039: “The pandemic highlighted what we already knew: online and remote work really is the future.” Freelancing with Laura Briggs

Jen Amos 0:00

Welcome to holding down the fort, a podcast show dedicated to curating knowledge, resources and relevant stories. So military spouses can continue to make confident and informed decisions for their families. Because let's face it, we know who's really holding down the fort. I'm Jen amis, a Goldstar, daughter of veterans spouse, and your host for today's show. Let's get started.

All right. Hey, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of holding down the fort. Really excited for this next interview. But before I do, I have announcements as always. So I am really excited because holding down the for almost one year later, now officially has a newsletter. Similar to the podcast show, this newsletter will be curating knowledge, resources and relevant stories from the guests that we had interviewed in the past. So you can continue to make confident and informed decisions for you and your family. This is my thank you to the people who have been on our show in the past, and sometimes one interview isn't enough. And so if you are interested in gaining more of these resources from people we have interviewed on this show, please subscribe to that newsletter, you can subscribe in the show notes of this episode, or you can visit holding down the for podcast.com. Now the show would not be possible. If it wasn't for the company, I am so proud to represent us that wealth. While most financial advisors help you plan for retirement. We help you the military family member and the military service member. Take control of your finances today, to create the flexibility you need for who you want to become or are becoming. You can also learn more about my husband who founded us vet wealth and myself by checking out the first few episodes of season two here at holding down the for podcast. Given these very interesting times. US bet wealth is offering a ton of free resources. Right now. One of the first resources that we're giving for free are our weekly action classes, where you'll get a chance to network with like minded professionals, and learn actionable lessons you can implement right away or not, you could just hang out and get to know the people that I'm so proud to work with. And just anyone else who chooses to be a part of these free action classes. Every week, we learn from bestselling authors covering topics regarding identity, self development, or financial control. Learn more about our free action classes at US bet wealth.com. Now this next free resource is also pretty awesome. I think this has probably been our most popular resource so far. And that is our LinkedIn 30 Day Challenge. Now, given these times, I think a lot of people are looking inward and doing a lot of self reflecting and wondering what their next career move will be or what their next business will be. Or you're maybe interested in learning how to continue growing your business online. Well, my husband, Scott R. Tucker is known for his LinkedIn teachings and being a model of what LinkedIn really is today. And he's decided to start over on LinkedIn for 30 days and show you how he would redo LinkedIn if he were to actually start over and he's going to do that through creating a completely new different account and showing you how it's done. So if you are interested in amping up your LinkedIn game, or you're looking to start over, or you're looking to get on LinkedIn, I highly encourage that you check out this free LinkedIn 30 Day Challenge slash masterclass. I think we're calling it a masterclass. You can learn more at us but wealth.com forward slash LinkedIn. Wow, look at that free newsletter with free resources, free action classes, free 30 Day LinkedIn challenge. Please take advantage of our free stuff all brought to you by us but wealth, you won't regret it. You're welcome. All right. With that said, thank you so much for indulging me in my announcements. Now please enjoy this next interview

reelance comes out in October: 2020

Unknown Speaker 5:10

Hey, thanks for having me. I'm really excited to be here.

Jen Amos 5:13

Yeah, absolutely. I'm happy to have you. And I want to first start off by apologizing that I didn't get a chance to catch your panel, military greater gone. First thing in the morning, but how was that for you to you know, to go there was that your first military creator con? Like, How was the experience for you?

Speaker 1 5:31

Oh, it was awesome. It was the first time I'd ever been to pod fest, and definitely my first time at military creator con. And so many of the people like on my panel, and that I knew in the military community, I only knew virtually and so it was awesome to be able to be there in person and to make some of those connections. Some of those people, you know, I'd been talking with virtually or working with in some capacity for months. And so it was really cool to be able to go there. And I've met so many amazing people like pod Fest was great. But military creator con specifically, there have been so many incredible conversations that came out of that one room like yeah, awesome people in our space that I'm just like, for one reason or another getting to work with or talk to, or you know, are helping with my nonprofit or something. It's just really been amazing. Like that one event was totally worth it. And it feels like a lifetime ago, because that was right before this panda went insane. And it was like the last big thing we all probably did. Right? Like, so. It's just feels like a like worlds ago that we did that. It's so

