AI for Freelancers: The Best ChatGPT Prompts and AI Tools

If you subscribe to my email or follow me on social, you know I have two missions: 

1. 1. I want to earn as much money as I can while working as little as possible

2. 2. I want to teach other freelancers how to do the same 

As part of those missions, I present you with this roundup of my favorite ChatGPT prompts and AI tools you can use as a freelancer to work smarter, be more productive, and earn more of that precious free time. 

This post includes copy-and-paste ChatGPT prompts you can use right away, which I’ve highlighted in pink like this to make them easy to find, along with general tips for using AI tools, and plenty of screenshots to illustrate how it all works. And toward the end of the article, I list out my honest review of the many AI tools I’ve used. 

And before you go any further, make sure you check this out for my complete list of the tools I use to manage my freelance SEO career: 

Now, let’s go make some robot assistants.

Get ChatGPT to ask you follow-up questions 

This is a hack I’m so glad I discovered early on, because it really changes how successful ChatGPT is with your prompts. This works especially well if you are asking for something relatively complex or vague. 

Whenever you’re writing a new prompt for ChatGPT, try tacking this prompt onto the end of your query:

Before you create your response, please ask me follow-up questions until you are certain you can execute my request perfectly. 

This is the absolute best way to avoid having to re-brief ChatGPT. It will help the AI clear up any questions before it generates anything: 

Teach ChatGPT your tone and style with examples 

This was a game-changer for me, and is an excellent ChatGPT prompt for anyone who is using it to create content for a specific brand. 

As you can hopefully tell reading this article, I have a very specific tone and style for my own content. Maintaining this tone is my biggest concern when collaborating with anyone, human or cylon. 

ChatGPT-4 (the paid version) has made big improvements with maintaining tone, by allowing you to personalize your profile. But this doesn’t help if you’re a freelancer who needs to use multiple tones, and even with the profile set, it’s still not easy to get the tool to sound like you.

So I came across this clever trick to get ChatGPT to emulate your tone and style as best it can. Try this prompt: 

I’m going to give you some examples of [my blog/my client’s website/my LinkedIn etc.]. I want you to read through it and learn as much as you can about my tone, style, language use, formatting, and intended audience. 

When you’re done, please provide me a summary of what you think of my tone, and I’ll give you feedback on your assessment.

Here are some examples of [blog/client’s domain/LinkedIn activity feed etc.]: 

[insert link]

[insert link]

[insert link]

[insert link]

[insert link]

Here’s an example of how that works: 

💡Freelance Tip: If you’re an SEO or Content Marketing freelancer, this is an excellent way to get a good summary of your client’s tone of voice and style, especially if they haven’t defined that yet. 

For more tips on living a joyful freelance life, check out Freelance Bridge Builders: 

From there, you can correct the tool if it’s off the mark, until you’re sure it has a good understanding of your tone. 

Finally, you want to “seal” that tone into the chat you’re using by sending a prompt like this: 

Now that you have an understanding of my tone and style, can you please use that for every content collaboration prompt I give you in this chat? 

Or 

Let’s refer to this tone and style as [name your tone]. Whenever I prompt you to write in [name of tone], use that tone and style in your response. 

And here’s how that plays out: 

Just as you would with a newbie copywriter, it’s always a good idea to ask ChatGPT to create an outline of what you’re working on before you start. This way, you can make sure the skeleton is all good before you waste time (and get ChatGPT more confused) by having it write without an outline. 

Once you have the outline, you can either have ChatGPT do its best to expand it section by section in your own voice, or take the outline and write it in your own voice (with no further robot assistance). 

To get a good outline, try adding this simple prompt to any directive you give ChatGPT: 

Before you begin creating, please put together an outline for the piece. I will give you feedback on it, and then ask you to write the first draft using the approved outline.

Here’s what the results look like: 

Using ChatGPT for content repurposing 

The most powerful thing ChatGPT has done for me so far is to turn into my personal assistant when it comes to content repurposing. 

It has become so much easier to take one piece of content and turn it into multiple assets with AI’s help. 

Using ChatGPT in this way also eliminates one of the biggest issues with the software; it removes the risks of plagiarism, or the weird, vague stuff that ChatGPT comes up with on its own when it doesn’t have a good prompt. 

There are lots of way to use ChatGPT for content repurposing, and it really depends on what kind of content you are starting with. But here are a few of my favorite ways I’ve used it: 

Turning LinkedIn Posts into Tweets (Or vice versa) 

LinkedIn and Twitter are two of the best lead generation channels for freelancers. And with ChatGPT, you can easily take posts from one channel and repurpose them for another. 

