As a part of the GDPR, all customers or users will have the right to request the data held on them, the right to have that data deleted if its original purpose has ceased, and the right to have that data transferred to a different provider. Which means to provide an individual with the right to request, delete, or move their personal data, the individual must be aware that you as a company have the data to begin with. Without their awareness of you using their data, they have no actionable right...
May 09, 2018ā¢10 minā¢Ep. 53
In episode 36 - How to work from home effectively , I dove into 4 tips and discipline was the very first tip. Then in episode 45 - How does the house run with 2 stay at home, freelancing parents , I shared 3 tactics that help the house to run smoothly while maintaining a high level of quality to our work. Aside from those 7 tips, I want to answer you with something that I didnāt mention in those episodes. Thatās self-awareness. Let me explain what I mean in this episode....
May 08, 2018ā¢5 minā¢Ep. 52
Think about your own buying habits. Think of how others buy. Folks are tied to Apple products like itās the only option out there, right? And to think they started by building computers that really couldnāt compete in the market. Then launched the iPod and took off. A tiny music player that folks could download music to and didnāt need to carry around CDs anymore. Now weāve got iPhones and MacBooks all over the place right? I was an early adopter of MP3 players and most of them sucked. Until the...
May 07, 2018ā¢6 minā¢Ep. 51
I wrote a more in-depth blog post called the Definitive Guide to Start Freelancing Successfully that dives much deeper into each of the steps I outline here. Most freelancers donāt do the work that it takes to run a successful business, thatās why the term flakey freelancer exists. Itās why you hear freelancers talk about the feast or famine cycle all the time. Following these 6 steps will set the foundation for you, in order to really level up your game to specialization and recurring revenue. ...
May 04, 2018ā¢11 minā¢Ep. 50
If you are starting out in your freelance business, you probably donāt have a daily budget to run ads. Focusing on answering your clients questions, and being able to convert those visitors into leads on your site would be the better use of your resources. SEO isnāt an overnight thing though. It takes time, it takes optimizations, for Google to start pulling you up in the ranks. On the other hand, if you want to run an event, unless you have a large following, paid ads would make sense to get in...
May 03, 2018ā¢6 minā¢Ep. 49
The number one thing would be to learn the language of your clients . If you can understand what they mean when they are saying certain things to you, then can echo back to them, you instantly create that connection with them and build trust. Number 2 is donāt wait for them to ask for an update . Be out in front of them. You know you are doing the work, they know you are doing the work. But they donāt know where you are in the process. So shoot them off a simple email, maybe once or twice a week...
May 02, 2018ā¢6 minā¢Ep. 48
Your business is important. Not just for you, but for your clients. If you donāt make your business important and set that time aside, you wonāt be around very long for your clients, right? Here are 3 tips: 1. Wake up one hour early/or work one hour later if thatās more your speed and only work on your business tasks. This will not take away from your client work at all. In fact, youāll be adding one more hour to your work day, but solely meant for working on the business, not in the business. 2...
May 01, 2018ā¢4 minā¢Ep. 47
I hate to break the news, but there isnāt a hack here. This takes time, effort, consistency, and most of all, doing good work. If you were to take several names of those āfreelancer profilesā that you respect, what do they look like? Have they been in the game for a long time? Do they market themselves effectively? Do they work with some of the best names? How do their clients talk about them? and maybe the most important aspect of their profile isā¦ What sort of focused solution are they providi...
Apr 30, 2018ā¢7 minā¢Ep. 46
This question is inspired by 2 people, one is Scott, a Feast member, who sent me an email yesterday that said āI donāt know how you find the time to do all you do.ā Then another person who Iāve known for some time through Twitter, Amber Turner. Go check out her site and amberturner.com . She posted a great article talking about her life transition in both her freelancing and personal life. In this article she talked about and Iām paraphrasing a bit here, on how the content around freelancing tal...
Apr 27, 2018ā¢7 minā¢Ep. 45
I hate to answer a question with a question, but are you focused on local businesses? If so and the size of your market can't support your business then focusing on a specific industry may be too restrictive. For more on exploring your market and the industry head on over to read, listen and explore the Step By Step Guide to Specialization On the flipside, if you can have a handful of outstanding, recurring, residual clients in a specific industry that support your business, you can charge a pre...
