Double Your Freelancing Podcast

My guest today is Todd Tresidder, a former hedge fund manager and founder of FinancialMentor.com. He is a personal finance and investing expert coach who teaches how to grow wealth and reach financial independence. He emphasizes the importance of personal development and fulfillment in attaining the goal of financial freedom. A self-made millionaire himself, Todd’s FinancialMentor.com programs provide a step-by-step blueprint for building wealth. Visit Todd at FinancialMentor.com for free resources, courses, financial coaching and advice. Today’s topics include: Conceptualizing the importance of retirement and making it a priority The journey to financial freedom as a freelancer Controlling expenses is important, but increasing your income is less limited Adding value to yourself by being a revenue increaser, not an expense to your client The goal is not just to be rich but to experience fulfillment and happiness The Rule of 300/400: For every $1000/month you spend it takes $300,000-$400,000 dollars in assets to support that The three classes of assets: business entrepreneurship, real estate, and stocks/bond/mutual funds Building passive assets as revenue streams Growing equity slowly instead of “getting rich quick” Formula for wealth: Make more than you spend, and invest the difference wisely People will pay for one thing, which is a solution to their problem. Formula for business: traffic x conversions = profit Resources and links: FinancialMentor.com How to Design Your Life to Create Financial Independence 52 Weeks to Financial Freedom Twitter @financialmentor Double Your Freelancing Rate Like the Podcast? Help us! If you enjoy the Double Your Freelancing podcast, support us to keep it going! Subscribe on iTunes Leave us a 5-star review on iTunes Share the podcast with your friends Here is what one loyal listener had to say about the Double Your Freelancing podcast: After you’ve published your review, send an email to kai@doubleyourfreelancing.com. You’ll get an exclusive video from Double Your Freelancing Conference — James Clear's talk on Developing Better Work Habits — absolutely free. Click here to make it happen!

Today I’m talking with Michael Port, author of Book Yourself Solid and four other bestselling books. I came across Book Yourself Solid at a bookstore when I first started freelancing, and loved the online marketing techniques he describes. He has been running Book Yourself Solid programs around the world and training freelancers for the past 14 years. Michael describes six core self-promotion strategies that freelancers use, and more importantly goes into the backend of how to close sales and actually book business. He is a networking and direct outreach expert that has a daily routine to open doors and bring in clients. Even as an introvert, he has used public speaking, teaching and networking to create an international brand. Today’s topics include: Freelancers need to design a marketing and self-promotion system for their business. Building credibility, pricing yourself right and being able to have simple sales conversations are more important than self-promotion strategies alone. Marketing doesn’t get you clients, it gets you awareness; what you do once you have that awareness is what gets you the business. There are 6 core self-promotion strategies: networking, direct outreach, referral, writing, public speaking, and web strategies; some of these are mandatory and some are not. Networking is developing deeper relationships with people you already know. Technology tactics might change, but the core strategies remain as the big picture. Don’t focus your energies on every platform out there and spread yourself too thin - it is overwhelming and distracting. Make sales offers that are proportionate to the amount of trust you’ve earned. Decide which self-promotion strategy will work for your ideal client. To get booked solid you only need a network of 90 people. You can add value to your network by regularly introducing people to contacts and information relevant to them. Helping others by reaching out to them is a more comfortable form of self-promotion than just trying to help yourself. Networking as an introvert can be made easier by connecting others and delivering on your promises. Resources and links: Michael Port Website Book Yourself Solid Book Yourself Solid on Amazon Twitter @michaelport Facebook @michaelport Contactually + Book Yourself Solid Like the Podcast? Help us! If you enjoy the Business of Freelancing podcast, support us to keep it going! Subscribe on iTunes. Leave us a 5-star review on iTunes Share the podcast with your friends.

