Email Strategist & Copywriter Nikki Elbaz
About this episode…
EMAIL STRATEGIST & COPYWRITER NIKKI ELBAZ
After being made redundant from her New York agency job, Nikki thought she’d go to Israel for a year and freelance as a copywriter. If it didn’t work out, she’d come back and get another agency job.
7.5 years later her family has grown up in Israel. Their mum is very much still freelance.
But she’s not a general copywriter anymore, she’s since found her niche in email strategy. Building authority and a small team. And a website experience which is pretty unique.
Read the highlights in the next tab.
SHIFTING TO HER EMAIL NICHE
It was the leader of a mastermind group that suggested Nikki focus on emails. But how did she make that shift to get clients who needed help with email? At first she didn’t say no to work, but overtime…
“I just started shifting my marketing towards email.
So anytime I was doing guest posts or guest webinars or podcasts or any outreach of that sort, it was always focused on email. I started building my own email list, that was another platform where I could talk about email. What I was talking about on social media, I shifted very much towards email.
So I kind of shifted my focus before I shifted my clients. And then just naturally anyone who was coming to me was coming to me for email.”
A FEW YEARS TO FEEL CONFIDENT
Nikki has been freelance for nearly eight years now, but it took time for her to get a place of confidence in herself and financially to invest back into her business..
“After a year was when I was able to see, okay, there's potential here, but it was still hard going.
After maybe three years was when I really felt like I had built up something proper - that I felt really confident in, that was really working and as well that I could start investing in proper training for client management, networking… really being able to feed back into the business and help it grow versus just get it to a sustainable point where it was feeding my family versus itself..”
A website THAT SHOWS HOW EMAIL WORKS
When Nikki shifted to email she wanted to give visitors to her site the experience of what great email can do. So it’s really hard to find out about her services or even to contact her, without getting on her list…
“I was trying to figure out, how I can give that sort of trial-like experience to my clients?
So when you land on the page, you are directed immediately to sign up for a sort of free trial - where you get to see the email sequence that I put together for my leads…
I really want you going through the trial first and then the trial directs you to the other pages within the website where you can see the services where it talks about my credentials, things like that.”
BUILDING A SMALL TEAM
Nikki now hires a project manager and another writer, but it’s not been easy. In fact it was the fifth project manager that it finally clicked. So what did learn along the way?..
“The number one thing is that it's really important to be upfront and honest from day one. Just be upfront when mistakes happen, how they affect the business.
And then number two is to actually trust your gut because a lot of times I saw red flags and I just ignored them because I wanted it to work. I liked the person or I liked a certain aspect about them. And I really forced it to work and it just didn't…”
BALANCE IS A VERB
Nikki is based in Israel but works mainly with US companies. The time difference means she can spend the day with her family and work afternoons/evenings. This really helps her with work-life balance…
“I have a friend who said a great quote to me once she said, "balance is a verb, it's not a noun - you will always be shifting, sometimes you're in balance, sometimes you're out of balance, sometimes you have to refigure new things out".
And I've really found that, this entire seven and a half years, I don't think there's been six months where things were the same schedule wise. I'm always shifting things. Things are always changing schedule-wise for a number of different reasons. And because I prioritize my family, then I do have to be able to be flexible and allow whatever works to work.”
More from NIKKI ELBAZ
More from Steve Folland
Transcript of the Being Freelance podcast with Steve Folland and Freelance Email Strategist & Copywriter Nikki Elbaz
Steve Folland:
We've got Nikki Elbaz, who is a freelance email strategist and copywriter. Hey Nikki.
Nikki Elbaz:
Hello. Thanks for having me
Steve Folland:
As ever, how about we get started hearing how you got started being freelance?
Nikki Elbaz:
So I was originally working for an agency in New York, a branding agency doing branding, copywriting, headlines, taglines, naming companies, fun stuff. And all of a sudden, no warning whatsoever, the agency called us all in for meeting, and said, that's it we're done. Don't come to work tomorrow. So that was a big shock to everybody, but it actually came as a huge relief to me because I was actually bringing my baby to work with me. They were amazing about that. And she would just sit and play at the desk next to me or sleep on me. And she was getting to be about three months old and she was starting to grow up a little bit and not be as happy just sitting and sleeping or playing. And I realized I needed an alternative, I had to start looking into daycare or something and I really didn't want to.
