reality of working as a travel writer. In our chat, Dilvin talks about: The challenge of getting your foot in the door if you live in the 'wrong postcode' How men's magazines taught her how to write well The reality of spending weeks on the road How she juggles the demands of a weekly c...
Jun 25, 2023•31 min•Season 12Ep. 25