Today my guest is Jonathan Raymond the former CEO of E-Myth, he became the CEO in 2011 when the owner wanted to modernize the brand. He decided to break out on his own in 2015. The idea behind the E-Myth is that running a business is different than being great at whatever the business does. An example would be a great dancer who opens a dance studio and discovers there is more to running a dance studio than being a fantastic dancer. Jonathan now focuses on what it takes to create a great business and the culture, scale and team involved with doing so. He now focuses on refound.com and the core principles required to be a great leader and business owner. Jonathan has a new approach to leading and managing teams. He is also the author of the upcoming book, “Good Authority”. When it comes to managing teams, we not only need a new set of skills, we have to reimagine who we are and Jonathan and his business help leaders to be the best they can be. Enjoy! Today’s topics include: As an entrepreneur there is still culture and team building and interpersonal dynamics that need to be dealt with It also comes down to referrals, so good relationships are important People make referrals in relationships Going into a relationship with a freelancer, you want to be able to refer them to others because of the great job they did We want freelancers who do their job and don’t need to be micromanaged, we also want to refer responsible people because it is a reflection on us People overestimate the big stuff, but the small stuff is important, like email response time Be the type of person people want to do business with, no BS around communication If you mess something up take responsibility and not only apologize, but say what happened and take ownership We have a pretty good sense of which clients are happy, reach out and restore amicability People don’t like confrontation and bury stuff, but then it stacks up Understand who your ideal customer is, challenge assumptions that the client has, the client is in their own bubble, coach and mentor them Fill the gap with challenge and communication Scarcity can prevent you from pushing the envelope, yet it is counter intuitive to not take the risky road Some clients aren't’ the clients you want to work with anyway Actually, have requirements and screen clients so that you are not stuck with an unresponsive hard to communicate with client The fear that it turns off clients is unfounded, people want to buy a process, so having a set plan to deliver will set you apart from the competition Set expectations from onboarding to deliverables Build accountability into the process Your time is valuable It comes down to the way you see yourself and your value, at some point being superman is not sustainable, hold space and create context for change Be Yoda not superman, self value and self worth Fixer, fighter or friend - 3 styles of taking on superman role Good Authority is Jonathan’s new book coming out Mentoring your own clients - Small business owners don’t have anyone to question them People at the top are in a bubble and they don’t see what they don’t see You can add value by mentoring and asking questions and building a personal relationship What is the purpose? What is the result? Find the why, you will have a happier client and deliver a better product and maybe make a friend on a way. To get the right website figure out why they are doing what they are doing. “Mentoring means questioning the assumptions they don’t realize that they are making” Jonathan Raymond Imposter Syndrome - Roadblock of it not being my job and self doubt coming up. Take a small risk and you will be amazed how people will open up Resources and links: Refound Like the Podcast? Help us! If you enjoy the Business of Freelancing podcast, support us to keep it going! Subscribe on iTunes Leave us a 5-star review on iTunes Share the podcast with your friends Hopefully the fact that your show of support will keep the podcast going is reward enough for you. But we want to sweeten the deal for you even further: After you’ve published your review, send an email to kai@doubleyourfreelancing.com. You’ll get an exclusive video from Double Your Freelancing Conference — James Clear's talk on Developing Better Work Habits — absolutely free. Click here to make it happen!

