Freelance to Founder

On today’s episode, we have a conversation with Matt Essam who helps freelancers attract and find their dream clients.Have you ever felt like you are more of an employee than a partner when it comes to your client relationships?Maybe you feel like you don’t have any creative input on your projects. Or maybe you feel like you’re underutilized pushing pixels, moving commas, or doing some other menial tasks for your client.If this sounds familiar, you’ll want to listen to our conversation with Matt today. He’s got a pretty great solution to this problem plus some great advice on finding the perfect clients for your business.Get your own on-air coaching callWe'd love to feature your business and offer some free on-air advice for growing your business. To see if you're a good fit, click here.Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts:If you enjoy the show, can you do us a favor and leave us an honest rating and review on Apple Podcasts? We'll love you forever. Click here to leave a review.Support our sponsors so we can keep airing new episodes: The Information — a premium tech and global business news publication for founders and business leaders in any stage of growing their business. LinkedIn Jobs — Find the right person with LinkedIn Jobs. Business Wars — The real story of what drives big companies to new heights — or to ruin. Dripify — Premium learning platform for entrepreneurs. SolidGigs — Get more freelance jobs. Links mentioned in this episode: Download Matt's quick-start guide to finding dream clients without relying on referrals.  Get a free copy of Matt's Amazon best seller here: https://www.createandprosper.co/  ***This show is a part of the Podglomerate network, a company that produces, distributes, and monetizes podcasts. We encourage you to visit the website and sign up for our newsletter for more information about our shows, launches, and events. For more information on how The Podglomerate treats data, please see our Privacy Policy. Since you're listening to Freelance to Founder, we'd like to suggest you also try other Podglomerate shows surrounding entrepreneurship, business, and careers like Rocketship.fm and Creative Elements. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today’s show, we check in with Margaret Ryland. Now, if that name sounds familiar, that’s because Margaret joined us originally on Season 8 to talk about her branding and design business.Since we last talked, Margaret has had some luck on collaborating with other creatives, but is still struggling to build out the processes required to actually make a first contractor hire.It’s a big hurdle, but if she can’t push through it, she might be stuck as a one-person business for the rest of her career.We’ll get into some advice and tactical tips for Margaret and anyone unsure about building a team in today's episode.Get your own on-air coaching callWe'd love to feature your business and offer some free on-air advice for growing your business. To see if you're a good fit, click here.Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts:If you enjoy the show, can you do us a favor and leave us an honest rating and review on Apple Podcasts? We'll love you forever. Click here to leave a review.Support our sponsors so we can keep airing new episodes: Gusto - The all-in-one people platform for payroll, benefits, HR. LinkedIn Jobs — Find the right person with LinkedIn Jobs. Business Wars — The real story of what drives big companies to new heights — or to ruin. Dripify — Premium learning platform for entrepreneurs. SolidGigs — Get more freelance jobs. ***This show is a part of the Podglomerate network, a company that produces, distributes, and monetizes podcasts. We encourage you to visit the website and sign up for our newsletter for more information about our shows, launches, and events. For more information on how The Podglomerate treats data, please see our Privacy Policy. Since you're listening to Freelance to Founder, we'd like to suggest you also try other Podglomerate shows surrounding entrepreneurship, business, and careers like Rocketship.fm and Creative Elements. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today’s show, it’s just Preston and Clay. That’s because in early January, Preston asked Clay how things were looking for the new year and his response was something like:"I’ve already hit my 6 month revenue goal."Yeah, it was January 7th. NUTS!A couple weeks later—Before January was even over—Clay shared that he hit his complete revenue goal for 2021. That’s 12 months of revenue just in January.Naturally, Preston had to get clay on a call and find out what he had been doing. It’s a conversation you won’t want to miss.Get your own on-air coaching callWe'd love to feature your business and offer some free on-air advice for growing your business. To see if you're a good fit, click here.Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts:If you enjoy the show, can you do us a favor and leave us an honest rating and review on Apple Podcasts? We'll love you forever. Click here to leave a review.Support our sponsors so we can keep airing new episodes: Gusto - The all-in-one people platform for payroll, benefits, HR. LinkedIn Jobs — Find the right person with LinkedIn Jobs. Business Wars — The real story of what drives big companies to new heights — or to ruin. Dripify — Premium learning platform for entrepreneurs. SolidGigs — Get more freelance jobs. ***This show is a part of the Podglomerate network, a company that produces, distributes, and monetizes podcasts. We encourage you to visit the website and sign up for our newsletter for more information about our shows, launches, and events. For more information on how The Podglomerate treats data, please see our Privacy Policy. Since you're listening to Freelance to Founder, we'd like to suggest you also try other Podglomerate shows surrounding entrepreneurship, business, and careers like Rocketship.fm and Creative Elements. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today’s episode we have a coaching call with Shelley, who works in the music industry—which can be a tough gig right now, but Shelley is making it work.There’s just a small problem with her principal business—booking artists into venues. Getting clients to understand the value Shelley brings to the table is proving more difficult than she imagined.After digging a bit deeper, Clay and I realize this is a simple messaging problem. A common pitfall in marketing.If you, like Shelley, want to get clients to say “yes” more quickly with less hesitation, stay tuned because, like Shelley, you might just need to tweak your messaging.=========Get your own on-air coaching callWe'd love to feature your business and offer some free on-air advice for growing your business. To see if you're a good fit, click here.Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts:If you enjoy the show, can you do us a favor and leave us an honest rating and review on Apple Podcasts? We'll love you forever. Click here to leave a review.Support our sponsors so we can keep airing new episodes: Gusto - The all-in-one people platform for payroll, benefits, HR. LinkedIn Jobs — Find the right person with LinkedIn Jobs. Business Wars — The real story of what drives big companies to new heights — or to ruin. Remote Works — a podcast that tells extraordinary stories of teams that made the shift to working remotely. (Listen to Remote Works Podcast Sneak Peek) Dripify — Premium learning platform for entrepreneurs. SolidGigs — Get more freelance jobs. ***This show is a part of the Podglomerate network, a company that produces, distributes, and monetizes podcasts. We encourage you to visit the website and sign up for our newsletter for more information about our shows, launches, and events. For more information on how The Podglomerate treats data, please see our Privacy Policy. Since you're listening to Freelance to Founder, we'd like to suggest you also try other Podglomerate shows surrounding entrepreneurship, business, and careers like Rocketship.fm and Creative Elements. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today’s show, we have a chat with Erica who, frankly, intimidates both Clay and me. That’s because Erica is working with some of the brightest people in the world to solve some of the biggest problems faced by humanity.But despite working with some incredible clients and solving some meaningful problems, Erica is stuck when it comes to moving her business to the next level.What we uncover during the conversation is Erica (like so many of us) is perhaps getting the cart before the horse by developing a massive, university-level course for PhDs before she ever tests the market to see if people will buy.Since Clay and I are both admittedly more salesmen than educators, we offer an alternative approach that seems to resonate. If you’re stuck in “create” mode and can’t seem to get to the “launch” or “revenue” stage in your business, then have a listen, because we’ve got some good advice for you in this episode.=========Get your own on-air coaching callWe'd love to feature your business and offer some free on-air advice for growing your business. To see if you're a good fit, click here.Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts:If you enjoy the show, can you do us a favor and leave us an honest rating and review on Apple Podcasts? We'll love you forever. Click here to leave a review.Support our sponsors so we can keep airing new episodes: LinkedIn Jobs — Find the right person with LinkedIn Jobs. Remote Works — a podcast that tells extraordinary stories of teams that made the shift to working remotely. (Listen to Remote Works Podcast Sneak Peek) Dripify — Premium learning platform for entrepreneurs. SolidGigs — Get more freelance jobs. ***This show is a part of the Podglomerate network, a company that produces, distributes, and monetizes podcasts. We encourage you to visit the website and sign up for our newsletter for more information about our shows, launches, and events. For more information on how The Podglomerate treats data, please see our Privacy Policy. Since you're listening to Freelance to Founder, we'd like to suggest you also try other Podglomerate shows surrounding entrepreneurship, business, and careers like Rocketship.fm and Creative Elements. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