Nikki Elbaz:
So I was kind of at a crossroads point anywhere where I was thinking maybe I wanna go freelance so I could still stay with my baby. Do I want to send her to daycare? Do I want to cut my hours? What do I need to be doing exactly? And then all of a sudden the agency closed. So it was a really good moment for me, where it was an opportunity to say, okay, let's do it. We have no choice now. Let's go freelance. And at the same time, my husband and I, we had always had this dream of moving to Israel for a year. We were living in New Jersey and commuting back and forth. It was a nightmare. And I was thinking, okay, if I'm freelancing anyway, let's try moving for a year and see what happens, you know, I'll freelance for a year and then we'll come back and I'll get a job at a different agency. I'll start applying while I'm in Israel. And we are still in Israel and I am still freelancing. So that is how it started. <laugh>
Steve Folland:
And for how many years now?
Nikki Elbaz:
Seven and a half.
Steve Folland:
So both went well, one hopes.
Nikki Elbaz:
Oh yes.
Steve Folland:
When you thought, well, I'll just go freelance - that sounds so easy.
Nikki Elbaz:
<laugh>Right?
Steve Folland:
Did you have a website? Were people aware you existed? If I go to your website now it's great but what was there of Nikki in the world then?
Nikki Elbaz:
That is a great question. I don't think there was much, I think I just started looking at job listings, you know, just like local. I got a retainer client doing social media posts. Yeah. It was the randomest thing. It was like this real proper e-commerce store. And they just put like this little one line ad in this little periodical, not even, you can't even call it a magazine or a newspaper. It was just like this little circular of ads. And it was one of the text ones. It wasn't even like a nice ad, nothing like that. So I believe that was one of my first, but yeah I just started responding to these kinds of things and not being very picky about which ones I was working with. And then I also got in touch with a few agencies and asked do they wanna outsource anything? So kind of filled in all the little spaces with little things until I was finally able to kind of build a reputation, build a website, word of mouth and actually take off.
Nikki Elbaz:
And referrals were also really helpful, like reaching out to colleagues in my network. It really helped that I had agency experience because it wasn't just, you know, oh, you're just someone off the streets who doesn't know what they're doing. That really gave me a lot of credibility. So a lot of colleagues felt comfortable referring things on and then all the colder outreach was less cold. It was, oh, you're in the agency circle, so that helped as well.
Steve Folland:
Had you had experience of dealing with clients when you were in the agency?
Nikki Elbaz:
No. And that was probably the hardest part was learning client management and client boundaries and collecting payments, for example. That was quite a learning curve.
Steve Folland:
How long would you say it took you to feel confident that perhaps you weren't gonna come back after that year and apply for jobs?
Nikki Elbaz:
I feel like after a year was when I was able to see, okay, there's potential here, but it was still hard going. After maybe three years was when I really felt like I had built up something proper - that I felt really confident in, that was really working and as well that I could start investing in proper training for client management, networking, you know, really being able to feed back into the business and help it grow versus just get it to like a sustainable point where it was feeding my family versus itself.
Steve Folland:
And what was the work that you were doing? So obviously I introduced you as an email strategist and a copywriter. What were you doing then?
Nikki Elbaz:
So I originally started just copywriting and by that it was everything from content writing to social media posts to print ads, to naming companies. But I really just did anything that anybody wanted. Then I kind of pivoted more into conversion copy. I found Copy Hackers online and just devoured everything that they put out and discovered this world where there was science behind copy. So I got really in love with that and pivoted towards that. So I started doing websites. That's the stage where things felt very stable and where I could start growing - when I moved from creative copy to conversion copy. Probably because once I had a science behind it, I felt so much more confident, where it wasn't just like, oh yeah, here's a name for you, and I guess I could charge this because I think it's a good name and I sort of have a process because I worked for an agency and I'm copying their process.
