Zach talks to one of his students, Virginie, who went from relying on word of mouth referrals → to signing 10 new clients in the past few months.

You’ll get a behind-the-scenes look at how Virginie diversified her client revenue and is well on her way to her goal of 100 active clients.

🚀 What You'll Learn:

• The “lead-gen first” system that let her niche down with less risk
• How to build a predictable client-acquisition process without depending on referrals
• The mindset reframe that turns boring repetition into real business growth
• How to make outreach feel valuable and human, not spammy
• When to automate, systemize, and outsource to stay focused without burning out

💡 Ideal for Freelancers Looking to:

• Replace unpredictable feast-and-famine cycles with consistent client flow
• Learn how to niche down safely and validate before committing
• Escape the social-media grind and build a business that runs on systems, not luck

Want to learn more about 200KF or join the waitlist? Check it out at: https://dyf.link/200kf

🌎 More Free Posts & Videos at: https://doubleyourfreelancing.com

Zach breaks down how to escape the “panic hire” cycle by building a simple hiring funnel you can use before you hit capacity.

This includes evaluating candidates in a standardized way, using structured rubrics to protect your client work, and using your project manager (not you) as the filter in the process.

🚀 What You'll Learn:

• How to build a repeatable hiring funnel so you can confidently hire the right team members before you desperately need them.
• The “feed more birds with one scone” content approach to building assets that simultaneously support hiring, onboarding, and client acquisition while you scale.
• A real-life case study of a freelancer “in the trenches” delivering epic value to clients with productized services without doing the fulfillment to build a scaleable business vs. just a freelancer who owns a job.
• Why your marketing and sales process should highlight the real cost of not using your proven system.
• The overall mindset shift to go from ad-hoc freelancing to structured systems that protect your reputation, scale your business, and give you more clients without burning out.

💡 Ideal for Freelancers Looking to:

• If you’re a six-figure freelancer sick of being maxed out on time, wanting to scale your business, and need to hire a freelancer (but are terrified of bad hires or losing client trust), this episode gives you the practical steps to hiring better.

👉 If you want to learn more or join 200KF Waitlist check it out here: https://dyf.link/200kf

Zach breaks down a real-life pricing mistake and shows how a simple shift in positioning can lead to higher fees without changing the service offering.

If you’ve ever priced “by the hour” or “per deliverable,” this video gives you actionable pricing tips to attract higher rates in 2025.

🚀 What You'll Learn:

• Why pricing per task keeps you stuck at low rates
• How to anchor your pricing to client outcomes
• When performance-based pricing makes sense—and what to watch out for

💡 Ideal for Freelancers Looking to:

• Escape low-paying, commodity-style work
• Close better clients with stronger offers
• Raise their rates with confidence

Over the past five months, Calista has transformed from a burned-out developer stuck in commoditized pricing to someone with real control over her business—without sacrificing her desire for a chill, creative lifestyle.

You’ll hear how she overcame the unique challenges of freelancing from Indonesia, figured out a niche that actually excites her (gaming), and landed qualified leads through her very first outreach campaign.

Zach and Calista also dig into:

• Why starting with the problem, not your skills, is key to crafting a high-value offer
• How to stay motivated through the messy, uncomfortable phases of business building
• The mindset shift that helped Calista stop underinvesting in herself
• A sneak peek at her early client wins—and how she’s validating a brand-new service
• What to expect (and avoid) if you're a new freelancer just starting out

If you’re early in your freelancing journey or struggling to land clients without slashing your rates, this episode will give you both inspiration and a practical roadmap to move forward.

You can learn more about 200KF course at https://dyf.link/200kf

You'll discover how to shift from being a "keyboard for hire" to a problem-solving expert that businesses want to pay top dollar for. Zach also shares a real-world example of a developer who unknowingly nailed this positioning and how you can replicate it.

You’ll also learn:

• Why reactive, commoditized freelancing leads to constant rate pressure
• The difference between subjective and objective value—and how to use both effectively
• A step-by-step framework for defining your ideal client profile (ICP)
• A proven outreach strategy to attract high-value clients without being spammy The power of attaching your work to measurable business outcomes

If you're a developer looking to break out of the low-value pricing trap and build a high-paying freelance business, this episode is for you!

More free content at https://doubleyourfreelancing.com

In this episode, Zach talks to Laura Elizabeth, co-owner of Double Your Freelancing and creator of Project Pack.

Laura is talking about how she does “paid roadmapping” for her clients, often charging upwards of $6,000 for ONE roadmap.

In this episode, we’ll discuss what paid roadmapping is, why freelancers should consider doing it, and common mistakes to avoid.

This is a valuable episode if you’re currently doing free proposals and want to learn how to get paid for them instead.

🌍 More free content at https://doubleyourfreelancing.com

In this episode, Zach talks with copywriter Delia Monk about some of the “bottlenecks” she’s been running into as she tries to scale from a low-six-figure soloist to a small agency.

Delia has great stats about the efficacy of her skills, including…

☑️ Getting a client’s sales page from 3% → 12% application rate (a.k.a. 4x’ing it)

☑️ Doubling open rates for her long-term retainer client who has her work on emails

…But she feels she’s maxed out her rates and that delegating work is eating so much into her margins that it’s not worth it.

In this episode she and Zach explore this and uncover opportunities to keep moving forward and address this bottleneck.

If you’re in a similar position to Delia, where you’re having trouble breaking through the mid-100k-bottleneck, you’ll probably REALLY enjoy $200k Freelancer: https://dyf.link/200kf

n this episode, Zach talks about a sneaky positioning technique freelancers can use to instantly charge more.

👉 Learn how to raise your rates and work with better clients in our free “Charge What You’re Worth” course: https://dyf.link/offer

Links from the episode:

~~

$200k Freelancer

Build a machine that generates clients – predictably and controllably – and grow your freelance income to $200k/yr+

https://doubleyourfreelancing.com/200kfreelancer/

~~

Others:

Double Your Rates Toolkit - https://doubleyourfreelancing.com/rates-toolkit

Double Your Freelancing Rate - https://doubleyourfreelancing.com/rate

Crappy Canva illustration from the video - https://www.canva.com/design/DAGRA99z-X8/E0WWZ_0VDe3K3BxZ8GWEbQ/view?utm_content=DAGRA99z-X8&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link&utm_source=editor

In this episode, Zach dives into the key elements of crafting irresistible freelance service offerings that drive high-value outcomes. Discover how to structure your service offerings to emphasize measurable ROI, making your work more appealing to potential clients and helping you command higher prices.

You'll learn how to differentiate between demonstrable, subjective, and commoditized service values and why focusing on ROI-driven outcomes can set you apart in the crowded freelance market. Whether you’re just starting or looking to refine your offers, this episode will guide you through creating a scoring system to evaluate the impact and ease of delivery of your services.

I also talk about:

• The "freelance service offering thermometer" and how to categorize services by their demonstrable, subjective, or commoditized outcomes.
• The importance of defining your niche and aligning your offer to high-value problems.
• How to use a service offering scorecard to evaluate and refine your freelance services.
• The role of ROI demonstrability in client acquisition and how to showcase early wins.
• Strategies for selecting KPIs that reflect the impact of your work without being overly reliant on client actions.

Tune in to learn how to create compelling freelance offerings that clearly demonstrate value, resonate with clients, and set you on a path to sustainable growth.

Don’t miss an opportunity to grow your freelance income to $200k/yr+!

Learn more at dyf.link/200kf

In this episode, I share the strategy of Automated, Value-First Outreach at Scale and how it can help freelancers reach $200K/year. Discover how you can balance the scalability of automated cold outreach with the personal touch that clients appreciate, turning a traditionally spammy approach into a value-driven method that gets results.

You'll learn how to build outreach campaigns that not only send hundreds of emails at scale but also make each recipient feel like the message was crafted just for them, without spending hours on manual personalization. This episode is perfect for freelancers looking to scale their client acquisition process without sacrificing the quality of their outreach.

I also talk about:

• The concept of "free personalization" and how it transforms cold outreach from impersonal to engaging at scale.
• Tools and techniques to set up automated outreach campaigns, including email scraping, personalization tactics, and sending infrastructure.
• How to avoid spammy outreach pitfalls and ensure high deliverability of your emails.
• The step-by-step math behind sending volumes, inbox management, and setting up sending domains.
• Strategies to validate your target market and refine your messaging for maximum impact.

Tune in to learn how to leverage automated outreach to scale your freelance business, connect with high-value clients, and build a sustainable revenue stream without getting bogged down in manual work.

Don’t miss an opportunity to grow your freelance income to $200k/yr+!

Learn more at dyf.link/200kf

In this episode, Zach talks to Tim Davidson from https://cleancommit.io about effective AI content creation for freelancers.

Tim shares his innovative approach to using AI for content that stands out, avoiding the common pitfalls of generic AI-generated text.

They discuss the importance of fine-tuning AI models to produce high-quality content, the challenges of using ChatGPT, and how to enhance your content with better prompts and fine-tuning techniques.

Tune in to learn how to leverage AI to create impactful content that drives engagement and results for your freelancing business.

You can find the AI Content Template here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1nNYGqYNXpcUHBeCwqOnK…

Tim’s starter “System Message” from the example we covered today:

"You specialise in blogging about medical clinics, specifically chiropractic, physiotherapy, massage therapy and alternative medicines.

When you're prompted with a headline and bullet points, expand on the topic of the headline and reiterate the bullet points in the voice of Tim Davidson and add more detail so they become full thoughts instead of simple bullet points.

Ensure your response is a detailed paragraph between 600 and 1000 characters.

Write with a casual, professional tone.

Write in British English.

Explain your suggestions thoroughly and avoid making unbacked claims."

Check out the DYF Accelerator Community at dyf.link/community​

In this episode, I explore a critical mistake many freelancers make — targeting newbie business owners , and how to build a profitable freelance offer ladder.

You'll learn why focusing on clients with established, profitable businesses can drastically increase your earnings and how to structure your services to cater to both high-end clients and newcomers without compromising your income.

This episode will help if you're struggling with low-paying clients or want to create a sustainable business model that leverages your expertise and maximizes your profit.

I also talk about:

• The pitfalls of working with newbie business owners and how it impacts your bottom line
• The concept of an offer ladder and how it can help you serve a range of clients effectively
• Strategies for overcoming imposter syndrome and confidently targeting high-value clients
• How to audit potential clients to identify the best opportunities for your services
• Building a product ladder to nurture new clients while focusing on high-paying bespoke services

Tune in to discover how these insights can elevate your freelance business, optimize your client selection process, and set you on a path to higher profitability and success.

Check out our free “Charge What You’re Worth” Course at https://dyf.link/offer 
 

In this episode, I discuss two major marketing mistakes freelancers often make — expecting clients to be free and not knowing your numbers.

You'll learn how these misconceptions can drastically impact your business and the actionable steps you can take to avoid them.

This episode will help if you're struggling to get consistent clients or want to improve your business efficiency and profitability.

I also talk about:

• The true cost of acquiring clients and why expecting them to be free can hurt your business
• The importance of tracking and understanding your numbers to gain control over your client acquisition process
• How opportunity cost plays a crucial role in your lead generation efforts
• Practical strategies to shift your mindset and approach with client acquisition
• Actionable tips to optimize your marketing efforts and ensure you’re not undervaluing your time and resources

Tune in to discover how these insights can transform your freelance business and set you on a path to greater success and stability.

Check out our free “Charge What You’re Worth” Course at https://dyf.link/offer

In this episode, I talk about the big mistakes freelancers and agency owners make when they delegate work to team members — and how to fix them.

You’ll also learn the things you can (and should) delegate to other team members to free up your valuable time.

This episode will help if you’re new to delegation or making one of these mistakes and want to delegate effectively.

I also talk about:

• The importance of delegation in scaling your freelance business and achieving greater profitability and flexibility
• Common misconceptions about delegation and how they can hinder growth and efficiency
• Practical examples of incorrect freelancer delegation and their implications
• The concept of "secret sauce" and how to leverage it in your delegation process
• Actionable steps for reducing variability and delegating recurring tasks effectively

Check out our free “Charge What You’re Worth” Course at https://dyf.link/offer

In this episode, I explain the differences between being a freelancer or an agency owner and why it’s important to choose one of these business models.

Both options have their pros & cons, and it depends on which path suits you best.

I’ll show you how you can make the right decision based on your lifestyle and business goals.

I also talk about:

• Creating effective strategies that work for your goals
• Resources for informed decision-making and business development
• Key considerations for scaling fulfillment and lead generation
• How your business decisions impact your long-term goals
• Insights into lifestyle flexibility, income potential, and business growth

Check out our free “Charge What You’re Worth” Course at https://dyf.link/offer

Today, I’m sharing the 3 “pillars” of a successful freelancing business and the common areas where I see bottlenecks in each pillar.

If you’re feeling stuck in your freelancing business, in this episode I’ll show you how to navigate these bottlenecks.

And if you want to earn more, have more lifestyle freedom, or scale your business, you’ll want to listen to this episode.

I also talk about:

• Why you shouldn’t try to outsource your “secret sauce”
• How to design your business so you can step away from low-paying tasks
• Using “micro-engagements” with clients to lead to bigger and higher-paying projects
• Reducing your project to project variability
• How your offer can do most of the “selling” for you

Check out our free “Charge What You’re Worth” Course at https://dyf.link/pricingcourse.

Check out Focusmate (3 free sessions a week): https://dyf.link/focusmate

Today, I’m talking to Taylor Jacobson From Focusmate.

Taylor is the founder of Focusmate.com, the platform for virtual coworking sessions designed to help you focus and get anything done.

(Focusmate is also Zach’s secret superpower for doing crap he reeeallly doesn’t want to do 😂)

In today’s episode, we talk about how freelancers can create the life of their dreams and accomplish goals beyond what they thought was possible.

We also talk about:

• The value of small improvements and incremental gains when working toward our goals
• Our entrepreneurial experiences with neurodivergence and embracing our individuality
• Why it’s necessary to prioritize progress over perfection
• How to use Focusmate to overcome procrastination and maximize your productivity
• The psychological benefits of starting small and building momentum

Check out Focusmate and get 3 free sessions every week: https://dyf.link/focusmate

Coaching series: Can Zach get this beginner freelancer (Maia) to a 6-figure income ($8,333/mo) within 6 months?

Follow their journey through the ups and downs and watch them grow!

Milestones from today’s episode:

• Reflecting on Maia’s journey to success and achieving a 6-figure business
• Starting small and the power of minimalism in birthing impactful ventures
• The importance of feedback loops and the art of refining ideas through initial experimentation

Coaching highlights from today’s episode:

• The transformative power of belief, both in oneself and in the potential of others, as a catalyst for achievement
• Simplicity and focus in the pursuit of ventures and achieving results with minimal resources
• Reflecting on the journey, overcoming challenges, and celebrating milestones along the way

Original coaching call recording date: 12/04/2023

Check out the DYF Accelerator Community at dyf.link/community

Coaching series: Can Zach get this beginner freelancer (Maia) to a 6-figure income ($8,333/mo) within 6 months?

Follow their journey through the ups and downs and watch them grow!

Milestones from today’s episode:

• Planning a vacation and being able to take time away from work
• Maia reflects on the growth of her business, from initially having zero leads to now managing an overflow of leads
• Considering a new client interaction model involving applications rather than sales calls

Coaching highlights from today’s episode:

• Structure offerings in a way that emphasizes limited availability, similar to cohort-based courses with specific enrollment periods
• Set limits on concurrent projects to avoid feeling overwhelmed and ensure that quality is maintained
• Streamline processes like discovery calls and move towards a more direct approach as authority and reputation grow

Original coaching call recording date: 12/01/2023

Check out the DYF Accelerator Community at dyf.link/community

Coaching series: Can Zach get this beginner freelancer (Maia) to a 6-figure income ($8,333/mo) within 6 months?

Follow their journey through the ups and downs and watch them grow!

Milestones from today’s episode:

• Adjusting her coaching program to include more coaching calls and tailored homework assignments
• Potential challenges of working with clients who have zero social media following and limited business skills
• The need for specific KPIs and checklists for effective social media engagement

Coaching highlights from today’s episode:

• The importance of niche-based coaching and course offerings
• How to approach a blended coaching and course model
• Create actionable checklists for both weekly and daily social media engagement tasks

Original coaching call recording date: 11/24/2023

Check out the DYF Accelerator Community at dyf.link/community

Coaching series: Can Zach get this beginner freelancer (Maia) to a 6-figure income ($8,333/mo) within 6 months?

Follow their journey through the ups and downs and watch them grow!

Milestones from today’s episode:

• Process optimization and streamlining the flow of potential customers
• Building a strong team and trusting team members to take on more responsibility within the business
• The positive business impact of investing in and coaching her team

Coaching highlights from today’s episode:

• The gradual approach to delegation, allowing team members to take on increasing levels of responsibility over time
• A clear framework for determining when team members are ready to take on greater responsibilities
• The significance of establishing authority with clients

Original coaching call recording date: 11/17/2023

Check out the DYF Accelerator Community at dyf.link/community

Coaching series: Can Zach get this beginner freelancer (Maia) to a 6-figure income ($8,333/mo) within 6 months?

Follow their journey through the ups and downs and watch them grow!

Milestones from today’s episode:

• A minimalist approach to offerings, focusing on providing valuable resources and services while keeping things simple
• Maia discusses her long-term plans of nurturing community members toward high-ticket offers
• The balance between offering valuable content for free and creating paid offerings

Coaching highlights from today’s episode:

• The value of paid offerings and charging for services can lead to a greater commitment from clients
• Offering lifetime access to workshop recordings and additional resources as a valuable upsell
• Promoting high-ticket coaching offers while maintaining transparency about limited availability

Original coaching call recording date: 11/10/2023

Check out the DYF Accelerator Community at dyf.link/community

Coaching series: Can Zach get this beginner freelancer (Brad) to a 6-figure income ($8,333/mo) within 6 months?

Follow their journey through the ups and downs and watch them grow!

Milestones from today’s episode:

• Brad accepted a job offer that initially conflicted with his identity but aligned with his long-term goals for growth and stability
• Recognizing prior limitations in thinking and embracing a broader vision for career and personal growth
• Brad’s new job supports his ambitions for family, stability, and pursuing his passions

Coaching highlights from today’s episode:

• Current roles or jobs should fit into the broader vision of our lives, and roles should evolve as our vision and goals change
• The value of being in a job that is challenging and allows for continuous learning is crucial for long-term satisfaction and growth
• Build your own assets, such as authority through content creation, alongside or within the context of employment

Original coaching call recording date: 11/10/2023

Check out the DYF Accelerator Community at dyf.link/community

Coaching series: Can Zach get this beginner freelancer (Maia) to a 6-figure income ($8,333/mo) within 6 months?

Follow their journey through the ups and downs and watch them grow!

Milestones from today’s episode:

• Maia’s achieved an income of $11,000 per month in less than 6 months
• Receiving business through referrals, indicating growing trust and recognition in her network
• Refining and differentiating her service packages to better cater to the specific needs of her clients

Coaching highlights from today’s episode:

• Clearly outline the specific services provided for each client in a pitch deck
• Explore Facebook ads for retargeting highly qualified leads who have engaged with content
• The importance of explicitly stating who each service package is designed for to aid client decision-making

Original coaching call recording date: 11/03/2023

Check out the DYF Accelerator Community at dyf.link/community

Coaching series: Can Zach get this beginner freelancer (Brad) to a 6-figure income ($8,333/mo) within 6 months?

Follow their journey through the ups and downs and watch them grow!

Milestones from today’s episode:

• Brad receives a full-time job offer from a company he freelanced for
• The importance of managing finances for stability and making better business decisions
• A new approach to time management recognizing finite weekly work hours

Coaching highlights from today’s episode:

• Calculate the true effective hourly rate by considering taxes, prospecting time, and other unpaid tasks to compare freelancing income to salary offers
• Invest time in activities that offer both immediate returns and potential exponential long-term benefits
• Negotiating with employers about working on side projects to support personal and long-term growth

Original coaching call recording date: 11/03/2023

Check out the DYF Accelerator Community at dyf.link/community

Coaching series: Can Zach get this beginner freelancer (Maia) to a 6-figure income ($8,333/mo) within 6 months?

Follow their journey through the ups and downs and watch them grow!

Milestones from today’s episode:

• Maia streamlined her services and pricing, focusing her business model on greater profitability
• Enhanced project management efficiency through better task delegation and team coordination
• Prioritizing building a strong case study portfolio over immediate social media expansion

Coaching highlights from today’s episode:

• The importance of a focused branding offer to help Maia in service streamlining
• Marketing alternatives to social media, suggesting diversification for better ROI
• Delegating non-strategic tasks and considering a road mapping service to engage clients

Original coaching call recording date: 10/11/2023

Check out the DYF Accelerator Community at dyf.link/community

Coaching series: Can Zach get this beginner freelancer (Brad) to a 6-figure income ($8,333/mo) within 6 months?

Follow their journey through the ups and downs and watch them grow!

Milestones from today's episode:

• Brad's significant change in mindset, strategic client acquisition, and effective time management
• Setting clear boundaries for work availability and communication expectations with clients, especially concerning Slack and work hours
• The complexities of billable hours versus personal development time, and distinguishing between client-serving activities vs business growth tasks

Coaching highlights from today's episode:

• Setting expectations with clients to prevent misunderstandings and maintain a healthy client-contractor relationship
• Balancing the need for personal development and fulfilling client expectations without sacrificing business growth or personal well-being
• Moving from thinking like an employee to thinking like a business owner, focusing on independence, making choices, and the feelings involved in freelancing

Original coaching call recording date: 10/27/2023

Check out the DYF Accelerator Community at dyf.link/community

Coaching series: Can Zach get this beginner freelancer (Maia) to a 6-figure income ($8,333/mo) within 6 months?

Follow their journey through the ups and downs and watch them grow!

Milestones from today’s episode:

• Maia confirms her business's profitability and the positive impact of recent staffing and financial management adjustments
• Introduction of detailed financial and client data organization in Notion for improved project profitability tracking
• Plans for a beta group membership model to enhance her coaching offerings, focusing on tangible benefits and scalability

Coaching highlights from today’s episode:

• Zach critiques Maia's Notion setup for financial tracking, suggesting enhancements for better management and scalability
• Emphasis on the need for detailed project cost tracking to optimize staff workload and project pricing for increased profitability
• Advice on balancing coaching client engagement and expectations, with a strategy for integrating group memberships with other offerings for a comprehensive client journey

Original coaching call recording date: 09/21/2023

Check out the DYF Accelerator Community at dyf.link/community

Coaching series: Can Zach get this beginner freelancer (Brad) to a 6-figure income ($8,333/mo) within 6 months?

Follow their journey through the ups and downs and watch them grow!

Milestones from today’s episode:

• Brad’s successful meeting with a potential client for an affiliate manager role
• Realizing the importance of choosing clients with a minimum monthly income to ensure worthwhile ROI
• Focus on a simple action plan while working through the overwhelm

Coaching highlights from today’s episode:

• Concentrate on actionable steps and not obsess over outcomes beyond your control
• Set clear expectations with clients regarding ROI and project timelines
• Focus on manageable tasks and self-care during challenging times

Original coaching call recording date: 10/20/2023

Check out the DYF Accelerator Community at dyf.link/community

Coaching series: Can Zach get this beginner freelancer (Maia) to a 6-figure income ($8,333/mo) within 6 months?

Follow their journey through the ups and downs and watch them grow!

Milestones from today’s episode:

• Finding the balance between fair pay for her team and maintaining scalability in her business model
• Difficulties in managing finances and team costs as her business grows
• Vision for transitioning from service provider to focusing on leadership and product development

Coaching highlights from today’s episode:

• The need for a more predictable, scalable compensation and business model
• Targeted outreach strategy to potential clients by offering specific improvements for their business
• The importance of having a financial safety net and careful budgeting during scaling

Original coaching call recording date: 09/15/2023

Check out the DYF Accelerator Community at dyf.link/community

Coaching series: Can Zach get this beginner freelancer (Brad) to a 6-figure income ($8,333/mo) within 6 months?

Follow their journey through the ups and downs and watch them grow!

Milestones from today’s episode:

• Significant progress in networking and niche selection since starting the training
• The stress of relying on a single client and his aim to diversify his client base
• Understanding potential clients' needs through direct conversations for service tailoring

Coaching highlights from today’s episode:

• Using an initial quick win to transition clients into longer-term services
• Keep options open with multiple potential clients to leverage scarcity and exclusivity in discussions
• The value of treating early clients as beta testers, asking for honest feedback, and using their experience to refine and improve a service offering

Original coaching call recording date: 10/13/2023

Check out the DYF Accelerator Community at dyf.link/community

Coaching series: Can Zach get this beginner freelancer (Maia) to a 6-figure income ($8,333/mo) within 6 months?

