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Okay, so I started my side hustle by doing one-on-one web design work for clients while I still had a full-time job, and I quickly burned myself out. I decided there was no way I’d be able to work one-on-one with clients and still keep my day job, so I decided that I’d teach people how to do it themselves, for free, and I’d earn commissions from affiliate marketing for the products and services I recommended inside my free training. And I figured I’d create my own courses later on, but at the start, my plan was to just get as many people into my 5 Day Website Challenge and earn those affiliate commissions.

And then something unexpected happened.

My dream clients started asking me to build websites for them. People that had amazing businesses with beautiful brands that were doing amazing things were asking ME to build their website.

And I had no credentials, certifications, and no portfolio – that I was proud of, anyway.

I was so confused. I’m like, “I’m teaching you exactly how do to do this for free, and you still want to pay me to do it for you?” It didn’t compute.

What I didn’t realize is that my free training gave me tons of credibility.

So what is credibility? What does that even mean?

The reason I’m even doing this webinar is that you guys took my survey and 75% of you told me that you’re awesome at coding, you’re awesome at follow-through, but you don’t know how you’re ever going to get clients when you don’t have the credentials, or a portfolio, or that one big client that you can name drop and use as a testimonial.

What that tells me is that you think that credentials, a portfolio and a token client are what builds credibility. And that’s totally what I thought too.

The good news is, that’s not entirely true. Those things don’t hurt, but they are not the end-all be all. In fact, anyone can SAY they have those things, but it doesn’t mean they have credibility.

When someone is paying for a service, there’s a level of trust that has to occur on both sides, because they are paying for something that doesn’t exist.

Someone has to give before they get in this scenario, right? And it can go only one of two ways:

You start spending your time on a project before you get paid and you trust that the client is going to pay you

OR

The client pays you before you start working and trusts that you deliver what you say you will deliver.

Your client doesn’t care if you know how to code, they care if you deliver. I can’t tell you how many clients I’ve gotten because the original developer disappeared.

Credibility is TRUST THAT YOU CAN DELIVER ON YOUR PROMISES.

Ways to Build Credibility:

1. 1. The Know, Like & Trust Factor. Put Your Face On Your Website. You Are The Brand. If someone is going to consider giving someone thousands of dollars, they want to see who they are talking to. Plus you are putting your own reputation on the line.
   2. Your own website. Make sure your own website has all the functionality you are willing and able to build for your own clients. Go all out. Get custom photography, hire a graphic designer. Invest in your brand.
   3. Solve a problem for your clients. Their problem is not that they need someone who knows HTML, CSS and PHP and can build a mobile-responsive website on a custom framework. They don’t know what it is, and they don’t care. Figure out what problem you are solving for them and position your messaging and marketing around that problem.
   4. Become an Expert. And blog about it. When the client sees that you have written about how to solve their problem, you are positioning yourself as an expert.
   5. Your Consultation Process. How you do anything is how you do everything. When you make this process easy for the client and you follow through completely, that’s a precursor to the client as to how it will be to work with you.
   6. You’re not just a developer. You’re a consultant. You’re going to make recommendations on how to solve certain business problems. That’s what your clients want.

Avoid these mistakes:

1. Not charging what your time is worth. When you feel like your credentials aren’t good enough, your pricing will match how you feel about your skillset.
2. Thinking your clients care about certifications. Your employer probably does, but your clients just want you to deliver what you promise.
3. Thinking that your portfolio has be full of client work. It doesn’t! It just has to show your skill set. Hint: if you build sites that you LOVE, then you’ll attract people that also love that kind of work.