Nikki Elbaz:
So it really was being able to show that there's ROI and then being able to feel more confident in my abilities, in my pricing, all that kind of stuff. So that really helped with the confidence. And then I joined a mastermind through Copy Hackers, um, and Joanna Wiebe who was like the copywriter of the world told me that I should write emails. So I listened to her. <laugh>
Steve Folland:
What was her thinking behind that? She spotted something in what you were doing or what you were saying?
Nikki Elbaz:
So she was running the mastermind and she gave us a challenge towards the end of the mastermind to bring in, I believe it was $5,000 extra by the end of the month. I think it was the 15th of the month, she was like, okay, I need everyone to bring in an extra $5,000 and we're all like, oh, <laugh>... So we all failed the challenge. And so she then gave us a bunch of ideas of what we could have done to actually meet that challenge. And one of the things she said was you always reach out to your network. "You talk to me all the time. Why did nobody pitch me?" So I pitched her! And at the time I was going by my full name and I had recently switched to 'Nikki' as it's just easier to pronounce.
Nikki Elbaz:
And I sent her this email and she thought it was a cold email because she didn't recognize my name. And she was like, who is this person? She's amazing. <laugh> so I totally shocked her. And she took me up on the project. I did a project with her and she just said like, "wow, I thought that was a cold email and I responded to it., so you have to write more emails". And then she actually hired me a few months later and she became like my best retainer client of the year. It was a great gig because I mean, first of all, it's Copy Hackers. It's awesome. I learned so much from them. And it was just fun working for a really awesome agency. But it was also such a good retainer for me because I felt like I had this network of people and I was working with a lot of people, cuz I was kind of like part of the agency, but it was also retainer. And so work-life balance wise, I was able to structure it really well for me. So it was an amazing opportunity - a really amazing experience.
Steve Folland:
And so beyond that client, now you've decided, okay, I'm gonna focus on email - how did you start to make that happen?
Nikki Elbaz:
Hmm, that's a good question actually, cuz I don't know that I said no to other projects after that that were not email. I think I just started shifting my marketing towards email. So anytime I was doing guest posts or guest webinars or podcasts or any outreach of that sort, it was always focused on email. And I started making products for my lists focused on email. I started building my own email list, that was another platform where I could talk about email. What I was talking about on social media, I shifted very much towards email. So I kind of shifted my focus before I shifted my clients. And then just naturally anyone who was coming to me was coming to me for email.
Steve Folland:
How abouyt pricing? Because it strikes me as one thing about conversion copywriting, for example, and you'd hope certain types of email writing as well is perhaps it's easier for you to prove your worth and that reflects on what you charge?
Nikki Elbaz:
Yeah, a hundred percent. Absolutely. It's such a relief, honestly. <laugh> It's not really about you anymore. It's about the work. Whereas I felt very tied with the creative work that it was very much selling myself versus selling the work. Um, which is funny because the creative work is the creative work, but it's a harder separation when there's not the formulas and the scientific principles that conversion copy has when it's just, you know, your creativity. It really is you. So it was so much easier to feel confident and to feel confident in the work that I can deliver and also confident in, you know, because... the client is investing in you, but you're also investing in a client. You have to prove that you're worth that much. So it was always a little bit of a stressor that I'm charging this price, I need to deliver. How can I guarantee that I'm delivering that when I'm just giving you creative work that you can argue either way back and forth is good or not good. So it was a relief getting into the conversion side of things.
Steve Folland:
So you were from the States, you moved to Israel, you've stayed in Israel. So where would you say your work is coming from?
Nikki Elbaz:
So I mostly work Eastern time, because I'm with my kids during the day, so I work afternoons/evenings. So that actually is a huge benefit for me being on a different time zone - it means that I can have the beginning part of my day be more family focused. And then the end of my day is more work focused. So yeah, American time zones works out really nicely for me in terms of the work life balance that I enjoy so much about freelancing.
Steve Folland:
Yeah, that's great. I wanna talk about your website because it seems like it's really well set up for filtering through leads. It seems to actually minimize people getting in contact with you until absolutely necessary. Unlike every other freelancer site, it's actually really hard to get in touch with you.