Follow their journey through the ups and downs and watch them grow!

Milestones from today’s episode:

• Instagram marketing strategy for generating leads and closing deals
• Hiring a social media manager to help streamline and scale social media efforts
• Risks and rewards of starting a new social media channel from scratch

Coaching highlights from today’s episode:

• Calculating cost per lead is crucial for understanding the effectiveness of marketing strategies
• Leverage existing audiences through partnerships and collaborations can be a powerful marketing tactic
• Document the planning and execution of content creation to provide valuable insights and showcase thought leadership

Original coaching call recording date: 09/08/2023

Check out the DYF Accelerator Community at dyf.link/community

Coaching series: Can Zach get this beginner freelancer (Brad) to a 6-figure income ($8,333/mo) within 6 months?

Follow their journey through the ups and downs and watch them grow!

Milestones from today’s episode:

• Struggle with burnout and the importance of addressing it for sustainable freelancing
• The valuable lessons learned from freelancing including the setbacks and disappointments as part of the journey
• Being part of a freelance community is a crucial support system to stay committed and navigate the ups and downs

Coaching highlights from today’s episode:

• The importance of taking time off to restore energy and prevent burnout
• Manage client expectations by communicating proactively, especially when feeling overwhelmed or needing a break
• Focus on actions in our control, like preparation and effort, rather than outcomes, which are often outside of direct control

Original coaching call recording date: 10/06/2023

Check out the DYF Accelerator community at dyf.link/community

Coaching series: Can Zach get this beginner freelancer (Maia) to a 6-figure income ($8,333/mo) within 6 months?

Follow their journey through the ups and downs and watch them grow!

Milestones from today’s episode:

• Exploring the transition from one-on-one consulting to building a community-based offering
• Considering the options between high-touch coaching at a higher price or a more inclusive community model at a lower price
• Creating educational content, workshops, and resources that serve both her one-on-one clients and community members

Coaching highlights from today’s episode:

• Validate the interest in her community offering with a minimum number of sign-ups before officially launching
• Focus on activities that offer the highest value to potential clients such as high-touch coaching or targeted content
• How to leverage existing clientele and audience for the initial seeding and growth of the paid community

Original coaching call recording date: 09/01/2023

Check out the DYF Accelerator community at dyf.link/community

Coaching series: Can Zach get this beginner freelancer (Brad) to a 6-figure income ($8,333/mo) within 6 months?

Follow their journey through the ups and downs and watch them grow!

Milestones from today’s episode:

• Brad deals with exhaustion, overwork, and the impacts on his life and business
• Establishing authority as an affiliate manager
• Testing and proving the model to offer affiliate management services

Coaching highlights from today’s episode:

• Define in detail the steps involved in delivering a service to clients
• The attributes potential clients need to have to be confident in achieving success with them
• The importance of not always pushing out of the comfort zone to prevent burnout

Original coaching call recording date: 09/29/2023

Check out the DYF Accelerator Community at dyf.link/community

Coaching series: Can Zach get this beginner freelancer (Maia) to a 6-figure income ($8,333/mo) within 6 months?

Follow their journey through the ups and downs and watch them grow!

Milestones from today’s episode:

• Converting engaged Instagram followers into clients for Maia’s design studio
• Leveraging email marketing to re-engage leads with free resources and valuable content
• Segmenting leads for efficient lead conversion and content utilization

Coaching highlights from today’s episode:

• Personalizing the content of individual emails to engage leads instead of a general invitation
• The use of paid ads or an "ad spot" in newsletters to promote Maia’s design studio
• Save time by automating the onboarding process for new clients with a pre-recorded onboarding video or a detailed guide

Original coaching call recording date: 08/24/2023

Check out the DYF Accelerator Community at dyf.link/community

Coaching series: Can Zach get this beginner freelancer (Brad) to a 6-figure income ($8,333/mo) within 6 months?

Follow their journey through the ups and downs and watch them grow!

Milestones from today’s episode:

• Defining which clients will benefit most from Brad’s service offering
• Outlining the step-by-step process of his service, from initial email planning to execution
• Creating a plan to find beta clients to test and validate his affiliate management service model

Coaching highlights from today’s episode:

• Start with a manageable number of beta clients to test and refine your service before trying to scale up
• The importance of setting specific goals and KPIs to ensure measurable outcomes
• Leverage warm contacts in your network to find your first beta clients, as this can lead to more receptive participants

Original coaching call recording date: 09/21/2023

Check out the DYF Accelerator Community at dyf.link/community

Coaching series: Can Zach get this beginner freelancer (Maia) to a 6-figure income ($8,333/mo) within 6 months?

Follow their journey through the ups and downs and watch them grow!

Milestones from today’s episode:

• Launched a free workshop with 48 attendees
• Increased rates to nearly $3K per project
• Hired additional designer to delegate and increase project work

Coaching highlights from today’s episode:

• Potential revenue generation from creator content
• Setting goal to increase client work by 50%
• Which software to use for a simple, streamlined operation

Original coaching call recording date: 08/18/2023

Check out the DYF Accelerator community at dyf.link/community

Coaching series: Can Zach get this beginner freelancer (Brad) to a 6-figure income ($8,333/mo) within 6 months?

Follow their journey through the ups and downs and watch them grow!

Milestones from today’s episode:

• Refined service offering to create short-form content for social media
• Brad improved his video editing skills and is using his channel to showcase his abilities
• Using social media to find clients and demonstrate skills publicly

Coaching highlights from today’s episode:

• Specialize in one specific service to establish a clear niche in the market
• Identify target clients who are creating long-form content but struggling with short-form content
• Tag potential clients in social media posts to demonstrate skills and get their attention

Original coaching call recording date: 09/08/2023

Check out the DYF Accelerator community at dyf.link/community

Coaching series: Can Zach get this beginner freelancer (Maia) to a 6-figure income ($8,333/mo) within 6 months?

Follow their journey through the ups and downs and watch them grow!

Milestones from today’s episode:

• How time tracking has helped effectively pricing services
• Exploring different channels for lead gen, including starting a podcast
• Choosing which tasks to simplify or delegate

Coaching highlights from today’s episode:

• The importance of tracking time for profitability
• Testing higher price points for different services
• Creating a monthly recurring revenue stream

Original coaching call recording date: 08/09/2023

Check out the DYF Accelerator community at dyf.link/community

Coaching series: Can Zach get this beginner freelancer (Brad) to a 6-figure income ($8,333/mo) within 6 months?

Follow their journey through the ups and downs and watch them grow!

Milestones from today’s episode:

• Brad’s highest revenue month so far!
• Solidifying niche to work with course creators
• Nurturing current leads and stopping new cold outreach

Coaching highlights from today’s episode:

• Identifying prospects to test new service offering for free
• Using a top-of-funnel offer to attract new leads
• When to stop doing new cold client outreach and focus on current clients

Original coaching call recording date: 09/01/2023

Check out the DYF Accelerator community at dyf.link/community

Coaching series: Can Zach get this beginner freelancer (Maia) to a 6-figure income ($8,333/mo) within 6 months?

Follow their journey through the ups and downs and watch them grow!

Milestones from today’s episode:

• Focusing on agency growth vs creating products
• Managing multiple open client projects and staying on top of work
• Creating coaching and done-for-you services as a path to raise rates

Coaching highlights from today’s episode:

• Write SOPs for repetitive tasks that can be delegated
• “Blueprint style” client interviews for feedback on new service offering
• Use pricing tiers for client services and raising rates

Original coaching call recording date: 08/01/2023

Check out the DYF Accelerator community at dyf.link/community

Coaching series: Can Zach get this beginner freelancer (Brad) to a 6-figure income ($8,333/mo) within 6 months?

Follow their journey through the ups and downs and watch them grow!

Milestones from today’s episode:

• Brad’s best earning week yet on Upwork
• Confronting the data from time tracking and where time was used
• Learning new skills to expand service offerings and professionalism

Coaching highlights from today’s episode:

• Facing the struggles of productivity and addressing underlying causes
• The importance of testing different outreach methods to find the most effective approach
• Building organic relationships by providing upfront value

Original coaching call recording date: 08/24/2023

Check out the DYF Accelerator community at dyf.link/community

Coaching series: Can Zach get this beginner freelancer (Maia) to a 6-figure income ($8,333/mo) within 6 months?

Follow their journey through the ups and downs and watch them grow!

Milestones from today’s episode:

• Maia is fully booked out with client work from her effective online marketing
• Raising the rate of her service offering to $2.6K
• Plans to launch a premium membership service

Coaching highlights from today’s episode:

• How to create the most impactful testimonials
• Handling requests for discounts and offering bonuses instead
• Choosing work that aligns with long-term objectives

Original coaching call recording date: 07/19/2023

Check out the DYF Accelerator community at dyf.link/community

Coaching series: Can Zach get this beginner freelancer (Brad) to a 6-figure income ($8,333/mo) within 6 months?

Follow their journey through the ups and downs and watch them grow!

Milestones from today’s episode:

• Growing Brad’s business through short-form video content
• Reviewing the data on how much time is being dedicated to income generating activities
• Making lead gen enjoyable by aligning with skills and interests

Coaching highlights from today’s episode:

• Give clients valuable comprehensive services like scheduling content
• Focus on personal growth and development over just meeting financial targets
• Allocate time for things that are immediately valuable to the business

Original coaching call recording date: 08/18/2023

Check out the DYF Accelerator community at dyf.link/community

Coaching series: Can Zach get this beginner freelancer (Maia) to a 6-figure income ($8,333/mo) within 6 months?

Follow their journey through the ups and downs and watch them grow!

Milestones from today’s episode:

• Maia’s roadmap and retainer strategy for upselling clients
• Creating a performance-based coaching program with a client
• Launching a podcast or public coaching series to document client journeys and successes

Coaching highlights from today’s episode:

• Get commitment from clients to ensure dedication and consistent progress
• The value of documenting real-time progress from early-stages to success
• A performance-based pricing model should align with tangible outcomes

Original coaching call recording date: 07/05/2023

Check out the DYF Accelerator community at dyf.link/community

Coaching series: Can Zach get this beginner freelancer (Brad) to a 6-figure income ($8,333/mo) within 6 months?

Follow their journey through the ups and downs and watch them grow!

Milestones from today’s episode:

• Brad expands his service offerings on Upwork and lands a new client outside his usual niche
• Starting a cold outreach strategy off Upwork
• Brad commits to improving video editing skills to offer higher-quality services

Coaching highlights from today’s episode:

• Integrate CTAs into fun personal projects to attract clients
• Diversifying with outreach approaches outside of Upwork
• Reflecting on progress and staying motivated is important, even in the face of challenges

Original coaching call recording date: 08/10/2023

Check out the DYF Accelerator community at dyf.link/community

Coaching series: Can Zach get this beginner freelancer (Maia) to a 6-figure income ($8,333/mo) within 6 months?

Follow their journey through the ups and downs and watch them grow!

Milestones from today’s episode:

• Maia implements a new pricing strategy for bundled services
• Her 4-phase client process: onboarding, discovery, design, and handoff
• The importance of client discovery and collaboration in the design phase

Coaching highlights from today’s episode:

• Effective hourly rates and having the self-belief to charge more
• Journaling about past projects to delegate future projects to junior designers
• Use timeboxing to avoid project delays

Original coaching call recording date: 06/28/2023

Check out the DYF Accelerator community at dyf.link/community

Coaching series: Can Zach get this beginner freelancer (Brad) to a 6-figure income ($8,333/mo) within 6 months?

Follow their journey through the ups and downs and watch them grow!

Milestones from today’s episode:

• Using podcasts for networking and to reach new clients
• Dealing with an increased workload
• Developing a YouTube channel strategy

Coaching highlights from today’s episode:

• Pricing services based on the impact for a client’s business
• How to use “Blueprint Style” freelancer podcast interviews to develop service offering
• Expanding opportunities in adjacent niches

Original coaching call recording date: 07/31/2023

Check out the DYF Accelerator community at dyf.link/community

Coaching series: Can Zach get this beginner freelancer (Maia) to a 6-figure income ($8,333/mo) within 6 months?

Follow their journey through the ups and downs and watch them grow!

Milestones from today’s episode:

• Success from organic marketing
• Importance of time tracking
• Developing new core services

Coaching highlights from today’s episode:

• Clarify service offering to calculate effective hourly rate
• Avoiding low paying client work
• How to use scarcity as a marketing hook

Original coaching call recording date: 06/21/2023

Check out the DYF Accelerator Community at dyf.link/community

Coaching series: Can Zach get this beginner freelancer (Brad) to a 6-figure income ($8,333/mo) within 6 months?

Follow their journey through the ups and downs and watch them grow!

Milestones from today’s episode:

• Upwork success from utilizing personalized videos
• First freelancer podcast episode completed and Brad’s simple Twitter strategy for booking guests
• Increased rates on Upwork and focusing on strategic vs commoditized work

Coaching highlights from today’s episode:

• Importance of processes and systemization in business, especially client outreach
• When to raise rates and creating a plan to increase income
• Tools for effectively managing time and focus with ADHD

Original coaching call recording date: 07/05/2023

Check out the DYF Accelerator Community at https://dyf.link/community

Coaching series: Can Zach get this beginner freelancer (Maia) to a 6-figure income ($8,333/mo) within 6 months?

Follow their journey through the ups and downs and watch them grow!

Milestones from today’s episode:

• Booked out 1 month in advance while fine-tuning services for better client engagement
• Onboarded two new designers and aligning them with the studio's style and ethos

Coaching highlights from today’s episode:

• Leveraging Instagram interactions to build potential client relationships
• Importance of outsourcing repetitive tasks to focus on impactful activities
• Strategies for upskilling new designers to fit the studio’s unique design language

Original coaching call recording date: 06/14/2023

Check out the DYF Accelerator Community at https://dyf.link/community

Coaching series: Can Zach get this beginner freelancer (Brad) to a 6-figure income ($8,333/mo) within 6 months?

Follow their journey through the ups and downs and watch them grow!

Milestones from today’s episode:

• Brad’s Organic YouTube marketing approach and the direct impact on lead generation and sales
• Using high-search keywords on Google and YouTube for video ranking
• Conceptualizing his dual-service offering for clients using authority building and existing content

Coaching highlights from today’s episode:

• Importance of research in content creation to ensure effective YouTube marketing
• Purpose of a well defined content creation strategy
• The value of performance-based agreements with clients

Original coaching call recording date: 06/28/2023

Check out the DYF Accelerator community at https://dyf.link/community

Coaching series: Can Zach get this beginner freelancer (Maia) to a 6-figure income ($8,333/mo) within 6 months?

Follow their journey through the ups and downs and watch them grow!

Milestones from today’s episode:

• Maia’s success from marketing on Instagram and gaining new clients
• Using other social media platforms to expand audience
• Allocating time effectively for newsletters vs marketing

Coaching highlights from today’s episode:

• How to find ideal clients online by learning from past clients
• Focus on minimal viable content and repurposing content for newsletters
• Why guest podcasting and blogging is an effective way to develop an audience

Original coaching call recording date: 06/05/2023 + 06/07/2023

Check out the DYF Accelerator community at https://dyf.link/community

Coaching series: Can Zach get this beginner freelancer (Brad) to a 6-figure income ($8,333/mo) within 6 months?

Follow their journey through the ups and downs and watch them grow!

Milestones from today’s episode:

• Brad starts to refine his strategy for podcasting
• How to best use his current YouTube content for potential clients
• Staying focused while maintaining work/life balance

Coaching highlights from today’s episode:

• Using content for coaching services in the future
• How to leverage current YouTube content to attract high-paying clients
• Changing a brand name to align with goals and services

Original coaching call recording date: 06/21/2023

Check out the DYF Accelerator community at https://dyf.link/community

Check out the DYF Accelerator community at: https://dyf.link/community

Coaching series: Can Zach get this beginner freelancer (Maia) to a 6-figure income ($8,333/mo) within 6 months?

Follow their journey through the ups and downs and watch them grow!

Milestones from today’s episode:

• Maia is considering hiring a junior designer to assist with projects
• Differentiating different types of clients for prospecting
• Using case studies to attract higher-paying clients

Coaching highlights from today’s episode:

• Exploring the creation of products to offer
• Focus on one service offering to narrow down marketing efforts
• Product ladder for different clients from low-cost up to specialized services

Original coaching call recording date: 05/30/2023

Coaching series: Can Zach get this beginner freelancer (Brad) to a 6-figure income ($8,333/mo) within 6 months?

Follow their journey through the ups and downs and watch them grow!

Milestones from today’s episode:

• Brad narrows down his niche and expertise to work with clients
• Finding high-quality clients off of Upwork
• Creating a clear service offering with the highest ROI for clients

Coaching highlights from today’s episode:

• Strategies for marketing to prospective clients
• Content creation and using SEO to grow a freelance business
• Creating a productized business model

Original coaching call recording date: 06/14/2023

Want to get one-on-one coaching from Zach? The DYF Accelerator community includes weekly live 20-minute one-on-one Zoom coaching with Zach that follows the same format as you saw here. You’ll also get access to our huge library of all past coaching calls, along with a text-based community and weekly accountability check-ins. 

Check it out at https://dyf.link/community
 

Coaching series: Can Zach get Maia to a 6-figure income ($8,333/mo) within 6 months?

Follow their journey through the ups and downs and watch them grow!

In today's episode Zach helps Maia decide where to spend time in her business to really move the needle the most.

Milestones from today’s episode:

• Maia refines her business offering while shifting to productized services
• Getting clear on her marketing strategy that creates a waitlist of clients
• Finding clients that align with her digital nomad lifestyle

Coaching highlights from today’s episode:

• When to prioritize rate increases with current clients and the how to implement them
• A simple marketing plan to reach new clients immediately
• Focus on the right type of marketing that leads to getting paid

Check out the DYF Accelerator community at https://dyf.link/community

Coaching series: Can Zach get this beginner freelancer (Brad) to a 6-figure income ($8,333/mo) within 6 months?

Hint: Yes! This kickoff interview for the series was actually shot AFTER it was over!

In this kickoff interview, Zach and Brad look back on his biggest lessons learned along the way, and explain the coaching series you’re about to follow him on.

Check out the DYF Accelerator Community at https://dyf.link/community

Coaching series: Can Zach get this beginner freelancer (Maia) to a 6-figure income ($8,333/mo) within 6 months?

Hint: Yes! This kickoff interview for the series was actually shot AFTER it was over!

In this kickoff interview, Zach and Maia look back on her biggest lessons learned, and explain the coaching series you’re about to follow her on.

(From her early days struggling and earning under $2k/month, all the way to 6 months later where she’s earning $14,000/month!)

Check out the DYF Accelerator Community at dyf.link/community

In this episode, Zach talks to Josh Starr from https://joshstarr.co

Josh has started several different agencies, each of which gets clients from cold email. (He also has an agency where he does cold outreach for other agencies — how meta eh?)

His various agencies have generated over $2.3 million in lifetime value, and they’ve worked with over 3,500 clients including big brands like Walmart, Kellogg’s, Coke, and Pepsi.

Josh works with clients using his cold email strategies to create massive value for B2B prospects.

On today’s episode, you’ll learn the exact cold email strategies Josh uses that you can implement as a freelancer or agency owner to connect with new clients and have a consistent pipeline of new clients.

Check out DYF Accelerator community where you can attend live expert interviews and get one on one coaching with Zach - https://dyf.link/community

More details and links on the show notes page: https://dyf.link/episode93

In this episode, Zach talks to Bo-Peter Laanen from https://blaanen.com/

Bo-Peter is a marketing coach and founder of Growth Marketing Hub.

He helps course creators grow their businesses by leveraging AI for content production, marketing, and SEO strategies.

On today’s episode, Bo-Peter talks about how to utilize AI for automation and optimizing your workflow.

You’ll learn how to leverage AI to grow your freelance or agency business, increase lead flow, and build a personal brand.

This was recorded for our private community as an expert interview and if you want to check out the community for yourself, it includes 1-on-1 coaching with myself, weekly check-ins, plus when we have calls like this one, members can join live to ask questions directly with the guest.

More details and links on the show notes page: https://dyf.link/episode92

In this episode, Zach talks to Kim Swagemakers from Kimpact, about her experience going from employee to freelancer to a productized agency owner. 

On this episode Kim shares her insights about immersing yourself in client pain points to inform your trajectory, choosing a niche based on past products, finding good productized service ideas, building automated lead flows, and much more.

This was recorded for our private community as an expert interview and if you want to check out the community for yourself, it includes 1-on-1 coaching with myself, weekly check-ins, plus when we have calls like this one, members can join live to ask questions directly with the guest.

More details and links on the show notes page: https://dyf.link/episode91  

In this episode, Zach talks to Jesse Hanley from Bento - the email marketing tool.

In today’s episode, you’ll find out how Jesse went from solo freelancer to scaling a 25-person agency, then selling it all and starting a SaaS email marketing product.

Jesse talks about the challenges of scaling an agency including client lead flow, having a lean team, and the benefits of a simple business model.

We dive deep into how being genuinely helpful online can lead to big customers, and whether you should chase scaling your business or focus on doing your best work every day.

More details and links on the show notes page: https://dyf.link/episode90

In this episode, Zach talks to Joana Galvão from Gif Design Studios.

Joana Galvão is the co-founder of award-winning design agency Gif Design Studios and a leading business coach for ambitious creatives who want to take the shortcut.

Based in Porto, Portugal, her agency specializes in brand identities and conversion-obsessed design and serves industry leaders in 17 countries on five continents.

Her coaching program, Ambitious Creatives Booked Solid, helps freelancers get booked solid with dream projects, to 6-figures and beyond, without burnout.

Joana speaks internationally on entrepreneurship and the power of design and creativity and her work has been featured in the Guardian UK, Brand Brilliance, and Digital Arts magazine.

Join the DYF Accelerator community at: dyf.link/community 

Check out the Start The Right Type of Business beta course within DYF University, which is at dyf.link/university

She goes deep into her cold outreach philosophy and approach that can help even new freelancers start booking clients today.

She also shares her email template she used to cold outreach to a design agency that ended up driving multiple five figures of business to her!

More details and links on the show notes page: https://dyf.link/episode88

They’ve worked with big names like Pat Flynn and featured on Forbes, SPI, and more.

One of the cool things about their business is how systematized it is — they pay all their contractors fixed rates for projects, and have their process so dialed in that Prerna’s effective hourly rate (EHR) for copywriting is about $1,000/hr.

Tons of great insights in this episode — enjoy!

More details and links on the show notes page: https://dyf.link/episode87

If you haven’t heard of Nicolas Cole, he’s a ghostwriter-turned-agency-owner-turned-product-course-creator-biz-owner.

He is the co-founder of Ship 30 for 30, the largest cohort-based writing course on the Internet; Typeshare, the leading platform for Digital Writing tools & templates; and Premium Ghostwriting Academy, an 8-week training program teaching writers how to enter the world of ghostwriting & land high-ticket clients.

Cole is also the author of 10 books, including the best-seller, The Art & Business of Online Writing. His writing has accumulated hundreds of millions of views, and has been republished in TIME, Forbes, Fortune, Business Insider, Inc Magazine, and many more. In 2017, he built the first ghostwriting agency writing on behalf of 300+ Silicon Valley founders, investors, and CEOs of publicly traded companies, Grammy-winning musicians, Olympic athletes, and NYT best-selling authors & speakers-and to date has ghostwritten more than 3,000 articles for industry leaders on the Internet.

Today he shares his experience scaling his agency with cold outreach, and gives us a behind-the-scenes look into his story transitioning from agency work into products.

More details and links on the show notes page: https://dyf.link/episode86 

He started as an employed developer…

Then side hustled as a freelancer…

Until it was doing enough revenue that he quit to go full-time freelance…

And then, through many twists and turns, went on to scale a bespoke-work agency to $2,000,000/yr in revenue with 11 staff…

And later sold his stake in the business to his business partner and successfully made the transition into products, while still taking on occasional high-ticket consulting gigs.

…But you already probably know all this.

After all, he’s Brennan freakin’ Dunn!

