The Freelancers' Show

1:00 Topic Introduction: Podcasting for Freelancers

• All panelists have a podcast

2:00 Why start a podcast?

• Building trust
• Getting to know you
• Portability

6:30 Benefits over video

• Less to get in the way of the message
• Simpler to put together
• Defining the purpose
• Different type of call to action

15:15: Getting listeners to return to the podcast

• Picks
• Marketing, display advertising, brand advertising
• Podcast Motor

22:45: Podcasting as a self-referral

• Podcasting to peers vs. to clients
• 100 Most Trusted People in America (Reader’s Digest)

26:20: What to talk about

• Define your audience
• Specific questions to ask
• Experiment
• Pick something you’re excited about

39:00: What if podcasting for your peers is not working?

• Monetizing
• Outreach

46:30: Making your content interesting

• Format
• Personality and preferences
• Make sure you’re having fun
• Pick a focus
• Making the execution the product

Picks: Ditching Hourly podcast (Jonathan) Todd Tresidder on Double Your Freelancing (Jonathan) Stripped, Macy Gray (Philip) The Online Photographer: 1000 Fans (Philip) Podcast Answer Man (Charles) Podcasting A to Z (Charles) 12 Week Year (Charles) Freelance Remote Conf for 2017 (Charles) Hired.com

1:00: How do I get good freelance gigs online?

• Solve a problem or find a better platform
• Get a more positive mindset
• Ask insightful questions
• Look for hidden opportunities

10:30: Customer discovery and roadmapping

• Brennan Dunn course on roadmapping
• Jonathan Stark: Why questions

11:50: Cold outreach

• “Are you the right person to talk to?”
• Look them up (LinkedIn, Google, GitHub)
• Come in with prior knowledge
• Know personal info
• Selling To Big Companies by Jill Konrath

24:15: Accepting profit-share as a retainer

• You’re becoming an investor
• Blended cash compensation

31:30: Updates

• PositioningCrashCourse.com
• Paul Jarvis
• Rails Remote Conf
• How to Hire a Part-Time Employee
• Entreprogrammers.com

Picks:

• Selling To Big Companies by Jill Konrath
• How to Hire a Part-Time Employee
• The 12-Week Year

0:45: Introductions

• Freelance Remote Conf
• Drew McLellan
• Agency Management Institute

2:40: Building an Agency

• Adding employees
• Traditional vs 1099 model

7:30: Where you’re spending your time

• Running the business vs. doing your craft
• Risks of agency vs. risks of freelancing
• Mistakes agency-owners make

11:00: Financial metrics

• 55% salaries, 25% overhead, 20% profit
• Smart hiring

18:40: Freelancing is a people business 19:30: Agencies must embrace all things digital

• SEO
• SEM
• WordPress
• Art vs data and ROI

23:15: The future of agencies

• Demonstrable ROI
• Pricing and value

27:00: Bringing on a partner

• Skill sets
• Types of leadership

33:40: Where to begin

• Marketing
• Time investment

37:20: Having a vision: What is your best life?

• The Reporter

• The 12-Week Year
• Being intentional

Picks: Drip (Philip) Course on Drip (Philip) Having a vision for your business (Reuven) Dev Shop Marketing Briefing (Reuven) 12 Week Year (Charles) A Conversation of Character (Charles) Who (Charles) The Radical Leap (Drew) Traction (Drew) Entrepreneurial Operating System (Drew) Wunderlist (Drew) Agency Management Institute

1:00: Topic introduction: When people ask for freebies

• Requests from friends, neighbors, family

4:40: Requests for unpaid consulting

• Sometimes it makes sense to offer this for free
• Can lead to additional marketing opportunities

9:00: Avoiding freebie requests

• Give the impression that you are not available for free services
• Remain approachable, though

12:30: Have some material available for free

• Have a topical index so people can have their questions answered

• Answer questions on a blog, podcast or newsletter
• Offer a book or subscription that is a fraction of your main service

21:00: Using freebie requests and questions to help narrow your market

• Know what content is high-quality for your audience
• Time = Money

23:15: Can freebie requests start a client relationship?

• Could turn into paid work
• Or could be that the potential clients are clueless about how your business works

27:30: How a potential client can show that they value your time

• Offers to pay for a quick conversation
• No presumptions that you have time to deal with random question

28:50: Solutions that can help

• Calendly can help
• Offer a strategy call as an hourly service

33:00: Sometimes you just have to say no

• Choose between your time/ability and being helpful
• Don’t damage your business or your personal life, find a balance
• OPA: Other People’s Agenda

38:30: Wrap up suggestions

• Point to free resources
• Schedule a phone call
• Share your time commitments to discourage them
• Send to another provider (pros and cons)

Picks: Weapons of Math Destruction (Reuven) Weapons of Math Destruction podcast on Slate Money (Reuven) Data Survey  (Philip) The Subjective Theory of Value  (Jonathan) Podcast for Coaching Business (Jonathan) The Fall of Hades (Chuck) Links: Hired.comCachefly.com

1:00: Topic Introduction

• Burnout

3:15: Set workday and structure

• Work from home vs. coworking space
• Family time
• Podcast Motor

8:00: How Chuck’s business makes money

• Philip’s explanation of how he runs his business
• Time vs. money
• Prioritizing

13:50: What is burnout?

