Issue #37 - June 26th, 2015 - Freelancing Digest

I’m near the end of one of the longest stretches of full-time client work I’ve had. I usually only schedule one to two weeks per month and use the rest of the time to work on my business. But it seems like this spring everyone wants my help at the same time. (A Nice Problem to Have)

This means I’ve had to neglect areas of my business. One piece of advise that’s been stuck in my head comes from Patrick McKenzie:

Don’t End The Week With Nothing

source

No matter how busy I get, I’m trying to do at least one thing to improve my situation. Even if that means I post just one article. That’s one more than I had last week.

Tiny steps. Tiny improvements.

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Marketing Automation for Freelancers (thecreativeclass.io)

I had the pleasure of talking with Kurt Elster this year at MicroConf. Here he outlines how he’s using marketing automation to pre-qualify leads as well as keep in touch with existing clients.

There’s Always Money In Your Strengths (ittybiz.com)

Naomi Dunford has a great three-part series here about your business strengths. I’m linking to the last one here but make sure to start at the beginning to get the full effect (parts 1 and 2 are linked in the article).

Put Your Customer Lead Gen on Autopilot with Drip Email (DripProfits.com) SPONSOR

Could you build a source of income without having to find new clients, that consistently brought you new projects automatically without having to lift a finger? Drip Profits will show you step-by-step exactly how to generate leads on a daily basis while you sleep. The best part? You could be fully setup today.

Get 20% off when you use the offer code ‘iknoweric’

A Deep Dive on Positioning Yourself As a Specialist with Philip Morgan – The Freelancers’ Show (devchat.tv)

We had a great discussion with Philip Morgan about positioning and picking a niche.

net0 (https://pjrvs.com)

I’m in the process of moving all clients over to a prepayment or net0 policy. Paul Jarvis writes about his experiences with non-payment and how he breaks down project payments into stages.

Why Your Proposals Aren’t Leading to Deals (nusii.com)

There are a lot of reasons why your proposal or pitch didn’t win a client. Devan Ciccarelli goes into common ones that can serve as a final desk-check before you send out your next proposal.

Make your work into beautiful marketing materials (freelancersunion.org)

The bulk of my work is helping teams repair their server-side code so I struggle with presenting that visually on my portfolio. Textually, it’s possible but too much text can overwhelm a potential client. Here are some ideas for non-visual freelancers to make your work more visual.

Clients don’t actually want your hourly rate (curtismchale.ca)

We all know comparing two freelancers by their hourly rate is bad but it’s tiring to educate clients about why. Curtis McHale has a few pointers and an email template he uses to reframe conversations about rates.

5 Tips for Creating the Perfect Invoice (justtelljulie.com)

Julie deals with a lot of invoices from freelancers and has put together tips on how to improve your own invoice.

Quick Links

Is It Possible I’m Wrong? (ittybiz.com)

Folyo is joining Workshop (folyo.me)

10 Proven Marketing Tactics for Consultants and Coaches (consultingsuccess.com)

The Business of Freelancing, Episode 28: How Matt Olpinski 15x His Project Income and Quit His Job – Double Your Freelancing (doubleyourfreelancing.com)

My list of books I think you should all read (curtismchale.ca)

3 ways to cope with freelance growing pains (freelancersunion.org)

Why you should research your competition and how you can do it (guerrillafreelancing.com)

What to do when a current client disappears (freelancersunion.org)

Do You Hate Your Business Sometimes? (ittybiz.com)