Jen Amos 6:30

true. And I'm so happy that like that was the last event that my husband and I went to because we rented an RV for like 10 days. And we were like, okay, and we're gonna like road trip from Virginia to Florida. And I'm so glad you know that they didn't cancel the event. And I think I saw like an email or two like saying, yeah, the event is still going on. Because I was like, Oh my gosh, we planned this RV thing in advance. Because you know, we have this future goal to eventually live out of an RV. I mean, that is if we don't have kids yet. Like we don't have kids yet. We just have a dog. But like, I think it'd be easier without kids, in my opinion. But yeah, and we're very fortunate to make it out there and just see everyone, like some familiar faces, like in the flesh, but also, you know, just like what you said, people that we've been building community with online to see them in person in the flesh. And it's like, wow, like you're real. Yeah. So it was a really awesome experience. And yeah, that was an awesome room to be in. I just felt like I was at home in a way and I felt grounded. And the rest of the pod fest experience was just a lot of fun. Like, I think military crater con was a great way to kick off the conference, at least for me.

Speaker 1 7:38

Oh, yeah, absolutely. Like I have zero regrets about going and I'm so glad that I went. And it's just been, you know, sometimes you go to conferences, and you get a lot out of it in the moment. But to me, the most powerful events are when you can go and there's conversations that continue long after the conference. And I've been really pleased to see that. That's the case with military creator con, I've just met so many awesome people that I had never met in person or that I had never met at all and have been able to really build a relationship with them since.

Jen Amos 8:06

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. It's great. And I don't know when the next in person live event will be. But until then I will hold on to the experiences and memories. I had a military crater con.

Unknown Speaker 8:19

Oh, true. Same.

Jen Amos 8:21

Yeah. Well, Laura, for people that are getting to know you for the first time, I didn't mention this in your bio, but you are also a wife of a Navy veteran. And you're also a TEDx speaker of like two TEDx speaking events. So I just think it's so awesome. I found out about this after the fact I have to like listen to those later and probably mentioned my thoughts on them in the intro before I officially published it. But for people that are getting to know you for the first time and are hearing about you for the first time, why don't you share with us just a snapshot of how life looks like for you nowadays, given everything?

Speaker 1 8:53

o, I want to take like all of: 2020

Jen Amos: 11:35

Wow, that is so incredible. It sounds like the pandemic hasn't really affected you anything, it's it's maybe given you more time to really run with this.

: 11:45

Yeah. And that's what's crazy, right, because like, I work in the online space and have for so long that most of my clients were already largely online had their digital marketing efforts in place. And so I do freelance services like freelance writing for attorneys, I help nonfiction book authors build their marketing plan to have a really successful book launch. And that hasn't slowed down because those things are still going forward. Right. And so I think the pandemic highlighted what we already knew, which was the online work and remote work really is the future and having a nonprofit that was kind of created right before all this started, it really cemented like we already knew this was a thing for the military community, we move a lot, we have to have digital careers, and military spouse, unemployment and underemployment are just massive, like the numbers are shameful. And it's hard to get a job. And for some people remote, like even, like consistent remote position is not flexible enough, because what if your spouse is deployed, and now they have childcare concerns for the next however many months, they can't be on a phone call between nine and five, they can, you know, be sitting at a desk. So freelancing is a little more flexible than that, and allows them to own their own business, and still, like support their service member or if they're a veteran, like it's a good way for them to take a lot of the skills they built up in the military and turn that into entrepreneurship.

Jen Amos: 13:07

Oh, that is absolutely incredible. My husband and I, we work from home as well. And we do everything online. For the most part, our team is also remote. And just like what you said, I really feel like this, you know, pandemic state home executive order for like everyone has really highlighted the importance of or the value of working remotely, and having that flexible schedule. So, you know, I always think about a time where I did start freelancing, and my mom would always be like, when you go to get a permanent job, you're gonna win, you're gonna like you can find a government job like with that degree, you can become an officer in the military. No. And you know, maybe it's because of my military child background, where we moved every two, three years, I think it just always stuck with me that I couldn't do anything stable. And so freelance work, and having my own business was always just, it just felt more comfortable to me than working a full time job. And I think today, given everything, I am just so happy that I took a chance on myself. And I believed in myself enough to live this kind of life. Because I know that there are a lot of people that are hurting today. And this is not to rub it in their faces like hey, look at me, like not at all, like not at all, like I am grieving just as much as everyone else's. Because, you know, my friends have lost their jobs, you know, yeah, I just hope that being able to talk about freelancing and educating about other income producing options will, you know, give them a sense of hope to pursue something different, or to take a chance on themselves, you know, in pursuing something that maybe they had put off for so long, because they were holding on to that job.