I’m super excited to share today’s interview with Ryan Waggoner with you. Ryan has an amazing consulting business and is pushing more than a million a year in profit. Ryan is killing it with mobile consulting, where a lot of people in that space struggle to make $100,000 plus. Ryan is an all around sharp guy, but I’m specifically bringing him on because he is really good at cash flow management. He has a great perspective on splitting up personal and business finance, and I want to capture that story. Ryan has been freelancing for 10 years. He started with website development and now he helps startups build mobile apps and know what not to build. Because there is a 6 to 8 week lead time in Ryan’s business, he always focuses on doing business development to avoid those feast or famine times when there is no work or too much work. He has a background process where there is always some form of business development going on. Today’s topics include: The emotions and behaviors of business and personal finance are intertwined Budgeting to pay yourself a stable amount every month no matter what you bring in Having a monthly buffer, depending on how long the lead time for projects are and where your monthly budget falls Getting recurring revenue can also help buffer the situation and put you into a good psychological place Getting very disciplined about budgeting, getting out of debt, and saving an emergency fund, can make life less stressful and make business decisions easier Even if your monthly recurring doesn’t cover all of your expenses, it helps relieve the stress and make covering the expenses easier Ryan and his wife both freelance Once they started making money and getting a bit ahead, they started putting money in IRAs on a monthly basis Treating your savings like a bill and having a tax strategy and a solo 401K is a good idea Successful freelancers should take advantage of some of the amazing tax advantages we have Automatic payments and savings as much as possible Big fan of “I Will Teach You To Be Rich” Have a backbone of recurring income and be smart and don’t burn through all of your money on a good month, save if you can When your income isn’t enough, do whatever you can to cut expenses and save a buffer, Having 3 to 6 months in the bank help you make an investment in yourself and fire bad clients It’s hugely freeing to take big chances on yourself Being desperate for money can lead to bad decisions Billions on Showtime - money that allows you to tell people I don’t need your business Often, what holds entrepreneurs back from making big business decisions and taking big leaps is not having enough money to feel secure The truth is my Ryans income became higher because he got his personal finances together - the psychological space to treat his business like a business Dumb business decisions tie back to fear related to money Ryan has a hustling mentality and he is good at sales, people good at sales can get in trouble by spending too much, because they assume they can make more This strategy works until it doesn’t Resources and links: Ryan’s Website Twitter @RyanWaggoner I Will Teach You To Be Rich Let’s Make Apps.io Firstmillionisthehardest.com Like the Podcast? Help us! If you enjoy the Business of Freelancing podcast, support us to keep it going! Subscribe on iTunes Leave us a 5-star review on iTunes Share the podcast with your friends Hopefully the fact that your show of support will keep the podcast going is reward enough for you. But we want to sweeten the deal for you even further: After you’ve published your review, send an email to kai@doubleyourfreelancing.com. You’ll get an exclusive video from Double Your Freelancing Conference — James Clear's talk on Developing Better Work Habits — absolutely free. Click here to make it happen!

Hello everyone, today I am talking with Diana Huff, the President of Huff Industrial Marketing a business that helps industrial manufacturers grow and succeed. Diana just released her new book Cash Flow for Freelancers. Today we will be talking about how to manage cash flow when you have a variable income. Diana started her business in 1998 when it was known as DH Communications. She is now a marketing consultant, but when she began she was focused on freelance copywriting in the B2B market. At the time, she had a 12 month old son that she wanted to stay home with. Over the years, her business has evolved, but last year there was a huge transformation. She changed her entire focus and now runs Huff Industrial Marketing. Diana wrote Cash Flow for Freelancers because she is very familiar with struggling with the cash flow issues that freelancers have, and she wanted to do something to help others. Today’s topics include: When faced with financial issues, Diana turned to all of the popular financial books. None of them applied to her freelance situation, they were all geared for people with steady jobs and incomes. Figure out your own personal break even. That is personal and business expenses combined. If you don’t know how much you need to bring in, you don’t know what to do With freelancer variable income, freelancers may need to modify a budget You need to know three numbers for business Break even - how much you need to bring in Sales goal - a little bit more than break even Cash income goal - cash can come in from different places (more than break even) Budget cash cushion into your break even amount - this is for when you have low months Paying yourself a set amount, a salary that is part of the break even You can also take a distribution at the end of the year or quarterly Have a business account Treat your business like a business Project based cash flow analysis - steady out cash flow Payment terms, 50% up front and 50% on delivery Become efficient to get done faster - document processes The second invoice is net 10, not net 30, 60 or 120 When people don’t pay, you have to get on the phone and call them Pre-paid work is great if the client will go for it Written and signed hard copy contracts with terms stipulated Resources and links: Cash Flow for Freelancers Double Your Freelancing Academy Freelance Business Bundle Huff Industrial Marketing You Need a Budget Like the Podcast? Help us! If you enjoy the Business of Freelancing podcast, support us to keep it going! Subscribe on iTunes Leave us a 5-star review on iTunes Share the podcast with your friends Hopefully the fact that your show of support will keep the podcast going is reward enough for you. But we want to sweeten the deal for you even further: After you’ve published your review, send an email to kai@doubleyourfreelancing.com. You’ll get an exclusive video from Double Your Freelancing Conference — James Clear's talk on Developing Better Work Habits — absolutely free. Click here to make it happen!

It's time to officially announce the opening of the Double Your Freelancing Academy. Get details and an insider’s scoop on the Double Your Freelancing Academy in today's episode.

Today our guest is Reuven Lerner, who teaches Python, Ruby, Git and PostgreSQL to companies around the world. Today we are discussing using training as a productized offering. Reuven will also be giving an extended presentation on this topic at the Double Your Freelancing Conference that we are having June 22nd through June 25th in Stockholm, Sweden. Reuven has over 20 years of experience as a software engineer and over 15 years experience teaching in high-tech companies. He has a PhD in Learning Sciences and incorporates student feedback into his courses. He offers on-site training courses that not only teaches programming, but teaches students how to think in new more productive ways. Reuven has been involved with the Internet since its inception, and his first website was even on Tim Berners-Lee’s list of all of the websites in the world. Reuven now lives in Israel. Enjoy the conversation. Today’s topics include: Reuven started out doing consulting and web development for businesses. He then started teaching some of his development skills to the employees of the businesses he was consulting for. Reuven still does development and has an employee that does a lot of the programming for him. On the DevChat Freelancers Show Reuven was giving the following advice Find your ideal client Focus on one thing Stop billing by the hour, sell products as blocks Try to build a pipeline far into the future When he thought maybe he should start following it. There was also explosive interest in the programs Reuven specialized in. He was working for a training company that wasn’t paying him anything close to what they were charging his students. Reuven finally realized that to maximize his time, earnings and interests having his own training programs was the key. Working on his own was an easy transition because the companies that needed the training already wanted his courses Reuven customizes his courses according to the training questions his students ask. Reuven teaches all over the world, and has 3 types of pricing Open enrollment courses where he charges by the person Private teaching at a company where he charges by the day Private teaching where he charges by the person. He also does online training and uses WebeX. Reuven is excited about this productized consulting business he has discovered. Resources and links: Double Your Freelancing Event Stockholm, Sweden Reuven’s Books DevChat Freelancers’ Show Webex Lerner Consulting Twitter @reuvenmlerner Like the Podcast? Help us! If you enjoy the Business of Freelancing podcast, support us to keep it going! Subscribe on iTunes Leave us a 5-star review on iTunes Share the podcast with your friends Hopefully the fact that your show of support will keep the podcast going is reward enough for you. But we want to sweeten the deal for you even further: After you’ve published your review, send an email to kai@planscope.io. You’ll get an exclusive video from Double Your Freelancing Conference — James Clear's talk on Developing Better Work Habits — absolutely free. Click here to make it happen!

Hello everyone, today I am talking to Budi Voogt. He is an awesome guy from the Netherlands. He runs a recording label consultancy. I love looking beyond the typical web designer, copywriter, marketer kind of business and seeing how other types of entrepreneurs are successfully charging more, getting better clients, and putting systems in place. Budi is in the Hague, Netherlands. He went to school for Business Administration. Then started working in artist management and booking. From 2012 to 2014, he was Co-Founder of Heroes Managment which is now merging into Heroic Audio. He wrote “The SoundCloud Bible” and created the Music Marketing Academy. Today’s topics include: The music industry was a gate-keeper model, but technology has disrupted the industry Instead of convincing gate-keepers to take notice, Budi and his crew focus on the online model for marketing and distribution A lot of creatives struggle with having buyers for their service, Budi’s agency noticed that the online marketing model was really taking off and validated their path to entry using SoundCloud SoundCloud was working to launch digital music, Budi’s agency started their own label, and he wrote The SoundCloud Bible The consulting they do now, is more like music management, they represent the artists on a yearly or bi-yearly contract They have invested very heavily in a few artists that they really believe in This has now led to much bigger returns developing careers for these artists People take you more seriously when you have authored a book, The SoundCloud Bible is great for marketing, Budi is the SoundCloud guy To start out, find the pain point of your audience or what you are struggling with, then build a product or book about that Actually asking your potential customer what they are interested in is a great way to choose what to work on With digital and content marketing, play the long game, find out what your customers need and be valuable and find out how you can help them Resources and links: Website Heroic Recordings Music Marketing Academy The SoundCloud Bible Twitter @BudiVoogt Budi on facebook Double Your Freelancing Conference in Stockholm, Sweden Like the Podcast? Help us! If you enjoy the Business of Freelancing podcast, support us to keep it going! Subscribe on iTunes Leave us a 5-star review on iTunes Share the podcast with your friends Hopefully the fact that your show of support will keep the podcast going is reward enough for you. But we want to sweeten the deal for you even further: After you’ve published your review, send an email to kai@planscope.io. You’ll get an exclusive video from Double Your Freelancing Conference — James Clear's talk on Developing Better Work Habits — absolutely free. Click here to make it happen!