In this interview, Zach picks Brennan’s brain about a “day in the life” of running a scaled bespoke agency, and did some comparisons about the different lifestyle consequences of his 4 different paths of experience:

- Running a 7-figure bespoke agency

- Running a SaaS business (aka Rightmessage, Palladio)

- Running an education product business (aka DYF, Create & Sell)

- Running a highly-leveraged solo consultancy (i.e. his email personalization + funnel consulting engagements for SPI et al)

My guest today is Lionel Martin, a software and DevOps engineer who helps technology startups improve how they build using the Cloud. As a freelancer, he experienced the income and project roller coaster, which was very stressful. Lately, he has been doing high-value consulting. Lionel shares tips he has implemented that may benefit your company. Tactics he uses that are game changers to make a good impression on clients and get them to pay him more include being more descriptive rather than prescriptive and not having a portfolio.

Today’s topics include:

• Organizing your business and personal life: Schedule, time, and
  bandwidth
• Making mindset changes by setting up hands-on consulting and
  roadmapping to be able to implement strategic or tactical changes
• 4 Phases of Engagement: Diagnosis (identify problems), Prescription
  (recommended solution), Implementation, and Reapplication
• Expressing empathy during diagnosis and prescription to understand
  why client is willing to spend money on you; walk in their shoes
  before going directly to your comfort zone
• Having hesitations and being confident enough to talk with any client
  in any industry and deliver value
• Having curiosity, willingness to help, and asking questions - talk
  business with people
• Getting qualified leads and clients involves content marketing and
  focusing on strategic conversations for productizing (3 months for
  productizing to packaging)
• Building trust and positively changing your relationship with clients
  through roadmapping; others deliver biased advice geared toward their
  services Waterfall vs. Agile Development: Where do you need to get
  to, where are you now, why is now bad, why is there better, and how
  can you help them get there? Assess risks
• Hear It Before They See It: Investing time to talk to client,
  offering proposal, and getting them to buy an option

Resources and links:

• Lionel Martin
• Lionel Martin Email

My guest today is Ian Servin of Animus Studios, which is a production company that makes videos. Animus has a higher-level, holistic approach of using videos to provide a solution to clients. It focuses on content creation and plans that involve sharing that content and measuring results.

Today’s topics include:

• Be willing to pay more to reach your end goals with videos for your
  business
• Disconnect between sales and production regarding goals and purpose
  of videos; make the product on the backend aligned with the
  expectation on the frontend
• Add intentionality, process, and formalization to deliver in a
  package that feels like a real product and offering
• Animus reaches out to new customers or customers contact them with
  a video need; Animus guides new customers through big picture
  marketing and setting expectations
• Onboarding and roadmapping is tailored around video and includes
  initial question asking and information gathering; never deliver a
  proposal that is a surprise
• Animus financially qualifies a client and works with them on a small
  scale to funnel them into the onboarding package; doesn’t want to
  waste its or a client’s time and money
• Discover how to make better content strategically; take ideas to
  helps customer develop a creative story and think outside of the box
  to make sales
• Generate sales and leads through email generation, boots on the
  ground work at events, and building a content marketing campaign

Resources and links:

• Animus Studios
• Videostrategy.org

Drew Sanocki and Michael Epstein are partners at Growthengines.io, which has grown from being brand new to generating $1 million in revenue in less than a year through retainer work. How has it gone from nothing to where it is at now in such a short period? What impact does that have on the way that it sells?

Today’s topics include:

• Agony and pain that comes before success and figuring out a model
• Insights: Moving from 1-OP projects to ongoing retainers, and going
  to higher-end retainers
• To go up market practically and mindset-wise what needs to change is
  the 80/20 rule: 20% of clients were driving 80% of the revenue;
  building an agency that targets the 20%
• Structuring things differently to attract and convert the bigger
  fish; generating valuable content and marketing, and focusing
  offering on the highest value adding aspects
• Typical Lifecycle: Hear about Growth Engines, sparks interest,
  follows a call to action/lead magnet, and tag leads for initial
  engagement and email sequence
• Selling Process: Once prospect is qualified, they are funneled
  through various offerings, such as courses and roadmap growth audit
• Sometimes a sales call is not even necessary; convince them without
  it
• Focusing on standardization, process improvement, and fulfillment
• Communication Process for Qualified Prospects: Emails for engagement,
  but not a lot of selling that has to happen
• Follow-up efforts with those who choose not to opt-in
• Pulling data to generate reports and drive presentation deck to
  deliver to client; making deliverable more productized and systemized

Resources and links:

• Growth Engines
• Growth Audit
• Nerd Marketing
• Drip
• Jonathan Stark
• AutoCrat for Google Sheets
• Mastering Drip Email Marketing Automation

My guest today is Matty McLain, who works for small companies and startups to help them tighten their sales process and get clients. What keeps business owners up at night and bothers them? Matty looks inside the businesses and determines how to make them better.

Today’s topics include:

• Craft proposals based on what clients say and address their pain
  points
• Purpose of roadmapping to understand and overcome objections
• Hesitations that clients will hire you; frustrations over wasted
  research and time
• Create email list following that generates leads and be active in the
  community
• Pitch roadmapping via a call; create roadmapping summary of sales and
  marketing plan
• Funnel: Lead comes in; consultation; qualify client for roadmapping;
  pitch roadmapping; deliverable report; and sell bigger project
• Silent Killer of Small Business: Giving too many proposals that you
  don’t win
• Conversion rates go up when you offer someone a taste of something
  bigger
• First dollar is the hardest to make; companies initially go with
  lower-priced options
• Time with company leaders to vet them and determine if you want to
  work with them
• Trust that you own abilities can impact a business
• Things to be aware of and consider when thinking about selling paid
  roadmapping
• Find a way to charge for value
• Proposal: Here’s where you’re at, here’s where you want to be; given
  my experience and our discussions, the best way to get from here to
  there is…
• Customer Service Era: People’s expectations are higher; you have to
  deliver an experience
• Lessons Learned: Have a process, and sell roadmapping as the first
  step

Resources and links:

• Matty McLain
• Million Dollar Consulting by Alan Weiss
• Sandler Training
• Dan Pink

On today’s episode, we discuss hurdles she has experienced with roadmapping in her consulting business to get more clients and increase revenue.

Today’s topics include:

• Client Perspective: Addressing problems in time; clarifying what they
  need to work on
• Branding Project: The big picture, what’s hot now, and where people
  really want to go
• Consultation/Coaching Structure: Start with phone calls to determine
  client’s needs
• Send a form/survey in advance; give a list of recommendations based
  on responses
• What have you tried in the past? What worked and what didn’t?
• Final Question: Is there anything else you would like to tell me?
• Know mistakes client’s made in the past to avoid proposing the same
  option
• Use call as an interview - what’s on your mind? Let client do the
  talking
• If you’re not coaching or managing your client, engagement does not
  end well
• Don’t be an order taker - strategic input gets less value and rates
  go down
• Psychically know what clients want, but client does the work
• Value your strategic input; roadmapping is a plan for the client
• Give clients a taste of what it’s like to work with you, and what
  it’s like to work with clients
• Market being flooded with incompetent remote providers
• Curate relationships with clients; build trust and authority with
  clients early on
• Having a plan helps prevent imposter syndrome

Resources and links:

• Dream of Travel Writing

On today’s episode, we discuss marketing automation now and in the future. Automation done right is transformative - both for businesses and their customers.

Today’s topics include:

• Describing the possibilities of automation
• Being interested in marketing automation - email is center of the
  universe
• Educating clients on cart abandonment and another issues or services
• Moving toward various ways to communicate for engagement and
  purchases
• Shifting to an eCommerce business model for selling
• Evolving ecosystem into a command center for all online marketing
  activities
• Naming and defining Drip’s electronic customer relationship
  management (eCRM)
• Specializing in marketing automation will get you tons of success
• Overturning objections for time investment involved with setting up
  automation

Resources and links:

• Dustin Robertson
• Drip
• Drip account
• Backcountry

• What questions you’ll need to answer in order to personalize
• How to demonstrate potential upside value
• How to communicate with customers about their needs
• How to increase lead quality and quantity

Jason Resnick has automated his business to be fully sustainable, bringing in recurring revenue for more than 8 years. His business grew out of his programing knowledge and experience working at large scale corporate organizations, but Jason has learned that some commonalities exist among clients no matter what the scale of the business they hire. His study of how consumers think, why they buy, and how companies fulfill or exceed their expectations has enabled Jason to become an expert marketer and to teach his automation strategies to other freelancers and agencies. He shared some of his expertise with us.

Developing the Skills

Jason started learning web development in the mid-late ‘90s when he was in college. He says at the time web development skills were looked at by employers like having a backyard pool: unnecessary but nice to have. He honed his craft while working at design agencies and Fortune 100 companies. Meanwhile, he leveraged his web design skills as a side hustle. Between side jobs and his full time work, Jason expanded his development knowledge, while he started to learn how to grow and run a business. In the DotCom boom and bust, Jason learned the importance of deliverables the hard way. He was laid off, but knowing he had the development skills and numerous freelancing gigs under his belt, Jason struck out on his own. Within a year, things failed to go as planned and Jason wound up back as an employee at an agency. This time, recognizing where he had fallen short, Jason paid extra attention in his new position to the business management side of things.

Eventually, when the time was right, Jason eagerly pursued freelancing full time again. A key factor in Jason’s interest in freelancing was that he wanted to be in charge of his own time. That’s why for Jason, automation was an essential part of his path to independence. As a one-man operation, he needed time-saving systems in place and he knew his clients would too. So Jason started out building websites with WooCommerce integrations. Today his offerings have expanded and now include him setting up entire automated marketing campaigns for businesses of all types that make online transactions.

Convincing Clients You’re Worth It

Brennan recalls being intimidated when he first started conducting paid consultations with clients. He says it became easier as he saw the positive results but asked Jason if he experienced any self doubt in his sales meetings while expanding his skills. Jason says the hardest part of these meetings for him was simply convincing clients that the automation would be beneficial. Clients didn’t believe the time investment upfront would produce any valuable changes in the long run. To address this common fear, Jason came up with a solution that provides a visible argument that it will. He builds custom KPI dashboards for customers that feature spreadsheets and graphs and show his clients’ transaction sequences. This is where paying attention to the client’s perspective comes in handy. Understanding the buyer’s journey and its nuances is the key to knowing how to measure a campaign’s success and to improving it. Diving deep into the customer’s experience not only allows Jason to better predict and evaluate the value his service will have on the agency he’s working with, he’s also better able to sell long-term services by speaking to their interests and needs. One drawback that Jason acknowledges is that having a shorter term project (as is frequently the case for independent consultants) does make it harder to gauge results, but this makes it all the more important to empathize with the customer whenever possible.

Evaluating Long-Term Business Needs

Jason believes the business should drive the technology instead of the other way around. As a result, he doesn’t mind telling businesses if his skills are not going to be helpful to them. Although a customer’s buying decision is usually made before they ever contact the business, focusing on the lifecycle of a customer helps Jason know what he needs to do next. He says his first task is to find out what areas of the cycle he can stream-line to accelerate the customer’s time to purchase. One way to demonstrate your ability to address the customer’s need is with personalization.

Jason started pursuing personalization when he was preparing to go on a three week honeymoon. He started wondering what his clients’ businesses would look like after he was gone for nearly a month. How would that time away continue to impact the businesses months down the line? This longer-term thinking prompted him to start asking his clients what they needed from him which incited further questions like “what am I doing for them that could be recurring in their business?” Additionally, Jason recognized that different businesses had different peak seasons and events that require prepwork or extra attention leading up to them (e.g. non profits often needed more help in the spring to prep for summer events, and product sites need more help in the fall leading up to Black Friday). In anticipation of these various events, Jason began regularly meeting with organizations to find what they needed and also what they liked about working with him/where he could improve. He learned lot during these chats that he says would not have been brought to his attention had he not stepped into his client’s shoes.

Jason was also trying to build a bigger client base on his own (naturally it had been easier to find clients as an employee). Jason started to look at his own leads and considering who they were and what they wanted. He distilled what he learned from the client calls to a set of 5 or so things and set up emails with trigger links that corresponded to them. He then sent those emails to his list. He garnered some valuable information from the experience including solid examples of what services respondents were looking for and also features he could package as products that he hadn’t considered before. For example, Jason says he over-communicates via email when possible but learned through this experience that calls are sometimes better for others. The results prompted him to change his marketing as well as his service offering and the new version included a phone call option. At the time, most of Jason’s work was agency overflow work and ecommerce companies rather than working with coaches or individuals. The data Jason gathered gave him the knowledge to open up this whole new audience and help other freelancers discover their client’s pain points and how to address them.

Building Recurring Revenue with Business

The more Jason showed leads what they wanted, the more he noticed changes in who was coming to him. He received project briefs from many new people and the quality of his leads increased as well as the numbers. Jason chalks this up to giving leads more of what they wanted through automation. When Jason asked these new customers the first question: “why did you sign up with me?” responses included “You’re responding to me weekly,” or “I want you to create a custom dashboard for me.” While this question remained relatively intact in every version, Jason says the form a given client actually sees changes based on the client’s intent -- that is, someone wanting help with digital marketing will see something different from someone who wanted a custom page. Today, Jason’s form is designed to get to those answers worked out pretty quickly.

Brennan likes that the trigger links allow users to self subset. When tracking their funnel, most people stop at calculating whether each lead is resulting in a conversion. For Jason, segmentation helped him provide better service by narrowing the gaps in what customers want. Brennan asks if his numbers are sorted further and how clients are responding. Jason says they’re happy and his sphere of influence has shifted to include a few coaches and other professions. Email marketing has become a huge part of Jason’s life since that is where his best customer is found. These listeners are intelligent and focused. They like that Jason will listen to and care about their own bottom line rather than his own (as an agency would most likely do). Personalization has allowed Jason to expand his offerings and change his business, again putting the customer’s need in front of what technology can do.

Where to next?

What comes next? Jason wants to take the skills he has learned helping other people and their businesses and apply them to his business. His next goal is to create more of a back and forth dialogue with his audience, allowing them to ask him questions and allowing him to service their exact needs. Jason says he’s a better salesperson now thanks to automation enabling him to give customers what they want, and telling him when they’re ready to buy it. With his current focus on lifecycle-based marketing, Jason is keen to try more and more personalization to create a more human sales process -- a goal that ironically, will likely involve even more automation.

• Feast
• Jason's site
• WooCommerce

Jason is a WordPress developer by trade, and has focused solely on WordPress for several years now. He “grew up” learning Java, went down the Ruby on Rails path, all the while doing custom PHP development. Jason and lives in Oceanside, New York with his wife Joanna and their son, TJ. He enjoys nothing more than spending a ridiculous amount of time with them, family and friends.

• Finding the right product and the right audience.
• Correct (and less correct) responses to critics.
• The difference between Free Content and Community Resources.
• How to generate more time.

Today Joel Hooks runs Egghead.io, a website that provides video tutorials on every tool and aspect of web development. Today, the Netflix-style subscription service has grown to have 20 employees and over 100 instructors, but things weren’t always so promising. Joel talked to Brennan about how Egghead came to be, What he’s learned along the way, and how other consultants --even across different business types-- can apply Egghead methods to their own areas of expertise.

Finding the Product

Brennan first met Joel Hooks in 2011 when both were students of Amy Hoy’s 30x500 course. Joel says that contrary to Amy’s advice, he held on to some of his early ideas far longer than he should have. At the time, Joel was dead set on selling an app for stay at home moms who are passionate about photography. He knew there was a growing community among this audience, but it took Joel a couple years to realize that they weren’t responding well to him as a male outside of their demographic.

Amy coached Joel to sell to a customer who might be more accessible to him and who he may understand better. She told him, “Sell to you.” So he began writing an ebook about Angular.js which was taking off at the time. Simultaneously, he noticed that his friend, John Lindquist, was making useful, high quality videos for programmers and distributing them for free (though donations were encouraged). Joel suggested to John that the videos could be repackaged and offered for sale via a monthly subscription. Though he wasn’t keen on it at first, Lindquist eventually agreed. While John continued to produce videos, Joel took charge of the marketing and the Egghead we know today was born.

To start, Joel assembled 50 of John’s videos (which he points out are still available for free on YouTube). He packaged them as a zip and then created a product landing page for them. Next, Joel gathered every email address John had and announced the new product. To everyone’s surprise, that first week they brought in $6000. In another week the duo went from a very simple Gumroad setup to a custom Rails app Joel built that included Stripe subscriptions. At this point, the premium content that was driving subscription sign ups didn’t even exist, but the promise of that content was sufficiently valuable to their audience. Joel points out this only worked because of the trust he and John had built into their reputations. John was well known for being an expert in coding screencasts and had a considerable following going into this experiment.

What if People Hate Me?

With the sales offering in production, Joel worked more actively on creating a real, consolidated email list, and building better emails. He had many of the same trepidations we all face when building something new, but one thought that nagged him as he faced this part of the automation process: “What if people hate me for sending too many emails?” Since each email he sends is going to about 200,000 people, Joel is now well aware that there will always be some people who don’t like what he’s doing. While most subscribers will continue to enjoy Egghead’s offerings, there will be unsubscribes and some negative comments. Continuing to follow Amy Hoy’s advice, Joel does not engage with confrontational customers. He points out that responding to critics by defending your position, bending over backwards to help, or even returning the fire with fire is usually a huge waste of time. He prefers to look at what comes next instead of dwelling on what didn’t work for one person. Of course he mentions that in a few very rare cases when someone has abused Egghead’s policies or crossed a line with their customer support staff, Joel has indulged in one of the less talked about perks to being one’s own boss. He may have even ensured the user was blocked on all of his social media accounts before then customizing their videos to play exclusively Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up.”

Brennan agrees that sending sales emails is intimidating. Who wouldn’t prefer to be approached by a customer who has cash in hand and a solvable need? How did Joel learn to not take negative feedback personally? Joel says his attitude is “buy it or don’t,” and he will even recommend a competitor if he thinks they’re a better fit for the customer’s need. He points out that the bigger the subscriber list, the less of a loss one, or even several account(s) can be. Joel knows his subscribers have to opt-in to his list and he provides actionable, content-based emails to ensure the experience is mutually beneficial. That’s why he says he feels less bad when he encounters subscribers who are uncomfortable with the level of marketing he sends out. Joel brings up the example of a recent hard sales push Egghead did over the course of several days. They received numerous angry comments from readers on the last day of the sale when they sent out 4 or 5 emails in one day. Audience members said things like, “no one is going to buy product when you spam them this much,” but Joel points out, 25% of the business that came out of this promo was from the final sale day featuring the most emails. Joel’s approach is that “the people who complain are not your customers.” He treats refund requests in much the same way.

Free Content vs Community Resources

Leading up to Egghead’s subscription service, they offer free introductory courses and have free resources stashed throughout their business. Brennan asks what elements drive actual subscription sales for Egghead with so much free material available. Joel says he doesn’t like to think of these materials as “free content” but rather as “community resources.” He feels this distinction allows him to support his employees while also supporting the open source community of which he is a big fan. Despite being free, these community resource materials are valuable on all fronts. Joel believes it is essential that this content be relevant and useful to viewers. Beyond that, instructors are paid for their time whether or not the resource is for sale. Lastly, this content usually serves as a gateway to the Egghead email list or subscription service either via search engine optimization or a direct link --after you’ve watched a couple videos, the materials are still free but viewers are required to opt in for emails if they wish to keep watching. This is Egghead’s primary inbound lead funnel (although they do also use Facebook ads).

Liberating Time Through Automation

Joel says in his business, the journey from lead to paying customer is fueled by reciprocity and value. Following Nathan Barry’s advice, Joel coasts on giving freebies and soft sells to potential customers over time before delivering a hard sell. One of those freebies is an email course designed to feed into an evergreen sales funnel. Brennan asks what happens to the many people who participate in the email course and then don’t subscribe. Surprisingly, Joel doesn’t really track this part of the business down to decimals. He says he knows there is potential to make more money but ultimately, he feels his work is good enough for now. Joel’s work/life balance is stellar and his sales are high enough to comfortably pay his employees. He doesn’t sweat the lost potential and believes he’s happier for it. Joel hopes to someday integrate more personalization into his email sequence and Egghead is just starting out in this following Joel’s participation in the DYF Drip course.

Brennan asks Joel his thoughts on transitioning from traditional sales methods (i.e. calls) to automated email marketing. He asks how Joel would convince a consultant that investing time upfront into creating a substantive newsletter is worthwhile. Joel says once the sequence is doing the work that you used to do, the time liberated by the workflows is extremely valuable. For a freelancer, time can be significantly harder to come by and more precious than money. How one uses that time is up to the individual: they could create a new product, give a client extra attention, or perhaps, like Joel, use the opportunity to recharge. Another benefit to automation is being able to sell 24 hours a day. When working with international clients, this can be exceptionally helpful. Automation can help answer most of the questions leads will ask, and even if the client will require a sales call down the line, automation can help set that up also.

When to Hold Off on Automating

Of course, sometimes the waiting audience can be a motivating factor. For Brennan, he says their influence is huge so he has to create workflows that will help his process without hindering his productivity. Having too small an audience is another example of when automating may not be the appropriate use of time and resources. Joel agrees. He says that “you have to build a thing to use a thing. Joel encourages listeners to think about whether or not their investments are going to pay them back and that includes purchasing automation software. He also suggests that getting started early on can make sense if you’re simultaneously working on building the list, workflows and content. That way when business is booming and your list has grown, you will only have to provide minor tweaks to the sequence.

Automation can be “the perfect employee,” according to Brennan. In addition to working around the clock, it can be applied to a variety of tasks including marketing, bookkeeping, and customer care. It also creates an opportunity to delegate responsibility so that the business is not so dependent on its founder alone. Since consulting generally doesn’t come with a “buy now button” option, there is a point along the sales chain that will require high-touch human intervention. However, you can “hire” an email marketing app to help customers develop their ideas based on what they’ve seen you do. When customers see what your sequence does, it builds trust in your capabilities, and lays the groundwork for a successful sales call. Additionally, the shortened sale cycle is invaluable for an agency owner like Brennan whose generalized services are not easily isolated into packageable products. He then gets to focus that time on clients who are paying him, product development, and work/life balance instead of sending the same messages over and over again.

For Egghead, automated email marketing sets Joel up for success by informing his audience (who might not be problem-aware) that their development education and this knowledge is a great investment. It is also terrifically scalable as Egghead grows. Brennan adds that getting started on email marketing can be an excellent gateway for automating other parts of your business. He says, just get started on it and the rest will follow. Joel sees it as the change required to allow for growth. Freeing time up in one area of the business opens opportunities on the other aspects.

Joel has found his comfort zone in Egghead. The business is successful enough for him to employ his team and not have to worry about constant growth or missed opportunities. He has used automation to free up his own time and avoid doing the same tasks over and over again. By providing rich content, he’s developed a rapport with customers that puts them at ease with automated marketing. With team, customer-base and self happy, Joel is able to use his time more productively and freely which is all thanks to smart automation!

• Joel's site
• Amy Hoy's 30x500 course
• Facebook Ads
• Nathan Barry's site
• Social Media:@joelhooks

Key Takeaways:

• When you should start automating
• What you should automate first
• How to break down the value of a lead
• How to use paid ads to increase leads

Greg Hickman started his agency, System.ly, as an experiment. At the time Greg was co-hosting a podcast called Zero to Scale with his friend Justin McGill. When the Podcast’s success reached a plateau Justin challenged Greg to try monetizing his automation skills by offering funnel-building services. System.ly was born and soon became the force behind numerous influencers’ and course creators’ sites. What started as funnel building evolved into a much fuller service including front end marketing, back of house client how to guides on automation, fulfillment, operations etc. Greg says they fell in love with helping businesses expand the role of automation throughout the entire client journey right up to fulfillment. System.ly spent much of 2017 moving away from coursebuilding clients and into service based business. System.ly’s current focus is helping service-based business go from productization to building sales teams. They then streamline the sales experience with automation at every turn including new lead acquisition, client onboarding, and the sale itself.

Can solo agencies and smaller businesses benefit from System.ly’s consulting and if so, is working with them worth it for Greg and his team? Greg says size of the agency doesn’t matter --in fact, he says automation is “the best first hire.” While size of agency doesn’t matter, having an established process does. He says there is a lot of temptation to start using cool new tools before it is necessary. Greg says selling manually at first is key to creating systems that actually work. Early on, agencies won’t have a sales process which is understandable but automating this early, Greg says, “is just wasting precious time,” since the use-cases and workflows that are implemented might not target the right things. Greg says, “for anyone just starting out, the focus should be sales sales sales.” Then once they have validated their offer with proven results, new ventures should evaluate the system for automation opportunities. As Brennan says, automating your process is “the codification of something you’ve done a lot manually already.” Rather than the invention of a new system, automation should be curating and editing a proven process to make it evergreen. Greg points out that System.ly has 3 employees but finds that their automation does a lot of the heavy lifting so he believes in getting started early --just not too early.

