Sofie Couwenbergh

#intros - January 27, 2025 at 01:15 PM

Made a note of all of those things, including the tea :)

#intros - January 27, 2025 at 10:00 AM

Hi! I've only been to Coimbra once and it was back in 2012. I definitely want to come back sometime. There's a small forró community there as well 🙂 (I dance forró)
Really appreciate you keeping an eye out for opportunities!
What industries do you specialize in?

#intros - January 22, 2025 at 11:32 AM

Hey everyone!
I'd like to re-introduce myself as I'm preparing to pivot industries.
I ran a travel blog for 11 years before selling it and have spent the past 5 years running a content strategy and optimization strategy service. I mostly work with SaaS companies and would love to pivot to/serve more businesses working in the self-development and mental health space.
I'm a writer at heart, based in Lisbon, Portugal, and an avid tea drinker.

#freelance-talk - November 20, 2024 at 02:42 AM

Do you have data on how many Superpath users this actually would be relevant for? I'm non-US for example so not interested.

#content-collab - November 14, 2024 at 01:53 PM

Hi @Ankit Vora, I love The Startup Revolution by Viola Eva. At first glance, it doesn't seem like a marketing podcast but as Viola is a marketer, her guests usually are as well. I love this podcast because she focuses both on discussing marketing strategy and the "why" behind a certain strategy.

She has a knack for finding people who approach marketing in a different way and the episodes always give me food for thought.
Feel free to DM me if you want more info or want to include this.

#freelance-talk - October 10, 2024 at 05:47 PM

I wouldn't do this unless you're also checking for accuracy or unless you don't care and the final result won't be linked to your name.

If you're also checking for accuracy, I'd charge the same as I'd charge for writing an 8,000-word article from scratch + an annoyance fee.

#general - February 26, 2024 at 10:54 AM

@Jimmy Daly (Superpath) But I want to get emails for mentions... Just not for mentions to @ everyone which I also get emails for when I have that checked. If I turn that off, I won't get emails for any mentions anymore.

#freelance-talk - February 05, 2024 at 03:38 PM

@Dominic Kent Would be happy to connect in case you need to send off work at some point 🙂

#freelance-talk - February 05, 2024 at 03:37 PM

I'm still getting inquiries but the budgets available have been lower than they used to be.

#general - January 30, 2024 at 07:00 PM

Is there a way to not get email notification for @everyone ? I just want to get notified when someone tags me specifically. Now I'm getting a lot of info double as I'm also signed up to the newsletter @Eric Doty (Superpath) @Jimmy Daly (Superpath)

#freelance-talk - January 23, 2024 at 11:01 AM

@Alexandra Cote Sent you samples a few days ago. Just in case you missed the DM :)

#freelance-talk - January 16, 2024 at 04:41 PM

Wise

#freelance-talk - January 16, 2024 at 04:41 PM

@Alexandra Cote Do you want the samples via DM or email?

#general - December 26, 2023 at 03:50 PM

Is there any way in this Slack to just get email notifications for when people tag me specifically or send a DM? I'm getting too many emails because of the @ everyone tag but don't want to shut down email notifications entirely as I don't want to miss it when someone addresses me specifically @Jimmy Daly (Superpath)

#freelance-gigs - December 12, 2023 at 03:33 PM

As others have mentioned, you need a content strategist, not a technical SEO.

#freelance-gigs - July 26, 2023 at 11:18 AM

Thanks everyone for your input! I'm sorry I'm replying so late to all of this. Completely missed notifications for this thread.

#freelance-gigs - July 26, 2023 at 11:15 AM

@Anna Sonnenberg Sorry, completely missed notifications for this thread. I do have pdfs of everything. It's a good reminder to keep making them.

#freelance-gigs - July 13, 2023 at 12:06 PM

It seems like you've got this sorted but I just wanted to send some support and also let you know that I've had COVID twice and my clients were all super understanding. I think it's also a good idea to include something in your contract about missed deadlines due to illness etc. but in the end, I feel like life happens on both ends of the line and so a little flexibility/humanity on both sides is needed.

Hope you feel better soon!

#content-collab - July 13, 2023 at 11:03 AM

For context: I ran a travel blog full-time for 8 years and still own it. I've worked with 100+ brands and get collaboration requests daily.