: 14:44

You're so right. And I think that building up the skills and this is actually like, my second TEDx Talk is all about like, why we need to do a better job teaching college students and high school students about freelancing as an option because it's so versatile in the way that you build up Isn't it that you get the hard skills and the soft skills that can either help you grow that into a business after you graduate, or it's really something that you can pivot successfully into a full time remote career or, you know, typical in office career. And so I think it's something that in light of the pandemic, a lot of people are thinking, Man, I wish I'd started that side hustle sooner I wish I had invested in this particular type of skills, maybe I got laid off. And now I know that there are other jobs coming on the market, but I don't have the technical skills or know the software to do them. And so even if you are in a full time position, right now, I strongly encourage you to diversify your income and dip your toes into the pool of freelancing because it really does position you within your regular job, and also as a business owner, and I think one of the most powerful things you can have in life is choices. And freelancing allows you to have the choice and decide what's going to work best for you.

Jen Amos: 15:51

Yeah, beautifully said one of the most powerful things you can have his choices. Beautiful. I feel like that's gonna be the title of your show. I love it. Well, Laura, let's get more into operation freelance. So you started it earlier this year, and you were able to really run with it because of the 20k for 2020 grant, which is absolutely awesome. And you mentioned that it's going to be a 12 week program, is it going to be implemented? Or is it already running for people to you know, reach out and get involved.

: 16:23

So at the time, we're recording this episode, we have a few more days to accept applications for what we're calling our first cohort. And we want to do at least 20 people going through the program this year more if we can swing it. And so we're going to take the first round of chosen applicants through the program from June 15 through the summer. And then kind of in the middle of that going on, we'll be opening our applications for our fall round, we had a number of people that, you know, PCs season is so messed up this year anyways, because of the pandemic. but summer is hard for military families. It's actually why we didn't want to launch in the summer because I'm like, you know, everyone is moving and their kids are home and it's chaos. So we will have a second round. And our like most recent or next upcoming application will always be live on our website. So it's just a Google form to submit application information. And then we meet as a committee and kind of talk to some of the people who are shortlisted, make sure that it's a really good fit for them. And then we launch and it's completely virtual, you know, we have people who are Oh CONUS, we have people who are in Hawaii, they're in totally different time zones. So the training is live, and there's office hours every single week. But if you can attend those, you can submit questions in advance, and then you can always watch the replay. And so that's our goal. There's also a one on one mentorship, every person who comes in, I do a kickoff call with them to identify what kind of freelance work they want to do direct them to different resources, if they need it. If they're writers, I'm going to send them a copy of my first book, for example. So we're really excited that we're kicking off round one. And I think we have some really amazing people that are going to go through the program in round one. And our intention is for this to be ongoing where we have multiple cohorts per

Jen Amos: 18:01

year. Yeah, that sounds absolutely exciting. You mentioned that you almost have like your full list of cohorts. How do people qualify? Or at least the people that you have qualified? Like what does it take for someone to be part of your cohort.

