Ben writes in from the Philippines, “My biggest problem in freelancing (mine is web development) is not having enough ”good“ portfolio to show prospective clients. Do I really need to have one? I want to start all over again as a freelancer. Do I need to have portfolio pieces before I can start making my…
Malcolm writes, “It gets harder to contemplate going full time when your day job has a very high salary, great benefits, room for advancement and is in a explosive growth industry. (That also usually comes with long hours, lots of stress, and lots of travel, which can be a strain on your family.) Any advice…
One of the most frustrating gigs I ever bid on was a project for a local university. My consultancy got most of our clients through direct inquiries or referrals; for the most part, we completely avoided the RFP game. In my mind, it was on the same level as spec work. An employee of mine…
Sooner or later, we all want to give up. A few of us act on it and go back to the relative comfort of a “show up and get paid” full-time job, or in more extreme examples give up technology and computers altogether and get into carpentry or even farming (no joke — I know a…
This is the Freelancing Minute for Friday, February 14th (Valentine’s day!) 2014. When you’re creating a proposal, it’s important to contextualize our offer (what we’re building or doing) with the problem and the solution. In this short clip, I seek to define the differences between the problem, the offer, and the solution.
This week I had the opportunity to sit down and talk with Sherry Walling, a clinical psychologist and counselor and the wife of Rob Walling. Sherry gave a fantastic talk at MicroConf last year on ways that entrepreneurs can manage their own anxiety, and I wanted to bring her on to discuss how you can make sure…
A friend of mine posted on Facebook that he had listed himself on Fiverr, which is a marketplace of people willing to do all sorts of things for $5. Well, I know Kevin, and I know that he’s a high value .NET freelancer. So admittedly, I was a little confused at first… why would a…
Last week, I described how a basic 5 day email course fueled by a Facebook ad campaign is my total marketing effort for selling my latest product, WordPress Conversion Funnel. However, I realized I didn’t go too in-depth into how I’m actually structuring and writing email courses, or about the role they play in my…
When you see someone with thousands of newsletter subscribers, Twitter followers, or whatever other statistic often equates with success, it’s easy to get discouraged and give up on starting or launching a new product to help augment (or even replace) your freelancing income. Why would anyone buy that book you’ve been writing if no one…
Disclaimer: Today’s post is all about how to build your first product. If you’re struggling to find clients or are barely managing to stay in business, I’d recommend working on that first. Here are a few good places to start: Cash Flow Tips for Freelancers 7 Ways To Get More Clients Through Your Website How…