Apr 27, 2018ā¢4 minā¢Ep. 44
Congrats on landing the gig ā Iām assuming that you donāt have a signed contract in place yet though. Because the terms of payment should definitely be included in your contract. If you havenāt set the expectations during the sales process of how you are to be paid, then you could potentially be on a bumpy road. Not saying that they arenāt expecting to pay you, but they may have different expectations than you do. Thereās different structures that businesses have in their minds, 50/50, 100% at t...
Apr 25, 2018ā¢4 minā¢Ep. 43
If you aren't uncomfortable while learning a new skill or pushing the envelope of your business, then are you really moving forward? Are you going to reach your goals? Public speaking is something that I am mortified of doing. "But you've got 2 podcasts and have spoken at conferences and meetups?" Yup, but it still terrifies me. But I know that by putting myself in that position, I will grow. With the amazing feedback, I get from folks like yourself, what I talk about helps them and so why not d...
Apr 24, 2018ā¢5 minā¢Ep. 42
Being a freelancer for 15 years, I've learned a few tricks. Knowing how to start the week off on the right foot, starts with planning Monday morning before Monday! This is critical for me since I feel like if I donāt do my weekly review on Sundays, Iām lost. I feel behind on the week because my review is usually about an hour of time. In this episode I walk you through my 10 steps to performing a weekly review so that you know your week starts off on the right foot.
Apr 23, 2018ā¢5 minā¢Ep. 41
Firstly, thereās no moving forward with a proposal if you canāt nail down a scope of work right? Often times if you are in one of these conversations, you can tell within 10-15 mins of it that you are in one. Itās usually filled with meandering paths to loosely based goals. The best thing about these conversations is that they do lead to paid discoveries. These are lower risk, high reward engagements for you and your lead. How you ask and present this is the best way to get these types of freela...
Apr 20, 2018ā¢5 minā¢Ep. 40
When you are freelancing you want to get out there on podcasts, guest blog, and anything else that puts you in front of potential clients and people who will buy from you. getonpodcasts.com - Kaiās lessons help quite a bit and landed me on a few. For soliciting, the key is first finding podcasts where you can add value to that audience and then pitch that host with that value add, first and foremost. I dive into 5 tips in this episode to keep you on track so that you can get yourself the most ou...
Apr 19, 2018ā¢5 minā¢Ep. 39
Iām going to start by saying that this question seems to have a sense of urgency and a result of lack of planning. Thatās not a knock by any means, Iāve been there :). So I definitely am qualified to answer this question. You may be surprised at some of what I say in this episode, but as a freelancer, there are times when a reality check needs to happen and brutal honesty is needed. I outline 3 things you can do so that you can get income fast.
Apr 18, 2018ā¢5 minā¢Ep. 38
In the service based industry, if you delight and make an impression on your leads, clients, and past clients, that will continue to ripple through them and the people they know. Look, as a freelancer you have the best opportunity to make an impact on someone else, whether thatās them personally or professionally. Why not do it? That is the stuff that doesnāt scale.
Apr 17, 2018ā¢4 minā¢Ep. 37
As a freelancer, it's such a luxury to be working from home. However it is so easy to be distracted when you work from home. As a was having a conversation with another father at my nephew's little league game over the weekend, we traded our best 4 tips to work from home effectively. The 4 tips are: 1. Discipline 2. Making sure family respects the work place 3. Get out 4. Support Regardless if you are a developer, designer, marketer, writer, in sales, etc, these 4 tips will help you work from ho...
Apr 16, 2018ā¢5 minā¢Ep. 36
Thereās no easy and quick answer to getting the messaging right. You need to learn what it is and apply that learning over time to really get it right. The best things that have worked for me are: 1. Conversations 2. Testimonials 3. Support Get yourself away from the generic headers and think about what your clients are saying and use them. Thatās where youāll find the right messaging to attract the best kinds of clients.
Apr 13, 2018ā¢5 minā¢Ep. 35
This is a great question, because as a freelancer, you should be mindful of where your time goes. I donāt schedule the time in specifically, however I do read a ton. I tend to read articles more at night or early morning after waking up. This often times is the best time for me because itās quiet, I donāt have to think about anything else and it allows me to wind down or up, depending on the day. I do read tons of articles, and I do have a process around them, I just donāt schedule the reading t...
