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Get Clients Now – by C.J. Hayden

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Get Clients Now is one of my consistent go-back-and-read-this-again books. This

I recently read an amazing book that helped me reach a 40% increase in my revenue. Get Clients Now (by C.J. Hayden) has helped me identify a rhythm of marketing and promoting my services. This basic guided outline takes you through the different types of effective marketing strategies.

In episode 7, I break down the different strategies that I’ve used. You can listen to that episode by clicking this link here:

From MOST Effective to LEAST Effective Marketing Strategies:

1. Direct Contact & Follow Up
   1. This involves making a person-to-person connection with a prospective client through email, phone call, in person, fax, text message, etc. This tactic can include cold calling, warm calling, and lunch/coffee with potential clients. I touch on a few steps that I’ve done personally to land some of my first clients as well as some of my most lucrative clients.
2. Networking & Referral Building
   1. Meeting people face to face at networking events is just a drop in the bucket for this strategy. Building a list of contacts that you can tap into for referrals, clients, resources, ideas, or information should be the goal of networking.
3. Public Speaking
   1. Positioning yourself as a expert to your potential clients can start from public speaking. Public speaking will help you become more memorable and noticeable than if you were in the crowd.
4. Writing & Publicity
   1. Writing about your expertise can also be a powerful marketing strategy by gaining visibility and credibility among your peers and potential clients. Start small through social media, blogs, or your own website. Reach out to other blogs as guest writers can quickly lead you to more and more opportunities to show that you’re an expert.
5. Promotional Events
   1. Creating an event such as a trade show, fundraiser, or a conference can put you in direct contact with potential clients and bring the audience to YOU. This also holds true with participating in an existing event by owning/renting a booth. Cost is very real on both end at with this strategy: participating in an event or creating an event can be a very expensive cost per head experience.
6. Advertising
   1. There are generally two different types of advertising: organic and paid.Organic advertising is essentially word of mouth and low/no-cost advertising. Advertising by talking about and promoting your goods and products on social media or withing your mailing list is an example of organic advertising. This is the lowest cost engagement and can have some of the highest returns. Referrals are very powerful and builds trust.Paid advertising can help fill your pipeline with paying customers, but they don’t necessarily build trust in your product. Treat advertising as a way to increase your visibility and awareness to potential customers. The trust and eventual sale will come with them interacting with you directly.

The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business – by Charles Duhigg

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The Power of Habit is an interesting book that helps you understand why people do certain habits. Good and bad and how to help break or change that habit. This book looks at huge corporations and individuals and breaks down how habits are everywhere. From Starbucks to Target to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, habits are everywhere and can move mountains.

The Cue, Routine, Reward cycle is the basic concept behind the ‘Habit Loop’. Its what can be measured behind a habit. This can be in business or in life and we may not even be paying attention to it. By breaking down our habits, we can take control over our good or bad habits.

The Habit Loop have measurable stages in our habits. There is the Cue: the trigger for our habit. The Routine: what do we do during our habit. And the Reward: Why do we do our habit. This then restarts the Habit Loop and we’re back to it again.

Bringing this concept into our freelancing operation, we can create a Habit Loop to find and win customers and contracts.

Hooked: How To Build Habit-Forming Products – by Nir Eyal

Purchase on Amazon today – Click Here!

Excerpt from the book: 

Why do some products capture widespread attention while others flop? What makes us engage with certain products out of sheer habit? Is there a pattern underlying how technologies hook us?

Nir Eyal answers these questions (and many more) by explaining the Hook Model—a four-step process embedded into the products of many successful companies to subtly encourage customer behavior. Through consecutive “hook cycles,” these products reach their ultimate goal of bringing users back again and again without depending on costly advertising or aggressive messaging.

Customers and clients have a trigger that we can tap into that rely on existing habits that they have. We go on autopilot when we take action on behaviors that we are accustomed to. Building upon the habits that we may already have in our day-to-day, we can understand and alter them to our benifits. The same goes to when dealing with customers spending and purchasing habits.

