Turning Myself Into My Own Client: The LFS Case Study
Have you heard of the professional’s dilemma?
It’s the concept that:
The plumber’s pipes constantly leak.
The house painter’s walls look like crap.
The chef burns his family’s dinner.
The CPA makes costly mistakes on her personal taxes.
The term implies that the expert spends so much time doing for others…
…they can’t be bothered to do for themselves.
I get it.
As a writer, I do find it tough to write for myself and my own brand.
Can you relate?
I admit, I’ve been guilty of the professional’s dilemma for too long.
I have never set out to produce garbage, but I am guilty of phoning it in at times when it comes to my own website, blog, and other online content.
But that stops now.
I’m drawing my line in the sand.
I am about to make myself my own freelance writing client.
As my new client, I plan to take my new business Little Family Security from obscurity to visibility with a six-month organic content assault.
How will my efforts stack up now that I plan to use my skills to the fullest?
We’ll have to see. Stay tuned, because I plan to provide updates every 30 days.
Let’s break it all down, shall we?
Follow along closely as I become my own freelance writing client. Little Family Security is about to see visiblity online with an organic content assault.
A Case Study in Organic Marketing Growth
Little Family Security is my independent life insurance agency. Since 2011, I’ve worked full time as a home-based freelance copywriter.
My career has given me the opportunity to help marketing agencies and small-to-midsized businesses on nearly every continent achieve growth online with digital copy in various forms.
Two years ago, I decided to embark on an insurance career to follow in my father’s footsteps (and I love a challenge). I never planned on giving up on freelance copywriting entirely, as I love writing (and my freedom).
But life insurance also allowed me to work from home, with hours I chose, and the income is limitless.
As a licensed life producer, I am able to sell life products (and retirement products like IULs and Annuities) either in person or over the phone.
Otherwise referred to as simplified issue life insurance, the products I offer help my clients protect their families’ futures.
And while selling life insurance can be rewarding, the current model of finding people to sell to never sat right with me.
Let me fill you in and that current model to see what you think.
There are various ways to find life insurance prospects. The most popular include:
Knock on doors or call people randomly (aka cold knocking/calling)
Select a niche (homebuyers, veterans, the elderly, etc.) and mail to those individuals in the hopes of receiving a return correspondence.
Create online ads and hope interested prospects click and fill out the accompanying form.
Cold Knocking/Calling
Knocking on doors and calling people randomly is the lowest cost method of finding prospects, but it’s not for the faint of heart.
You’re likely to get a few door slams and rude hangups before the day is out.
That’s because those people have never shown interest, and are just now considering your pitch.
You may get some yeses, as it’s all a numbers game, but brace for abuse.
Maybe that’s the reason door-to-door salesmen always carried trunks around.
They had to have skin as thick as an elephant to do that job.
Niche Mailers
My two year long insurance career has taught me that niche mailers produce strong prospects.
When a person gets the mailer, fills out the form, and sends it back, it shows two positive buying signals.
Interest: The person went out of their way to take a pen or pencil and carefully answer all the questions on the form. They then spent postage and energy either carrying the letter to the post office or putting it in their mailbox before raising the red metal flag.
Engagement: Filling out the form is critical, as it shows the person wants to learn more about life insurance, and is ready to receive contact from a licensed agent (preferably me).
I have had the most success with prospects who received mailers, but online ads are a close second.
Online Ads
Prospects that respond to online ads discussing life insurance can be a mixed bag. It all depends on where prospects see those ads.
When prospects see life insurance ads on Google, they are typically close to making a buying decision. They’re asking questions, getting quotes, and so on.
Facebook life insurance ads are not so definite.
People scroll on Facebook to keep up with family and stalk those they envy.
When Facebook users come across an ad for life insurance, they may click on it briefly, but the ad is quickly forgotten in a sea of selfies, dog pics and politically themed jokes.
What’s worse is that Facebook will often auto-fill forms if you’ve ever completed the process before.
That means any prospect information I receive from Facebook might be purposeful. Or it could be a mis-swipe of the finger.
Only by calling the prospect on the phone will I ever know.
Even if they did fill out a form, some prospects fall into the habit of telling me, “I didn’t fill anything out,” which is always fun to hear.
The Expensive Model of Buying Leads
Earlier, I mentioned that cold knocking/calling was the cheapest of the three methods of finding people to sell to.
If you’re walking in your neighborhood or using your cell phone that you already pay for anyway, then the first option of finding clients can come with zero cost.