So how do you automate a consulting business? Greg and his team typically set up very similar foundational systems for each of their clients with small variations. For System.ly, the automation process typically starts with productization. When they first meet, agencies and individuals are usually functioning as generalists: e.g. “I am a web designer but I also do facebook ads and SEO etc.” Greg says when his clients have multiple service offerings, he often sees them attempting to systemize the back of house first which, as he points out, can become very messy. Greg says he fell for this trap also, developing hundreds of SOPs for his business while needing to customize the product (and therefore the procedure) for every sale. As a result, he never really got to use those SOPs. Having learned the hard way, his first questions for clients now are “What are you selling?” and “Who are you working with?” He works to extract his clients’ expertise from the process to find what is uniquely theirs since, much as we may try, no one is an expert in everything.

Having a product that clients can see helps a business stand out in the marketplace, accelerate the sales cycle, and sell easier. But how do you make a product out of ideas? Greg looks for the unique processes that his clients use so that he can build the back-end system around it. Fulfillment depends a great deal on product so it is easier to work backwards from there than to build the service anew with every new customer. Once System.ly has helped a client refine the offer, they’ll expect the client to spend some time validating and selling it. The client will need to prove that the product is something they can actually get people interested in and sell. Once the product is deemed viable, System.ly and the client will work on building an acquisition system. It is much easier to direct people towards a sale when you know what a product is (in fact, Greg says without it, pretty much all of your leads will either be via referrals and word of mouth).

Brennan thinks of acquisition systems similarly. He says you should front load your targeted marketing into your system and look at it from the client’s perspective, isolating a certain outcome rather than listing services. He points out that if you say “I’m a web designer, and I have a webinar,” all of your sign ups will be from people who have already identified an immediate design need. He gives the example of a friend who specializes in cold outreach to chiropractors. Although he is a web designer, Brennan’s friend sells himself based on the ability to get more leads to chiropractors. This is much more effective than just offering websites or redesigns to chiropractors who probably think their site is fine. This strategy tells customers that they are missing out and that there is a solution within reach.

The cost of the product also determines the sales tactics you’ll want to use. Greg says “The lower your price point, the more ninja your funnel needs to be.” For example, using paid advertising like Facebook ads to sell something at a low cost, is going to require much more work than selling a high-ticket item. Lower dollar items are going to require more re-engagement sequences, split testing, and of course, more money up front if you’re paying per click. Higher value sales allow more wiggle room and you can spend more getting one lead to an intake form than you’d have to spend on a smaller one. As a result, Greg has found that selling a service with a higher margin often works out to be more profitable than selling a course at a higher volume with a lower individual cost. If you’re good at the service you provide, Greg suggests just using systems to get more prospects and letting automation do as much lead generation work for you as possible.

System.ly typically starts out by setting up two funnels. As discussed, they have their client testing the market to see if a product is validatable. Meanwhile, Greg and his team set up an application process and the necessary screening procedure for ensuring clients get on the phone with the right people instead of wasting time with the wrong ones. They build the automation that powers getting to the sales call, arranging the sales call, and following up on call. The manual version of this is creating a Wufoo form that goes to your email, reviewing it and set up the call or not. Greg’s clients start with a version of this that is slightly more sophisticated. Theirs includes some of the stuff that goes into the process of getting on that first call: reminders, touchpoints like reviewing applications etc.

Greg is a big fan of webinars as a tool to introduce a service to a customer. System.ly itself uses a webinar to app to phone call funnel. Greg’s team will typically be building a webinar for the customer during the product validation portion also. To get prospects to their webinar, most of System.ly’s clients will use paid and organic traffic. He says clients often have a tiny list to begin with which the System.ly team will use to get prospects into the client’s app in order to grab any quick, low hanging sales. However, getting clients into paid ads is usually a first step in the System.ly approach if the customer doesn’t already have some kind of audience. The team also gets their clients to examine how they look to their own Facebook groups and to other components of their audience to promote more organic traffic in the long run.

Brennan typically promotes lead magnets rather than heftier webinars when he uses paid ads so he asks about the cost aspect of System.ly’s business. Greg says their clients sometimes pay up front, then they hire his team on a retainer. Other times they just go straight into a retainer. Greg says they use an excel spreadsheet to show their clients how much they should spend per webinar registrant, how much they should spend per applicant etc. All of these numbers are based on how many of each group moves forward and the percentage that end as actual paid clients.

Greg says in general, he shoots for at least 20% of Facebook clicks to end in webinar registration, and on average, his company gets closer to 40%. Of those who register, Greg says about 50% actually attend. At this stage, the funnel is still evergreen, since the webinar is pre-recorded and on demand every 15 minutes. Greg points out that when they host live webinars, the number of attendees usually drops to 20% because timing is difficult to coordinate. Of the 50% of leads who attend his webinars, 15% apply. Greg makes an offer to nearly every qualified applicant and 20% of those offers will result in a contract. Greg says if he had a dedicated paid ads person on his staff they might go as far as looking at prices per click and price per webinar registration, but he chooses not to look this closely. Greg’s focus is on the price per application since that is the most important value in his funnel.

Since most of the lead qualification happens on the front end of his funnel, Greg makes an offer to nearly every applicant he gets on the phone with. He and his team have a system for reviewing and scoring applications. Since many of the application questions are open-ended and some leads are working on mobile devices, applicants sometimes give very brief answers. When this happens, his team does not hesitate to pursue more information and will send follow up questions saying, “we don’t know if we can help you yet.” This follow up is actually part of the screening process because anyone who filled in the application on a whim or half-heartedly won’t respond so the team will move on.

There is some opportunity in Greg’s funnel right now. He says he has about 10-15 sales calls per week and is now onboarding a sales team member to help him with that. Business is booming which means they are cancelling more applications (20-30%) than Greg would like. Of course, sometimes the call is not the right fit. Greg mentions one call he recently had that didn’t result in an offer. He believes it was someone trying to funnel hack him and learn about his stages of traffic. Greg politely pointed that lead towards a more relevant resource elsewhere.

Brennan, like Greg, chooses to look at the price per qualified lead as a way to gauge the effectiveness of his paid ads. Greg estimates that he spends about $600 per day on lead acquisition. About $500 of that is for cold lookalike audience ads pushing leads into the webinar (See Brennan's interview with Kev Kaye on paid ads, linked below, for more on audiences). The remainder is for retargeting leads who didn’t complete the funnel, pushing them either into the webinar or into the application depending on how far they got. These methods are currently resulting in 50-60 applications per month. Brennan breaks down the equation conservatively as follows:

• $600/Day paid ads x 30 days/month = $18,000 for 50 applications
• 20% of those 50 applications = 10 new customers per month
• $7500/ customer x 10 = $75,000 new income per month

Even during the Winter holiday season when ads are most expensive, Greg’s margin is comfortable. Additionally, he recognizes numerous opportunities to close the leaks and is making small tweaks all the time. He says the most important advice he’s ever received came when he was adhering to a maximum $200/day budget. A friend told him “I know it’s crazy but you have to spend more.” Despite the similarities in their businesses, his friend was finding significantly more success. Compared side by side, the only major difference in their businesses was opportunity volume as a direct result of their ad budgets. Greg decided to give it a try and to his surprise, his applications steadily increased.

Brennan asks about the level of maintenance required in Greg’s ad cycle. Although Greg acknowledges the opportunities that come with increased attention to updating ads, he doesn’t want to spend too much time on this side of things. Instead he goes for quality, working with an ad coach and uses careful records of what ads are running and what results are achieved to determine the effectiveness of each one. His analysis has shown that testing new audiences vs new ads is better for him. One successful ad ran from August to January (which is a long time in the world of internet ads). It only ended up coming down because some viewers had started marking it as “spam.” In response, System.ly created a similar ad with new copy and video. Finding an ad that works and refining the lookalike audience is Greg’s favorite part of the process. He says he was nervous when he first saw that one of his ads had gotten negative feedback, but his coach assured him that as long as his conversions are running well, a new ad would bring back the audience.

When someone registers for a webinar but doesn’t get to the application step, Greg’s automation sequences will send daily emails for a week to that person. This campaign is then followed by less frequent emails and they will have opted into his newsletter email list. Generally, Greg sends about 3 newsletter updates per week. Just by sharing his week’s wins and useful content, Greg is able to use his newsletter as follow up rather than targeted re-engagement follow up messages. Since Greg will be talking about the same stuff anyway, he doesn’t spend the energy twice which simplifies what he has to create. Greg mentions Clay Collins’s “Five Ones,” which urges business leaders to achieve success by focusing on one target client, providing one solution, through one offer, via one conversion method (funnel) for one year. This kind of focus has been helpful to Greg since it is easy to become overwhelmed by all of the possibilities and opportunities he sees.

Brennan asks if leads know the service pricing by the time they get on the call with Greg. Greg says they generally don’t. System.ly’s pre-call education includes the webinar, thank you page, and a handful of videos that demonstrate how to apply, how to prepare for the sales call, etc. They send call details via email, and of course, if more information is needed, Greg’s assistant will reach out to the applicant. When the team spots potential pricing conflicts, they’ll reach out to the client and let them know, “We think we can help, but this is the investment required and these are the payment options.” If they’re able to meet those requirements, the call will stand. If not, the System.ly team will try to provide alternative resources to hopefully get them to where they can afford to revisit the investment later.

Even if the call doesn’t result in an immediate close, the account is not necessarily written off. Sometimes, Greg will set up a second or third call with the lead if it seems like a promising fit and this is managed by Pipedrive. However, not every lead is a great fit. Greg tries to avoid being a pushy salesperson and only encourages the client to continue talks if he thinks they’ll truly benefit from System.ly’s help. When the fit is wrong, the client will usually be encouraged to check out other resources and they will be moved into the newsletter and Facebook group in case things change down the line. If the hang up is simply bad timing (an upcoming vacation or another project taking center stage at the moment), System.ly will take a deposit and set a start date for once the way is clear. This holds the client’s space in the queue and keeps them interested in the service. Lastly, if the call goes well but the client does not respond immediately, Greg will set a reminder to check in with the lead later. For December, System.ly acquired 9 new clients and took 6 additional deposits from future clients. This system helps Greg plan the revenues for his upcoming workmonths.

Most of Greg’s acquisition funnel now runs on autopilot he says. He is able to visually manage his funnel via Pipedrive and only involves human influence once his assistant starts reviewing applications. Automation does the heavy lifting and keeps his calendar full.
Greg says through automation, he’s been able to cut his personal fulfillment duties to three hours per week. Since his leads are great and his fulfillment capacity is so streamlined, Greg recognizes his current challenge is delegating some sales call work to his new employee so that they won’t have to turn away potential clients.

Greg’s plans for scaling the business beyond adding another sales representative, include increasing the amount of adspace he buys (assuming the new salesperson brings in new closes). He’s also recently expanded on the 10 week program he hosts and created a 12 month program. This creates monthly recurring revenue which allows System.ly to continue paying their advertising bill before it is due. One thing Greg is tracking is how many conversions he gets from the 10 week program to the 12 month program. Since these leads are highly qualified and readily available, Greg is hoping this will be a viable avenue. However, he cautions that this is a great example of why knowing his numbers is so valuable. With careful records, he can ensure that he’s not just pursuing the thing that he hopes is the answer, he pursuing the most logical course and won’t go over his budget.

Greg concludes that although $600 per day on ads can seem like a lot of money, the payoff can be well worth it. With only 3 people on staff, System.ly has still managed to have two 6-figure months in a row, and the payoffs run deeper than cashflow. Greg says he has more free time and confidence than ever before and it is all thanks to one funnel. He argues that automation is key for service providers since the thing that is going to result in the most significant increase in business is simply getting on more sales calls. By charging what you’re worth, he believes you can afford to create the infrastructure needed to increase your business, allowing you to scale appropriately. If your skills and service are good, then spending time creating downsell courses and other such strategies can be a distraction from what you’re good at and is within your reach. Later, when that is running smoothly, you can look at what expertise you’ve built and create new products based on that. Greg emphasizes that sequence is the key to having an effective business.

• ActiveCampaign Greg's email marketing software
• Infusionsoft Greg's CRM
• Greg's and Justin's Podcast
• ConvertedCon
• Greg's site
• WuFoo Form Builder
• DYF Podcast episode with Kev Kaye on Paid Ads
• Pipedrive Greg's CRM
• Clay Collins on Twitter

Key Takeaways:
How to talk automation to business owners
How to become an automation expert
How to win customers with a softer sell
How to maximize your funnel with a variety of lead magnets

As a Drip certified automation expert, Jennifer Nelson has fully automated her own business and now works with others to introduce automation to their routines. Her goal is to enable her clients to focus on the creative work and projects at the core of their businesses rather than spending all their time on marketing or upkeep tasks. Jennifer takes a piecemeal approach when she works with freelancers and agencies to find ways they can delegate day to day tasks in their businesses to machines.

Jennifer wasn’t always an independent automation superstar. She says about two years ago, she reached a point of reckoning. She had been working comfortably at an ad/tech start up, but she needed to see what she could do on her own. Jennifer started a consulting business and began the quest for clients. She started a newsletter which she distributed using the email platform, MailChimp. This helped, Jennifer, but she really got into automation after seeing it in action. Jennifer recalls, “I was following this blogger who I just remember I liked. I read one of her blogs and then I downloaded something. It came immediately to my email as a PDF. I was like, ‘Oh my God. That's cool,’ and how'd she do that? Then I learned that she was using ConvertKit. I was like, ‘Okay, let me sign up for ConvertKit.’"

By then, Jennifer was also following Brennan who sent an automated message that ended with “By the way, I used Drip to send out this email." Jennifer was intrigued. When she attended the Leadpages conference 2 yrs ago, they offered the first ever Drip Certification Course. Energized by the conference and having already spent a lot of money to attend, she decided to shell out another $1000 to get certified. She feels more knowledge is never a bad thing. The course was hard at first because it was so new. She had her doubts but once it came time to test, she discovered she had learned the methods. Excited about automating her own business, Jennifer realized other people would need that service too so she niched herself as an automation specialist.

For her personal business, Jennifer has created three main funnels. She has a site that encourages people to book a call with her, she has a 5 day email course, and Drip promotes her as a certified consultant which also drives leads. When clients come to Jennifer via Drip, she talks about the software, but when speaking with other clients, she generally asks them more open-ended questions like “How do you need to make your life easier?” and then offers ideas. Jennifer’s approach with these clients is to stay focused on the problem and the solution, keeping the talk about marketing in general rather than specific tools. Jennifer’s background in advertising sales helps her talk the marketing game while demonstrating to her clients that she knows what she’s doing.

Brennan agrees that aligning the language you use to the type of business you’re working with is key. He says that for more traditional businesses, the framework will sound more like “Look, we're going to basically package the stuff that your sales team is already doing into something that doesn't require your sales team to constantly show up and do it (though of course, they’ll still be there to close the deal etc).” While you don’t want to talk down to your clients, you also want them to be able to connect with what you’re proposing.

Jennifer created her five-day course, Email Automation 101, about a year ago and it has since become her most popular email series. The course came about because Jennifer had noticed she was mostly meeting clients in person and introducing them to the idea of automation for the first time. As a result, she was spending a lot of time on potential clients, explaining the principles to them before signing a contract or getting any assurance that she would be hired. Rather than continuing to try explaining automation to everyone she met, Jennifer handed new contacts her business card and asked them to check out her course through LeadDigits. Of course the downsides to this tactic are that people tend not to revisit the stack of business cards they’ve acquired after an event is over, and some are put off by LeadDigits thanks to fear of spam texts.

Jenny has more success when giving presentations and workshops. She’ll invite the audience to text the LeadDigits number to get her slide deck and she informs them that they’ll also be enrolling in her 5 day email course. Jenny attributes her success here to the fact that she is striking while the iron is hot: she has just met the people reading these emails and because they’re daily rather than weekly or monthly, she believes the enthusiasm is maintained through to the end. She now spends far less time explaining what automation is, and her Email Automation 101 course emails have a 75% open rate and 11% click through rate. Jennifer also borrowed a tip she learned from Brennan in that she labels her emails according to their order (“email 1 out of 5” etc.). Her next objective with the Email Automation 101 course is to target this funnel towards one specific product but she is still testing which product that will be.

One thing Brennan recommends for boosting opt-ins is to maximize event contacts by saying “Hey, I have this 5 day email course, mind if I add you to it?” Though long-term this may not represent a ton of conversions, it is a good way to get close to a hundred percent opt-ins for a conference. Although this doesn’t scale as well as a landing page, it is one of a handful of opportunities Brennan notices for growing numbers in the wake of conferences. Another is creating a funnel based on automating messages to the people you’ve met. This would start with a message that reads something like: “"Hey, [Jenny], it's been really cool talking. I actually have something that I think you might interested in. It's a free course I've built on [XYZ]. Would it be cool if I send it to you when I go back to my office?" This tactic, which usually results in a strong uptick in opt-ins, may also present high-quality leads since they have also already had a quick conversation with you and feel a connection to you as an individual.

As Jenny looks to the future in considering what course to feature at the end of her sales funnel, she knows that it is important to revisit a product months and even years after it was made. Jennifer says this is “so you don’t forget what you’ve done.” In reviewing her course, she noticed that in the end, the course dumped customers onto her services page. She believes is far too quick for a sales pitch so she’s refining her process now. The new version will include more specific questions for her customers. She’ll then give the prompt, “Do you find that booking meetings is annoying? I have a solution for that,” which will then link to a softer sales page. Coming from sales, it is hard for Jenny to scale back the hard sell. She says now she is first seeking a tripwire sale: inexpensive, low commitment, great service and value. Of course, this little sale, is intended to lead to a much bigger sale.

As Brennan points out, selling consulting which requires a large commitment from customers in both time and money, is a tall order for the end of this sales funnel. He recalls a youtube consultant he once used who sold introductory sessions in which he’d walk customers through spreadsheets he uses and would input their information. At the end of the session, the data could show if spending money on youtube ads was worth it. For Brennan, the $200 cost of the service was well worth it compared to the thousands he’d be spending in video production, and at the end of the session, the consultant sold a monthly retainer for helping businesses optimize their youtube ads. The high-value, personalized service of the initial call, made the retainer something Brennan could consider where a downloadable pdf or a course would not invite that commitment. Brennan suggests some type of paid roadmapping session for Jenny’s tripwire product.

Jenny says she’s considering offering an audit to show customers their potential with email automation. She would offer an hour of her time to ask them what their funnel looks like now, spell out their current funnel and work with them to figure out the values of the different parts of the funnel. She’d ask: “What's the value of a visitor? What's the value if they're on the client’s list? What changes would amplify each different point of the funnel?” This establishes the relationship between Jenny and the customer, making them feel comfortable with her, and showing that she understands her business and can help them. She’s also considering roadmapping or a low-cost worksheet to help them see ROI potential.

Jenny also uses a Drift widget to ask customers who visit her site to tell her about their pain points. She says she gets some very in-depth responses since naturally, customers and visitors are already thinking about their businesses. She says this has lead to sales but the other purpose of the tool is to get the potential lead into Jenny’s Drip via a Zapier zap. From there, an automated message is sent saying “Hey, it looks like you were trying to book an appointment,” and it includes 4 days of follow up emails containing information similar to the automation question they asked. Since the customer is not yet on her list at that point, Jenny’s automated emails invite them to join one of three courses she offers. She’s interested in re-targeting down the line to those who don’t. With Drip, she can push them into a custom audience and promote the email course to on Facebook to that audience. Once they opt-in to that email course, Drip can push them out of that custom audience. Jennifer says that because she’s looking for big ticket sales, every added sale could be worth the effort and automated follow up.

Jennifer has developed multiple entry points to her funnel. She has also perfected the art of strategically discuss marketing with clients based on who they are and their experience while also demonstrating her authority in that field. When she sees something working well for someone else, Jennifer sets her mind to learning how to make it work for her and her clients. She is constantly looking towards the next innovation or time saving tool and will gladly help you find yours!

For DYF podcast listeners, Jenny has a special code to receive her 5 Day Email course, Automation 101. To receive those emails, text DYFJenny to 44-222 where you’ll be prompted to enter your email address. From there, everything will be email-based. You can see her liquid tags for personalization in action and imagine what in your business you can personalize without having to re-invent or re-write each message.

• Jenny's website
• Drip Marketing Software
• MailChimp
• ConvertKit
• LeadDigits Jenny's Business Card Hack
• Drift
• Zapier

Jennifer Miranda Nelson is a professional business marketing consultant and entrepreneur. She is the founder of Automate This!, a marketing consulting firm and JennyMiranda.com. She is driven to help others succeed in their lives and their
businesses. When not consulting, teaching, or creating course material, you can usually find Jennifer taking a hike through the mountains of Los Angeles. She loves outdoor
activities, and gets on her road bike whenever she can find the opportunity to.

Key Takeaways:
How to create urgency with self-assessments
How to follow up with cooled leads
How to provide a better user experience through automation
The best way to segment leads following sales calls

Franz Sauerstein is a two-time DYFConf EU participant and was a Student Success Coach for the now retired, Double Your Freelancing Academy. His consultancy, Xciting Webdesign, specializes in optimizing European e-commerce stores through automation. By employing tools like Drip (marketing) and Pipedrive (customer relationship manager), Franz’s company primarily takes businesses generating 5 figure revenues and turns them into businesses consistently generating 6 figure revenues. In his own practice, Franz uses automation to find, qualify, transact, and follow up with clients. So how do Franz’s daily workflows break down? Let’s walk through his practices.

In the past, Franz has had a very involved process for drawing in leads. Although the steps of this process have not changed too much, the execution of each component has. Franz’s funnel starts with well-centered blog posts which he pays to have appear on social media venues like Facebook. These posts feature opt-ins with content upgrades including pdfs and ebooks that Franz says teach readers “how they can make their stores more successful and live the lives they want.” Content upgrades Franz has used include things like a guide covering “23 Ways To Increase Conversion Rates.” Because the topics speak to his target clients’ needs and provide relevant, accurate information, Franz is able to draw his leads’ attention and foster their trust in his expertise.

Previously, when a lead would opt in, Franz would nurture them and after a few weeks or a few months they would fill out a qualifying form and jump on a call. In addition to automating several steps along the way, Franz has flipped the script on the qualification process. Franz now offers a self assessment to the client that will show them how much revenue they’re losing by not acting fast to employ his services. Although there are great tried and true methods for creating urgency on the sales side of the equation (offer a limited sale, create limited availability, offer a bundle discount etc), Franz wanted to create a sense of urgency on the customer’s side. He created an online form with Brevity, Zapier and Drip software. When a customer downloads the PDF, Drip logs the event and triggers a follow up for the following day. Although the assessment is standard, the response is tailored to what the reader’s shop needs. The wording in the follow up message changes based on what else the customer has read and what info they’re pursuing, making this one area Franz has optimized for personalization.

The next step in this funnel is that Franz sends a suggestion of a 30 minute free consultation for qualified leads. If the lead accepts, then the workflow is complete and the info is then shuffled over to his CRM. If they don’t take the phone call then he will continue sending automated messages to the lead for 9 weeks with content along the lines of what they’ve shown interest in. These messages build trust with information-rich content and build urgency by asking if the customer has taken action yet. Franz says leads usually respond by the fourth or fifth email but if there is no response after 9 weeks, he will close the file. He says about 50% of the leads who are left by the time he sends the last email do actually respond at that point.

Brennan asks Franz how selling has changed for him now that he’s introduced so much automation into his business. Franz says that for starters, sales calls were awful before he automated. Without the trust and the qualification that he has since built into his automation, Franz found it hard to sell clients on strategy. He was also getting the wrong kinds of leads. Like most of us selling services, he doesn’t want clients who want to DIY. Instead, Franz needs clients who want to focus on other aspects of their businesses while he implements the strategy they’ve agreed to. The self-qualifying questionnaire helps ensure Franz is getting the leads he wants and clients know want to expect from his services before getting on the first sales call.