Hooked is based on Eyal’s years of research, consulting, and practical experience. He wrote the book he wished had been available to him as a start-up founder—not abstract theory, but a how-to guide for building better products. Hooked is written for product managers, designers, marketers, start-up founders, and anyone who seeks to understand how products influence our behavior.

Book Yourself Solid – by Micheal Port

Purchase on Amazon today – Click Here!

Booked Yourself Solid has a basic premise: promote yourself. This book highlights strategic ways to get customers to notice you and your services. A lot of times, we are focusing on promoting our clients work and ignoring our own business. 

Book Yourself Solid is a handbook for self-promotion that translates into results.

• Build a solid foundation for a stellar public image
• Enhance your reputation for trust and credibility
• Perfect your pitch and pricing to attract higher-caliber clients
• Adopt the six core strategies that will keep you booked solid

The strategies in this book helps us focus on building the foundation of our reputation, how our clients view us, and the type of work we’ll attract. Starting small and eventually building a promotion can help you effectively land the types of jobs you’re looking for in a consistent way.

Whats Next?

I’m finding more and more that I’m moving towards using Audible for books. I tend to also stock up on other podcasts and listen on the go. Here are a few books that are in my queue, but haven’t listened or read yet.

• The Millionaire Next Door – Thomas J. Stanley
  • This book identifies common traits that a lot of successful and wealthy that keep showing up again and again. Its on my to-read list for sure.
• The Total Money Makeover – Dave Ramsey
  • One of the classic books that MOST people have heard about. Its a powerful guide and program to help get you out of debt. The ‘snowball effect’ has helped me, as well as tons of others out there, reduce debt and build a financial platform.

The post FHS 34 What Am I Reading appeared first on The Freelancer Head Start.

Your Income is Variable

Generally speaking, the effort that you put into your business is the income that you will see. Your income is totally dependent on a lot of different aspects of your business and the major piece is YOU. You are the driving force behind the $$ that you bring in. If you don’t work, you don’t paid.

This is detached from the 9-5 day job where you get paid on a 2 week cycle, especially if you’re salaried. You already know what your income is going to be every 2 weeks. With a consulting or freelancing job, you have to go after that $, that income, that client, that project.

Your income is actually variable. Some months you make little to no money while the next month you make three times your normal amount. But over the course of the year, your income is looking pretty good on paper.

You can mitigate the variable income by changing the strategy on how you get paid, such as being on retainer. You can have a SaS product or a productized service that you can sell regularly. Maybe even advertising revenue from your website that you’ve already built..

You Have to Make the Decisions

Another gotchas of Freelancing and Consulting is that you’re the one in charge and you have to live with the consequences. You cant sit around and just let someone else take the wheel…and the blame… You may be stuck in that impostor syndrome cycle where you feel that you can never get anything accomplished. You actually have decision that could effect you negatively or positively. Heading down the route of market research can definitely help you make that decision if you want to go down this route long term.

You Are On Your Own

You are a one-man-band, for the most part. When you’re starting out, you’re by yourself. You need to be accountable for your own self, your action, and your decisions. When a decision is made, you don’t have anyone behind you telling you its good or bad. This can be GREAT if you need to just get things done….or it can backfire if you’re the type that needs validation.

Build a community around you can help mitigate some of the “Im alone” situations and help you move through ideas, decisions, or points in your product.

It can get lonely working by yourself and can drive you crazy! Break up your routine every once in a while and go out to eat lunch with a friend. Visit a relative you haven’t seen in a while. Go hang out at a co-working space. Get out of the house and socialize so you don’t start to become that ‘weird freelance guy…(or gal)…’.

Tough Skin

A common gotchas of Freelancing and Consulting is the need to have tough skin. Sometimes things don’t go your way and you need to not take things personally. People will let you down, clients will lie, vendors will fall through, and life will become real. This will not always be the case every time, but you need to know how to handle situations as they arise and keep moving.

