The Freelance Economy

When your website is designed to be accessible to all people, you will reach more customers, reduce liability, and increase conversion rates. Amber Hinds joins Kim to discuss how not to get sued over ADA compliancy issues and how to create a great website experience for your visitors. Learn about accessibility requirements and how to protect yourself with Equalize Digital's free Accessibility Checker. A free WordPress plugin is available to help web developers and content mangers stay in compliance. Website accessibility affects every freelancer and small business owner that has a website. Don't miss this episode! Visit https://equalizedigital.com/ for more information on the Accessibility Checker and WordPress plugin.

When Lexie Robles lost her job during the pandemic, things could have gotten dire. Instead, she turned it into an opportunity to start her own business and start freelancing. If you've ever thought of freelancing as a part or full-time job, you're going to want to listen to this episode of "The Freelance Economy." Kim and Lexie talk about her experiences as a "freelancing newbie" and what her list of to-do's were when she was just starting out. Kim discusses initial marketing ideas and social media networks to promote your freelancing activities on. Freelancing has really worked for Lexie and she's a great inspiration to others new to freelancing.

Tiffany Jones began freelancing after she had a baby and realized that she needed much more freedom and flexibility in her schedule. When she realized how freelancing positively impacted her life and her family's, she decided to teach other parents how to make the transition from traditional employment. Tiffany cofounded The Kenza Collective, a platform designed to inspire, empower, and educate parents who work for themselves. Kim and Tiffany discuss the challenges in 2021, freelancing from home as a parent. Having children in your work space brings a whole new set of challenges to freelancing. They talk about setting boundaries, time management, finding support, and running a freelancing business. Tiffany also talks about her new course for freelancing parents, "You Can Do This" that lays out a workable plan to get started. If you're a parent and you work from home, you won't want to miss this episode of The Freelance Economy!

Kim welcomes her self-confessed soul sister, Gila Kurtz, co-founder and President of Dog Is Good, to the podcast to discuss reimagining yourself and your business in times of chaos. Kim and Gila have together spent more than fifty years in the retail industry, and currently both have retail businesses in the pet space. With newly imagined lifestyles and changed consumer buying habits due to COVID-19, the retail industry has faced challenges. Hear how Kurtz has pivoted her company to create new revenue streams and ways of doing business, while maintaining a zest for life and a super positive attitude with DIG Direct. She also shares how she transformed her best selling book, "Fur Covered Wisdom," into a new business model that focuses on empowering women through awareness, letting go, pursuing with purpose, habits, and accelerating the process. Don't miss a conversation that will excite the entrepreneur and freelancer in all of us. 

If you feel overwhelmed with work and the isolation of working alone has got you crawling the walls, join Kim as she talks to organization and project strategy expert, Sarah Duran, CEO of Fruition Initiatives. Sarah is a certified Disruption Advisor Coach and works with educators, entrepreneurs, and leaders to help them turn their ideas into action. She specializes in helping people who work remotely get more organized and productive. Kim and Sarah discuss how to take control of work/life balance using time management, email management, automation, and utilizing freelancers. Sarah talks about some of her favorite productivity tools that can transform email inbox nightmares and can eliminate you asking clients for the same things, over and over again. She also discusses her new course, "Running Your Business Instead of Letting It Run You," available on her website FruitionInitiatives.com.

Are you a woman over 50 who would love to start her own business or side hustle? Today's podcast is for you. Kim talks to Susan Tormollen, a marketer with decades of experience working in corporate America, who took the plunge recently to start her own businesses. Kim and Susan discuss how the pandemic and other factors are contributing to workers over 50 losing their mainstream jobs and being forced into early retirement. Freelancing and starting a side hustle is about financial freedom and empowering women (and men) to take control of their future. Learn the benefits of being over 50 and starting your own business, including taking advantage of the network of friends, family, and colleagues you've built for decades. It's never too late to start something new. 

Kyle Dammann has propelled several brands to become industry leaders and has produced over $10M in direct sales for his clients. His Growth Factor Network is helping small business and freelancers build successful brand recognition and digital marketing companies. He discusses with Kim what a new or established business needs to build a bigger presence online. 90% of digital growth rests in the brand story, narrative and content/offer sequence. Learn the five steps you need to have in place to grow a digital business model quickly and successfully. Kyle and Kim discuss content sequences, landing pages, video and the importance of knowing who your prospective customer is. 

Cameron Hemphill had built and sold several multi-million dollar companies by the time he was 35. With an extensive background in technology and marketing, Cameron currently heads up Growth99, a leader in the online marketing space, specializing in Medical Spas. Cameron and Kim discuss all things online marketing related like how to get found on Google, the importance of reputation management and online reviews, social media and the rise of Instagram, and the remaining importance of websites and email. They also delve into routines and what Cameron calls the Million Dollar Morning Routine that is part of his new online course, "How To Scale Your Medical Spa to a Multi-Million Dollar Business." You can catch Cameron's new podcast, "Medical Millionaire," and the new Growth99 University at Growth99.com.

An interesting conversation with Kim's divorce attorney, Kelsey Lewis, Esq, MSW, who is a fulltime freelancer on Upwork. When Kim was sued for divorce she wanted to represent herself, but she had no idea where to start. So she went to Upwork and found Kelsey Lewis, a fulltime freelancing attorney who had given up the traditional lawyer lifestyle to practice on her terms. She had a rocky start, but now two years in, she makes more than double her past income working for a firm. Kim talks to Kelsey about how she started as a freelancer and what advice she has for other professionals that are tired of not living the lives they want. A fascinating conversation about what being a freelancing lawyer looks like in the 21st century. Kelsey can be found on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/kelseyelewis/ and on Upwork at www.upwork.com/fl/kelseylewis

Kim is joined by Jason McCullough, National Marketing Leader of the Freelancers Union and the Atlanta chapter of SPARK, to discuss how to diversify your income as a freelancer. You can make more money with services you're already offering when you highlight those items and use them to reel in new clientele. Jason discusses strategies for smart diversification and how to grow your freelancing business. He also talks about his journey from employee to self-employed and the struggles with scheduling, routine and goal setting that he learned along the way. Kim and Jason also discuss the Freelancers Union, the largest and fastest growing organization representing over 57 million independent workers in the United States, and SPARK Atlanta, the local hub of the Freelancers Union with workshops and education events for freelancers.