We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Natalie Davis a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Natalie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about how you got your first non-friend, non-family client. Paint the picture for us so we can feel the same excitement you felt on that day.

I’ll never forget when I decided to try my hand at freelance blog writing. I had recently quit my full time job and had no real idea of how to make something like freelancing work, but I was determined to give it a fair shot and see where it went. On my first day with no job, I woke up at my regular time, did my regular morning routine, and sat down in my home office with no real work to do, but I knew I needed to do something. So, I decided to do what anyone pursuing a career in freelancing might do and I created a list of people to cold pitch and I started emailing. I knew that I wanted to do one thing – write blogs. I didn’t necessarily know how much I would charge or if anyone would even be interested, but I remember emailing probably 10 people that day. I knew to expect a lot of ghosters and even a lot of “no’s.” But from that one day of cold pitching, I eventually received one “yes” that catapulted my freelance blogging business into what it is today. A few weeks later, I was able to meet with this potential client in person, discuss the vision that I saw for a blog for their business, and they agreed. Through working with this client alone, I was able to create the blog and email packages that I still offer today and more importantly, I proved to myself that this really COULD work! That one “yes” changed my business trajectory forever and I’ll never forget it.

Natalie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Natty Writes first launched in September of 2022 with little to no direction. I had an *idea* for how I wanted the business to look, but I really didn’t know how to make it happen. Prior to jumping into the world of entrepreneurship, I had always been in the world of marketing and I knew I was capable of a lot of different things, but wasn’t sure how to turn those skills into a real business with real clients. But I knew one thing – I wouldn’t figure it out unless I just TRIED something. Even if it was the wrong thing, that action would provide clarity. So, that’s what I did. After quitting my job in Spring of 2022 with absolutely no backup plan, I set out to be a freelance blog and email writer and I’ll never forget that season of life. I DIY’ed a website and created a service guide and set out to cold pitch a few people that seemed like dream clients. Of course, I was met with a lot of “no’s.” But when I got that first “yes,” it was the fuel that I needed to keep going and start marketing online even if I didn’t feel totally “legit” yet. Three months later, I had a full done-for-you client load, exceeded my previous salary, and had more clarity than ever before. Now in 2024, I still have a full done-for-you client load, have an ever growing audience that feels like a true community, and have various service offerings for others to choose from! Looking back, I’m so thankful that I didn’t wait until I had all the answers to start – clarity is always found in the action and I really am proof of that.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

Many times when people think about business and ways to generate new clients, it’s easy to jump straight into all of the marketing strategies to implement. And while it’s true that marketing IS important and there are lots of different avenues you can try, I personally don’t think anything will ever beat word of mouth and referrals. When you work to make one client happy, they’ll gladly shout your name from the rooftops. When you deliver the service that someone comes to you for in a way that goes above and beyond, they will tell anyone they can about you. And you never know when that person they tell has been looking for someone that provides the product or service that you offer. Despite all of the marketing that I do in my business, word of mouth and referrals continue to be the best source of new clients for my business!

How did you build your audience on social media?

As a business owner, it’s so easy to get swooped into vanity metrics and become so consumed with numbers that really don’t matter that much in the grand scheme of things. I remember feeling this when I first started my business and launched my social media accounts. I so badly craved a large following because I believed it would be the thing that made me look credible to anyone who stumbled upon my account. But I quickly learned that quality is greater quantity in this scenario! While I am committed to a consistent social media presence and I continue to actively work to grow my audience on social media, it’s no longer something that’s all consuming. I actually started to experience the most growth when I stopped obsessing over the numbers and instead switched my focus to how I was showing up. When someone follows me on social media, I don’t want them to feel like I’m posting just for the sake of posting or that they’re just another number. I want them to feel like it’s a place where we can truly connect and they can learn something along the way.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.nattywrites.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/natty.writes/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nataliebdavis/

Image Credits
Katie Johnson