Nikki Elbaz:
Is that why everyone reaches out by LinkedIn?!
Steve Folland:
<laugh> yeah. It's a stroke of genius. I thought not having my phone number anywhere was like a good move but it's really hard to find you. So talk me through that.
Nikki Elbaz:
So that's actually really funny because when I was looking for a designer to redo my site, I was talking to one designer and she said, 'no, no, no, you're doing this all wrong. Nobody does websites like this. You can't do this' <laugh>.
Nikki Elbaz:
So I said, okay, you're not the designer for me. <laugh> So originally I just had a retty typical website. It was just, you know, your typical Home, Services, About - that kind of thing. And when I shifted into email, I realized that I really wanted people to see email instead of just regular copy. I wanted them to see the difference between email and kind of sell myself through the emails. Especially because a lot of the clients that I work with, they are big proponents of the product led model, which is that you give a free trial, that you let people try out the software first and then they are sold on it, with the support of email an the copy and all that.
Nikki Elbaz:
You're giving them a taste of that first. So I really liked that model. And I was trying to figure out how I can give that sort of trial-like experience to my clients. I also really did not like giving out samples because a lot of times with samples, a client will read a sample and think, oh, that's not the way I wanna sound. So this is not a fit. Whereas all the work is based on the customer research for that specific client. And it's so hard for them to pull themselves out of the picture and see, oh, no, no, no, no, that voice is not gonna work for you. I would never write in that voice for you. So I saw that samples kind of muddied that a lot. So I really wanted this trial experience and then that would kind of serve as the sample instead.
Nikki Elbaz:
So when you land on the page, you are directed immediately to sign up for a sort of free trial kind of thing where you get to see the email sequence that I put together for my leads. And I also knew just from myself and from my network of copywriters, that a lot of people love looking at copywriter sites to learn from them as copywriters. I do that as well. So at the bottom, there's a little section, it speaks directly to the copywriter like, 'oh, you're trying to learn from me as a copywriter here, sign up for my email list and I will send you my newsletter about different things that are happening in the email world'. And also knowing that people will be signing up for the free trial, even though they're not leads to kind of spy on the free trial as well.
Nikki Elbaz:
<laugh> because I do that too <laugh> . So that's kind of like the homepage of it. And then you can skip into the services if you want to, but it's harder. So I really want you going through the trial first and then the trial directs you to the other pages within the website where you can see the services where it talks about my credentials, things like that. So that's kind of the structure of it. And so far, the only downside I see is, first of all, I get a lot of LinkedIn messages <laugh> no, but that's fine. It's really just like Google SEO stuff. It's not great from that perspective, but that doesn't bother me so much because my focus is not really building up content and trying to win at SEO. So yeah, that was the strategy behind the website.
Steve Folland:
Yeah. Because even if you click on 'Contact', which is normally the one way that I could have got in touch with you to invite you on this podcast - 'Contact' invites me to join your email list because in that I would get secret access to an email address that you check about once a week!
Nikki Elbaz:
Really, I take my relationship with my list very seriously. And I was trying to figure out, okay, I wanna be able to respond to all of them. I really do, because you know, they're taking the time to respond to me. So how can I make this work? So I carve out one day where I actually will respond to everybody who emails me, but at the same time, I know that I can't be checking my email all day for everybody. Cuz that's just such a huge distraction for me. So it happens to be that email, that inbox actually is checked every day, just not by me. I go in and check it once a week. But yeah. There also is a little Chat icon on the bottom of the website where you could also chat to my team. So that's another option <laugh>
Steve Folland:
Ah, so you mentioned a team, so who do you have?
Nikki Elbaz:
So that's been a kind of interesting process trying to grow beyond just myself. So that's mostly just a project manager and another writer. And the search to find another writer is proving like to be a really interesting learning experience. So right now it's just the three of us. And I'm trying to grow it to a fourth, but it's hard to get that commitment of, uh, you know, for me I'm saying for me to commit to, okay, I want you to join my team and I want to be able to promise you enough work and having you be part of the team to just take that leap is hard mentally, emotionally <laugh>.