: 18:16

So we are looking for people who have an interest in working online providing a service that could mean a lot of things to different people could be graphic designer, virtual assistant, writer, marketing specialists, public relations, proofreader, there's all kinds of different creative or even Technical Services, right, you could do it consultant that would be applicable for a lot of veterans who have that experience in the service. And we're looking for people who either want to supplement their family's income doing it part time, or their goal could be to scale it to full time, but they're looking for help getting started. So this is, this version of the program is meant for beginners. So you just need to have an interest in it and have some skills like if you've worked in an office before you could become a virtual assistant, right? So it's not like you need to be super technically trained. But maybe you did go to school for graphic design, and you just don't know how to launch that business piece of running your own company. And so we're really trying to take, we're looking at caregivers of disabled vets, veterans and military spouses of anyone in any branch, who has about five hours per week to dedicate to doing the training and the homework, and is really committed to trying to make this work. So we're looking for people who are self motivated, but there is no like, Oh, you have to have held a job in the last year and the job has to be this specific thing. You know, it's very common, and we've seen this in our applications. A lot of the military spouses specifically are like, I've been unemployed for five years or I've worked whatever job I could find that the base that we were at, but they have the drive and the passion and so that's where we're trying to find people who have the interest and just need the help figuring out for them. What does it look like what does their market Didn't plan look like and what services should they offer based on their background and their interests? So I would say those are the most important things that drive the time commitment to do it. And, you know, just the passion for figuring out a way to work online as a creative or technical service provider.

Jen Amos: 20:16

Yeah, definitely. And, you know, I think that there are a lot of talented people out there a lot of people with very unique skill sets. But the marketing part is really difficult for a lot of people or how to, you know, how to put together a business plan. And so I think that's awesome that you are showing people like, Hey, you can market your talent, and it's a lot easier than you think it is. And it just takes his program to go through, to be able to learn all that. So I think that is absolutely awesome. And, you know, really important to be able to work with people that do have the drive and the passion, because, you know, no one's going to be babysitting you, you know, especially if you're a beginner and freelancing, like no one is going to be watching over you are holding you accountable. Like it's really up to your self discipline, you know, to be the best service provider that you can virtually.

: 21:03

Yeah, absolutely. And that's our goal is, we know, there's some elements of this that will apply across the entire cohort, what you need to know about contracts, how to market yourself, for example. But there's also a lot of it, that's very personal to you, you know, if you need to develop a skill set in a particular thing, we want to be able to give you that one on one support to at least point you in the right direction, and help you build the business that looks like how you want it to look, someone who wants this to become a 30 hour week commitment is going to have different deliverables and you know, intentions than somebody who just wants this to be a couple of hours per week that they can fit in, during their very busy schedule. But both of those people can be successful by their own established standards. And so we're trying to allow for that as well. It's not like you have to have the goal of working full time and leaving a day job, you know, I I work essentially full time and then do this on the side. So we'll try to tailor it as much as possible to where people are at and where they want to go.

Jen Amos: 22:01

Well, it sounds like you are really able to put your teaching background, you're really able to apply it in this nonprofit. Does that sound about right?

: 22:10

Yeah, I found that, you know, it was really hard for me to leave my teaching career because I had wanted to be a teacher for so long. And while I was working on my PhD, I actually taught seventh grade and Baltimore City Public Schools. And it was the most exhausting, overwhelming year of my life. And I kind of realized, you know, what, I definitely don't want to work in, you know, traditional public school education, I could not see myself doing that for 30 years to hit retirement. And that was really hard to walk away from it and be like, Okay, I thought my whole life I was going to be a teacher or a professor. Now what and I have found then working online, and especially doing things like Operation freelance, I still get to teach, it just isn't in a traditional classroom. And I think it's so cool that we even have that option today. Because teaching online like wasn't a thing, you know, the way it is today, 20 years ago, or 30 years ago. So it's great to have that option and still be able to help people and mentor people but not have to fit it into a rigid box of this is what it should look like.

Jen Amos: 23:08

Yeah, thank God for the internet. I know for real? Yeah, I was just thinking, you know, this is 2020 is like my 10 year anniversary, since I've worked from home essentially, or like got into sales. And I just think like, if it wasn't for the internet, like, I don't know, who I would be, I don't know, like, I would probably just be an awful just deadbeat person living at my mom's and working some kind of part time job. Not that part time jobs are bad. I'm just saying like, you know, if you're 32, and you're still working some kind of part time jobs. But other than that, you know, if you do not want to live that, you know, the freelancing life is a great option. And I think it's incredible that you are really driving this nonprofit for military spouses and veterans. I'd like to dive more into your second book now, which is a six figure freelancer. But I want to also backtrack, because it's your second book. Can you elaborate a little bit on your first book, and what inspired you to write your second book, which is coming out in October?