One of the best changes Franz made was replacing the phone number on his website with an email form. It may seem counterintuitive, but with the emails, Franz was able to offer better, more personalized customer service. How can service be more personalized when it doesn’t even involve direct interaction with a person? First, Franz’s email form asks for a quick description of the client’s project. He has then set up an auto-reply for these incoming messages which reads, “That sounds interesting, I have a few more qualifying questions…” The tone of the auto-reply, coupled with the fact that it is sent within 5 minutes of the initial message means Franz is now able to engage with customers even if they are in another time zone, or just checking out his site at 3 am, or even if Franz is away from the computer. Early engagement increases conversions so this can be a big help later down the road. Clients also have time to get the wording on their requests precise instead of struggling to articulate on a call, and Franz has a reference he can look to if there’s ever a risk of misunderstanding. Lastly, anyone who doesn’t want to fill in the second form, probably isn’t that committed to using Franz’s service. This tactic quickly weeds out those dead end leads, saving time. Less wasted time means more time to spend on paying customer’s projects which naturally improves the client experience.

Once all of the sorting and qualifying has happened and the lead requests a call with Franz, a Drip follow up is sent with instructions for working out the logistics. Brennan advises tracking call statuses and clients via a CRM like Close.io. Unlike Pipedrive which has a mostly linear funnel, Close allows Brennan to have a “Booked Calls” section in which he can rate the call and Drip will respond accordingly. After a call, Brennan will go into Close and select “good fit,” “bad fit,” or “no show.” That status prompts Drip to move the leads to next step which might be a roadmapping session promo for good fit, the newsletter for bad fit, or calendly for re-booking if the person is a no show.

Some parts of the sales funnel should not be automated --often, namely, the sale. While some products like online courses can run on sales automation, most consulting and service products like Roadmapping sessions, development, and even full audits must be done manually There are some things that can make these processes easier though like ready-made templates. Brennan mentions an SEO audit he recently hired an expert to conduct on DoubleYourFreelancing.com. The auditors clearly had a template they use for every gig that includes best practices and suggestions for each area they grade. The gig-specific information is then added so that the nuances of each recommendation are most apparent without having to re-write the guiding principles for every deliverable. Nusii proposal software has a reporting system with a similar guiding process that allows users to load in a report which they will use to build a template. That document will include standard next steps and best practices but allows room for users to fill in the blanks with project-specific suggestions. All of that can then be used as a template for a roadmapping deliverable.

Franz uses Pipedrive and Drip to remind him to follow up with people after roadmapping to send them an invoice or reach out. The first two projects (roadmapping and whatever comes out of that) are usually low margin or low revenue so Franz knows the value of automating these processes. Return customers are more profitable so getting hands-on at this later stage is more financially worth his time.

Brennan asks Franz what is left that he’d like to do in his business that he hasn’t yet. Franz is certain that more can be done with the amount of data he has on his leads and visitors. In the future he plans to optimize conversion rates and plug the few leaky spots in his funnel. Franz is looking towards more personalization alla Right Message and is planning to test Right Message with a client first (since their need is more urgent than his own). Franz notes that personalization is built on account-based marketing strategies that have existed for decades and are now being merged with and facilitated by technology. He intends to start adding information about leads he meets in person to the data set he’s gathered about leads who have found him online. Franz believes that short of Amazon, personalization is still a pretty under-used practice in Europe and he’d love to break this new ground in his market.

Franz’s funnel follows a classic and effective trajectory. It starts with paid ads featuring content upgrades and opt-ins. Next, leads complete a self qualifying form. Leads who are on Franz’s page can email him and receive a near-instant response asking for more info. Leads then book a sales call or receive follow up emails until they do at which point roadmapping can begin and follow up is again handled by automation. Although Franz needs to be present for certain parts of his sales process, automation has allowed him to take more time focusing on existing, paid clients rather than chasing down new leads. He is able to connect with leads quicker, build trust more organically, qualify clients more accurately, and deliver a stronger product, all thanks to the introduction of automation into his business. As his business grows, Franz will seek to build on the traditional idea of account-based marketing through automated personalization. For now, he is enjoying the streamlined experience of having an optimized sales funnel and sharing his knowledge with others.

• Franz Sauerstein's site (in German)
• If you don’t speak German, email Franz at info@franzsauerstein.de
• The CRM Franz uses
• The CRM Brennan uses
• RightMessage (Brennan's Personalization Tool)
• Brevity Development Software
• Zapier Automation Software
• Nusii Proposal Software
• Drip Marketing Software

Franz Sauerstein is the founder of Germany-based Xciting Webdesign which specializes in turning businesses that generate 5 figure revenues into businesses that generate 6 figure revenues through automation and webdesign. He is a two-time DYFConf EU participant and Student Success Coach for the, now retired, Double Your Freelancing Academy.

To get clients online, you’ll need to create a proper sales funnel. You’ll need to develop a service offering, validate it, set up proper marketing for it, and attract your clients. Since sales funnels can be leaky you’ll also need to look at the greater process and track where you’re losing your potential clients. You can start by thinking about what your end-goal is: a technical service offering, a consultation, a physical product sale, etc.

In determining what form your end-goal will take and how to best present it, you should create a positioning statement or proposal. A good proposal takes a client’s need and merges it with the skills or services that you provide. The proposal will be a positioned statement of work/opt in, or service offering. Of course, you’ll want to front-load all of the steps that lead your customer to your proposal into your funnel and automate for something more systematically scalable than a one-off proposal, but starting with this concept will help you build backwards. Eventually, you will create a funnel leads the client to the sales offering from moment one.

Brennan encourages you to ask yourself what “unfair advantage” you have over your competition based on your previous experience, your talents and skills, or your familiarity with your clients’ pain points. This edge, combined with your work history can help you create a positioning statement that will anchor your business. Your statement should answer the questions, “who?” “what?” and “why?” You should identify who your target audience is, what their common problem is, and why you are uniquely capable of solving it. Once you have this statement, you will be able to anchor your business within a reasonable scope and avoid tempting tangents that might be mistaken for growth opportunities. Brennan warns that the funnel should not be the summation of your business but rather just one channel through which you acquire leads.

From here, Brennan’s process involves creating an internal manifesto. This takes the two or so sentence positioning statement and develops it into a set of guidelines. The manifesto will include information about target clients like who they are, how they describe themselves, their language and terms, where can they be found, what are the implications if their problem can’t be solved, what are their business risks, and what is the upside for them if it is fixed? Brennan points out that you shouldn’t speculate on the answers to these questions. He references Joanna Wiebe of Copyhackers who says the best content should be curated not created. She encourages consultants to listen to their target audience, dig deep, make calls and find out what they actually need in their own words. Brennan says your internal manifesto should be a living document that develops as you add new information made up of the actual language and pains that your customers have. Brennan concludes that while the positioning statement is looking outward (“looking at my backstory, I think I can do _____ for you”), the manifesto is a more inclusive expansion of that that features actual production data (language, themes etc).
The next step Brennan recommends is creating a “marketable document” from your manifesto findings. This is document could simply be a google doc, but it will help you normalize the data you’ve come up with to make your service or product marketable. Questions we seek to address in this document include: What beliefs, values and worldview do these clients have? What are their goals? What is the monetizable pain of they’re facing? What common objections do they have? What are they fighting against? What insenses them? By reducing this information into what are essentially the components of a sales letter (identify problem, create the solution and then make the offer) you can create a product that is derived from the customers’ actual need and surround it with the information your customers need to hear to dispel their objections. This document alone could lead to your first sales as you shop it around for feedback, but its main purpose is just to validate your product. You’ll want to get feedback from the people you’ve already talked to who fit the profile you’re targeting. Let them know you’ve been developing the product based on what you learned from them and from other conversations you’ve had and ask what they think about it and if what you have created addresses their pain points in the best way possible. If so, then you’re ready to build your sales offering.

The “sales offering” will become the destination at the end of your funnel --the goal that you are leading your customers to where they either buy or don’t buy your product. Unlike the marketable document you created, your sales offering needs to be shareable (i.e. a webpage rather than a document). Brennan encourages you to avoid the common pitfall of selling and educating simultaneously. Instead, he wants you to think about how you can make your customer problem-aware before they even get to your services page. Customers who are problem-aware may not know you have a service that can help them but they will know what they need help with and that should make your service offering much more appealing.

The job of the services page is to get clients to book a consultation, buy your product or hire you and of course these transactions all require that they trust you. As you build your funnel backwards, each step is about preparing the client for the next stage of the funnel. In this case, your next step will be to establish trust so the stage before the offering page might be a “freebie offer.” (The stage before that one will be about ensuring the customer is eager to opt in to the free content). A freebie offer is a product you’re selling in exchange for an email address and the customer’s time. Some freebie offerings we’ve seen in our Season 1 podcast episodes are Kev Kaye’s webinars and Josh Doody’s email templates. In both of these examples, the freebies are exchanged for contact information and time --which can be the foundation of a relationship between client and service provider. They also ensure that the customer is problem aware.

Freebie offers take a lot of different forms including webinars and workshops, email courses, content upgrades, assessments, quizzes etc. (for Brennan they were initially free live seminars in his office). The marketable document you created should tell you what your customer’s needs are, and your freebie should tell them the solution. Though it may seem counterintuitive to “give away the answer,” the target client will be someone who is not a do it yourselfer. Good clients will recognize they have a problem and will trust your authority and experience to fix it. Not only does every stage of the funnel have a job, it should also have a call to action. This should focus on giving the client the shortcut to a solution. With the freebie, the offer is: you’re now fluent in the problem, here is the solution or you can hire me to take care of it for you.

So we’ve started with conceptualization and created a product that our target clients want to buy. We’ve given them the means to do it, and the incentive to trust us. How then, do we get the attention of those target customers?

Our episodes featuring Matt Inglot and Benji Hyam provide some excellent ideas for getting in front of your target audience. Matt spoke to podcasts (both guesting on them and hosting one) as a method for broader visibility. Benji meanwhile, talked about blogging as one method of establishing authority. Brennan points out that this is also the model for Double Your Freelancing. He first provides free content that his audience finds through SEO, referrals and other channels. The content proves that he can help his target client by offering solutions to their problems so they then opt into his freebie offers. These further establish the trust between DYF and the customer so that hopefully, they’ll follow the call to action and purchase a product.

Brennan, like Matt Olpinski, offers products in addition to consulting services. Both of them have needed to bridge the gap between freebie opt-ins and high value services which can be a vast expanse when someone first hears of them. Brennan says the key to this is first getting in front of the customer through a guest post, podcast appearance, seminar or other means (Facebook ads in Kev Kaye’s case, brilliant SEO in Matt Olpinski’s case) and inviting the customer to “go more in depth” by offering a freebie that amplifies whatever has just been discussed. Since this freebie comes at just the price of contact information, Brennan says leads will be much more comfortable with that point of entry than they are with booking an appointment on your calendar or immediately filling in an application etc.

Since most people aren’t going to opt-in to your service offering or even necessarily your freebie offering, Brennan says you need to have some long-term nurturing elements in your funnel. He calls this “nudging the 98%” since far more people are likely to ignore your offering on sight than will opt in. Like Josh Doody, Brennan’s approach is using great content to keep his business at the forefront of the customer’s mind, building the trust needed to ensure they’ll opt in once they feel comfortable, have the appropriate need, or have the financial means to do so. One example of great content, as discussed in Episode 2, is developing case studies into blog posts. Potential clients will be able to see themselves in the examples of people you’ve helped, and get a glimpse of the action you’ll be able to take on their behalf, plus results you’ve proven you can achieve. Another example of relevant content is a summary of new strategies you might have heard about at a conference you’ve attended. Since all of this content should include a call to action, each of these articles serves as its own entry point into your funnel. Reinforcing your value this way also nurtures those leads that are in your funnel (maybe via an email list opt-in or other method) but haven’t opted into a product yet. More information about nudging and nurturing will be at the forefront of Season 2 which will cover automation, but the main takeaway Brennan wants to emphasize here is that content should be working for you.

When talking about lead generation, Brennan challenges listeners to think about the job/purpose of each page on their website and how well it is being executed. Matt Olpinski’s website, for example, is expertly optimized for local traffic. Since most first time visitors to his site will have found him through a blind Google search (vs a referral or an otherwise established presence), his landing page and supporting content are tailored appropriately. By exploring the purpose of the page and what you want your leads to get out of it, you can maximize the effectiveness of each page, email and other supporting content.

Lastly, Brennan invites you to take a look at the view from 10,000 feet which means stepping back and looking at the funnel as a whole. Essentially, you will be promoting your free content (via SEO, giving talks, blog posts, Facebook ads or numerous other methods), in order to get the lead to opt in to the freebie offering. The freebie offering, or lead magnet, points to the service offering by which point, the client should already be problem aware and have some level of trust in you. At this point, you will highlight the problem again and make a case for how you can bridge the gap. From there, you’ll ask the customer to fill in an application, book a consultation or even pay for a roadmapping session. For the 98% who don’t buy into the service offering, you will continue to nurture them by feeding actionable content into your list, redirecting them back to the freebie offering and staying front of mind for them. Though you can’t control when your leads may need your services, when they’ll be able to opt in, or who they’ll recommend you to, you can “increase your luck’s surface area,” as Brennan calls it, by being present and ready with what they need when they need it.

For Brennan, one of the most fascinating parts of the process (and the reason he got into automation) is putting a value on each type of lead. He recommends that you work out the dollar (or your currency of choice) amount that each lead represents. If 10% of people who book a consultation actually become a client, and if an average client project is $10,000, then each consultation, has a value of about $1000 to you. From there, you can work backwards and figure out how much each opt in is worth (if 20% of people who land on your services page book a consultation, then each unique visitor to your service offering page is worth $200 to you). As you continue working backwards with the numbers, you get an idea of how many people you’ll need to get to your service offering page in order to hit your financial goals. You’ll be able to spot opportunities in your funnel (e.g. if you have lots of people opting in to your freebie but very few consultations being booked, you’ll know that’s a leaky spot in your funnel that you can plug with trust-building elements, better sales copy etc.). If you’re using paid acquisition (see Episode 4), pricing out your types of leads is essential since you’ll know exactly what to spend vs what ROI you’ll see.

All of the lead generation and sales funnel strategies Brennan discusses in this episode are explored much more extensively in DYF’s lead generation course, The Blueprint, and in the previous episodes of the DYF podcast Season 1. Though it is helpful knowing what strategies our guests used to get in front of their customers and close the deals that made them successful, Brennan encourages listeners to dig into the details and learn the whys and hows of each tactic. You can do this by listening to the previous 5 Episodes, or you can download the free Season 1 e-book which covers each episode-in depth. Building your familiarity with different lead generation techniques can help you expand your reach and create a more effective sales funnel.

Joanna Wiebe's site, CopyHackers
Matt Inglot: Lead Generation via Podcasts
Benji Hyam: Lead Generation via Content Marketing
Josh Doody: Optimizing for Opt-ins and Conversions
Kev Kaye: Lead Generation via Paid Acquisition
Matt Olpinski: How to Master SEO with Basic Changes

Matt Olpinski is a UI and UX designer who had over 200 viable project leads in 2017. Through casual, but precise SEO, he’s become an expert in giving clients what they want. Matt’s site ranks extremely well on Google searches in his niche and with minor site tweaks, he’s ensured these leads go from “shopping around” to conversion. He shared some of his techniques with Brennan in this week’s DYF podcast on Lead Generation through SEO.

Takeaways:

• How to create a useful message
• What simple changes can you make for better SEO
• How to use case studies to build trust
• How to boost traffic with social media
• How to close the deal over the competition

Independent UI designer, Matt Olpinski never intended to freelance full time. After college he was looking for a comfortable job to make a comfortable life, and he was just freelancing on the side. Despite this side-hustle approach, Matt’s designer instincts always had him aiming for a “pixel perfect” portfolio and site. Through his refining, he stumbled on some strategies that made too big an impact to ignore, and he shared some of these tactics with Brennan on this episode of the DYF podcast.

The first big change that drove Matt’s shift towards great SEO was seeing an early edition of Double Your Freelancing’s The Blueprint. The course changed Matt’s outlook as he realized there was more potential to grow his freelancing business if he began to focus on his clients rather than himself. Just by changing his focus and positioning, Matt increased his leads, rate, and ranking, but at first he didn’t really understanding why. After some investigation, Matt realized that simply providing what clients were looking for (and presenting it that way) made him a better search result for Google to come up with, thereby increasing his SEO. From there, the growth compounded. So what actual changes lead to this turn around?

The Little Things

Matt’s original site was similar to many freelance web designer’s sites in that it said, “I'm a UX Designer. I built websites. Here's my work. Here’s how you contact me.” When he shifted focus, Matt’s site’s design, copy, and language changed. It now sounded more like “Hi, I’m Matt, I build websites that help businesses grow.” He started thinking like a client and his testimonials began highlighting metrics clients might find valuable and associate with project success. He found that clients don’t necessarily care about fancy transitions, they care about what Matt is going to do for their website. Matt also found that when they get to his site, leads have obstacles to overcome before hiring him, so he recognized that his site was an opportunity to address and allay those obstacles.

Matt’s approach was a little more laid back than it could have been since he had a fulltime job and still viewed freelancing as his side project. However, small tactical changes made a big difference in traffic. He ensured his page titles were consistent, wrote unique page descriptions for each of his big pages (home page, service page, project page). He found that by making descriptions unique helped instead of having either nothing or a generic description that shows up on every page. He rewrote/shortened his page slug URLs and took out breaks and stop words. Matt approached the changes not as an expert, but just looking at the logic of creating desirable content. Although SEO has a slimy reputation, Matt points out that there are a lot of very simple changes others can do to increase the viability of their site. Plus, giving clients what they want (and making it easy to find) is a win-win strategy.

What Clients Search For

As Matt began consciously optimizing, he asked himself, “What are my clients searching for?” There are numerous tools and lists to help users find the best search terms, and as a designer, Matt turned to Dribble and Behance. As he reverse engineered popular searches, Matt realized that he learns three things about his clients through their search terms:

1. What task his customers wanted to complete: (search terms might be
   UX Design, UI Design, or Web Development).
2. His clients’ geographic location (if they're in New York, they might
   type in UI Designer in New York).
3. What kind of person they wanted to hire (freelance, consultant,
   agency etc).

Now Matt discovers what the customer wants in their own words, and because of this, he’s better able to provide and present it. For example, he could answer the above queries by titling his page: “Matt Olpinski, Freelance UI Designer, New York.” To prove his theory, Matt asked clients what they searched to find him. In addition to validating this theory, this data has informed further SEO.

Brennan points out that tools like Google Search Console can also trace what terms people actually used to get to your site and where they landed etc. Information on adjacent searches can allow sites to pull in traffic that might have skipped them otherwise. For example, he says Matt could add content to draw in people looking for a UX Development Agency in NY. This content could actually be an argument convincing them of why they should use a freelancer instead. Of course with his current success, Matt isn’t looking to make any harder sells, but Brennan points out that there is always opportunity for further optimization.

What Clients Find

Content has made a big difference in Matt’s ability to project authority and and he has found case studies to be his preferred format. Initially, Matt’s site featured images with captions to let the work speak for itself. He has since flipped this model to show each project’s process and how his decisions impacted each business. Although he only presents 6-8 projects on his site, Matt writes extensively about each one. He writes not just what he did but also why he did it, and the thought process behind each action. This humanizes the work and Matt has taken this further by integrating the related testimonials directly onto the project page. Instead of just presenting a menu of services, Matt’s site explains what UI and UX design are and how they might be used in a project; “Instead of just listing what I can do, I tell people why that's important for them,” says Matt.

Other ways that Matt shares his process and builds authority include his blog, his newsletter, and guest posts on freelancing websites. Not only does this content help SEO by keeping his site relevant, Matt says that when a client sees he’s written over 60 articles on a topic, they know that he is a good choice to hire.

Brennan agrees that seeing inside a potential collaborator’s head is key to building trust. It can help clients feel justified in making a purchase. He suggests that if you’re struggling to find blog topics, write about a few ideas that came out of your latest sales meeting (without giving away too much specific project information). The details of brainstorming are helpful. As an example, Brennan mentions a client meeting with a realtor that he wrote about. The realtor wanted to follow up with clients after they’d bought a house from him so that they use him again when they sell it five years down the line and he could gain referrals. Brennan built software to remind the realtor a month after the purchaser is settled in, to check in and ask “How are the neighbors, what do you love about the house?” etc. While the specifics seem mundane to the developer who lived through it, their audience might actually find them useful/inspiring, and potential clients are energized by the success story. This is exactly what Brennan looks for when he hires people too. He says, backing convincing sales copy with “the Mind of Matt Olpinski” insights is a much stronger draw than the copy alone.

To make things easier on his leads, Matt places most of these thought process insights into his case studies. That way a client doesn't have to look through a bunch of articles to piece together how he thinks. They see his work on the landing page and can click into the project to read about how it came to light. Matt tries to include the “before” version of the project before his changes so that he can show where it came from and where he took it. “Seeing that transition is really valuable,” he says.

Blog posts drive traffic in conjunction with social media updates also. Matt finds that most of this traffic is from other freelancers, but he has had some project inquiries from these articles. For the most part, Matt’s audience is split in two. He has the clients on the consulting side of his business and the “level up you career by joining my newsletter,” peer side of his business. Although the sides are separate (color cues and other dividers make this clear to site visitors), Matt believes the freelancer side of his site probably helps reinforce the idea that a potential client should contact him. It builds his authority/credibility while not directly serving the needs of his consulting clients. It tells these clients about his professionalism.

Outshining the Competition

No matter how high the rankings, potential clients are probably shopping around for service providers and won’t stop at just one site. So how does Matt draw clients back to his? He feels the primary draw is his “what do clients want?” approach. Matt hopes his clients get to his site and say “Oh, that’s exactly what I wanted to hear!” instead of just seeing a portfolio and contact information. From simple changes in the copy, to thinking about what buttons clients want to have available, and eventually what details they need to see about his process, Matt works to give clients what they’re looking for and so far it sets him miles apart.

Brennan acknowledges a necessary balance between speaking the language of business and speaking the language of design. Using the right search terms in the right places, proving his design skill and talking to the prospective clients about THEIR business allows Matt to stand out. Matt also argues depth of content is a huge benefit. Even if some of his content is not directly what a client is looking for, all of his content matters and drives visitors to the site which boosts his ranking --the freelancing side gets him the clicks so the consultant side can find him easily. Having an older domain helps too, but Matt says not to worry, it isn’t the end of the world if you don’t.

In the end, providing what clients want, also answers what Google wants. To boost his SEO, Matt considered what page titles he had, what URLs he was submitting to google, and what each were saying once a human being finally saw them. With blog posts and articles, Matt provided more fodder for Google to reward while allowing potential clients to get into his head and feel confident about hiring him. Matt says anyone can make these changes too. He says to, “pay attention to the small stuff. Pay attention to goofy things like alt descriptions on your images, and the length of your URLs and the kind of order of pages on your site, [and also] the page titles.” He says to stay consistent on social media and just call yourself one thing. Overall, simple tactics and a clean up to refocus your site on customer needs can make a big difference in results and Matt is living proof.

• Matt Olpinski's website
• Matt's Ultimate Guide to Getting More Clients
• DYF's The Blueprint
• Behance.net
• Dribble.com

• How to use paid ads to get new clients
• How to create on-demand webinars
• How Facebook’s algorithm can work for you
• How to break down the value of a lead
• How to know if paid ads are working

Kev Kaye’s first exposure to a growth engine was in 2008 when his roommate’s dad came to visit them in Florida and described his business as a hair salon marketing consultant. With such a specific niche, he was able to make a killing and showed Kev, with mathematical precision, how he helped salons acquire three to four new clients a week using AdWords, paid advertising, direct response strategies and more. Kev was hooked! He left Florida and the golf business where he’d been working, and moved to Rochester to launch himself, full force, into a career as a freelance marketing consultant. A decade later Kev, has revolutionized the traditional techniques he learned from his roommate’s dad using modern tools. He has seen what paid ads can do, and he knows their limitations. As a result, Kev has developed strategies that he thinks are essential to just about every successful business and he shared some of them with Brennan here.

In his first few years as a paid advertising consultant, Kev worked hard and saw moderate results. The big shift in his business came when he began to think about how to build trust online. He did some academic research and found that “computer mediated communication,” as it is called in the business, is a difficult platform for developing a customer’s trust. “Online, we’re all skeptical,” says Kev. So Kev studied the specific signals that someone needs to get in order to feel they can trust the source enough to transact. Kev thoughtfully integrated the understanding that a surplus of trust is required into his paid ad list and growth engine, which allowed him to drastically improve his conversions.