Steve Folland:
Yeah. So obviously it sounds like it's tricky finding somebody...
Nikki Elbaz:
Yeah. Even the project manager, you would think that role is an easy role to fill and I think she was my fifth try. So yeah. I don't know if that just says that I'm hard <laugh> - that I'm picky. But yeah, it definitely takes some iteration. It took some iteration on my end to work through exactly how to train people, how to gauge whether things are working or not.
Steve Folland:
What key things have you learned that worked in building a team?
Nikki Elbaz:
I think the number one thing that I learned is that it's really important to be upfront and honest from day one, where I was way too nice with all of them. And I never said anything - anytime there were any disappointments, it was always, 'it's fine. It's fine - Oh, don't worry. I know. I get it. It's fine'. And it is fine and it was fine, but there should have also been like, 'oh yeah, that was an inconvenience.' Like even saying it to you is so hard for me, um, to just be upfront when mistakes happen, how they affect the business and how they affected things. Because I reached a point with one of them that it wasn't working anymore and there was just no warning because I was so nice the whole time.
Nikki Elbaz:
So that was such a hard firing to do because I knew that it was coming with no warning. That's really hard. You know, I was in that position with the agency. It's not a place where you want to be. So that was definitely my number one lesson. And then number two is to actually trust your gut because a lot of times I saw red flags and I just ignored them because I wanted it to work. I liked the person or I liked a certain aspect about them. And I really just forced it to work and it just didn't. So I would think those are my two biggest learnings.
Steve Folland:
Where do your clients come from today?
Nikki Elbaz:
Mostly LinkedIn, word of mouth. And it's funny because I've been doing all this authority building work and it's still consistently, that LinkedIn and referrals is where the leads are for me. And I don't think that the authority building has not helped. I think it definitely makes the closing easier. I think it makes people notice me on LinkedIn more easily than if I hadn't built up authority, but it's just interesting to see that it hasn't changed.
Steve Folland:
What have you done to build authority?
Nikki Elbaz:
You know, guest posts and webinars, things beyond just a social media profile where I'm talking partnerships for eBooks, things like that.
Steve Folland:
So work life balance was obviously important to you. And it's certainly sounds like it's going well in terms of the time zones that you mentioned earlier. How does it feel?
Nikki Elbaz:
So I have a friend who said a great quote to me once she said, "balance is a verb, it's not a noun - you will always be shifting, sometimes you're in balance, sometimes you're out of balance, sometimes you have to refigure new things out". And I've really found that, this entire seven and a half years or whatever it's been, I don't think there's been six months where things were the same schedule wise. I'm always shifting things. Let's say the first year I was working in the mornings, the second year I was working in afternoons, the third year... like things are always changing schedulewise for a number of different reasons. And because I prioritize my family, then I do have to be able to be flexible and allow whatever works to work.
Steve Folland:
What would you say has been the biggest challenge then of being freelance?
Nikki Elbaz:
Probably the loneliness of it. I really, really enjoyed working in an agency with people around me. Especially in a more creative, collaborative kind of field. It's hard to just be you and your computer in the office all day. So that's probably been work wise the hardest and you build up a network and you have Slack groups and all that, but it's just not the same, which is why I really liked working for Copy Hackers. And I still wouldn't trade it, but I would love this kind of like, I don't know, hybrid model where maybe I just need to bring everyone into my house, like, okay, who wants to come work with me?
Steve Folland:
Well, maybe one day when, when the kids are...
Nikki Elbaz:
They're gonna work for me.
Steve Folland:
That's not a bad idea! And also it sounded like being part of a mastermind made a real difference. Have you continued to be part of that kind of thing as your business has developed?
Nikki Elbaz:
You know, that was the only one. I know that I was very actively looking to continue afterwards because I saw what a difference it made. Even though by the way, Joanna who was running it, she said we have seen so often every time that we run it, that when you're in it, you're not actually doing as much as after it's over, then all of a sudden you take everything we told you and put it to work. And that's when we see such amazing changes. So it's actually the six months after, that are most effective. So I was very much looking and I just didn't find anything that was the right fit. Then I kind of joined a few Slack groups that gave me good support. Also I have an accountability partner now - we meet once a week - we used to kind of just like check in and see, you know, 'okay, did you do your homework?'