ChatGPT has some trouble reading social feeds. It refuses to read LinkedIn posts because they’re not exactly public, and with Twitter it gets confused with all of the side barcontent. 

To get around this, just copy and paste the text you want it to work with directly. 

Try these prompts: 

I’m going to send you a LinkedIn post I wrote. I’d like you to rewrite it as a Twitter thread.

Here is the text for the post:

[insert post text]

And to go in the other direction: 

I am going to copy and paste a number of Tweets for you to review. I would like you to rewrite them in the ideal format for a LinkedIn post. Here are the tweets: 

Turning social posts into blogs 

Something I often tell my mentoring students: Social media is a great place to test your ideas. If something goes well on social, use that as fodder for a long-form blog on your website/in your portfolio (This of course works for client work as well.) 

So, how can you get ChatGPT to turn a successful social post into a blog? Here’s a prompt to do just that: 

I’m going to send you the text for a [LinkedIn post/Twitter thread] I created. I would like you to turn that into a long-form blog post, in [tone and style]. Please aim for [word count] by expanding each . Include a brief introduction and conclusion, and find a few natural places to insert a call to action for [define cta].

Here is the text from the post: [insert text]

Turn a blog or post into an email for your mailing list

If you use email marketing as part of your freelancer strategy (which I highly recommend), you can then repurpose any content you’ve made into an easy mailout for your audience. Here’s the prompt: 

I’m sending you the copy of a blog I wrote recently. Please create an email for my audience of [describe your audience], promoting this article in an engaging way and encouraging people to click through for a full read. 

Turning a video transcript into a blog

If you are regularly creating video content, then ChatGPT can help you take the transcript of your video and turn it into a new piece of content. 

You’ll need to start with a different piece of AI technology—something that can take video and auto transcribe it. (My personal favorite is Descript for this, but you do you.)  

From there, you can try these prompts to get the best result for you. 

I am sending you the transcript from a video I recently created. Can you please use it to draft [an outline for a blog, LinkedIn post promoting the interview, etc.]?

Here is the full transcript text: [Insert transcript]

ChatGPT prompts for research and strategy 

Doing research for a content piece you’re creating can take a lot of time—but ChatGPT can make it go by a lot faster. 

However, ChatGPT’s memory only goes back to 2021. So it’s not the best place to go for more recent stats and figures, and when using the prompts below, it will constantly remind you of it’s limitations. It also can give wildly inaccurate information, but it’s still a good starting place for much of research you’re doing as a freelancer. 

Get a tailored list of resources 

To get over ChatGPT’s tendency to provide information with few or no resources at all, you can use this prompt to start with good citations. 

Provide me with a list of resources for further research into [specific topic]. Provide a list of statistics and interesting perspectives, summarize each one, and give me the exact URLs where I can find the source material for further reading. Make sure all of them are 100% accurate, as close to the source material as possible, relevant to the topic, and as recent as possible. 

Pair ChatGPT with Reddit for audience research

Reddit has always been one of my favorite places to go for audience research, because it’s purely user-generated content, separated into groups (known as subreddits) for nearly any topic you can think of. 

ChatGPT takes it a step further by making it much easier to cull through subreddits to find the information you need. The first step is identifying the subreddit that contains your target audience. (Here’s a list of some of my favorite subreddits for writers if you want a place to start.)  

Once you have that, try this prompt: 

Look through the subreddit [url for subreddit] and list out the top 5 – 10 questions or topics that come up frequently. Provide me with links to some of the threads on each topic that contain the highest number of comments. 

Generate content ideas with these prompts

Writer’s block happens to the best of it. Especially if you’ve already been writing about the same topic for your own brand or a client’s for more than a few months.

Fortunately, ChatGPT can act as a well of inspiration if you try out any of these prompts: 

What are common misconceptions about [topic]

What are FAQs people have around [topic]?

What are your predictions for what will happen with [topic] in the next few years? 

What are some of the best online tools for [topic] 

What are the pros and cons of [topic]

Use ChatGPT prompts for lead generation and out 

Are you in lead-hunting mode? If so, I highly recommend you check out my lead generation guide, which spells out all of the methods and channels I’ve used to find leads for my freelance business. (First chapter is totally free,  y’all.) 

But aside from the tactics in the guidebook, ChatGPT can seriously speed up the amount of time it takes to find leads. There’s a three-step method you can use for this, with the following prompts. (And be sure to check out the list of AI tools below, as one of them is superb for prospecting.)

Step 1. Get a list of potential partnerships 

Start out by asking for a list of different resources you want. I personally am always happy to appear on podcasts and I enjoy submitting guest posts. So I would use these prompts: 

I am looking for new opportunities to promote my [type of business]. Generate a list of [podcasts/blogs] centered around [list of topics] that are potentially open to new [hosts/guest writers]. List the name of the [podcast/guest blog] and links for further [listening/reading]. 

