We’re continuing to share a different story every couple of weeks of how a past student has been able to significantly grow their freelance business by applying the concepts they learned from Double Your Freelancing (check out our last one with Beth Perrou).
If you feel your story would be a good fit, share why.
Hi Brennan, I just wanted to say THANK YOU! I got my first client using your methods two days ago and it was a VERY smooth process. 🙂 I still need to work on generating those new leads, but I’m getting quite good at the negotiation part. Thanks again for all you’re doing! -Jorge
Hi Jorge! Tell us about yourself – who are you and what do you for fun?
I’m an entrepreneur. I love building and launching projects on the side of my business to try and make some extra money. And if they don’t work, I just shut them down.
For fun, I’m getting into fitness. I’m obese right now – I started my journey at 135kg (that’s like 290lbs), with 45% body fat percentage and I’ve already dropped over 15kg this year. 🙂
What got you into freelancing? Was it what you expected?
I got into freelancing due to the lack of job opportunities.
I live in one of the least tech cities of Colombia, where everything is tourism, night clubs and party – there are like three or four big software companies and they only hire people with lots of degrees, so I started freelancing on the side to earn extra money.
It wasn’t really what I expected. I.e. I didn’t expect it to be so hard, but I try to get better at it every day and I’m learning a lot while I do it. For example, I have managed to put better processes in place to make the business easier.
Tell us about your hardest moment as an entrepreneur to date.
The hardest moment to date was over the last couple of months, February – May of this year. I was deeply in debt (I’m still in debt, but things are getting better at a good pace) and I had banks and lawyers calling me every single day.
What got me through was Brennan’s free email course, Charge What You’re Worth. I put everything in practice and landed my first ‘great’ client as a result. The process was really smooth, he agreed to all of my terms without hesitation and wired my deposit the same day we talked! 🙂
On the flip side, what’s been your biggest success so far?
The client I was just telling you about – the super smooth process, the guy that agreed to everything and wired the deposit instantly. This is such a big success for a few reasons:
- Since he didn’t negotiate and agreed to everything I suggested, I know I can up my rate for my next client (I’m going to try to up it by 50%).
- He already trusted me enough to contact and hire me because he was on my email list, so I now understand the benefits of an email list and I’m working on improving it even more.
- It’s going to be a fairly long engagement, so I can really improve my financial situation and invest in my career, heading for Double Your Freelancing Rate in a couple of weeks.
What were you struggling the most with when you ran into Brennan’s course?
The whole process really.
I was working mainly with referrals from family and friends and they were small one-off engagements. I wasn’t doing anything to get new leads, increase rates, etc.
What are some specific strategies, tactics or pieces of advice that helped you grow?
The Socratic Method! 🙂
It really sets you apart when you start asking the right questions. People get real with you about their goals and dreams and that makes it so much better because you can relate a lot better and understand what they need, instead of what they think they want.
What are you most excited about for your business in 2016?
I’m really exited to get better at Socratic questioning and to be able to have those conversations with more clients in order to help them take their projects from idea to reality! 🙂
Connect with Jorge via his website, JAVEBRATT.