Melody Spencer, Marketing Mentor

When you start out, you often encounter potential clients who don't value your work because you're new. And if you want to get a few clients at a lower rate under your belt to start, that's your call. It can be a great way to get a few reviews and testimonials and just test the water. That said, it needs to be your decision. Clients who come in and expect a discount are a whole different conversation. You've got to have faith in what you do and charge accordingly. We all go through it, learning to state your rates and stand up for yourself is an important rite of passage.

Speaking of getting your feet wet with lower rate projects, lots of digital nomads just starting out get on Freelancer and Upwork, and quickly find out it's a race to the bottom on price. While this may not be true if you are in a professional niche that's not overcrowded, it pays to do everything you can to start getting referrals and make sure to have your own site up as soon as possible. Melody also recommends getting on LinkedIn and being active in field appropriate Facebook groups.

Digital marketing has long been funnel based. Get on my mailing list, sell a small thing, upsell, upsell again, follow the yellow brick road... We're all used to it and close out those popups as soon as we see them. Digital marketing is getting back to the one to one connections, having conversations, and learning about each other. We can help, we can see each other as people, and we can still get paid.

For full links and show notes visit compasspod.com/024