Here's my step-by-step project management process, from point of client contact and interest to final content creation and delivery.

1. CONTENT CREATION CLIENT
CONTROL
AE SMITH WRITING

2. AE SMITH WRITING
ABOUT ME
▸ Community-minded content developer
who specializes in working with small-to-
medium-sized businesses and non-profits
to tell their stories in a way that makes
readers want to engage
▸ 10 years of professional writing
experience
▸ Services: Content writing for websites,
blogs, social media and marketing
materials

3. AE SMITH WRITING
WHAT WE’LL COVER
▸ Best practices to manage the challenges of being a
creative and effective professional in an ever-evolving
digital and business space
▸ How I find clients and guide them through the process of
working together (Discovery meeting, proposals,
agreements, research, creation)
▸ Project management basics

4. AE SMITH WRITING
HUNTING FOR UNICORNS (OR FINDING CLIENTS)

5. AE SMITH WRITING
HUNTING FOR UNICORNS (OR FINDING CLIENTS)
▸ Who’s your ideal client?
▸ Where to look:
- Referrals/Testimonials (Past and current clients, colleagues)
- Networking (Online: Facebook groups, LinkedIn, etc. Offline:
BA5s, local business groups, meet-ups)
▸ Online job ads (Craigslist, industry specific sites, remote worker
sites inc. remote.co, workfrom and others)
▸ Freelancers: Join a coworking space. Find me at Cowork
Niagara

6. AE SMITH WRITING
DISCOVERY MEETING PREP: RECON TIME (OR DOING YOUR HOMEWORK)
▸ What’s your client currently doing in their industry? (types
of work)
▸ What content are they producing, and at what quality?
▸ How do they brand themselves online?

7. AE SMITH WRITING
DISCOVERY MEETING
▸ “First date” to find out if you and your client click (it’s a
two-way street)
▸ Do what works for you - meet online or in person
▸ Ask questions to establish project framework, timeline and
budget
▸ Be curious. Listen more than you talk. Why are they in
business?

8. AE SMITH WRITING
DISCOVERY MEETING
▸ How can you offer value?
▸ Take notes
▸ Never estimate prices in a discovery meeting. You’ll send a
proposal

9. AE SMITH WRITING
CREATING A PROPOSAL
▸ Proposal templates make you more productive and
efficient (therefore more profitable)
▸ Proposals are essential in setting the tone of your project
and include important details (scope, timeline, budget,
tech requirements) of how you’ll work together
▸ Client may propose changes. Negotiate
▸ Submitting a proposal doesn’t mean you’ll always get the
job

10. AE SMITH WRITING
DRAFT AN AGREEMENT
▸ Agreements or Contracts are documents you and your
client sign *before* you start any work on their project.
They lay the foundation.
▸ They hold you and your client to commitments
▸ If there are questions about deadlines, payment structure,
etc. these will save you and perhaps preserve a
relationship

11. AE SMITH WRITING
DEEP RESEARCH
▸ In my case: Review existing website, marketing materials
with a critical eye
▸ Who are their clients? Talk to them, read testimonials
▸ Who’s their competition, and what are they doing?
▸ Interview clients. This is where I discover their story and
how we can tell it so their audience will engage and take
action

12. AE SMITH WRITING
FAVOURITE TOOLS: CONTENT CREATION AND COLLABORATION
▸ Google Drive/Docs
▸ Dropbox
▸ Evernote or Microsoft OneNote
▸ MindNode (or other mind mapping software)
▸ Trello

13. AE SMITH WRITING
CONTENT CREATION
▸ Where the magic happens: all of my research and prep
come together
▸ Work where you’ll feel creative, confident, focused and
productive
▸ Communication, realistic deadlines and first drafts are
critical. They determine the success of your project, and
even whether it can be saved if it goes off the rails

14. AE SMITH WRITING
SUBMIT DRAFT, HOLD BREATH

15. AE SMITH WRITING
SUBMIT DRAFT, HOLD BREATH
▸ Submit first draft of content to client (usually in a Google
doc)
▸ They review and love it (hopefully). If not: back to drawing
board
▸ Feedback: It feels personal, but it’s not. Stay calm, seek to
understand, take notes
▸ They make comments and request revisions - could be
major (tone, voice, length) or minor (change some words)

16. AE SMITH WRITING
REVISION PROCESS
▸ Review notes. What was on target? What was missed?
What revisions did they request?
▸ Integrate comments and requested revisions
▸ Send back to client for review
▸ This time they love it

17. AE SMITH WRITING
PROJECT WRAP-UP
▸ Post-mortem with client: Project analysis, how did you two work
together?
▸ What was great? How can you streamline/improve
communication, project management, workflow, etc.?
▸ Keeping existing clients is less expensive than finding new ones.
Build relationships, keep in touch
▸ Thank them, send wrap-up email, draft testimonial for their
approval
▸ Invoice!

18. AE SMITH WRITING
FAVOURITE TOOLS: COMMUNICATION, PROJECT MANAGEMENT, TIME TRACKING
▸ Asana
▸ FreshBooks
▸ Google Hangouts
▸ RescueTime
▸ Toggl

19. AE SMITH WRITING
INTERNAL PROJECT REVIEW
▸ Take a deep dive
▸ Review this project and what you learned from your end
▸ What did you do well? Not so well? How can you
streamline and improve?
▸ What actions will you take next time with this client or
others?

20. AE SMITH WRITING
RESOURCES
▸ Cowork Niagara (also join our Facebook group)
▸ Freelance Foundations podcast
▸ The Freelancer’s Bible by Sara Horowitz
▸ Freelance to Freedom blog
▸ Freelancers Union
▸ Hamilton Freelancer Meetup

21. TEXT
WHERE TO FIND ME
▸ aesmithwriting.com
▸ Email: allisonelisesmith@gmail.com
▸ Facebook: ae smith writing
▸ Twitter: @aesmithwriting