3 Ways to Spy on Your Target Audience On today’s episode, we have a coaching call with Nikolai—a freelance Webflow developer living and working in New Zealand.Nikolai’s entire freelance business completely turned around when he decided to focus exclusively on Webflow, showcasing the power of finding your niche as a creative.And while Nikolai has seen a nice bump in new leads and more projects from sites like Upwork and networks like Dribbble, he’s not 100% sure how to find more of his ideal audience.From that question, Clay leads us into 3 ways he has successfully “spied” on his target audience to learn what their pain points are and eventually create the perfect product to sell them.=========Get your own on-air coaching callWe'd love to feature your business and offer some free on-air advice for growing your business. To see if you're a good fit, click here.Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts:If you enjoy the show, can you do us a favor and leave us an honest rating and review on Apple Podcasts? We'll love you forever. Click here to leave a review.Support our sponsors so we can keep airing new episodes: LinkedIn Jobs — Find the right person with LinkedIn Jobs. Remote Works — a podcast that tells extraordinary stories of teams that made the shift to working remotely. (Listen to Remote Works Podcast Sneak Peek) Dripify — Premium learning platform for entrepreneurs. SolidGigs — Get more freelance jobs. ***This show is a part of the Podglomerate network, a company that produces, distributes, and monetizes podcasts. We encourage you to visit the website and sign up for our newsletter for more information about our shows, launches, and events. For more information on how The Podglomerate treats data, please see our Privacy Policy. Since you're listening to Freelance to Founder, we'd like to suggest you also try other Podglomerate shows surrounding entrepreneurship, business, and careers like Rocketship.fm and Creative Elements. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today’s episode, we have a great coaching call with Andrea, who’s growing her agency—helping companies get the most out of the popular marketing software, Hubspot. Andrea has hired contractors to help grow her business in the past and just a month before this conversation, Andrea hired her first full-time employee.Which is a big deal.It’s also led Andrea to start wondering what exactly she needs to be doing as a manager or a leader which launches us into a great conversation about entrepreneurship vs. leadership.=========JOIN OUR FIRST-EVER GROUP CHALLENGE HERE (code 'podcast' to save 30%)It's our 5-Days to Recurring Revenue challenge and it's going to be insanely fun and helpful. After 5 days of live video calls, worksheets, homework, and community chat, you'll leave with an irresistible service product to offer clients for a flat recurring fee each month plus everything you need to pitch, sell, and scale this high-revenue model.Only ~25 people get in on this first round, so click here to claim your seat and we'll see you soon!=========Apply for your own on-air coaching callWe'd love to feature your business and offer some free on-air advice for growing your business. To see if you're a good fit, click here.Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts:If you enjoy the show, can you do us a favor and leave us an honest rating and review on Apple Podcasts? We'll love you forever. Click here to leave a review.Support our sponsors so we can keep airing new episodes: Remote Works — a podcast that tells extraordinary stories of teams that made the shift to working remotely. (Listen to Remote Works Podcast Sneak Peek) Dripify — Premium learning platform for entrepreneurs. SolidGigs — Get more freelance jobs. ***This show is a part of the Podglomerate network, a company that produces, distributes, and monetizes podcasts. We encourage you to visit the website and sign up for our newsletter for more information about our shows, launches, and events. For more information on how The Podglomerate treats data, please see our Privacy Policy. Since you're listening to Freelance to Founder, we'd like to suggest you also try other Podglomerate shows surrounding entrepreneurship, business, and careers like Rocketship.fm and Creative Elements. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today’s episode, we chat with Yusef who’s building his own small product design agency.Yusef’s got a lot going for him: he’s got great cashflow, he’s getting new clients regularly, and he enjoys the work he’s doing.But when it comes to the most profitable projects in his business, he’s limited to working on only 8 at a time.That’s a big problem.And since Yusef hasn’t built out the infrastructure he needs to scale the most profitable part of his business, he can feel the impending plateau.So we walk Yusef through a few ways he can get over this hurdle and keep growing—without giving up 100% of the work he loves to do on a daily basis.If you’ve ever wondered: how can I scale my business without giving up all of the “fun” work, then this episode is for you.=========JOIN OUR FIRST-EVER GROUP CHALLENGE HERE (code 'podcast' to save 30%)It's our 5-Days to Recurring Revenue challenge and it's going to be insanely fun and helpful. After 5 days of live video calls, worksheets, homework, and community chat, you'll leave with an irresistible service product to offer clients for a flat recurring fee each month plus everything you need to pitch, sell, and scale this high-revenue model.Only ~25 people get in on this first round, so click here to claim your seat and we'll see you soon!=========Apply for your own on-air coaching callWe'd love to feature your business and offer some free on-air advice for growing your business. To see if you're a good fit, click here.Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts:If you enjoy the show, can you do us a favor and leave us an honest rating and review on Apple Podcasts? We'll love you forever. Click here to leave a review.Support our sponsors so we can keep airing new episodes: Remote Works — a podcast that tells extraordinary stories of teams that made the shift to working remotely. (Listen to Remote Works Podcast Sneak Peek) Dripify — Premium learning platform for entrepreneurs. SolidGigs — Get more freelance jobs. ***This show is a part of the Podglomerate network, a company that produces, distributes, and monetizes podcasts. We encourage you to visit the website and sign up for our newsletter for more information about our shows, launches, and events. For more information on how The Podglomerate treats data, please see our Privacy Policy. Since you're listening to Freelance to Founder, we'd like to suggest you also try other Podglomerate shows surrounding entrepreneurship, business, and careers like Rocketship.fm and Creative Elements. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In today’s episode, we chat with an up-and-coming agency-builder, Maddie. And during our conversation we come up against one of the most common issues hold many of us back:Getting out of our own way.The thing is, Maddie is extremely bright. She’s got a lot of great things going. And she’s got more freelance work than she can take on alone right now.But, like so many of us, she might be overthinking a few decisions in her business that could affect her success over the next few years. Follow along as we work through each of these in today's show.=========JOIN OUR FIRST-EVER GROUP CHALLENGE HERE (code 'podcast' to save 30%)It's our 5-Days to Recurring Revenue challenge and it's going to be insanely fun and helpful. After 5 days of live video calls, worksheets, homework, and community chat, you'll leave with an irresistible service product to offer clients for a flat recurring fee each month plus everything you need to pitch, sell, and scale this high-revenue model.Only ~25 people get in on this first round, so click here to claim your seat and we'll see you soon!=========Apply for your own on-air coaching callWe'd love to feature your business and offer some free on-air advice for growing your business. To see if you're a good fit, click here.Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts:If you enjoy the show, can you do us a favor and leave us an honest rating and review on Apple Podcasts? We'll love you forever. Click here to leave a review.Support our sponsors so we can keep airing new episodes: Remote Works — a podcast that tells extraordinary stories of teams that made the shift to working remotely. (Listen to Remote Works Podcast Sneak Peek) Zyro — Create a beautiful website or online store for less. Melio — Free and easy accounts payable for small businesses. Dripify — Premium learning platform for entrepreneurs. SolidGigs — Get more freelance jobs. ***This show is a part of the Podglomerate network, a company that produces, distributes, and monetizes podcasts. We encourage you to visit the website and sign up for our newsletter for more information about our shows, launches, and events. For more information on how The Podglomerate treats data, please see our Privacy Policy. Since you're listening to Freelance to Founder, we'd like to suggest you also try other Podglomerate shows surrounding entrepreneurship, business, and careers like Rocketship.fm and Creative Elements. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today’s episode we mix it up a bit with Craig Solid—a consultant in the healthcare space.Craig’s business is going well and he’s trying to figure out how to better serve his clients on an ongoing basis and potential find some subscription revenue as well.What we uncover is a potential mismatch between the target client and product offering. All of us leads us into a much-needed conversation about offering the right services for the right people at the right time.It’s an eye-opening episode for freelancers and agency builders at any stage.=========JOIN OUR FIRST-EVER GROUP CHALLENGE HERE (code 'podcast' to save 30%)It's our 5-Days to Recurring Revenue challenge and it's going to be insanely fun and helpful. After 5 days of live video calls, worksheets, homework, and community chat, you'll leave with an irresistible service product to offer clients for a flat recurring fee each month plus everything you need to pitch, sell, and scale this high-revenue model.Only ~25 people get in on this first round, so click here to claim your seat and we'll see you soon!=========Apply for your own on-air coaching callWe'd love to feature your business and offer some free on-air advice for growing your business. To see if you're a good fit, click here.Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts:If you enjoy the show, can you do us a favor and leave us an honest rating and review on Apple Podcasts? We'll love you forever. Click here to leave a review.Support our sponsors so we can keep airing new episodes: Remote Works — a podcast that tells extraordinary stories of teams that made the shift to working remotely. (Listen to Remote Works Podcast Sneak Peek) Zyro — Create a beautiful website or online store for less. Melio — Free and easy accounts payable for small businesses. LinkedIn Jobs — Find the right person with LinkedIn Jobs. Dripify — Premium learning platform for entrepreneurs. SolidGigs — Get more freelance jobs. ***This show is a part of the Podglomerate network, a company that produces, distributes, and monetizes podcasts. We encourage you to visit the website and sign up for our newsletter for more information about our shows, launches, and events. For more information on how The Podglomerate treats data, please see our Privacy Policy. Since you're listening to Freelance to Founder, we'd like to suggest you also try other Podglomerate shows surrounding entrepreneurship, business, and careers like Rocketship.fm and Creative Elements. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices