Are mailing lists and newsletters important for your business? The short answer; yes! The long answer; you have a direct line to your potential customers, clients, and colleagues through a mailing list. A mailing list and newsletter a way to communicate to a direct set of people.
Never stop learning and reading as a professional. You’ll never know what you’re going to learn even if you think you already know everything. I make it a goal to read at least one self-help book every 6 months and it ain’t easy. So lets run down a list of a few books that have really stuck out to me that I think every entrepreneur or freelancer should read!
Everyone’s got a great idea or has heaps of ambition to become the “Next Steve Jobs of [insert industry]”. A lot of people get caught up on where to start and sometimes need a guide or a map to get started. Freelancing or being an entrepreneur is an exciting and fun adventure. If you’re wonder about where to find clients, how to validate an idea, or generally how to run a freelancing business, you’re in the right places! Lets talk about the different ways you can start your journey.
Don’t think you have to do everything at once with your business. Pace yourself and take things one step at a time. That old joke of “How do you eat an elephant…… one bite at a time…” is a perfect analogy on how to tackle big tasks. The phrase ‘Eating the Elephant’ can teach us how to take our time with growth and progress to avoid burnout or more. Here are some tips to help you slow down and grow.
A product can look polished and pretty but fall flat when it comes to usability. The same can be the opposite; a dull looking app but does everything you ever want or need. Finding that nice middle ground and having a good UI/UX person on your team can really shift the outcome of your product. I chat with Matt Rix about the importance and usability of UI and UX.
The awesomeness of being a freelancer or entrepreneur is that you decide how you want to work to get the job done. There are dozens of applications and freelancer tools out there that help you become more efficient and effective at whatever you need to do. They can range from free to pay-to-use but we cant seen to live without them. Freelancer tools wont make or break your company, but here are a few tools that you may find using over and over again.
Win higher proposals with a Roadmapping Session. A Roadmapping Session focuses on what a home run looks like for your client, the expected outcomes, the different parts of the project, expected/wanted ROI, and helps identify potential obstacles that we may encounter. The session includes reviewing the business goals behind the project and helping to plan steps to reach these goals. You want to figure out where the client is now and find a path to where they want to be.
Most people can literally begin working remote from anywhere in the world and nothing is stopping them. There are thousands of tools and setups you can have to work remotely. The benefits of working remote saves everyone money. You don’t have to worry about commuting into an office, you can work in your PJ’s, and the company that you’ll be working with can save some money as well, you have more control over your time, AND you can be much more focused! They don’t have to keep the A/C or heat on for you and they don’t have to have office space for you.
No one can tell you 100% when you are ready to step into the role of a full time freelancer or entrepreneur. It’s hard to give you an exact timeline of when you should jump in full time. In this episode we go over a few tips and pointers in setting you up to help make that transition to being your own boss a lot easier and stress free.
I sit down and have a chat with Alex Okafor about apps and app development. We go through the gambit from what IS an app, where to develop, what to develop with, and what a potential cost of your app. If you’re thinking of creating or asking someone to create an app for you, listen to this episode before you go down that long long journey….