: 24:06

Yeah, my first book is very much meant for the beginner freelance writer. And it's all about business rather than the craft of actual writing. Craft of actual writing is the subject of my third book. So that one's going to be all about writing for websites writing for the internet. But we wanted to have a beginner book that introduces people to how you work as a freelance writer today online. And so that is very much geared towards someone who wants to figure out how to market themselves, like how much time they should spend towards marketing, the different types of writing that you can do. And a lot of the freelancers that I've worked with in the last couple of years are what I call my advanced freelancers. They're already making three to $5,000 a month, but maybe it's inconsistent or they have the wrong clients and they're stuck on how to scale it. So the six figure Freelancer is taking all the learnings from the people that I've coached. I also interviewed 20 other six figure freelancers for their insight into the book. So it includes all of our tips, tricks, mindset, marketing, dealing with clients, when to fire clients how to outsource to your very first VA deciding if you want to run an agency, all of these things that are more complex than what a beginner would look at. And so it's really all about that next level of running your freelance business. And I'm really excited about it, I just finished the manuscript and the first round of edits. And what's going to be cool about this book is anyone who buys it will get access to an online library of resources that I can keep updated, right, my top 10 software tools that's going to live as a PDF on the books website, and that will remain updated. So if someone buys the book two years from now, that's still going to be updated. It's not like they're gonna read it in the book and go, Oh, that software doesn't exist anymore, that when, you know, got bought out. So I focused a lot on making this relevant to how a lot of freelancers work today, which is online.

Jen Amos: 25:53

Yeah. And I like how you subtly mentioned hiring a virtual assistant, because I think that for most freelancers, they kind of live that sole proprietor solopreneur kind of career. And a lot of them eventually, like, know that they need to scale, but they're not ready to delegate. And so does your talk about that, like, you know, are you ready to delegate kind of question?

: 26:19

Yeah, because there's two different ways to think about it. And a lot of freelancers who've been in business for a while, have a real hesitancy about hiring subcontractors. So if they are the solopreneur, like writers are notorious for this, we hate hiring other writers. Unfortunately, writers have a, you know, reputation for being flaky and sometimes difficult to work with. And so I know a lot of writers were like, I'm not outsourcing to another writer, I want to do all my client work. And that's totally cool, you can do that. I've done it for years. So running an agency is a different thing from outsourcing to a VA, even if you choose to be a solopreneur, there are still things you can offload to somebody else. I know plenty of writers, for example, who are using their virtual assistant to pick blog topic titles for their clients and outline the work and pull the resources so that their writing process is faster and all your marketing stuff, publishing your blogs, social media, managing your calendar, and inbox, like all of those kinds of things can go to a VA and there's actually two chapters in the book one is kind of like, the mindset and what you need to know before you outsource to a VA and like, what kinds of tasks you should be giving to them. And then the chapter that immediately follows it is where do you find this person? How do you interview them? How do you give them a sample test job to see if it's a fit? And how do you work with VA successfully long term, most of the people on my team, one of my virtual assistants, Andrew, we have worked together six years at this. So when you find the right person, I really preach that like, you want to find the gold standard A plus person and build a really positive relationship with them. Because the more they know your business, the easier they will find it to work with you and the more of an expert they'll become. And your topics like Andrew all the time recommends ideas of this should be your next course. And you should do this. And this could be a book because he knows my audience, and he knows the type of things that I create. And so that's a really important part is building this positive relationship. My team is small, right? It's an executive assistant. And it's Andrew doing a lot of the website development stuff and PowerPoint building and things of that nature. So you can still have a small team and keep your expenses pretty low. But they free you up to do more of the money making activities.

Jen Amos: 28:25

Yeah. Wow. That's incredible. And I think for our listeners that are hearing this and you're considering a career in freelancing, I think that Laura sounds like an incredible person to work with from when you get started to wanting to be more advanced in your freelancing career. So, Laura, really awesome stuff. I want to thank you so much for just sharing your knowledge and your wisdom and your passion to help military spouses and veterans really find freelance work or learn how to market their own talents and their own skill sets. Do you have any more closing thoughts to you know, maybe the military spouse or veteran that's like, yeah, I have no idea how to get started, like, you know that that they just feel like they want to do it, but they really don't know how to get started, like, what would you say to those spouses and veterans?