Apr 12, 2018ā¢5 minā¢Ep. 34
There are many certifications out there in the market that a freelancer can grab. It can help your business grow, both as social proof, but also in your lead generation and sales. If you are specializing your business, sometimes you focus in on a particular piece of software that helps your clientsā business. Sometimes you focus on a specific coding language. Sometimes you focus on a platform. If you are focusing on these things and know them in and out, having a certification in them gives you ...
Apr 12, 2018ā¢5 minā¢Ep. 33
Scope creep worries even the most experienced freelancer. After a heard lesson early on in my career, I donāt look at scope creep as being something thatās a bad thing anymore. Itās more of an opportunity to be honest. Now donāt get me wrong, scope creep when handled wrong can kill everything about a project. The deadline, profitability, the trust. So itās so very important that scope creep is handled in the best way possible. Remember scope creep starts with a simple ask. Usually, itās the clie...
Apr 10, 2018ā¢8 minā¢Ep. 32
It is natural as a freelancer to want to look down the road of another path. Catering to 2 target markets is not easy, especially if they are vastly different. If you are building a product, course, writing a book, whatever that thing is alongside your services, it's not uncommon to feel overwhelmed. Itās definitely hard and something that I do struggle with. The biggest thing to do is remained focus on the tasks at hand. Itās too easy to get overwhelmed or get off the rails with the shiny objec...
Apr 09, 2018ā¢8 minā¢Ep. 31
As a freelancer, there needs to be a balance between your business moving forward and your clientsā businesses. As a freelancer you should think like a business owner, not an employee. If your business is not moving forward, your clients will ultimately suffer too. Itās a scary thing because you have all your eggs in one basket so to speak. If that client doesnāt need you anymore, then what? I think this is a question that most freelancers ask themselves but are hesitant to act on it. I get it, ...
Apr 06, 2018ā¢6 minā¢Ep. 30
Instead of thinking about automation as this big complex behemoth, think of it as something that connects 2 actions together that makes your life easier. So when I started freelancing, I would meet people for sales meetings at their office, at a coffee shop, or restaurants. I wanted to save a few minutes so that I could grab a cup of coffee for everyone at the meeting, so I used automation to connect my Google Calendar to Evernote.
Apr 05, 2018ā¢7 minā¢Ep. 29
As a freelancer, you are always looking to optimize your tools and work with the best out there. But āWhat is the bestā is such a subjective term. When looking for tools, itās easy to get into the features and all the shiny objects thinking that you need it. Often times you get so into the tools that you donāt actually get work done. I suggest you work backwards. What I mean by that is start where you get money. This episode covers the things to think about from working backwards in your busines...
Apr 04, 2018ā¢6 minā¢Ep. 28
If you are involved in a project or client but at a point where you are starting to figure out your niche. Or maybe you are starting to specialize your freelance business even more to refine your services. Itās always tough to try and figure out how to handle the current clients. There are several things you can do though and one thing that you have to do. You have to finish the job. Plain and simple. Whatever you said you would do, you have to deliver on that. Then based on if they fall into yo...
Apr 03, 2018ā¢7 minā¢Ep. 27
āFreelancingā itself is a business and reliability of income for any business depends on the health of that business and the processes of getting the income. If you build a business of your own, which freelancing is, you need to understand all the aspects of the business, at least at a basic level. You should always be learning, marketing, and growing. Evolving your business processes as you grow. You make your income reliable, by doing all these things in your business. There are no guarantees ...
Apr 02, 2018ā¢6 minā¢Ep. 26
Want to specialize your freelance business? This is the 5th episode in the series to niche down and I'll walk you through how to find and land that first client. There are 6 steps that you need to do in order to find and land that client. Can you land 1, 2, maybe 5 new clients in this first test of your market? Obviously, it depends on your availability and service. But if you can land one or 2 then youāve moved in that direction towards your specialty. It may not seem like a lot, but you need t...
Mar 30, 2018ā¢10 minā¢Ep. 25
In freelancing, the best way to research is to talk with people. You want to jump into some quick and easy questions. 1. How is everything going? 2. What made the decision for you to choose me over someone else? 3. Is there anything that I can be doing better? As you wrap up the conversation ask them if they know of anyone like themselves that has a similar project and that you would appreciate a quick introduction. Now if you donāt have any past clients in that quadrant you built out in "How do...
Mar 29, 2018ā¢8 minā¢Ep. 24