You’ll get to a point where people keep telling you “no” and you’re going to face adversity. Don’t forget there is always something better on the other side.

Getting through 50 ‘no’ to that one makes all the difference!

Self Starter

There is no-one really behind you. Becoming a self starter requires you to have that effort behind you to get going to get started. You don’t have anyone watching over your shoulder to make sure you’re doing what you’re suppose to be doing (and honestly that feels GREAT most of the time). But this can also give you that false sense of being lost and don’t know where or when to begin.

Don’t forget, you ARE the expert here. You ARE the one who is kicking butt and taking names.

Start small and snowball into being better at becoming a self starter! No-one will be there to tell you to start; you have to actually start.

Easy to Overwork/Burnout

Another gotchas of Freelancing and Consulting is that is pretty easy to get overworked and burn yourself out. Burning the candle on both ends maybe something that you’re use to doing on a 9 to 5…but when you’re on your own, that’s the quickest way to burn out. Just because you CAN stay up until 3 am every night working on your product or project doesn’t mean that it won’t catch up with you shortly. Set boundaries with yourself and your work to make sure you don’t go down the path of burnout and being overworked.

You quality of work will suffer and will show. Set limitations, goals, and boundaries with your clients and with yourself. ‘Mind Your Own Business‘ and work on yourself. Set policies and procedures on yourself and your business where you do slow down and stop overworking.

Know your limits because you can easily push over. You are NOT going to catch up on sleep this weekend….

Time Management

Because you are by yourself, you definitely need to work on your time management skills. You need to have some sort of system to manage your time. There are only 2,000 work hours a year. Which boils down to 40 hours a week. In reality, you’re only going to be getting about 20 hours a week on billable hours. The rest of the week, you need to do all the administrative work that comes to running a business.

This can include answering emails, checking the mail, filling out your taxes, doctors appointments, etc. Set yourself on a schedule where you can time-box “work work” and stick to it! You can gain a better understanding on how long it takes you to do things which will then translate into billing clients.

The quality of your work will actually show if you’re not rushing to cram a day in.

What Vacation?

When you’re working a 9 to 5, your vacation times and days allowed are almost a given. You’re awarded roughly 2 weeks of time off that you can completely disconnect from work and do what you want to do: relax! When you’re working for yourself, your time away from your baby can lose you money. You’re not 100% autonomous (yet) and still need to have a few ‘check ups’ to make sure everything is ok. This could be checking emails really quick and only replying to important ones or making sure that launch went smoothly.

The gotchas of Freelancing and Consulting are that vacations are a luxury where you can have 100% relaxation. We have to plan for this a lot further and harder than a traditional 9 to 5.

The post FHS 27 Gotchas of Freelancing and Consulting appeared first on The Freelancer Head Start.

Candace Schilling – Writer and Editor

As a writer, editor and writing coach, I work primarily with motivational speakers, coaches and authors.

I help people find the words to finish creative projects they care about. I’m in the Inspiration Business!

Think about your own website for a minute. Is your website, including its content, as dynamic and powerful as you are? Are you proud of it?

I’ve met website designers and developers whose websites are broken or outdated. I’ve seen photographers without a good headshot, who specialize in headshots!

I love helping entrepreneurs solve this problem because, for years, I was the writer with nothing to say for herself. I had no website. I wasn’t telling people about my two decades of communication experience as a writer, editor, trainer and strategist, including more than 9 years with State Farm.

I did great work for my customers as a freelance writer and editor, but I had “creative laryngitis” about my own business. Entrepreneurs often give their best work to their clients. It’s time to confront our potential, to unfold into our greatness.

Full wingspan. Deep joy.

Words build relationships. When your messages are heartfelt and authentic, they energize you and your work. The words we choose when talking about ourselves or our business can move us, and, as entrepreneurs, our business will change as we do. Ready to strengthen your connection to your business, the people you’re meant to serve and the GIFTS your business brings into the world? Connect with me.