Step 2. Get contact details for those partners 

Once you have a list of a few you are happy with, copy them into a separate document or spreadsheet. Then paste them back into ChatGPT with this prompt: 

Please find the names and contact information (email addresses and social media) for the following [podcasts/blogs]. List them so I can easily copy them into a spreadsheet. 

Step 3. Ask for a template for reaching out 

Finally, you can quickly generate templates for reaching out to the contacts you found. (I have even better templates, based on ones that have won me opportunities or new clients, as part of my lead generation guide.) 

If you don’t want to use my templates (fine!) then try this prompt on for size: 

I am applying as a guest on [URL to blog or podcast]. Please write a short and engaging email asking to be featured. Include a few details about my background, such as [list of skills/experience], and mention a specific compliment about a recent [post/episode]. 

Other AI tools for freelancers

As you may have noticed, ChatGPT is by far my favorite AI tool for freelancing. But there are lots of other AI-powered tools on the market, and I’ve tried a bunch of them. 

Apollo.io | Free 

This has got to be the most powerful AI tool for freelancers (or any business owner, really). And the fact that it’s free right now means you should definitely go grab it. 

This tool makes finding leads and prospects a lot easier. It does a lot of other stuff too, like helping you write engaging pitch emails and asessing how your prospects are moving through your pipeline. 

But the best part, in my opinion, is the Chrome extension, which allows you to quickly get the names and contact details of employees by visitng any website. It’s very accurate, too. This can make finding the right person to reach out to with cold pitching a lot easier. 

For more tips on getting new clients, check out my Lead Generation Guide for Freelancers. 

Frase.io | $14.99 per month 

If you are an SEO freelancer like me, then Frase can be quite a useful AI tool. While its writing assistant leaves a lot to be desired (as do they all at this point), it really does have some powerful SEO assistance to offer. 

With a simple word or phrase, you can use this tool to generate a list of content ideas and even an outline based on the articles that are already ranking on the first page. 

You can also use this tool to come up with ways to refresh and update your content for SEO, though there’s no reason you can’t also use ChatGPT to do that as well. 

AudioPen.ai | Free 

This one comes to me from my dear friend and fellow freelancer, Meredith Farley. (And if you haven’t heard our podcast episode about freelancing, I highly recommend you go check that out.) 

If you use voice notes to keep track of your work, this handy tool can automatically capture and organize your notes for you. Here’s the results of a rambling voice note to myself about this very article you’re reading: 

Descript | Free version or $12 per month 

Of all the tools on this list, Descript is the one I’ve used the longest and most often. This is a video editing tool that automatically transcribes video into a word document. That’s not all that special, except then you can edit the word document and it will edit the video for you. WOW. Video editing is (almost) as easy as just deleting words and phrases. 

It also can automatically remove filler words (like ums and uhs), and seriously enhance sound if your microphone isn’t the best. Those are just some of its best features, but check out this video that shows it in a really awesome way. 

Jasper.AI | $39 per month 

There are LOTS of tools like Jasper out there to help you write faster and better. I know plenty of people are fans of Clearscope, which does everything Jasper does plus a lot of what Frase does. But at $170 a month, Clearscope is a lot more pricey. 

I no longer use Jasper, because I found that its writing was often very clunky and rarely sounded like me. But if I was a beginner writer and needed to improve my speed, I’d use it, because it can make you faster if you aren’t a veteran writer. 

Jasper has a good extension that allows you to use it everywhere you write, including in Google Docs, which is a huge advantage. And it does come with a tone analysis tool that can get closer to a human tone, but I still found it fell far short of what I need in a writing tool. 

Beautiful.AI | Free (for now) 

Making presentations is a big part of freelancer life, but putting them together if you aren’t a designer can suck up a lot of time. However, aesthetic presentations can really make a difference in how much you can charge clients. 

That’s why I’m obsessed with Beautiful.Ai, a new tool for creating presentations. You can upload your colors and fonts, then use a number of templates to auto-populate slides. It does all that annoying rearranging/adjustingt/resizing/recoloring stuff for you, so you can just focus on getting the text right and getting it done. Highly recommend. 

So that’s it! That’s my two cents on how freelancers can use AI to enhance their working lives. I’ll come back to this list and my Tech Stack for Freelancers whenever I find a new tool worth using, so be sure to sign up for my mailing list so you know when there have been new additions.

Is there an AI tool you absolutely love that’s not on this list? I’d love to hear about it! You can leave a comment below, or get in touch with me directly at Liam@InkwellContent.com or via LinkedIn or Twitter.