I'm being a bit blunt, but here's my feedback;

I would delete your email after the first sentence.
"I am captivated by your insightful content on veganism..." > Nobody talks like that. And that goes for your entire email. It's full of fancy words that create a distance instead of a connection.

It's also super clear that this is a template because you would never personally reach out to someone like this. You also clearly put 0 energy into actually researching the influencer's brand.

Because you are using the same template for everyone, you're not backing up your statement that "it's clear to me that our purpose intertwines" >>> tell them how. Why should they work with you? How do your brands match?

Your offer sucks. You're basically "offering" the influencers to provide you with content for free. They have their own audience. They have influence. You need them. You're approaching tell. Tell them how you'll pay them for their work and if you don't have a budget - well, that's a problem, but at least try to offer them something that's worthwhile.

Does your 111k+ Instagram page actually have engagement? Will it bring them new followers? Mention that. As far as they know, you bought all of the followers.

What's your blog's DA? How many readers does it have? Would they get a follow link bank? Mention these things. Don't let them search for it. If you're contacting even medium-sized influencers, they get emails like yours multiple times a day.

If you're doing mass outreach and you don't want to personalize at least optimize your offer/pitch.

Sorry if all of this sounded hard. I've received too many bad pitches in my years of doing this 😄
Hope it's a bit helpful too :)

#freelance-gigs - June 22, 2023 at 10:18 AM

@Lindsey Tague Like I mentioned, I know this shouldn't be my only source of leads (working on it :)) but I wanted to honestly share how I've gotten my clients so far. Can't comment on other tactics as I have too little experience with them.
But in regards to the referrals:
1. I don't think people go out of their way, but they do make the effort to mention me when someone asks about someone who does what I do. I know because I always ask leads how they found me.
2. You can ask current clients if they know of other companies who might need you. I've found that in most of those cases, they'll reach out to some people and make the initial intro which establishes some trust before you've even spoken to them.
Again, wouldn't recommend this as your sole lead gen channel. Just sharing my experience :)

#freelance-gigs - June 16, 2023 at 05:57 PM

None. It's usually founders or content marketers who aren't writers.

#content-collab - June 10, 2023 at 02:59 PM

Is this for an article? Would we be quoted? A bit more info would be great :)

#content-collab - May 24, 2023 at 10:58 AM

Can you give more information about what this is for? Will we need to disclose specific rates, where will this be featured etc.?

#freelance-gigs - May 21, 2023 at 10:44 AM

Freelance writers, how do you feel about brands removing you as the author of an article after they've updated it? Fair? Not fair? Depends on how big the update was?

#freelance-gigs - May 16, 2023 at 03:53 PM

This is going to sound mega corny but: do great work and be easy to work with (they're not the same). I get all of my work from clients who refer me to others.

I know I shouldn't rely on this alone and do plan to do more brand-building soon, but I've never been shy of work.

In line with this: promote your client. I haven't checked your Linkedin so maybe you're already doing this but if you share their content, they might be more inclined to engage with yours as well, which makes you visible to their network.

#content-collab - June 11, 2022 at 11:02 AM

Hey @Anna Zaleska, Can you confirm the call is happening? I booked one for June 13 but haven't heard from you. Thanks!

#content-collab - June 06, 2022 at 01:04 PM

I'd love to give a workshop on any of the following topics:
• Creating briefings for content that ranks
• Quick wins through optimizing existing content (This one got some votes from people who saw the tweet)
• How to analyze/audit existing content for optimization opportunities
• Onboarding and briefing freelance writers: best practices

#content-collab - June 06, 2022 at 01:03 PM

@Anna Zaleska I just booked a call for next week and hope you feel better soon!

#freelance-gigs - May 04, 2022 at 09:34 AM

I second reaching out to someone else (higher up) in the company. Hope it just slipped through the cracks and it gets sorted quickly!

#freelance-gigs - March 07, 2022 at 11:30 AM

My pleasure @Harrison Mbuvi! I can't take full credit as I read about the "Book of Abundance" idea elsewhere and then adapted it a bit to fit what works for me :)

#freelance-gigs - March 03, 2022 at 03:33 PM

I have started a Book of Abundace at the start of this year. It's basically a "life is awesome" Google doc to which I add something every day, including cool things clients say.