Website: candaceschilling.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/candaceschilling/

Highlights of the episode includes:

• “If I spot it, I probably got it”
• Don’t be an online ghost. Make sure you’re findable
• Put your energy back into your business
• What’s your JOY point
  • What do you enjoy and light you up?
  • How big is your JOY point?
• We are sometimes worried about letting people know that we’re experts
• Your energy is contagious and shows!
• Identify projects you want to attract and reduce
• Roadmapping Session
• Imagine trade show booth. Who do you want to walk into it?
• Helping yourself help yourself
• Make sure your own work is polished and ready
• Treat yourself as a customer!
• Everyone that you meet has a need and you’re always helping!

Quick Picks

Marion – Bury the Hatchet – Roswell, Ga https://burythehatchet.com/atlanta/

Their website sums it up: “Come learn how to throw an axe from a trained professional before playing in a tournament style game with your friends. Tournaments are similar to playing a game of darts or bowling – except way more fun and exciting.” Throw axes. At a wall. With an axe….YEAH!

AND I wont the overall tournament with an awesome trophy on my mantel.

Candace – Sony Noise Cancelling Headphones WH1000XM2

Automatically detects your activity, whether you’re travelling in an airport, walking on a crowded street, or sitting in a quiet area — then balances the noise cancelling levels accordingly. You can customize them to your preferences with the Sony I Headphones Connect App.

These headphones are her go-to and she cannot help but rave about these! One story she told me about these headphones is the power to “…drown out 2 pressure washers outside…” They also have a touch pad that allows you to do a quick “pause” mode on the noise cancelling. You’ve also have an option of ambient sound turned on  That’s pretty slick!

The post FHS 24 Minding Your Own Business ft Candace Schilling appeared first on The Freelancer Head Start.

Book Recommendation

Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products – Nir Eyal

Why do some products capture our attention, while others flop? What makes us engage with certain products out of habit? Is there a pattern underlying how technologies hook us? This audiobook introduces listeners to the “Hook Model,” a four steps process companies use to build customer habits. Through consecutive hook cycles, successful products reach their ultimate goal of bringing users back repeatedly – without depending on costly advertising or aggressive messaging. Hooked is a guide to building products people can’t put down. Written for product managers, designers, marketers, startup founders, and people eager to learn more about the things that control our behaviors, this audiobook gives listeners:

• Practical insights to create user habits that stick.
• Actionable steps for building products people love.
• Behavioral techniques used by Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and other habit-forming products.

Click Here for Your Free 30 Day Trial and a FREE Audio Book with Audible

• Red–Flag 1: “I don’t know what i want, but i’ll know it when i see it”
  • Scope
  • Scope Creep
  • Agreement of what the scope is going to be
• Red–Flag 2: Money is stressed more than the outcome
  • Tire kicking rather than discussing the problem
  • Always wants a discount
• Red–Flag 3: Why deposits are important
  • Incremental payments
  • Milestones
• Red–Flag 4: “I dont really have a budget right now”
  • Value based vs hourly
  • Possibly not serious?
• Red–Flag 5: Low to no communication
  • Communication is unclear
  • Communication is lacking
  • Dragging their feet, yet requires you to run and tie your shoe at the same time
• Red–Flag 6: Sporadic Payments
  • Thats what deposits are for
  • Milestone payments help reduce the long payment cycles
• Use contracts to protect yourself
• Some redflags are not valid
• Trust your gut feelings!
• If its too good to be true, then it might be

Quick Picks

Lashia

• Audio-Technica headphones
  • Great sounding headsets for audiophiles that wont break the bank!
  • Link: http://www.audio-technica.com/cms/headphones/1000c1b0c122836e/index.html

Marion

• Audible
  • Free audio book download AND a free 30-day free trial. How can you beat that?!
  • Link: http://www.audibletrial.com/freelancerheadstart

The post FHS 17 Client Red Flags ft Lashia Levins appeared first on The Freelancer Head Start.