From Ad to Sales Funnel

With this focus on developing trust, one might wonder why Kev stuck with paid acquisition? Ads cost money and may not immediately foster a trust-rich relationship with customers. To be honest, it didn’t exactly work at first. Kev spotted an opportunity in his friend’s dad’s salon marketing business. Kev thought they should try using Facebook ads which were still new at the time. Kev convinced the man to cut him an affiliate deal on his program in exchange for a few Facebook ads. Luckily, it did work in that Kev made a sale and got him a client, but this initial success was not a recurring phenomenon. Kev knew paid ads could be profitable so he went back to work trying to discern the necessary components between the ad and the sale.

Kev tried several new approaches and eventually landed on his current funnel. In his funnel, Kev’s clients click an ad taking them to a landing page featuring a webinar registration. The challenge is then to get leads to watch the webinar. This requires several behind the scenes systems to ensure they actually show up and consume the content. From there, the call to action is setting up a call to have a conversation about the next steps. In this model, the webinar serves two major purposes. It is a qualifying tool, that also builds trust. It sets the tone, allowing customers to hear and see him, and it helps them become familiar with his outlook on paid marketing. Kev calls the webinar a humanizing exercise since it features many stories explaining how the brand was built and showing who built it.

Another way Kev’s webinars build trust is by delivering useful value to viewers. They introduce four or five ideas that the client can bring to their own marketing. Redirecting the customer’s thought sequence has a two-way bonus in that it also provides the dopamine rush of a new opportunity. That new opportunity is tied to Kev’s solution which inspires a huge amount of trust very quickly. As Brennan points out, this moment is a key point of qualification and filtration. He describes the post-webinar conversation: “if [paid advertising] is something that you're excited about, is this something that you really wanna implement in your business and you're committed to using these pieces we'd love to talk to you. If you're not, we're happy to have shared some really good information with you, but the next step isn't a good fit for you.” The lead leaves with some added knowledge and may come back to the idea at a later date.

Kev’s webinars are not live per se, but by making them hourly, Kev has created the exclusivity and importance of a live event, but without him needing to be up at 9 PM on a Friday night to make it direct. “On demand is a strong part of our lives today,” Kev points out. With many ways to make a recorded webinar seem live, webinar hosts have a lot of options. Tools exist that can even aggregate existing chat data and populate responses with it -- almost like a ghost of previous webinars. Or some people staff a VA to answer questions live. Kev finds these methods pretty transparent and doesn’t like to use them. Conversely, starting with a live webinar has benefits that can’t be simulated including live energy (although if you’re starting out and only able to get one or two attendees, that can have an inverse effect on the energy and hurt the image you’re trying to project as an expert). Kev recommends starting with on demand because you can get amped up for the recording and control more of the content. Kev has found that viewers are also more likely to get the content if it is on demand. To solve the tired energy problem, Kev genuinely does jumping jacks and push ups before a webinar to charge himself and ensure he brings organic energy to the recording. Again, although, webinar hosts can add different buffer beginnings denoting the day of the week and make it seem live, Brennan says “just be honest.” Viewers just want the content and may lose some trust in you if you appear to be trying to hoodwink them.

Let Facebook Work For You

Currently, all of Kev’s webinar opt-ins come from various points he has set up on Facebook. Leads find the GrowthBOKs profile or group which will show them how to sign up for and pick a webinar. For targeting, Kev suggests “Let Facebook’s technology work for you.” If you can provide Facebook with some data, their algorithm will help you optimize the delivery of your ad. Facebook offers custom audiences where you can upload your own email database. Facebook will look at that database, and will create a lookalike database which can give you two million other people on the network who fit the profile of those people on your email list. This is also the starting point for any new campaign that Kev’s agency creates. Just seeing information from people who have opted in, allows Facebook to look at what other things your audience members like and they can use that information to find crossover audiences and where to retarget. Facebook allows you to target pages, interests, income level, education level, marital status, and you can layer them on top of each other for maximum specificity. Another plus is that if someone clicks the ad but doesn’t opt in, there are additional retargeting options that you can bake in. Kev suggests you have as many different inputs and parameters as possible so this works best with bigger lists. He recommends making the switch to “custom audience” once you have about 100 email addresses.

The Value of a Lead

Brennan believes this long-term outlook is important. He says people focus too much on the hard sell and don’t give people choice when they click through to a services page or landing page. There have to be options for what visitors can do, and you must have strategies in place for making the sale down the line. The other mistake he sees is people not quantifying the value of each funnel and therefore not knowing what to spend for each. Brennan urges listeners to break down exactly how much each lead is worth, how many opt-ins are needed for a sale, how many sales are needed to hit your target etc). He then recommends that you price out each step of your funnel. Kev agrees but adds that the ability to make these calculations is WHY paid advertising should be in your mix.

Of course, Kev says that rather than just throwing money at advertising, it is important to try to understand the thought process for people at each point in the funnel and optimize for the “thought sequence.” He says to start simple with appropriate, relevant topics and get more complex as you go on. He describes it as building a machine that can then give you leads, but also, insight into optimization opportunities that you might have missed before.

Is it Working?

Kev’s agency uses a method called SIPS. The acronym stands for: Simplicity, potential Impact, Probability, and Speed of implementation. They then score each idea they have for their next move in optimizing and go with whatever improvement scores the highest.

Brennan points out this kind of funnel requires active management. A campaign might work great at first but a few weeks later, things may have shifted and adjustments might need to be made. Kev says he has to find the right cadence for follow up on each project. If a budget is smaller, he can let it go for longer without making adjustments since it may pay for itself more easily. For a larger budget, he’ll need to change tacks pretty quickly if there isn’t a difference in sales. However, Kev considers paid advertising a long term strategy. The ad gets an agency in the door with an audience, but it is then up to the marketer to nurture those leads. For Kev, every ad he runs, he’ll get about 7 to 14 days of webinar performance. During that window, he has an opportunity to nurture those leads, add value, and build the brand. Additionally, people may be finding his service now but may not have the budget or time to work on the project they need him for. Six months down the line, they might be back with $5000 to put towards consulting just because they clicked on that ad.

Paid acquisition across types of business can vary a great deal due to different product costs, turnaround times and payment schedules. Targets and KPIs have to vary too and these are all elements you should have mapped out going in to a paid ad campaign. You then need to be willing to make adjustments once you see how people respond.

Supporting Ads With Content

Kev has created a funnel that works, but what would Kev do differently if starting over? “The path to getting the paid advertising has nothing to do with paid advertising at the start,” he says. Instead, it is all about building the content (in his case the webinar) that the ad directs traffic to, and it’s about building the call to action, sales call, landing page, and everything else along the funnel that the lead will see. Kev recognizes that Facebook, provides opportunity to reach people organically like never before. Starting over, he would validate the sales call with a Messenger conversation, prove his grown engine, and then move into paid ads. "Paid ads don't scale your business,” says Kev. “Paid ads leverage the scale you've already designed in your business." On its own, a paid ad is ineffective. Brennan says the ad requires the webinar or intermediary to build trust. Sharing your authority in this way, exchanges your time for an email address or whatever your opt-in looks like.

Kev’s funnel starts with the ad, which leads to a webinar, then an application, and finally a free 45 minute consultation (not unlike a sales call). With automation to glue it all together, Kev is able to focus his energy on getting more leads to the top of the funnel. Having leads and sales flowing in, helps him think like a CEO or business owner and allows him to look at growing his team.

Kev is passionate about paid ads because they force him to know the value of his leads, they can have an effect that lasts much longer than the initial ad, and they can reach very specific target audiences. Every step of the funnel allows for quantification that can help him determine what changes to make and when. Best of all, this quantifiability and control creates the comfort to grow. He discovered his formula through research, and applying newer tools to classic marketing techniques. Kev believes paid advertising done right can help just about every business, and he backs that up by having shown it time and time again.

• GrowthBOKs
• Easy Webinar -- The software Kev uses to create his webinars
• Facebook Ads

Takeaways:

• How to conduct useful SEO research and apply it to your content
• How to use content upgrades to optimize for opt-ins
• How to adjust your message for different clients
• Learning about clients by reading between the lines
• How to edit and refine your funnel

Josh Doody, founder of FearlessSalaryNegotiation.com, teaches salaried employees how to make more money. His funnel starts with search engine optimization and excellent content marketing, then uses a variety of other tools, including research, reputation, and automation, to turn leads into conversions. Since many people find his site as they’re about to enter salary discussions with an employer, Josh works to get leads in earlier, show his value quickly, and convince potential clients to slow down their approach. Josh adjusts his message and sales approach depending on how quickly leads need his help. He has also found that drawing traffic to his site is a key variable that he’s able to control. So how does he do it?

Getting Clicks

Josh identifies himself first and foremost as a writer. Not only has he written several books about salary negotiation, but he says the long form, free, educational content on his site is his biggest draw for new visitors. Josh writes what he think will be valuable to his audience and then checks which of these topics are getting traffic and being shared. He’ll then double down on those pages by enhancing them or writing more along those lines. From this very basic, manual search engine optimization, Josh has been able to create organic traffic resulting in 55,000 unique visits per month. “Google is really good at finding what people are searching for,” Josh says, so he focuses less on getting the exact wording right, and more on targeting his audience’s specific informational needs.

Josh also likes to increase clicks by building his authority. By answering questions on forums like Quora, Josh is not only able to point to his site and increase his click rate, but also, to learn what information his audience is seeking and what responses resonate with them. Appearing on podcasts is another tactic he’s used to boost his numbers. Brennan points out that podcast guesting will generate some traffic in the first week or so of the episode going out (especially with the help of social media bumps). However, there is a long term benefit in the permanent backlink from that podcast’s host site. Josh agrees, between appearing as a podcast guest and writing articles for other recognizable sites, Google will see the backlinks and realize that your site is “worth paying attention to.”

An advantage to having a large audience (like Josh’s 1500+ unique clicks per day) is being able to run occasional experiments. Though he sometimes runs two day a/v tests for special offers, Josh generally prefers to run 90 day experiments to learn what visitors will do for downloadable bonuses, which ones get the most traffic etc. Josh remembers starting these exercises too early in his site’s life and finding it only wasted time; with too small an audience, the changes are too insignificant to achieve measurable results. He says early on, a consultant’s focus should be pretty much entirely on getting more traffic, seeing what brought in that traffic and using that information to get more traffic. He adds, that barring some kind of algorithm change or massive platform change, Google Analytics information is also pretty helpful.

Generating Opt-Ins

Josh found his first opportunity to optimize his funnel when he noticed he’d been getting mediocre email opt ins from organic traffic --only about 1%. He evaluated his site and isolated the problem: he was giving too much away and his lead magnets were too generic. So Josh looked at which pages were bringing in the most traffic and thought about how to optimize them. With 20,000 visitors per month on some of these pages, even going from 1% to 2% opt ins would be a meaningful jump so he started there. He considered content upgrades he might be able to offer on those pages. On one article, he pulled the email templates that had been embedded in the text and created a linked PDF that customers could only access by opting in. Josh says this flipped the switch on this page and and his opt ins there are now around 4-5%. Since the 8000+ word article is still providing useful information on a topic his readers care about, Josh is still getting the traffic he wanted and building trust with his audience. Josh points out that this idea can be taken further in that the templates can become a product in and of themselves (e.g. he could provide 2 for free, and then charge a flat rate of $19 for the rest). Josh says that knowing which articles will do well before offering the content upgrade is key. He limits his focus to 4 or 5 pages that get a lot of traffic and thinks about what the lead magnet should be for each one, then builds it accordingly. He creates category specific baseline calls to action to help with each lead magnet.

Creating Conversions

Josh’s funnel is based on his statement “I can help you raise your salary,” and the first step is figuring out exactly how he can do that best. Josh starts by asking opt-ins, “When are you negotiating your salary?” This helps him profile his visitors, divide them into categories based on urgency, and respond to them appropriately. In his first response to them, Josh tries to describe the situation he thinks the client is in and what he can do to address their need. It is not uncommon for people to find Josh’s site moments or just a couple of hours before sending their salary negotiation email or before entering talks --they’ll download his email templates in a last ditch effort to prepare. For these opt-ins, Josh urges them to take their salary negotiation process a little bit slower and to hear what possibilities his services can facilitate. The email these clients will see says “don’t send that counter offer yet!” Since these clients are on an abbreviated timeline, Josh knows they are more suited to the product side of his business than coaching. However, if a lead is seeking a raise at an existing job, Josh knows his customer’s timeline will be a bit more laid back. In this case, he can pitch the coaching aspect of his work and phrase his welcome/thank you message differently. In both cases, he says, his goal is to have his first email be the “fulfillment email,” which says, “Here’s the material you requested, but also, here’s who I am and what I can do for you.”

Multiple Markets

Even though Josh has mastered giving customers what they want when they need it, he is always refining his tactics to better reach potential clients who are on the shorter timeline. Josh mentions Joshua Earl who presents two kinds of markets: “the stocked pond” and “the passing parade.” The stocked pond client checks you out, wants to know what you have to offer, is someone you build a relationship with over time, and eventually they’ll buy. For the passing parade customer, there’s a smaller window of time during which your product is relevant to them.

For people starting out, this is exactly why knowing where your clients are coming from and who they are is a big deal. Just as you speak differently with clients who you know have an immediate need vs people who don’t currently have a project for you, so too, you should speak differently depending on a visitor’s urgency. Just knowing how a client enters your funnel can tell you a lot about which market they belong to. For example, Brennan mentions that “Starting A Freelance Business” is a frequently clicked DYF article. Just knowing that is what the customer is interested in, gives Brennan an idea of the customer’s experience level, specific need, and urgency. He also gets clues of their timeline, financial flexibility, and goals. He can tell for example, the reader probably has a day job right now. Josh says the earlier you know that information, the better you’ll be able to service your client’s need.

For Josh’s stocked pond customers he steers them towards the coaching side of his funnel. Josh says this isn’t a hard sell, it’s just a matter of letting people know it exists and telling them more about it when they’re ready to hear it. In the past year, Josh has narrowed his focus further to address salary negotiation for software developers who want more job offers and a higher rate. He helps leads see themselves as clients by using pre-scripts, emails, and casual mentions, to say “my coaching clients get results using this technique.” Sometimes his customers come back a year after they first find him and say “hey, I regret not working with you before but I’m switching jobs again and I’d like to work with you now.” These leads require a softer sell because a software developer who has a job offer from Facebook knows Josh’s fee will seem trivial against their potential salary. Josh says keeping himself front and center is essential so he sends weekly emails to his audience. Once or twice a month he’ll focus on topics relevant to coaching and will include a link to the coaching page asking if readers are “expecting a job offer within the next four weeks?” Just by making people aware that he offers coaching, means they sometimes book within an hour of getting a job offer. Clients select themselves and all Josh has to do is follow up.

Brennan and Josh agree that this is one of many examples showing that higher price point doesn’t necessarily mean a harder sell. Josh’s customers could buy one of his books for much cheaper and gain all of the knowledge they need, but when he mentions this, clients usually say, “I just want to be told what to do.” Josh’s clients tend to be looking for things that are inclusive, already done for them, and that provide quick answers.

Refining the Funnel

Fearless Salary Negotiation is doing fine with an evergreen funnel and a lot of happy customers, but Josh is always looking to the future. This year he plans to re-target his funnel to reach higher-value leads with segmentation. He sees other opportunities also. Josh’s automation allows him to follow up with customers who have clicked through but not purchased and he knows there’s potential for him to sell more books and courses with just a few adjustments. He also offers career coaching if clients are having difficulty getting job offers in the first place. While this service isn’t promoted as heavily, Josh looks forward to developing it more in the future.

Currently, Josh’s funnel starts with excellent, optimized content that ensures customers have already benefited from him before they even see the sales page. The page is available after an email opt in, and it invites leads to apply to schedule a free 15 min call. Josh’s optimized funnel means sales are easy to make and he has control. Although he can’t demand 10 new clients and have them appear, Josh CAN send out a flash discount to his email list and “make money happen,” to quote Amy Hoy. Josh’s hustle is about convincing people to enter his list rather than convincing people to hire him. He focuses on guest posting, guesting on podcasts etc. and building his audience while his funnel takes care of the rest. Doubling visitors may not automatically double revenue, but it is an essential component. Josh says the question is what to do with the traffic, and how to optimize for client needs. He says it is easy to become obsessed with the stats as you look at value per customer, value per subscriber, and value per coaching client vs. product client. He recommends taking a variety of approaches like looking for interesting ways to get a $5 per visitor value, finding higher-value leads with segmentation, and evaluating the effectiveness of each stage of the funnel. Not wanting to become obsessed is one reason Josh doesn’t look at the numbers until an experiment has run for 30-90 days. He revises by looking at each section of the funnel and working on it for a while. He works his way down, optimizing to the fullest, and then starts at the top to edit again. He sees what modifications work and gets to learn about his audience’s motivations.

Josh knows to let the numbers speak. Where there is successful content, there is opportunity for lead generation. From there, it is his job to determine how to strategically offer the content upgrades that become his opt-ins. How Josh communicates with opt-ins is dependent on their specific needs and can be the difference between a conversion and a missed sale. Josh’s constant research allows for excellent optimization and his meticulous process editing has made him a true authority on funnel management. Josh has become a master of his niche, and by following his example, you can master yours.

• https://fearlesssalarynegotiation.com/
• https://doubleyourfreelancing.com/start-a-freelancing-business/
• https://joshuaearl.com/
• http://www.microconf.com/
• Amy Hoy -- https://stackingthebricks.com/be-your-own-angel-how-to-make-money-happen/

Key Takeaways:

• How to build trust through transparency
• Why credibility matters and how to build it from scratch
• How to make content marketing measurable
• How to create actionable case studies
• How to get guest posts published (script provided)

Benji Hyam, co-founder of Grow and Convert believes that content marketing, at its core, is about trust. It starts with understanding what your customers care about and proving to them that you can deliver it. For Grow and Convert, this meant becoming the full-service company that Benji himself had looked for in the past and was unable to find. It took a few iterations for them to get it right, but eventually, Benji and Grow and Convert co-founder, Devesh Khanal, created a successful business that put customers’ interests first and turned the old model of the content marketing business on its head.

Before starting Grow and Convert, Benji was running marketing startups in San Francisco. He was getting burned out as he noticed that many content writing and marketing agencies claiming to drive leads, often just created a few social media updates and hoped this would bring the company more followers. Since having more followers doesn’t necessarily mean getting more conversions, Benji recognized that CEOs looking for ways to direct a company’s marketing funds would have no incentive to invest in content marketing -- the lack of measurable ROI was completely unappealing.

It was then that Benji ran into Devesh Khanal. By chance, they both arrived an hour early to a dinner put on by fellow growth marketer, Sujen Patel, and they proceeded to argue about whether content marketing could attract high quality leads. Devesh, who has a CRO agency, was trying to attract executives from $10million+ ecommerce companies but wasn’t sure if execs at that level even read content marketing. Benji had just come from a job selling to these high-level figures almost exclusively via content marketing so he knew that they did. They both agreed that the current model was not the way to do it so with Devesh’s highly-developed analytical skills and Benji’s experience growing sites, they decided to team up. They set out to show that content marketing is measurable and that “full service” should go beyond a few tweets to include user research, content writing and promotion, and lead driving.

Finding an Audience

Grow and Convert started as a blog. They focused on showing what good content writing looks like, providing useful, real-world examples, and demonstrating measurability. In writing about content strategy, the two were proving they were great content writers, while simultaneously filling the void of real-world case studies (as opposed to theoretical platitudes) that users could learn from. Readers learned from every part of the blog. As part of their commitment to transparency and trackable data, on a monthly basis, the small company shared its stats and what they did to promote themselves. Benji says this was essential to building trust with the community. To keep readers engaged, and to give them more of a personal stake in Grow and Convert’s success, the guys publicly announced goals for the blog like the target of hitting 40K monthly readers in 6 months. Readers eagerly followed the progress of this wager.

Four months in, and still shy of the 40,000 followers goal, Benji found himself somewhat stranded in Bali with no steady income (having quit his job to focus on the business). At that point, the partners decided to back burner the arbitrary 40K followers target and pivoted towards monetization. Grow and Convert then went through a few transformations, becoming a successful phone course, in-person workshops where Benji would fly out to a business and spend a day working with their staff, and an online course positioned towards businesses rather than individuals. This last model was still not quite what they were looking for since individuals are the ones who look for courses, not companies. However, the guys gained traction by offering a service to businesses and their agency was born.

Creating Measureability

One way that Grow and Convert worked to build trust and appeal to clients was by showing measurability. They built a calculator for content marketing ROI, showed users how to track leads coming in from content marketing, and used live case studies to show followers how to drive traffic to their site. They would pick a company at random from their email list and create a post for them designed to bring in 1000 new visitors to their site or to actually surpass any of their previous posts in the first month. Grow and Convert showed results through metrics and talked about the unspoken weak points of content marketing, chiefly: deliverables. While other sites sell “4 blog posts a month,” Grow and Convert tracked stats to show that they could provide traffic and leads. Their openness and vigilant tracking created trust and thereby authority with their audience. All of these distinctions and the numbers to back them up, gave Benji and Devesh much more leverage when it came to pricing--a model they shared with readers.

From a consumer perspective, Brennan agrees that as he has looked for vendors while working on his latest site, he has opted for agencies with radically transparent operations. Although it can seem like someone is just a shameless self-promoter, showing process can be a selling point. A great example of successful transparency that Brennan points to is John Doherty who he hired to run an SEO audit on DoubleYourFreelancing.com. Even though he had never met or worked with him before, Brennan was convinced to hire Doherty based on John’s openness and frequent updates on his daily process. With blog and social media posts showing an agency’s background, results, and what sets them apart in the industry, they can show credibility that will not come through in a sales letter. Putting in this time is seriously valuable. Grow and Convert doesn’t use any outbound sales tactics to grow their own agency. They do not go through their network looking for referrals or advertising to find leads. Their goal is to gain customers based on great content marketing, following their own advice, and just by showing what they’re good at. Brennan agrees that following one’s own advice is key. Credibility comes from being able to say “here’s an example of how I applied this tactic I swear by.”

Examples have gone a long way towards Grow and Convert’s credibility. For Benji, case studies involve much more process and detail than just presenting a problem, solution, and result. He believes in doing the research to understand the pain points a company is facing. He says only his personal experience, building a content marketing company from the ground up, allowed him to fully understand the challenges others would face in the same position. They’d need to know about: hiring writers, hiring an editor, promoting content, attracting the right visitors to your blog, scaling, and search engine optimization. Understanding all of the different hiccups that pop up in the business allows an agency to tailor case studies and content directly to the real problems people are having (instead of writing what they think customers want to know). When people sign up for their newsletter, Grow and Convert asks clients, “Tell us a little about yourself, who are you and what are your main challenges right now?” with over 500,000 responses, they’ve been able to build a much fuller picture of what customers are actually looking for. The guys look for commonalities and trends and then tailor the blog posts to customer pain points. From there, if Benji notices lots of people saying “I publish a lot of content but have very few visitors,” then he can highlight 3 articles that get a lot of traffic and build the case study around what is working for them. Showing that they have addressed these challenges before, builds customer confidence in them. It is also less superficial than the stories one finds in a Linkedin article. These case studies offer screenshots and examples showing outcomes which will be much more helpful to someone struggling with these specific problems --again building trust.

Data, graphs, detailed copy about what was tried and what worked vs what didn’t are the things that Brennan says makes Growthlab a trusted resource for him. He says his most effective articles follow the Growthlab formula. Brennan says he doesn’t offer a prescription, just details and experiences his audience can relate to. Turns out, being useful and honest is a great way to stand out from the crowd.

Giving Them What They Want
When starting from zero with no customer base, or email list, Benji suggests creating a specific hypothetical customer in your target demographic. Once you know what that person’s interests and day consists of, that informs the research you do on where to find them. Though you’ll have to reach out to them cold, you don’t have to (and shouldn’t) mass email/spam them. Instead, find them on Linkedin or elsewhere and try to get on a 15 minute call with them. He points out that ego-stroking is generally a good bet: “Hey I’m reaching out to you today because you are vice president of marketing and I hear you are doing great at…” He recommends reading a blog post by the customer, finding a video or quote of theirs that actually resonates with you, and mentioning it to show the lead that you have done your research. From there, Benji suggests you offer them a favor and then ask them to get on that quick call so that you can better understand their business. Brennan suggests that content itself can be a gateway to the clients you want. He recommends writing a blog post or interview series that features the person you want to get into a conversation with. This allows you to demonstrate that you can think critically about their business and it starts the conversation.

Grow and Convert has a few ways of getting into the headspace of their clients. They’ve used surveys that include questions like: What’s your biggest challenge right now? Who are you? What other marketing influencers do you trust? Where do you go to meet other marketers? Etc. but they take care to keep answers open-ended. Getting the language, real responses and insights into how the questions are perceived can all result in useful information. From the responses, Benji and Devesh have learned not only where a lot of their audience is probably struggling, but also what kinds of content and guest posts are going to be best-received and where to start looking for new readers.