: 29:16

Well, to find out if this is going to be the right fit for you, I'd start listening and watching the free resources that are available to you start following some other freelancers, especially if they're in the military and veteran space and can kind of you know, speak to that aspect of it. So start following them, listen to podcasts, look for YouTube videos, just to kind of get a sense of what it really looks like to do this and what do you need to have to do it? And how hard is it to get started? If you still feel that level of interest after gathering this free information, think about what your next step might be. It might be buying a book, it might be applying to be part of our next cohort with Operation freelance. You can join a facebook group like I have a Facebook group of freelancers where we do lots of trainings in there. And so you want to figure out what you're not Next step is going to be, but what I like to do whenever I step into something new is to put myself in the world of the people who are already doing that and see if in learning about it, I still feel just as excited and can decide that it's my next step to take a bigger commitment. So you don't have to feel like oh, I have to go out and buy a course today. Like I have to commit to this, no, spend some time doing research and exploring your options.

Jen Amos: 30:21

I love that you say that it reminds me of back in college, I was studying public relations. And so I remember I'd follow around, I'd go to these conferences, these PR conferences, and I would see how people were living their lives, like what the what the PR lifestyle was like. And that's how I knew I didn't want to do PR, because like, I didn't want to work 14 hour day, or like, never see my family. And like I just I just knew early on when I was in college, and it was awful, because I changed my major, like three times a PRs and one for me. And then like within a year already in it and going to this conference was like, okay, yeah, it's not for me. And I'd like to believe that I'm using it in my own way today. Like what shows like this, but I love that advice. It's like if you want to know if this is for you, like find someone who's already in it and see how their lifestyle is see how they're running it and see if that still inspires you to want to pursue that.

: 31:15

Yeah, ask them to like, especially I found in the military community, when I was trying to decide if, if operation freelance was the right fit to be a nonprofit structure. That's the first thing I did, I reached out to every thought leader in our space, who I thought could help me make that decision. And our military community is so giving, like so many people got on the phone with me and just talked through things. And much like you, I had explored the option of becoming a professional public speaker. And doing a free consult with a woman who is a professional public speaker is what told me that I didn't want to do that all the time. She's like, well, I spend 200 nights a year in a hotel room. And I'm like, oh, that sounds awful. I'll just do like eight to 10 events a year. And I'm good with that. I don't need that to be my full time thing. So you want to follow the person who's already doing it, because sometimes that will give you the clues that you could be a really good fit for it. Or maybe that isn't the right value.

Jen Amos: 32:08

Yeah, I think it sounds cool at first, like I used to envy my friends that would travel for work. And you know, year end, they're like, Oh, I hate this. Like I'm always traveling. I'm always jet lagged. And I'm like, Yeah, I don't I don't think I'd want that. And even for me even just doing like the the RV trip we did to military crater con and podfest. Like when we came back, I was like, I needed a vacation. Like after that vacation. I was like I just needed to unplug. Yeah, that's just the introverted me. I was like, I don't think I could be around that people like around people for so long. In that capacity. So, ya know, really astounding advice. Laura, I just want to thank you, again, so much for your time and your wisdom and your knowledge and your expertise. For people that want to learn more about you and reach out to you and even apply for Operation freelance. How can they do that?

: 32:54

Yeah, so if you have any questions or concerns, you can always find me on LinkedIn at Laura Briggs. And then info at Operation freelance.org is our email our general email address. And the website is Operation freelance.org. If you want to learn a little bit more about it, or even if you want to volunteer or if you're someone who has expertise in the freelance space, and you're like, hey, I want to come in and teach a session to people in the cohort, like feel free to reach out to us at that email address. We're still relatively new and building all of those relationships. But it's been so cool to get to be introduced to so many people in the military community who either want to apply or want to help and we are happy to have you.

Jen Amos: 33:32

Beautiful, well, listeners. There you have it. We hope that today's episode gave you one more piece of knowledge resource, a relevant story so you can continue to make confident and informed decisions for you and your family. Laura, thank you again so much for your time. I really appreciate having you.

Unknown Speaker: 33:45

Thanks for having me.