Nikki Elbaz:
And now we've kind of shifted to work sessions, which is really nice. So I've kind of found other replacements because I didn't find a good mastermind opportunity. You know, I almost actually joined another one very recently and it felt too much of a time commitment. It felt like I would be spending so much time to learn some things or to get the network that it wouldn't actually equal out. That I could be using the time without the mastermind to gain the same things. It was just a matter of actually carving that time out. So I do think that the Slack groups and the like-minded communities, as long as they're tight knit enough, can fill that networking opportunity kind of thing. If you've already reached a place where you're confident and you already know what you want and you have enough goals and all that kind of thing. I really think their masterminds are really important if you're still figuring things out. If you kind of wanna up-level your network. But I think once you have then to then shell out six months of your time and thousands of dollars, I don't know that the dividends would be as high for your initial mastermind.
Steve Folland:
So where did you get your accountability partner?
Nikki Elbaz:
In one of these Slack groups. She posted in one of the channels saying that she wanted an accountability partner. So I said, okay, I'm game. Let's do it.
Steve Folland:
Amazing. And so when you say you check in each week, do you do it over Zoom or you do it just within Slack?
Nikki Elbaz:
In Zoom. It needs to be like real accountability. <laugh> Face to face. So we originally were doing like 20 minutes and then it kind of morphed into, 40 minutes, an hour. And we realized we both actually just enjoy checking in and talking to people. And that's kind of when it shifted into a work session where we're spending a nice hour with each other. Let's see if we could kind of enjoy the same collaboration and camaraderie and talking with each other, but also not just, you know, spend an hour talking, but actually also accomplishsome work as well. So we've just started this. So I can't say how well it's gonna work long term <laugh> we might end up talking too much.
Steve Folland:
So what - you leave your cameras on and then say, right, I'm gonna work on this and I'll chat to you in an hour?
Nikki Elbaz:
Yeah. And if we wanna turn them off, we could turn them off. If we, you know, have a question in the middle, you know, just very informal.
Steve Folland:
So can you hear them tapping away?
Nikki Elbaz:
No, on mute.
Steve Folland:
Okay, so they might not hear if I get up and creep over to the fridge and open it up and they might not hear the hacking of the cheese. Oh, that sounds really nice. I like that idea. No, if you could tell your younger self, one thing about being freelance, what would that be?
Nikki Elbaz:
Learn client management. There's so much out there. And I totally didn't know at all. And it took so much out of me in the beginning. That was just so hard. All the client management stuff. So that's probably what I would tell myself, but I also think that any advice you give your younger self, your younger self's not gonna listen because you just need to make your own mistakes yourself. Anytime I get advice, it's like, oh yeah. Okay. You don't value it as much as when you really go through the pain a bit and see like, oh, okay, this is bad.
Steve Folland:
I've got a feeling that you wouldn't tell your younger self anything, but instead you'd make them sign up to an email list.
Nikki Elbaz:
<lauugh> with client management tips
Steve Folland:
<laugh> Yep, a drip sequence <laugh>. When you say that you struggled with client management - in what way, and what made it better?
Nikki Elbaz:
Experience and being exposed to other freelancers who were doing it well, who had boundaries. I had this one client - we were leaving on vacation and we were cleaning out our apartment to sublet it out. And I had the client on the phone while I'm trying to juggle all of this. And they were, you know, making these like nitty gritty changes to this copy that I made. And then the designer was getting involved and everything, and the project was supposed to have been wrapped up weeks before, and it was just dragging on. And it was just, that was like the moment where I realized, I have no boundaries, it was like nine o'clock at night, you know? And they knew it. And it was just so much at once. After all that and seeing other people do it with boundaries and proper processes and the clients being aware of this - it was very eye opening and it would've saved me a lot of emotional, erm, fun. <laugh>
Steve Folland:
Thank you so much Nikki. And all the best being freelance!
Nikki Elbaz:
Thank you. That was really fun.
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