Thanks to Grow and Convert’s reputation, Benji no longer has to look for leads. He says, on the consulting side, the ticket to conversion is getting customers to his services page where pricing is listed pretty early on. This avoids confusion and wasted time, and goes with the “share everything!” philosophy that is useful to the customers on the blog side of the business. Benji has found that clients on both sides of the business find their openness refreshing. At Grow and Convert, they avoid calls to action and telling readers what to do. Instead they say “This is what worked for me and here’s why.” That way, they’re aiming for the people who can afford the premium and want to hear the details (how Grow and Convert helps businesses, what it will cost etc.) and the DIYers who will never be on the consulting side of the business. These clients are different and are not a threat to each other. Benji says they attract the people who don’t have the time to learn it by showing that they know their field inside out. Meanwhile, the customers who don’t have the money for consulting, but may have the time to learn it on their own get to see the real-world ins and outs. Brennan points out that calls to action target the DIYers who tend to want an answer right now. However, the best consulting leads may be more open/flexible with their money while not having the personal time to invest in solving their problems.

Building Relationships

Brennan points out that there are other ways to get your agency’s reputation to new audiences. He gives the example of a lawyer he once heard speak about copyright law at a local conference. After seeing her presentation on everything there is to know about online copyrights, he has never hired her, but he has recommended her many times. Double Your Freelancing has hosted several business seminars based on the “forum of ideas” concept (as opposed to trying to shove customers into a sales funnel). Attendees and viewers don’t need to hire Brennan’s agency but he points out they unintentionally become “sleeper cell agents,” who simultaneously gain the knowledge they need and familiarity with Brennan’s authority. Again, the transparency of presentations, support groups and Q&A that tell attendees when to buy, when to build, when to find something off the shelf, builds that audience trust. Benji agrees and thinks having ulterior motives is a mistake lots of businesses make. Customers don’t want spam and may rethink their entire need if it looks like they’re in for the hard sell. If your audience believes you are trustworthy and credible, they will recommend you and eventually get on your list. Valuable content should be your focus, not the number of email subscribers. “If people care about what you have to say and feel that you’re adding value, they’ll naturally want to form some sort of relationship with you.”

Guest posts are another way to build your authority and build trust, but Benji says he has published 4 out of hundreds of requests to post in the last two years. He says that when people send guest post requests they often optimize for volume rather than quality, using automation software and just plugging in a site’s or editor’s name. From an editor’s perspective, this does not inspire confidence or interest. For Benji, the requests to post that stand out have clearly done their research and look more like this:

“Hey,
I saw this article and loved [this one specific point you guys made]. I’ve been following you guys for a while and I’d like to write a guest post. Here is my [ONE] idea. Here are my results. I would love to share this story.”

Proper research means knowing what the publication wants from their guest posts. Benji says to ask things like:

1. Who is their audience?
2. What kind of content do they post,
3. Do they like long in-depth how-tos or something shorter?

Then include the screenshots or evidence that shows you have a story they want to publish. Benji warns that this is not the time to take shortcuts. He says to build relationships rather than optimizing your time. Not only will that help you get accepted to begin with, it also means you could be invited back if you do exactly what the site wants.

Brennan points out that likewise, co-promotion is based on relationships rather than some kind of unspoken understanding among online marketers as some people seem to think. He often gets requests from strangers in his network asking him to tell his audience about their new product. Without the trust of a deeper relationship (e.g. having met and chatted at a conference or worked together on a mutually beneficial project), he’s not inclined to risk his reputation or breach the trust he has with HIS audience. Benji agrees that building meaningful business relationships is as simple as asking “what’s in it for the other person?” He finds the best way to get a response is to do research, think about what’s in it for them, and make a pitch that benefits both parties. Similarly, when posting new content, Brennan asks himself “How do I make it clear that in taking the time to read this article (or whatever else) I link to, [the reader is] going to be better off than they were before this?” Thinking about the other party, valuing their time, and considering how many times you say “I,” “me,” “my” may prompt you to change the behavior and present more appealing content.

Benji concludes, marketing is simply “thinking about what people want and giving it to them.” Based on this philosophy, he and Growth Lab started out with a course and ended up making a successful marketing agency. They researched where their target audience was, found out what information they were looking for, collected it, and then gave it to them. Benji and Devesh built the influence they needed to get on the radar of the high-value customers they want and developed the measurability needed to close the deal.

• GrowAndConvert.com
• Benji's Growthlab article
• John Doherty SEO Consulting
• https://growandconvert.com/content-marketing/customer-acquisition-cost/
• Twitter: benjihyam@benjihyam
• LinkedIn: benjihyam@benjihyam

Key Takeaways:

• How to determine if podcasting is right for you
• How to book your first few guests
• How to build your listenership
• How to use podcasts to build your authority
• What tools and setup do you need to get started

For the past 12 years Matt has run his agency, Tilted Pixel, with great success. He says that as a micro-agency he has been able to create a stable business and the life he was looking for without the 80 hour work-week one might typically expect. His newer venture is Freelance Transformation, his podcast, which launched in April 2015. Matt says Freelance Transformation initially had nothing to do with his consulting business --if it had, he pointed out, he would have built the podcast around the interests of potential clients. Instead, Freelance Transformation sprang out of Matt’s desire to spread the knowledge he’d acquired through his years of experience. He was also keen to get in and start a new online business after consulting on so many through the years. To his surprise, even though they weren’t directly related, Matt’s podcast brought a boost in his agency’s sales --including a $60,000 deal that came as a result of one recording. Freelance Transformation’s success (it hit 100,000 downloads within the first year and has now nearly tripled that) has allowed Matt to grow his existing agency while also seeing where the new venture takes him --and the first place it took him was MicroConf.

Podcasting to Meet People

The first lesson Matt says he learned while building Freelance Transformation is that, “podcasting is a great networking hack.” As he began looking for guests, Matt attended Microconf and found that right from the beginning, being able to say “Hi I’m Matt, I’m the host of Freelance Transformation,” is more of a conversation starter than “Hi, I’m Matt, I do web-design.” That year, Matt took his portable mic around the conference, recording some of his earliest stuff (including an episode with Brennan) and growing his experience --learning among other things, that recording in a noisy Vegas hotel during a conference is not ideal. Matt says that from that conference alone, he was able to develop a reputation among freelancers and find guests for his first 20 or so episodes. If you are considering podcasting, Matt recommends making these in-person connections and using events to start meaningful dialogues with potential guests.

Matt found that having guest spots to offer on his podcast, opens doors to people who might have seemed off limits before. For Matt this included Brennan, Michael Port, Alan Weiss, Charlie Hoehn, and outside the consulting world, luxury concierge, Steve Sims. The podcast allowed him to have in-depth conversations with these giants and to stay in touch with them afterwards. As the rapport built, Matt’s guests started making suggestions and introductions of people who could either help Matt or be helped by him. Matt’s contact list snowballed, he says, and “next thing you know this inaccessible community is now accessible.”

Do You Need An Audience?

With these benefits alone, and even without an established audience, starting a podcast already has some advantages. Matt estimates that Freelance Transformation has added 10,000-15,000 new visitors to his site each month, but he has noticed that his increased business isn’t necessarily from people listening to his podcast. Rather, he believes most of these referrals to his site have come from the other professionals he has meet through hosting the podcast. So do listeners even matter? Of course they do. For Matt, a key motivator was being able to pass on wisdom and help develop the next generation of freelancers. But another clear advantage to having a large audience is that the further your reach, the more pull you’ll have for getting the guests you want on your show.

Having a network, Brennan points out, also makes launching a new product easier. He says launching his newest product, RightMessage , was much simpler with an established audience and an unobtrusive way to get updates to his followers. His audience is often interested in seeing behind the scenes as his products develop so Brennan keeps them informed of every step along the way. Since Brennan is committed to providing useful examples of how to build and launch products, this audience relationship represents another win-win scenario that can come from podcasting.

So how do you build your listenership? If you’re like Matt, and you’re not a born social media self-promoter, he recommends the following 3 step approach when launching a new podcast:

Reach out to everyone you know and ask them to check out your new podcast and leave a review. While you probably won’t get long-term listeners from this exercise, the initial flood of downloads tells iTunes to pay attention.

Chose guests strategically. Matt looked for guests who were consulting-oriented, and who had a great audience that he could borrow. When the guest sends out his/her social media blast you could be getting an extra hundred or thousand new eyes looking your way.

Use events to build relationships with potential guests in your field. Conferences are expensive, including tickets, travel, accommodations and time away from normal operations. Finding new listeners with fliers and quick blurbs costs a lot in effort with minimal results. Instead, your mission should be to invest in face to face personal interactions at common-goal events. This can lead to guests who care about the success of the program --it can be the difference between a guest tweeting that they were on and them actually promoting you. Some of Matt’s Microconf contacts were even willing to give him their email lists!

Positioning

Podcasting is also a great way to position yourself in the freelance world. Brennan uses his guests’ networks to expand his own sphere of influence. He does some digging to learn who in his guest’s network he’d like to work with and seeks introductions via the mutual connection. For example, he might look at Matt’s previous Freelance Transformation guests, see who else has a podcast, select a couple, and if appropriate, he’ll message them saying, “Hey, I talked to our mutual friend, Matt Inglot, earlier this year. He suggested that I might be a good fit for your podcast.”

Frequent wide-spread appearances on podcasts can build your credibility as an expert within your field. Brennan highlights wearables developer and former DYF Academy student, Justin Bergen, as the master here. While developing products, Justin hosted industry leaders on his podcast, giving them a spotlight and simultaneously shoring up a his new relationship with the guest. By asking the guests “do you know of anyone else in the industry who would be a good guest for my podcast?” he also expanded his contacts. Since the wearables niche is fairly small, he was able to make key introductions and establish himself as an expert in the wearables niche.

This brings Matt to the point that Podcasting is also a comparatively simple way to publish within your field. “Rather than researching, writing, editing, rewriting, publishing and distributing a guest post or a whole book,” he says, “you can cut to the chase with twelve bullet points and a good microphone.” Matt points out that even after writing, editing and revising a book or even a much shorter guest post, you still have to find a way to publish/distribute it, but appearing on podcasts, is a lower-key ways of establishing your authority. After guesting on other podcasts enough times, you will start to notice that you have built your own audience.

Telling Your Story

A simple, subtle benefit to being a frequent podcast guest, is discovering the best way to articulate your message. Telling your story becomes easier each time you tell it: you’ll find your glossary becomes refined, your clarity improves, and your confidence builds. Matt mentions Jeremy Weiss from Mixergy who says of his podcast that even if no one were listening, the exercise would still be worth doing, and he would continue to run it. Of course this ties in to what we’ve said before since having your own podcast is a great gateway to appearing on other people’s. If you have your own podcast, other hosts know that you know what you’re doing, have the right equipment, and will deliver the audio they’re looking for.

Your Guests are Your Research and Case Studies

One easily overlooked benefit to hosting a podcast is the research value of discussing best practices with others in your field. Freelance Start, Matt’s course on freelancing was borne out of the 145+ episodes of the podcast. These serve as ”almost scientific data set” that he can referenced and have more information than if he were only citing his own experiences. One example of a discovery Matt made through his conversations, is that when he talked to people who were struggling to find clients, there was a correlation with how much time they spent on marketing. That is, Matt now has the numbers showing that the more effort one spends on marketing, the more clients their business will likely have.

Similarly, Brennan’s aim in starting his new Right Message podcast was to talk with people who have DIYed or used other non Right Message tools to achieve personalized marketing. Hearing why they got into it and what they did wrong, Brennan expects to gain market research.

Is podcasting right for you?

Before starting out with your new podcast, Matt wants you to ask yourself what you hope to achieve. Having a podcast won’t get you new clients overnight and Matt warns that there are easier ways to create content if that is your only goal. So he urges you to have a strategy and a reason to do it. Things he suggests you think about when considering starting a podcast:

1. Are there specific people you want to connect with?
2. Are you focused on relationship building, and if so, with whom?
3. Are you articulating ideas/thoughts clearly? (If yes, this helps
   you get on other people’s podcasts and to be great at it).

What are some of the cons to consider? It is time consuming. Matt says when he started Freelancer Transformation, each episode took 10 hours to make from researching guests to editing and publishing. Now he has standard processes, he hires a company to produce the show, and he has a nice network through which he can easily find guests. None of that was established in the beginning so starting out, you need to recognize that it will take time. Another con is that it is not the greatest way to generate fast traffic to your site. If you are looking to generate a lot of traffic to your site quickly, you should focus on guesting (writing guest posts and appearing on other peoples’ podcast) to build that audience faster. Having your own podcast connects you with the specific people you want to connect with fast, but doesn’t help you reach the masses as much as one might think.

Quick tips
If you’ve read all of this and are ready to get your podcast underway, Matt has a few suggestions for you to check out. He recommends Pat Flynn’s free podcasting guide, and Jon Lee Dumas’ Podcaster's Paradise. Philip Morgan has a free article on all of the podcasting equipment he uses. Matt says to stay on the beaten path when starting your podcast and not to get too fancy or overthink things. For a microphone he suggests: ATR 2100 or the Yeti --they’re professional sounding, under $100 and you don’t have to dwell on the question longer than necessary. Matt says that if he were starting over, he would choose a simpler format since currently his shows involve pre intro, intro music, an introduction, the interview, outro, and outro music. If he were to redesign the whole thing, he says he would do everything live. He’d bring the guest on, introduce them, play the intro music and get down to it. By doing everything live, he would have saved hours of editing. Though it is tempting to want to innovate, he says to get the basics down and don’t overcomplicate things. Listeners are there for the expert content and don’t care about a spiffy sounding intro by a third party. One area where Matt says he made the right call was by not posting video as part of his podcast. He refrained from this primarily because video complicated things, but it is a waste of resources for ROI. If you are considering hosting video also, bear in mind that Matt says it won’t do great on youtube by itself. Clips, however, can be used on social media and to spark interest in your regular programing.

In the end, hosting a podcast will not bring a flood of sales and traffic to your site. However, it can be a great gateway to the people in your field who seem off limits. It can help you refine your message and reinforce your authority. It can even give you the data you need in order to improve your products and services. Take it from expert, Matt, podcasting is an exercise worth engaging in, as long as you pay attention to the “whys” and set yourself up for success.

For further reading, check out the links below:

• http://www.microconf.com/
• https://freelancetransformation.com/
• https://rightmessage.com/
• Pat Flynn's Podcasting Tutorial
• Podcaster's Paradise
• Philip Morgan on Podcasting
• Justin Bergen Wearables

Today’s topics include:

Getting started in productized services,
Focusing clients for success with clear communication,
Using set processes to streamline service products,
Building referral channels and recurring revenue,
Opportunities for productized services in your own business

Resources and links:

Double Your Freelancing Academy

Week of the Website

Week of the Website - Website planning tool

Presence Agency

Kelsey Kreiling - Website

Kelsey Kreiling - LinkedIn

Kelsey Kreiling - Twitter

FreshBooks

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

Today’s topics include:

The Rule of One: 4-part definition and implementation,
Niched marketing and personalized customer experience,
Creating a reader archetype,
Stages of customer awareness: problem, solution and product,
Big ideas and your promise to the customer,
Analyzing your offer to find missing details,
Questioning common “best practices”

Resources and links:

Double Your Freelancing Academy

Drip Email Marketing Automation - Double Your Freelancing Course

CopyHackers.com

Airstory

Joanna Wiebe - Google+

Joanna Wiebe - Twitter

Joanna Wiebe - LinkedIn

FreshBooks

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

Today’s topics include:

Transition from consulting to productized services
Launching in seven days and growing the business through referrals
Developing product offerings and pricing strategy
Lessons learned since launch: hiring, customer niches
Aligning marketing to customer niche
Sales processes for productized services versus consulting
Value of informational sales calls

Resources and links:

Bean Ninjas

Dan Norris - 7 Day Startup

Trello Project Management

You Need a Budget

Double Your Freelancing Meetup Groups

Double Your Freelancing Academy

FreshBooks

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

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!

Today’s topics include:

• Double Your Freelancing new drip email marketing automation course
• The importance of using Mastermind groups to improve focus in your business
• Mastermind group structure, leadership and relationships
• Running a distributed team using structured communication processes
• Recent evolution of Double Your Freelancing Academy
• How Barry founded his company Happy Porch

Resources and links:

Drip Email Marketing Automation - Double Your Freelancing Course

Double Your Freelancing Academy

Happy Porch

Endzone

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!

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!

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.

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!

Jane is an amazing UI designer and business consultant. Jane has been designing for over 10 years. She worked for a large agency in Russia. She is also a mom, and now works full time in the US as a consultant. She wanted to build authority, so she started writing books and implemented a lot of my advice for consultants. She is currently focused on helping SaaS founders to build simple products that make money.

Today’s topics include:

• Most people don’t realize the sales process is done through long form sales copy, walking through the clients pains
• Have a way to capture potential customers on your site, put together a sales machine that sells and captures
• Productize offering before going into full sales of bigger offering
• The job of design is to build credibility along the way
• WordPress themes are not correlated with the long form sales copy
• Write good copy and make sure visuals are broken down by nicely formatted sales copy and a way to capture emails
• A consulting website should be focused around your product, and selling your entry level free magnet, and your entry level productized service, so you need a few specific sells pages
• Your landing page should be your airport where you go through who you are and how you can help, then go through your existing product offerings
• Free engagement > smaller offering > full sales offering
• Give away your email not just a contact form
• Free lead magnets, checklists, reports, email course
• Structure your website right, your client will know that you are different than other freelancers

Resources and links:

Planscope

Jane’s Website UIBreakfast

Twitter @UIBreakfast

Sean D’Souza

The UI Audit

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!

Alex studied geography in London. After that, he wasn't sure what he really wanted to do, so he studied real estate and received a Master's degree. During this time, he got back into what he really enjoyed which was creating illustrations. At first, this was part time, then full time, then he felt he needed to share everything that he had been learning with the world, and Red Lemon was born.

Now he coaches creatives of all kinds on how to market their businesses. He stumbled on the list concept where having a limited network that he looks at manually as one of his most effective strategies. His simple strategy is to build a list of 150 people that can help your business. These people need to know you in some way, even if it is just responding to an email list. They also need to be useful to your business in some way. Having everyone that is important to you in one place allows for easy communication and networking.

Today’s topics include:

You can have an agent, but build your own marketing channels as well
Lists aren’t static, they evolve over time, taking out and adding new value
Having an influence score helps grow the value of the list
Have a small list of 20 for connections you want to add (additions list)
Check the list frequently, and reach out manually to everyone at least every two months.
Show an interest to help, some can lead into a pitch if appropriate
It’s a game of quality interactions, it doesn’t have to be overwhelming

Resources and links:

Alex Mathers

Red Lemon Club

Ape on the Moon

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!

Working with agencies, Karl discovered everything they offer fits in the strategies of the SIT framework. The first part of the framework is strategy where the client is saying tell me what to do. The second part is implementation where the client is saying do it for me. Training is the third part, where the client says teach me how to do it. They want to do the project or maintenance in house and they need to get up to speed.

Success is more than just completing the project, it is knowing that what you delivered solved the problem at hand. Strategy, implementation and training is a perfect framework for cross-selling and creating the best long term solutions. Communication and understanding client goals can help avoid client problems.

Today’s topics include:

Getting paid for offering training as a service
Benefits of helping the transition of the product hand-off
Pitfalls of hiring technical and business employees
Being kept on as a trusted advisor is an ideal client situation
Questions to ask potential clients and avoid communication issues

Resources and links:

Sakas and Company Resources

Double Your Freelancing Courses

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!

He started looking for a new solution to solve this problem. Jesse was based in New York, so he couldn’t handle cases in other jurisdictions, but he could forward the cases to other lawyers in those jurisdictions. That is the idea behind the formation of Indepayment.

Having a solid contract can help to resolve a non-payment issue. You can also ask for payment up-front or for milestone payments to help prevent non-payment issues. Trust issues may prevent clients from wanting to pay ahead of time. Indepayment offers an escrow service where the buyer puts their money in and then it is paid to the contractor after the services are rendered.

Today’s topics include:

Problems that arise when trying to collect from a client who claims insolvency
Things to put in your contract in case you ever have a dispute
How Indepayment works with online escrow companies and dispute resolution
Having freelance invoices in the system at Indepayment provides a central place to collect payment histories
A free payment collection service that works on contingency solves a tremendous pain point

Resources and links:

Jesse Strauss Law PLLC

Indepayment

Write to Jesse Jesse@indepayment.com

Write to me Brennan@doubleyourfreelancing.com

[podcast-bonus]

Keith credits being able to build a thriving consultancy agency through meeting and talking to people. Most of his clients are referral based, and he got started through contacts he had made doing earlier work. He feels that just talking to people and finding out what their problems are and telling them what he does is a great way to connect. He doesn’t have expectations he just talks with people. Down the road, these conversations can lead to potential business connections.

Today’s topics include:

How to structure project management in a different time zone
Having a US based account manager allows a time buffer for clients
Advice for rural freelancers managing direct clients
Networking and just talking to people can lead to meeting clients
How helping people increases your chances of making quality business relationships
Strategies for talking to people that can lead to referrals

Going into conversations with the desire to truly help people is the best way to make connections. Keith says that when you are there to help people they will recognize that. He also suggests being open to talking to everyone, because you never know where that chain of referrals will begin. A great conversation starter is just to ask people what they do. Taking an interest and allowing people to talk is more effective than trying to pry.

Resources and links:

DelfiNet

Summit Evergreen

SegMetrics

“If you’re just looking in your own niche, you’re probably not going to find anyone that needs your services” - Keith

You can find out more about Keith and how to start products from a technology and marketing standpoint at his website.

If you are interested in finding out more about the upcoming conference in Stockholm or the roadmapping course, be sure and sign up for the Double Your Freelancing newsletter.

If you liked today’s podcast, please leave a review for the show in iTunes.

While researching methodologies to scale her own business, Mandi discovered that this was a common problem for other entrepreneurs, and her business was born. She developed a five step system for business scalability, so that the owner is not stuck selling time for money. In the process, the business owner will have time to focus on what matters and create a real business and saleable asset.

Today’s topics include:

Mandi’s five point system to help businesses run without you
Selling value for money instead of time for money
Refining your process to sale an outcome
Charging based on value for a specific problem for a specific person or business
How to leverage more time and find 20-40 extra hours per month
Making a service business scalable will buy you freedom

Many freelancers get stuck having to choose between growing their business or having a life. With Mandi’s system it is possible to do both. To properly scale it is really necessary to have a mindset of scalability. There is a better, faster and easier way to do things. The transition doesn’t have to be as hard as you think. Involving other people in the transition process will help you to work smarter and work less.

“There is a whole other option where you can work less and less and have your business deliver value without you.” Mandi

You can find out more about Mandi’s five steps to scale your business at her training course here or you can contact her by email mandi@mandiellefson.com

If you liked today’s podcast, please leave a review for the show in iTunes.

What he’s discovered is that experimentation is the only way of finding out what works best for your business specifically. You need to approach the business from different levels, and be the consultant (for example) who’s seen as a trusted advisor rather than a salesperson.

Today’s topics included:
Pricing versus billing
Perspectives about growth ambitions
Dealing with procurement departments
The issues with paying and getting paid
How Bart grew his business x11
Road mapping and sales processes
The power of tweaking and experimenting over time

You always want to sell value, and be sure that you’re taking the necessary steps to do so. Ever since the first call, start building trust and make them feel like they’re where they belong.

“You have to be comfortable with yourself first.” – Bart

Take time to hone in on your specific skill-set, and use it to your advantage. When you invest your time into experimenting and discovering, you’re investing time into making your business succeed. Bart shares this and more really solid advice on how to follow in his footsteps, so you can start building and scaling your business, too.

Links and resources:
Sumo Heavy
Bart's Twitter

If you liked today’s podcast, please leave a review for the show in iTunes.

On today’s episode we’ll discuss:
How Listen began his career
Finding clients that fit your company
Examining your customer’s decision process
Following up
Using the data you have
Asking qualifying questions
Keeping the lines of communication open

Checking in with the customer and gauging the success of the engagement is critical. It will show you where you’re being successful, but it will also give you the opportunity to course correct.

“Find the ‘Ten questions everyone should be asking their clients’ at Goodfunnel.co/DYF.” - Liston

You can learn more about Liston Wisterill at his website Goodfunnel.co or email him at liston@goodfunnel.co.