Today I have an awesome interview with a long time student of mine, Eric White. When Eric started he was a typical commoditized freelancer, but he made the transition to high-value business consulting. He has a background in developing business software. He enjoyed working with people and was the guy who spoke with clients to find out what they wanted in their software products. Eric’s current consulting work is understanding what clients actually want with their software. He wants to meet them in the right place and discover what the solution for their problems are. He likes the job of figuring out what is motivating each side and what they need to make the project happen. His specialty is the higher-level people portion of managing software projects. Today’s topics include: Playing in the problem space can be more valuable than playing in the solution space Being able to articulate and understand problems is a skill that adds a lot of value Eric was going through his own business struggle when he came across Double Your Freelancing Rate Brennan showed him how as a consultant he can increase his value 10X People want more premium clients and to have more time to spend with family and work on goals, they want what making more offers as opposed to just doubling their rates It’s not what you actually do, it’s the value that it offers If you only look at the specification, you are not connecting in the most impactful way, looking at the means to the end that you provide will better able you to provide what they need Understanding what motivates the customer makes things much easier Think about where you have been extremely satisfied with service and try to emulate that, perfect service solutions are smart and really resonate Resources and links: Twitter @EricMWhite Eric’s Website Double Your Freelancing - Conference Stockholm, Sweden Jobs to Be Done - Re-Wired Group Strategies and Tactics for Pricing Like the Podcast? Help us! If you enjoy the Business of Freelancing podcast, support us to keep it going! Subscribe on iTunes Leave us a 5-star review on iTunes Share the podcast with your friends Hopefully the fact that your show of support will keep the podcast going is reward enough for you. But we want to sweeten the deal for you even further: After you’ve published your review, send an email to kai@planscope.io. You’ll get an exclusive video from Double Your Freelancing Conference — James Clear's talk on Developing Better Work Habits — absolutely free. Click here to make it happen!

Today I am talking with Bryce Bladon. He is the curator of “clients from hell”. Today we talk about everything from qualifying new clients to setting expectations. He runs a website whose sole purpose is to showcase crazy clients. We both feel that sometimes we can do things a bit differently to help avoid having clients from hell. So the theme of this show is to have fewer clients from hell. Bryce has been involved with Clients from Hell, a collection of anonymously submitted tales of woe, since 2009. These tales are from designers and anyone who deals with clients. Today we are going to talk about how freelancers can avoid getting these bad clients. We want high quality clients who respect us. Today’s topics include: New freelancers run the risk of getting bad clients by not qualifying clients and knowing when to say no to a potential client Clients that aren’t a good fit need to be weeded out Sometimes people create crappy client situations for themselves Bad client experiences are usually the result of bad client communication or unrealistic expectations Set expectations on how to bill and what to expect up front Qualify yourself by asking what kind of work, people and projects do you want to work with Does the client trust me, how much education do I need to give them Have regard for yourself and your time If a client doesn’t respect you and doesn’t appreciate what you deliver, they won’t be a good fit Structured business processes can be used to sell, qualify, onboard, communicate, and follow-up with clients Resources and links: Clients from Hell Bryce Bladon Website Twitter @BryceBladon Project Prescription Paul Jarvis Client Qualifying Tool Hell to Pay Like the Podcast? Help us! If you enjoy the Business of Freelancing podcast, support us to keep it going! Subscribe on iTunes Leave us a 5-star review on iTunes Share the podcast with your friends Hopefully the fact that your show of support will keep the podcast going is reward enough for you. But we want to sweeten the deal for you even further: After you’ve published your review, send an email to kai@planscope.io. You’ll get an exclusive video from Double Your Freelancing Conference — James Clear's talk on Developing Better Work Habits — absolutely free. Click here to make it happen!