But again, you face high levels of rejection.
The other two methods, mailers and online ads, tend to work best for finding interested prospects.
You can pay for postage and mail out to prospects yourself, or you can create your own online ads, but this takes great care, expertise, and a steep learning curve before you produce your first interested prospect.
From here on out, we’re going to refer to interested life insurance prospects as leads.
Here’s the thing about leads: Unless you’re producing a healthy stream of leads for your own benefit, you must buy leads from lead vendors.
Unless, of course, cold knocking and calling is more your speed. Yeah. Didn’t think so.
Buying leads from reputable vendors is the best way to convert prospects to clients.
The idea is to triple your lead investment, or more, so that you earn a healthy ROI.
When I first started as a life insurance agent, I was instructed (like everyone else) to buy life leads at costs from $1 to $50 a piece, with no promise of a sale.
At one point, I was personally spending $2,000 a week on leads, which quickly ate into my ROI.
Even two years ago, as a brand spanking new agent, I knew there was a better way.
I’m drawing my line in the sand. No phoned in content. No content written by AI. Only quality, organic content will do for Little Family Security, my fledgling insurance agency.
Putting My Skills to Use for My Own Benefit
As I mentioned, I’ve worked as a freelance copywriter for nearly a decade and a half.
During my liberating and rewarding career, I have written interest-boosting and conversion-ready content for clients of all types.
I’ve worked with a TV personality, a major insurance company, a couple dozen marketing agencies, banks, insurance companies, you name it.
My clients have spanned locations from the U.S. to Canada, Europe, Australia and the Middle East, even China.
All of these businesses had unique writing requirements.
Some wanted SEO-friendly blog posts to have their “cream” rise to the top online.
Others wanted whitepapers to showcase the features and benefits of their latest product.
Or press releases to deliver eyeballs to their latest offering, new hire, or latest organizational news.
Then there were all the scripts, social media posts, even full-length books.
No matter the type of content, every project had a similar goal: Attract attention, move the audience’s emotional needle, and get them to act.
Action could be to click a button, submit a form or pick up the phone and call.
My clients hire me because I’m good at what I do.
Not only do I have a knack for writing, but I’m well-versed in:
Psychology
Neuro-linguistic programming
Even hypnosis
Let me give you an example of how to invoke the power of all three techniques using words alone.
As you sit there reading this, your eyes move steadily across the page. You see each word as black type on a white background.
You’re becoming aware of the density of the letters. Not very thick. Just thin enough to grace the page, and keep your eyes moving from left to right, from the top of the page on down.
As you become more aware of each letter, word, and the power they contain, you start to realize that I’ve put you into a state you weren’t in before.
You are now immersed in the content, so that I can describe a hot dog steaming in a warm bun, slathered with ketchup and mustard.
Your mouth waters as you settle into your seat at the baseball stadium. You’re surrounded by people cheering as you place the hot dog in your mouth.
Your tongue is awash with flavors: Sweet green relish, tangy yellow mustard, salty and delicious red ketchup, and maybe tart sauerkraut if you’re feeling spicy.
Techniques like these work well when the goal is to entice a prospect to fill out a form, and inquire about life insurance. And I can’t wait to get started!
For the next half of a year, I’m staying the course and bringing the heat when it comes to the personal branding of Little Family Security.
I’m pulling out all the stops with instructive, entertaining, and actionable content in the form of blogs, videos, case studies, tripwire offerings, and whatever else my audience responds to.
Ethical Attraction Only
To be clear, when I use phrases like enticing people or attracting attention, I’m not talking about manipulation.
Rather, I plan to use my skills to showcase to my audience that I genuinely care.
I want nothing more than to help them put life insurance in place. To assist them in finding the best policy and the most suitable coverage, so their family has peace of mind when they pass.
Clients will also know by the content I provide that I’ve partnered with up to 40 life insurance carriers.
That gives me the unique opportunity to help young, old, even the infirmed find suitable life coverage.
By Telling the World My Plans, I Expect YOU to Hold Me Accountable
I’m sick of talking about myself, so this is the last I’ll say of my plan before I spell it all out.
My reason for writing this post is twofold.
First, it holds me accountable.
By announcing to the world my plans to methodically craft quality content with the expertise I typically reserve for client work, I must follow through.
It is imperative that I complete the full six-month content push, so I don’t let myself down.
And so you can’t call me a liar.
A fake.
A phoney.
The other reason for this post is to help writers and marketers see that organic content written by humans still reigns supreme, even in a world infused with AI.
When I say Organic Content, I mean it. All the content I provide for Little Family Security comes me, NEVER AI.
So follow along with me while I build the audience for Little Family Security brick by brick using only organic content, with no paid ads.
If you are a creative type and your personal brand is lacking, you’ll definitely want to keep an eye on this space.
And if you’re a prospect interested in life insurance, I hope you enjoy the content I’m catering to you personally.
Whatever your reason for being here, let me prove to you that the Professional’s Dilemma may be a commonly perceived phenomenon, but it’s not an inevitable law.
Here is how I’ll prove it.
Ted Talk Level Blogs
The initial content push will begin with me writing and publishing one blog post per week for Little Family Security.
Like clockwork, I will produce informative and entertaining content that rises above the noise online.
When writing blogs, I like to think of each piece as a mini-Ted Talk.
Each blog post will be designed to:
Hook the reader early with pain points and emotionally-driven situations they can easily relate to.
Inform and educate life insurance prospects with content that is easy to read on any sized device.
Invite conversation by leaving readers with a question or deep thought that makes them ponder.
Emotional Video Content
Throughout my career, I’ve gotten quite good at writing content of varying lengths
Case in point, I write Flash Frights on TikTok, which are 60-second horror stories set to AI animation and voice overs. Each story comes out to around 1100 characters each.
Back in 2010, I used to write 500-word articles for marketing agencies and businesses alike.
At some point, the word count began to grow to 2,000 words or more.
I’ve even written full-length books for clients.
At any rate, I’ve grown quite used to paring down my thoughts to fit the format.
When it comes to video scripts, this skill comes in handy.
Using various AI tools, I plan to take my short scripts and craft videos that appeal to insurance prospects of all types.
I’ve already done a couple. Here’s one now:
Little Family Security offers protection from life’s unfortunate events, like losing a loved one after buying a home.
Each video contains an emotional hook, such as the husband dying or the elderly widow being left with nothing, and finishes with Little Family Security swooping in as the savior.
With video being King on not only TikTok, but also Meta (Facebook), X (Formerly Twitter), YouTube, and Instagram, I expect the videos to do even better than the blogs.
But tie the blogs and videos together, and I have a nice combination for delivering exactly the kind of organic attention I need to build my agency.
Case Studies From Valued Clients
My life insurance clients often tell me they feel so much better having put a suitable policy in place.
They know their family’s future is secure, and that helps them sleep better at night.
Out of the hundreds of clients I’ve helped over the past two years, it won’t be difficult finding shining examples of how life insurance saved the day.
Case in point, one of my clients - we’ll call him Andy - had a term policy that was about to expire.
Andy was terrified that a permanent life insurance policy at his age would be too expensive.
Not only did our short phone call help Andy find more coverage, but his premium price per month stayed the same.
Andy is just one client out of many who have told me, “Thank you so much!” before politely ending our call.
Putting these case studies together will prove to prospects I can perform as much as I boast.
But each positive testimonial will also reaffirm something else.
That I’m truly helping each time I secure coverage for another deserving family.
Building My Community On Social Media
The social platforms I plan to use include TikTok, Meta (Facebook), Instagram, YouTube, and X.
I will be posting content each week, slowly but surely, while engaging with other users to build a a thriving digital community.
My goal is to engage in conversations, so that I can offer help when help is needed.
Email List Coming Soon!
An email list is something I am working on. I’ll definitely keep you updated.
I’m Prepared to Stay the Course, Full Steam Ahead
Until my first update, dear reader, know that my content calendar is chock-full to the end of the year.
I want to reiterate that I will do all of the writing.
I never let AI write for me, only offer suggestions when asked. AI will be used for video content, voiceovers, and all the organizational glue that will hold this content push together. I’m not a complete luddite.
The point of all of this is that every time I sit down to write or post on social media, I am treating Little Family Security like a client who recently hired me.
I had better get to work, so I don’t get fired. And so that my reputation stays intact.
One thing’s for sure. You will want to keep an eye on future updates.
Because I guarantee Little Family Security will grow using solely organic content.
And if it doesn’t, I’ll have to admit I’m a victim of the Freelancer’s Dilemma, and I’ll have to bite the bullet and buy more leads.
Let’s hope it never comes down to that.
My question for you: What do you think of my content push? Am I crazy to do all this work when I could have AI write my content instead?
I want to hear your thoughts, whether you’re with me, against me, or you merely have a popcorn bucket in your lap, ready to enjoy the show.