If you liked today’s podcast, please leave a review for the show in iTunes.

Today’s highlights include:
How Naveen began freelancing
Building a recurring revenue stream
“Active Reading”
Deconstructing goals
Daily routine
Content Consumption vs. Content Production

Naveen starts his day with the tasks that are most important to him. It’s the most cognitive time of work for him and he uses this time for exploration and the development of his own business. Once he’s taken care of the high value or strategic work then he moves on to the work of helping his students or clients. This is what it took to get him where he is today.

The systems Naveen has created allow him to work on the things he loves and wants to work on. He is still working on systems, trying to get certain tasks automated, which continues to free up time in his own week. Working on things that you can invest in and systemize allow you focus on larger opportunities or your family, or other things you want to do.

There’s a lot we can all learn. Buying a course isn’t enough. You can’t just consume. You need to digest and process. The systematic approach to business growth is what works.

Links and Resources

• Proactive Selling
• Spin Selling
• Ruby on Rails

You can learn more about Naveen Dittakavi at his website, HowToBuildRecurringRevenue.com

If you liked today’s podcast, please leave a review for the show in iTunes.

Our guest today is Jeffrey Shaw. He’s a business coach, and he excels in, and focuses on how companies like ours can avoid being generalists. When you generalize your position in the market, you make it harder for yourself to stand out; and that’s where Jeff steps in. He’s also a pro speaker, photographer and is the host of his podcast called “Creative Warriors.”  

Today’s topics include:

• The biggest challenge of going to work for yourself
• How to create a standout statement and use it to your advantage
• The role of branding as it relates to your customers
• Why “niche” needs to be completely redefined for freelancers
• The paradox of being in business on the internet
• How to use uniqueness to market yourself
• The importance of balance

How the world sees you is essential to your success, and this applies to more than just freelancing. When people see something in you that they want to be a part of, you know you’re on the right track.

We’ll be doing a high level overview of what it means to be a brand, what the implications are and what we can do with it. So, how can you start to develop a unique message for your business?

If you liked today’s podcast, please leave a review for the show in iTunes.  Your reviews are what keep us up-to-date on how to improve the show so you can have the best listening experience possible. Be sure to join us next week for another all-new episode.

Links and resources:

• Eight Essential Elements by Jeffrey Shaw
• Creative Warriors Unite

We go through how she and her team charge hundreds of dollars an hour for caricature art, and all the ins and outs of her work and business strategy. She’s applied everything I cover on the website and podcast when it comes to value based pricing and price anchoring, and has now applied it to her craft and company.

Today’s topics include:

•Julia’s transition from BC sales to BB sales

•Why selling the outcome to your clients is so important

•How she discovered being a booth caricature artist

•Her pricing strategy

•How she’s a lead generator for businesses

•Julia’s business growth plan of action

Basically, Julia is a bridge between a potential prospect at a trade show and the customer, and through her testimonials and how she pitches herself, she helps to serve as an investment to their business. So essentially, she’s selling outcomes. It’s about getting results. It’s not about your qualifications or your education, it’s about what you provide for the customer.

We explain why it’s important to communicate that you’re a professional by explaining the outcomes they’ll get by working with you, and delve into the challenges she faced when changing her type of work events and shifting the focus to her clients instead of herself.

Julia actually works with a team, where the work is divided into about 50/50. More than anything, Julia realizes the importance of making it more about the business and less about the fun in itself, because the business side of things is what keeps it all afloat.

Make sure to visit Julia’s gorgeous website at www.jkexpressions.com, and if you want to contact her, feel free to e-mail her at julia@jkexpressions.com.

Personally, I’ve recently been in heads down mode in the second edition of my annual class: “Double Your Freelancing Clients”, where it’ll be launching in November and kicking off in February. We work with masterminds and mentor led students, every six weeks for 6 months, to help each memory student stay accountable and get tailored advice about how to apply the course contents to the business. We’ve had incredible results with our pilot class, and it’s only once a year. So if you’re interested, head on over to www.doubleyourfreelancing.com/clients and check us out.

I really wanted to get his perspectives on how to use the principles that were so foundational for my own businesses and tailor them to people like you: freelancers and consultants.

More and more companies are making the same fundamental mistake that’s hindering their sales and keeping them from moving up in the charts. But what mistake is that, exactly?

One of the most important aspects of sales is knowing how to listen to your customers and speak to them in a language that they’re familiar with, and more importantly, that they can relate to.

Episode highlights:

• How to optimize your sales so they’re more attractive to customers
• How to uncover the customer’s problem and it use it to your advantage
• How to use Sean’s “Yes-Yes” sale method
• What you should be paying closer attention to when it comes to your customers
• How to establish your business credibility

When you create a product, it’s because you have a solution to a problem. When someone asks you why you created that product isn’t when you start talking about the wonderful solution you came up with. It’s your perfect chance to present the problem and explain why you have the best solution.  

“It’s not just about bringing up the problem, it’s bringing up the consequences of not dealing with that problem.”

We wrap up the episode while talking about having multiple pages, the importance of testimonials, and the reason why you’re not getting more customers.

If you liked today’s podcast, please leave a review for the show in iTunes.  Your reviews are what keep me up-to-date on how to improve the show so you can have the best listening experience possible.

Be sure to join us next week for another awesome episode, joined by the talented Julia Kelly.

Sean says websites or information freelancers give to potential clients about their services may not focus enough on “the problem.”   Freelancers need to address a client’s specific problem.  The client may not realize the problem initially. By identifying the problem, a freelancer will be able to tell the client how their specific service will solve it.

Episode Highlights:

• What Sean’s book means by The Seven Red Bags
• How companies like Apple and Domino’s Pizza have achieved great success by focusing on one aspect of problem-solving
• How freelancers can effectively use a target profile and a develop their niche

Sean invites listeners to sign up to receive his booklet, How To Win The Resistance Game.

Check out Sean’s podcast, The Three-Month Vacation Podcast.

**Be sure to join us for the second part of my interview with Sean.   **

You can sign up now for the 2016 class of Double your Freelancing Clients.  Fill out the opt-in form and I’ll contact you with details in November.  

If you liked today’s podcast, please leave a review for the show in iTunes.  I’m trying to get listed in new and noteworthy on iTunes and would appreciate your help!  

The Panel:

Mojca Mars - owner of Super Spicy Media, social media consultant

Brian Casel - owner of Audience Ops, content marketing service

Julie Elster -  owner of Just Tell Julie, virtual accounts receivable service

Kurt Elster - ecommerce consultant who helps shopify stores double their revenue

Kai Davis - outreach consultant who helpsconsultants and product creators increase their traffic and grow their audience

We discuss some of the highlights of the Double Your Freelancing Conference, including:

• The sense of community we all felt that began with Slack conversations before the conference and continued through the event
• The fact that the speakers felt like attendees too
• Looking at attending conferences as an investment in your business
• Learning that so many people were forward-thinking with their businesses
• Brennan’s desire to have an actionable conference
• The speakers that inspired us to take action, apply their direction in some way to our own businesses and strive for productivity and focus
• a core theme of: be intentional in your business

With the success of the first Double your Freelancing Conference, I’m planning a European version, possibly in June 2016!  

Resources and Links:

Slack

Super Spicy Media

Audience Ops

Just Tell Julie

Kurt Elster

Kai Davis

You can sign up now for the 2016 class of Double your Freelancing Clients.  Fill out the opt-in form and I’ll contact you with details in November.  

If you liked today’s podcast, please leave a review for the show in iTunes.  I’m trying to get listed in new and noteworthy on iTunes and would appreciate your help!  

Paul has authored numerous wildly-popular books designed for a particular audience.  Paul’s product training wheels involved a book based on his vegan diet called Eat Awesome.  It served to teach him some important lessons around product development.  Some of those lessons he talks about that can help freelancers get started on a product include:

• The importance of working with an audience you like and want to serve
• Allowing the audience you’ve worked with to help spread the word about your product
• Finding your product through the people that come to you with their problems
• Getting the before, during, after and after-plus interviews with clients in a spreadsheet
• The importance of having processes in place with a built-in mechanism for data collection
• Allowing yourself to be an expert to your audience  

Paul is a firm believer in the importance of data collection to drive your business decisions.  Paul says be confident in the data even if you aren’t confident in yourself.   

To find out more about Paul, head over to his website pjrvs.com.  While you’re there sign up for his weekly newsletter, The Sunday Dispatches. Paul also offers Creative Class -  12, self-paced online lessons where you’ll learn the business of freelancing from Paul.

You can sign up now for the 2016 class of Double your Freelancing Clients.  Fill out the opt-in form and I’ll contact you with details in November.  

If you liked today’s podcast, pleaseleave a review for the show in iTunes.  I’m trying to get listed in new and noteworthy on iTunes and would appreciate your help!  

We talk about some of the issues that people can face when they don’t have the same location to live in and work from everyday.  Paul discusses some of the concerns people may encounter and the benefits that can result from living a location-independent lifestyle:

• problems with internet and cell service stability to do your work
• batching work and coordinating things that need to be done before tackling projects
• traveling with children and the benefits and skillsets they can develop from a nomadic lifestyle
• how split shifts and working with a team in various locations actually helps productivity

Paul’s sales funnel is referral marketing.  He returns to his home base once a quarter to network and continue to build referrals.  He says while the lifestyle isn’t for everybody, it’s very possible to get the best of both worlds.  Paul has started a website called Nomad Together which provides a community and resources for others looking to find a location-independent lifestyle.  There you will find a guide which covers eight basic categories that will help you make the leap to becoming a nomad.  The site also has a supportive community to share any troubles and issues that may arise.          

Please check out my Business of Freelancing new course offering for a new one hour webinar training video, How to Qualify, Sell and Close a New Client.  You’ll find examples of actual client communication and proposal excerpts.   

Before you go... Want to hang out with me and 100+ other freelancers in person?

On September 16th, the inaugural Double Your Freelancing Conference kicks off in Norfolk, Virginia. I've arranged to fly in 14 experts, and they'll be covering how to sell, market, price, and grow your business. You won't want to miss this. Get your ticket here.

If you like today’s podcast, I would really appreciate you taking just a minute to leave a review for the show in iTunes.       

Nick is the go-to-guy for productize consulting. Productizing Consulting is a service based on personal experience and expertise. Companies hire productize consultants to troubleshoot their business. Once a month or every quarter Nick’s company will test your business website to see if your site is functioning at full optimization.

Along with an explanation of his company’s service Nick explains why he makes the choices he does in his business. Including:

• Why he is selective about his customer base.
• How “boring work” can still be a good thing when it is steady.
• Don’t base price on a set fee. Look at the customer needs.

Nick’s service is not for beginners. He thinks the best way to move into full-time freelance is to start small. Research your client base and educate yourself on your niche in the market. You are providing a service, understand why you are providing that service.

To learn more about Nick Disabato visit nickd.org for a more personal introduction and visit draft.nu for a business one. Also check out Nick’s book Cadence & Slang.

Thanks for listening today and i you have a few minutes click over to iTunes and please leave us a review of the show. We have more great content coming in the months to come!

In this episode, Kai explains the answer to the most important question any businessman asks himself. Who is my audience? And how are they related to an average freelancer like me? Does a personal touch or your own brand visibility play a major role in getting the right audience? Kai and I discuss building trust and value for the products and services you will be offering without sounding like a salesman. He mentions a lot of helpful tips on how to convert current contacts into income-generating leads naturally by delivering not just the job but also how to deliver great value as well for the customer’s business and in the end getting new referrals that would lead to other referrals.

We also talk about the degree of expertise needed vs. being exposed for being lacking in some areas. Understanding who you are and the solution you can offer to your client’s need, is an important point that needed looking into.

Kai also touches on the value of self-marketing and how you can convert it into a revenue generating activity. He explains the intricacies of the Tripwire concept, SEO and digital marketing, were interesting talking points that will educate your audience into signing up for your services.

If you would like to learn more about Kai and his expertise around audience building, head over to DoubleYourAudience.com or reach out to Kai on Twitter @KaiSDavis. As a special gift for Business of Freelancing listeners, Kai has put together a special checklist and video Q&A all around audience building and the steps you can take to get started today, head over to doubleyouraudience.com/dyf.

If you like today’s podcast, I would really appreciate you taking just a minute to leave a review for the show in iTunes. The show continues to climb in the iTunes rankings, in big part to all of you who have taken the time to leave a review and rating. Thank you so much.

Dave hires a lot of freelancers, so he knows exactly what he’s looking for when he posts jobs and starts interviewing candidates. Key personality traits that stand out are go-getter attitudes who are proactive. The process Dave goes through to hire a freelancer involves understanding their availability and how their attitude affects their work. During our conversation, Dave offered key insight into how you can professionally portray these traits through email and how a proactive modification to your portfolio can make all the difference.

Along with his helpful tips, Dave mentions that there are a few things freelancers do that can sour relationships with clients. He advises every freelancer to follow these rules in order to avoid the most common freelance mistakes:
Maintain high quality work
Ask for more time when you need it
Understand the business goal behind what you’re doing
Keep evolving with new and creative content

In this episode, Dave offers useful insights into how you can maintain your clients and continue to build new relationships and expand your business. You can get even more from his blog, and his website HubStaff.com, or email him directly at dave@hubstaff.com.

If you liked today’s podcast, please leave a review for the show in iTunes. I’m trying to get listed in new and noteworthy on iTunes and would appreciate your help!

Mojca had a quick start to her current consulting agency, Super Spicy Media, by getting those initial first customers via Twitter. Now she says that the majority of her customers actually still come from Twitter and the engagement she’s built there over time. Adding value is core to her approach to social media.

Don’t spam people, don’t use automated tools to send massive amounts of posts, and don’t try to use hashtags to reach new people. Add value, answer people’s questions, and engage in a meaningful dialogue and you’ll also see the return on investment that Mojca has seen too.

Almost all of us have personal Twitter and Facebook accounts. Should we have business accounts too? Mojca says it depends on the business, but for most freelancers their businesses are so closely mirrored to their personal profiles it just doesn’t make sense. It usually just will create more work, and not have a lot of upside.

As powerful as social media tools like Twitter and Facebook are, Mojca still says that building an email list is the first thing that most business owners should do. The conversation usually goes over to social, but starting it on email is a great way to begin a conversation.

For those of you just getting started, Mojca says to start with a finite amount of time on each platform, and have a plan in mind before you get started. As you begin to get engaged with your target audience, look to test your approach early and often. If what you’re doing is working then you can do more of it, if it’s not then try something new and iterate the process.

You can reach out to Mojca (not surprisingly) via Twitter @MojcaMars.

Trajan starts by recommending two books to a new entrepreneur, E-Myth Revisited and The Goal.

We talk about the importance of understanding all aspects of your business, even the parts you don’t really like. Understanding all aspects gives you credibility to your clients as well as any employees you may be hiring.

When you are thinking about the processes of your business, Trajan says the lifeblood is the financial aspect. We discuss the financial details you should be looking at to to keep your business healthy. Trajan also takes us through the importance of a sales funnel as it goes from leads through the entire sales process. We also have some tips on how to train new employees that will give you credibility without making the task cumbersome.

You can reach out to Trajan on his website invinciblestartup.com. He offers a variety of resources for education and mentorship and it’s a full community of entrepreneurs. You can also hit him up on Twitter @trajanking.

A reminder that I will soon begin producing a daily question and answer podcast, called Freelance Answers. I’ll answer your questions and talk about a variety of topics that come up in my discussions with readers of the blog. You can find out more about the new show at doubleyourfreelancing.com/answers. If you have any guest suggestions for the podcast, please let me know at doubleyourfreelancing.com

If you liked today’s podcast, please leave a review for the show in iTunes. I’m trying to get listed in new and noteworthy on iTunes and would appreciate your help!

I’m very close to launching my new daily question and answer podcast/YouTube show, called Freelance Answers. This will be a great way to share the questions that a lot of you have asked and delve into a variety of topics that come up in my discussions with readers of the blog.

You can find out more about the new show and submit your questions at doubleyourfreelancing.com/answers. Stay tuned to my newsletter to find out when the new show will be released.

At one time I thought that when it came to hiring subcontractors all you really needed to do was hire smart people. It’s actually not that easy. The idea of a self-managing employee is a fallacy and puts very unrealistic expectations on the person you hire.

There are some ways to set up yourself and your subcontractor to succeed:

Be realistic about communication. When hiring you will need to explain in great detail what you need.
It is impossible to over-communicate. We outline some ways that you and your subcontractors can communicate on a very frequent basis.
Answer your subcontractor’s questions quickly.
Know that you might have to face a client who questions having a subcontractor do their work instead of you. We discuss some ways to handle those situations.
You are the person who assumes all risk and you are responsible for reviewing the work before it gets to the client.
Give feedback. This is an important subject and we discuss how that feedback needs to be delivered.
Marcus has outstanding coaching experience and tons of great ideas. You can connect with him on his website at marcusblankenship.com.

If you liked today’s podcast, could I please nudge you into a review leave a review for the show in iTunes? If you have any suggestions or thoughts about the show, please contact me on my website at doubleyourfreelancing.com/contact.

I’m very excited to announce that in addition to this show I’m going to soon begin producing a daily question and answer podcast, called Freelance Answers. This will be a great way to share the questions that a lot of you have and show the variety of topics that come up in my discussions with readers of the blog. Stay tuned to the podcast and my newsletter to find out more about the show as it prepares to go live.

When we spoke, Matt was preparing for his last day of work at his job and his first day of full time freelancing. Matt designs custom web and mobile solutions that grow startups and small businesses. While he worked as a freelancer through college and beyond, Matt now finds himself in the position of a full time freelancer.

Aside from his regular job, Matt has done a number of freelance projects through the years. He said he hit an eventual plateau with outside jobs. He then checked out my website, and read over some of my material that helped him realize that he could be doing a whole lot better by changing his positioning a little. That led to a redesign of his website, which then led to a huge influx of new work. Matt said it became a matter of how he presented his information and letting the client know what he could do for their business.

We talked about the importance of having a foundation for your business and how that helped Matt set up the pipeline for additional work. Also, blog posts and other information you put on your website can lead to getting clients. If they’ve read what you posted and look at you as the expert in the field, they’ll be more likely to consider hiring you when they need your services.

In addition to his freelance work, Matt has plans for the future which include e-books for people who are looking to hire freelancers, growing his current newsletter and continuing his blog posts. When I asked Matt what he was the most afraid of and most excited for as he takes the full-time freelance plunge, his answer was the same for both and he explains why.

To stay in touch with Matt head over to mattolpinski.com and sign up for his monthly newsletter, or hit him up on Twitter @MattOlpinski.

If you liked today’s podcast, I would appreciate if you could please leave a review for the show in iTunes.

First, a reminder to sign up for ticket information for my event, The Business of Freelancing Conference . The show will be September 16-18 in Norfolk, VA. Sign up now to be notified when tickets go on sale. I’m very excited about the speakers that are lined up for this event!

Jeff Steinmann planned to quit his banking job in 2001, but rather than walk away, he went back to his desk. The idea of working for himself resurfaced and in 2012, he began working on his own as a marketing consultant. In two years, he turned his book and podcast into a 6-figure coaching business.

In our interview Jeff talks about the mental steps he took to enable him to start his own business. He believes the key skill you need to go into a freelance opportunity is to be able to take what you do and translate that into something that is meaningful to a client. Jeff says small business owners value somebody who can talk in terms they understand and can ask the right questions to understand the details of what they need.

We discuss the best path for going forward into full time freelance work. Jeff believes it’s important to decide where you will specialize and set yourself apart. Determine what attribute makes you unique to your potential client. It can be difficult to get clients when you are first starting. I believe that a potential client can be your former boss because not only do you know the business but your boss may be looking at easing transition costs. Jeff thinks it’s a good idea to start conversations with people in your personal network and then move toward networking events in your neighborhood.

Jeff’s final tip deals with understanding how to close the gap between how little your potential employer cares about what you do and how much they care about getting their problem solved.

You can reach out to Jeff on howtoquitworking.com or on Twitter @JeffSteinmann.

If you like today’s podcast, I would really appreciate you taking just a minute to leave a review for the show in iTunes.

Keep those reviews coming. It's a great way for me to know that the show is resonating with you and bringing you the resources that you're looking for.

The Business of Freelancing Conference tickets will be on sale soon. The show will be September 16-18 in Norfolk, VA. Sign up to get notified when tickets go on sale. I am really excited and honored when I look at the speaker lineup. We have the best from several industries to come share their knowledge with you at the conference.

Today I have John Sonmez on the show with me. John describes himself as a "Life coach for software developers". Starting a few years ago he built more than 7 days of course work on Pluralsight, which allowed him to quit his day job and ramp up his educational portfolio. John also quickly realized there was nobody focusing specifically on lifestyle coaching for software developers, and decided to focus his efforts entirely on that.

John and I talk about the power of creating content that comes directly from the questions that customers ask of you. Talking to a broader audience is so much more powerful than directly speaking to an individual. Marketing is the conversion of those conversations into an evergreen piece that "build the bricks" in your content machine.

To brige the gap between creating content and converting those fans into customers or referrals to other customers John says his go to is his email list. And the best way to build a high quality email list is through email courses. John says that his most valuable business asset is his email list, because of how often you can have a conversation with those members of your audience.

Lastly, to leave you with actionable takeaways from the show John has a challenge. In the comments below for this episode, let us know what action you took to create and update your blog. John will be monitoring the comments here and will pick one of the comments and send you a signed copy of Soft Skills: The Software Developer’s Life Manual.

Also, go to DevCareerBoost.com and use coupon code "DYF" to get $100 off our course on how to market yourself as a developer and move your career to a whole new level.

You can find out more about John over on his blog at SimpleProgrammer.com, or on Twitter @jsonmez. John also runs two podcasts: Entreprogrammers which is a recording of his weekly mastermind group. And Get Up and Code talks more to the personal side of being a programmer and entrepreneur.

Today Jonathan and I get a chance to dig in to some of the details around how to approach problems of creating a culture of value based pricing within your agency and how to win with a fixed price model versus your competitors who will often be delivering lower priced bids than you. This is achieved through the risk mitigation of your proposal in the client's eyes.

Finally, Jonathan and I talk through how to manage scope creep, change orders by customers, and seemingly micromanagement of customers in the details of your work.

Jonathan was kind enough to offer an exclusive discount on his coaching services, just for DYF listeners. To get over $500 off his one-on-one coaching programs go to expensiveproblem.com/dyf

You can learn more about Jonathan on his agency site at JonathanStark.com, check out his podcast with co-host Kelli Shaver, or contact him directly on Twitter @JonathanStark.

Also, I am very excited to announce that the Double Your Freelancing Conference has been formally announced. Subscribers of my newsletter got first word of it in this week's edition. We are tentatively scheduled for the event to be in my home town of Norfolk, VA on September 17-18. Guest speakers will include Kai Davis, Brian Casel, Allan Branch, Ed Gandia, Jonathan Stark, Kurt Elster, Mojca Mars, Nathan Barry, Philip Morgan, Sarah Bray, and Steli Efti. To find out more about the conference head over to doubleyourfreelancing.com/conf/

If you enjoyed the show today, and these types of interviews, please head over to iTunes and leave a review for the show. It helps the show get more visibility in the Freelancing space and allows me to bring great guests on the show to help build up your freelancing business.

International Freelancers Academy is a podcast that Ed has created to help freelancers increase their value to the market and find higher paying clients. Ed also writes on how to specialize in High Income Business Writing at B2blauncher.com.

You can reach out to Ed directly on Twitter @EdGandia or on his website at B2BLauncher.com.

As a side note, I am putting together a conference for this fall that will be exclusively on freelancers. It will be a small, very focused conference. Details for the conference will be coming soon. To stay up to date with it make sure you’re subscribed to my newsletter.

If you enjoyed the show today, I would really appreciate you taking just a minute to leave a review for the show in iTunes. It would really mean a lot.

To begin with, Kurt lays out a framework he follows that is necessary to specialize. He believes you need 3 things to specialize in a market:

Audience
Benefit
Technology
To cater to a range of audience needs Kurt has created both a productized services business around Shopify optimization called Website Rescue, and a consulting business to help customers get the most out of their e-commerce stores named EtherCycle.

Kurt has used this approach to be featured on the Shopify website as one of their official experts, and is currently writing a book that helps take people past their initial crowdfunding experience and into the world of e-commerce.

You can find out more about Kurt and his services over at Website Rescues and EtherCycle.

You can reach out to Kurt on Twitter @kurtinc.