Why & How I Made the Switch from Freelancer to Content Marketing Agency Owner 👨🏼‍💻

Hiya!

Around two and a half years ago, I launched my content marketing agency, Rise Up Media.

The reason for it was simple: I couldn’t scale myself as a freelancer, so I decided to build a team and start an agency to make more money. 💰

In the years leading up to launching Rise Up Media, I was freelancing for various Bitcoin startups in different content, SEO, and growth marketing roles. I also wrote for a range of media outlets about Bitcoin, blockchain, and investing in crypto assets.

Additionally, I managed a small team of writers creating content for a few blogs I had built up over the years. The idea behind that was to create a digital media holding company operating a number of blogs that all made a few thousand dollars a month.

I used some of the money I made freelancing to support the growth of the blogs. However, that business model never really took off for me. 📉

I didn’t have the funds or the economies of scale to successfully grow half a dozen (let alone more) blogs to a point where I could run them full-time and earn a decent living. Especially not as I was freelancing full-time, working 6-7 days a week.

So after trying and failing at this business model (but also learning a shit ton about SEO and growing website traffic along the way 😊), I decided to scrap it and see if I could make running a content marketing agency work.

After all, I was working part-time at one, so I had a playbook on how to operate a successful agency.

To get the ball rolling, I reached out to a former client and made him a low-priced offer that involved my team creating content for his blockchain education platform under my oversight.

He agreed, and we had our first client within a week. 🤘

In the same month, I offered another (very) low-priced package to a Bitcoin remittance company, who also happily accepted the offer.

The reason why I didn’t start charging market rates at the beginning is that I wanted to make sure our initial set of processes worked well enough to ensure we could really deliver on all our promises.

It quickly turned out that we could. 🚀

The team of writers I was using for my blogs did an excellent job adapting to the new business model, creating engaging content for clients as opposed to our own sites.

Three months later, our total revenue increased, and we were just getting started! 📈

Needless to say, I was excited! 😃

But more importantly, it showed me that the agency model would work well for me.

Two months later, I hired a Chief Content Officer to help me manage the team and help out on the editorial side. She was a great hire and still works with us today. 🧑🏾‍🎤

In the following months, I had to find a balance between freelancing and slowly building the agency in “beta mode” to ensure that our systems and processes were working in a way we could scale.

That transition from freelancer to agency owner isn’t clear-cut for most people.

There is a transition phase that can last over a year. It definitely did for me as I slowly onboarded more agency clients and tried to turn existing freelancing clients into agency clients as well.

Not all of them agreed, so I eventually dropped them to complete the move to agency owner.

While we still have a small number of clients where I create the content myself (because they pay exceptionally well, and that’s what we agreed on), I have successfully completed the move from freelancer to agency owner.

I now manage a remote team of 15 people across three continents, helping some of the most innovative companies in the Bitcoin space to acquire more customers.

And honestly, I am proud of that!

What are you proud of today? Hit reply and tell me about it.

Interesting stuff I found online 🤓

Coke Created a New Drink With the Help of AI 🥤

Errrr…. OK. So Coca-Cola used AI when they spun up the recipe for a new line of drinks. Apparently, quite a few food companies are doing that these days. I imagine it’s more of a PR move than anything else, but what do I know about the food business? Nothing! In all fairness, I’d probably try it. Maybe it will be as good as my all-time favorite (and discontinued soft drink) Coca-Cola with Coffee.

Blue Tarantula Species Discovered in Thailand 🕷️

It looks cool and all but f**k that! I don’t want to run into one of those next time I stumble home at 5 a.m. from a full moon party on Koh Phangan. It’s interesting, though, how many new species are discovered each year. There’s still much to explore on our planet before Elon takes us all to Mars.

A Beetle Named After Hitler is Going Extinct Because Neo-Nazis Are Collecting It 🪲

Sorry, but this is hilarious! So, there’s a bug called ‘Anophthalmus hitleri,” which is about to go extinct because - apparently - too many neo-nazis are collecting them as some type of memorabilia. So now, the scientific community - let’s call them the “bug bros” - want to have its name changed to prevent its extinction. As funny as it was to read this article, that may actually make sense.

What I am reading 📖

The Hard Thing About Hard Things 📕

The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz is hands-down one of the most impactful books I have consumed. I listened to the audiobook version of the book on the journey to Munich last May, where I visited my oldest friend and attended a pop-up Bitcoin event.

In his book, the author (who is the co-founder of the VC firm Andreessen Horowitz) provides practical insight into how to run a company during difficult times, covering subjects such as hiring, training staff, and dealing with corporate politics. I particularly liked his take on being a “peace-time CEO” versus a “war-time CEO” and how the role differs depending on the situation a company is in.

If you are a manager or run your own business, this book is a must-read, in my opinion.

What I am watching 📺

Skull Island 🦍 

Netflix recently released an anime-influenced series about Skull Island, the island they found King Kong on in the 2017 movie Kong: Skull Island. Yes, they really seem to like the name Skull Island.

If you are not entirely offended by the idea of watching an animated show AND you enjoyed the King Kong movies, you’ll probably like this series too.

Hit me up! 👋

When I’m not writing the world’s 47,245th-best newsletter in the world, I run a content marketing agency called Rise Up Media.

If you’d like to work with me directly or with my team to help you drive customer acquisition, just reply to this email or email the team at [email protected].

Stay connected,

Alex Lielacher