#freelance-gigs - March 01, 2022 at 03:29 PM

I use Clockify for client projects and one of my own websites which I'm trying to treat as if it were a client's. It helps me average out how much time I spend on different tasks, which makes it easier to time block work on my calendar.
If something has taken longer or shorter than planned, I adjust the time block on my calendar so I can always go back and have a visual of how much time I spent on things as well.

#general - February 21, 2022 at 03:11 PM

To me:
• content strategist: SEO-focused, creating a keyword-based strategy for on-site content creation
• content marketer: includes everything that's content marketing, so also social media strategy and content creation, video strategy and creation, etc.

#freelance-gigs - February 14, 2022 at 06:09 PM

My own.
I have my own onboarding flow with a questionnaire and all the things that ensure I have what I need to get started. It's great if the client already has a bunch of things prepped (access to the website and analytics, writer guidelines, brand voice documents etc.) but by following my own I get what I need in the most efficient way.
And I do leave room for the client to add on any information that my be particular to their project.

#freelance-gigs - January 27, 2022 at 03:10 PM

I use PocketSmith to automatically track all of my income and expenses as well as organize them in different categories. There are lots of apps that help with this but I needed one that connects to my different European bank accounts, which limited my options.

Then I also have a spreadsheet where I track monthly income per type of work I do, business expenses, business profit, my take-home, and what I need to set aside for taxes. Most of it works with formulas so once I've entered the income and expense numbers, the rest is automatically calculated.

#freelance-gigs - December 10, 2021 at 02:00 PM

When I respond to someone looking for a writer, regardless of whether they've reached out to me or if I've approached them, I tend to ask if they already have an in-house SEO team/are already working with an SEO agency to figure out which topics they should be creating content around and which keywords they should target.

This question also helps me estimate where they are at when it comes to content strategy, which plays a role in whether I'd want to work with them or not.

#intros - December 01, 2021 at 06:55 PM

Hey @Bryan Bloom, welcome to the community!
I'm a freelance writer. Mind if I DM you to discuss what you're looking for?

#agency-life - November 22, 2021 at 09:36 PM

As a writer myself, I have it in my contracts that rights of the work are transferred to the client but that I retain the right to share the works as part of my portfolio across my channels.

Some clients (agencies and others) want me to ghostwrite and then that's something we'll discuss, but it's not my default way of working.

#freelance-gigs - November 22, 2021 at 09:33 PM

Love this idea! I'm not your target audience but I'm also a content strategist and would love to know more about the concept if you're open to sharing. I'll be expanding my services next year and I'm not targeting hardcore tech companies 🙂
Happy to share what I'm doing in exchange!

#freelance-gigs - November 17, 2021 at 01:06 PM

Don't want to hijack this thread but could I contact you as well @Adriana Stein and @Alyssa Greenfield? I'm a content writer for digital marketing and communication brands and have experience in that niche, but am looking to expand my portfolio a bit.

#intros - October 27, 2021 at 10:03 AM

Hey @Neha Gupta! Feel free to send me a DM to let me know what exactly you're looking for 🙂

#general - October 20, 2021 at 09:16 PM

I've been wanting to try Roam for forever but haven't yet because transferring everything from Evernote seems like so much work.

#intros - October 20, 2021 at 09:10 PM

Oh cool! From what I can tell so far, Brazilian Portuguese is quite a bit easier. They pronounce things more the way you write them and it's a bit slower and more melodic. To me, it sounds more like Spanish than European Portuguese does.

#intros - October 20, 2021 at 04:16 PM

Thanks @Patrick! Because I moved to Lisbon and plan on staying here :)

#intros - October 19, 2021 at 12:59 PM

Hey everyone!

I'm Sofie and I'm a freelance content strategist, writer, and optimizer. I've been working in content since 2010. I started at a press agency, then became a copywriter and marketing coordinator at an international publishing house, and since 2012, I have been creating optimized blog content for clients. My focus is on brands in digital marketing and communication. I also run a travel authority site.

On a more personal level, I love to eat, dance, explore, and push myself through personal development. I'm Belgian but moved to Lisbon in the summer of 2020, and I hope to speak fluent Portuguese by the end of 2022. You can keep me accountable 🙂

I'm excited to see what's happening here and hope I can make some useful contributions.