Knowing how to do the work and knowing how to sell it are two entirely different skills, and almost nobody teaches the second one. Lucie Šimečková ran into that gap firsthand.
With more than a decade in developer marketing, including roles at Microsoft and TigerData, Lucie had the expertise part figured out. After parental leave, she decided to build that expertise into her own freelance and consulting business, work she now does as a Content Marketing Freelancer for Tech Brands. What she hadn't done before was sell her own services, find clients consistently, or run a sales process from scratch.
She joined the Femme Palette mentoring program about six months into freelancing, once she could see exactly where she was getting stuck. Here's what came out of it.
I’m a content marketing freelancer focused on developer marketing. I’ve spent more than ten years in the field, first at Microsoft and later at Tiger Data, a database unicorn startup.
After parental leave, I decided to take what I had learned in those roles and build my own freelance and consulting business. I joined the Femme Palette program about six months after starting, when I was still figuring out how to make freelancing work as a business.
By then, I had set up the basics and could see where I was getting stuck. Sales and client relationships were new to me. I knew how to do the marketing work, but I didn’t yet know how to find clients consistently, run discovery calls, or build a sales process.
I had previously been a mentor in the Femme Palette program, so I knew how helpful it could be to talk to someone who had faced similar challenges. I wanted guidance from someone with hands-on sales experience instead of spending months trying to work it all out by myself.
My goal was to improve my lead generation so I could consistently bring in new leads.
My mentor and I decided to focus on partnerships with people whose services complement mine. He helped me work out whom to contact, what to send them, and how to handle the first calls. He was generous with his time and gave me specific feedback throughout.
I created the materials, built a list of potential partners, and contacted them. Several replied positively, and a couple of possible collaborations are now in the early stages.
Mentoring gave me a lot more confidence. I’m building the business while raising a young child, and I don’t come from a family or community of freelancers or entrepreneurs. Sales and customer relationships were all new to me, so there was a lot to learn.
Before the program, I often felt lost about how to find clients. My mentor helped me find the right channel that I should prioritize.
About two months into the program, we discussed all the possible ways to find clients - from LinkedIn activity through cold outreach to partners. We decided to try reaching people who serve similar clients but offer different services. It also made me rethink how I was positioning the business. I revised my services, positioning, and website so potential partners could quickly understand how we might work together. We then spent the remaining sessions building the outreach materials and preparing for calls.
I gained a lot more empathy for salespeople and other business owners. I had occasionally worked with sales teams as a marketer, but I had never seen much of their day-to-day work. Selling my own services gave me a very different perspective. Now I know how difficult it can be to send thoughtful emails and hear nothing back. Even a short “No, thank you” is easier than silence.
Does this mentee story resonate with you? Maybe it is time to write your own. Whether you are navigating a career transition, looking to step into your next level, or simply ready for that external perspective that changes everything, our mentoring program is here for you.
Your story could be the next one we tell. Explore the Femme Palette mentoring program and take the first step today.
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