• An opportunity for transformation
• Too tired, too overwhelmed

15:25: The importance of saying no

• “I can’t do it all.”
• Ask yourself what’s profitable
• Construct something to fill the void of working less
• Take a day off

22:00: Keeping commitments  

• Procrastinate On Purpose

25:10: Automate and delegate

• Training others to take on some of the work
• Just work on the important stuff

30:45: The importance of sleep 32:00: Pre-planning

• Planning ahead of time for the week
• Derailment from the plan

36:20: Business and discipline

• Limiting checking email
• Interruptions: Slack, Skype, Instant Messenger

43:00 Talk about it

• It’s not only you

Picks: Gimlet Science Vs (Reuven) Huawei P9 Phone (Reuven) Fish farms, fishing, family time (Charles) Neighborhood groups on FacebookParadise is There, Natalie Merchant (Philip) Links: Hire.com

1:00: Topic introduction: Making fast cash 2:45: Reach out to past clients

• Might be a small project
• Might lead to referrals

5:55: Ask for referrals

• Give them the tools to know who to refer you to
• Be specific about what your ideal client looks like
• Use LinkedIn for second degree connection introductions

10:00 Use mental associations when making requests

• Make specific requests; don’t think in broad terms
• “Think like a fisherman, not like a fish.”
• Use inbound and outbound approaches.
• More Cheese and Less Whiskers

17:30: Cold outreach

• Might feel awkward, but it works
• Start close to home
• Pick an industry where you’ve had previously success
• Make sure you follow up
• Cold outreach episode with Kai

23:40: Be creative

• Kurt Elster blog post on handwritten notes
• Birthday cakes

26:10: Use social media

• Reach out to your email list, blog, YouTube subscribers
• Use Twitter for searches
• Use Hacker News

30:20: Offer a discount to current clients for prepayment 36:30: Create a microservice

• Brennan Dunn on roadmapping
• Unbundle services

Picks: Million Dollar Referrals by Alan Weiss (Philip) Duct Tape Marketing blog (Philip) cheese/whiskers ReplyApp.io (Philip) Blair Enn’s Prospecting Email (Philip) The Hourly Trap (Jonathan) Freelance Remote Conference (Charles) Slack Hangouts (Charles)

1:00: Topic introduction

• Full-time job vs. consulting
• How much money is possible or likely?

4:30: Discussion of the money

• Cost of living (Israel vs. USA)
• Can a solo consultant make $300K/year?
• Reality of what it takes

11:00: How to make a lot of money as a solo consultant

• What do you enjoy doing?
• What are you good at?
• Find a successful niche

15:15: How to get people to trust you

• Referrals
• Networking
• Example: Redmine
• Blog/Podcast/Other media

21:45: Understand your customers’ problems

• Conferences
• Meetups

24:30: Emotional fortitude to command a high rate

• Guilt
• Mindset
• Getting out of the low cash-flow cycle

31:00: Offering a mix of services

• Avoiding dry spells
• Systematic way to attract leads

Picks: Family Vacations (Reuven) Portugal as a vacation destination (Reuven) RentalCars.com (Reuven) Dev Shop Marketing Briefings (Philip) The Secret of Selling Anything (Philip) TrustVelocity.com (Jonathan) Million Dollar Maverick (Jonathan) ScheduleOnce (Charles) FreshDesk (Charles)   Sponsor: Hire.com

1:00: Simon’s introduction

• Shopify
• Four Overlooked Tactics to Find New Clients Offline

3:00: Hosting meetups and workshops

• How to set up a workshop
• Logistics involved in finding a venue and managing the event
• How to decide what to talk about
• Is it crucial that the meetups be local?
• Eventbrite

13:00: Speaking at conferences

• How it differs from hosting workshops
• How to meet people at the conferences even if you’re not speaking officially
• Getting the audience engaged and ready to take the next step
• LeadPages

22:30: Set up a booth at an industry trade show

• How the look and feel of your booth can draw in attention
• How to best choose an event
• Is it worth investing in company swag to hand out?
• Best way to collect emails at events
• .NetRocks

35:00: Cold Call in Person

• How research can help make a sale
• Why in-person meetings can be more beneficial than telephone calls
• StickyApps

41:50: More from Simon

• Get in facetime
• Find an enticing hook
• Twitter
• Shopify Blog

Picks: How We Hijacked an Entrepreneur.Com Event Sponsorship for $500 (Jonathan) Hacking Conferences for Fun and Profit (Jonathan) LeadPages (Simon) Nvite (Simon)

1:06 - Jonathan suggested topic: Why are deadlines bad? 7:30  Deadlines are binary 11:28 Timelines 12:38 Weekly conversations 13:54 How to deal with a drop dead deadline 15:53 How do you agree to multiple features How much margin do you put on it? 17:05 Do you agree to what you think you can get done? 19:41 Why do you see developers agree to deadlines 22:06 Negotiating 24:40 Say no to clients who won’t agree to a deadline 27:27 Don’t take the risk 27:40 Solutions 31:13 Do you say no to a client who is insistent on a deadline? 35:24 Projects that drag on 38:00 Uncertain end date 43:47 An easy trap to fall into 44:27 Learn your lines 47:30 Explain the downside to a deadline Picks

• Taking time off (Philip)
• How To Handle Deadlines Without Agree To Them (Jonathan)
• Wood Badge (Chuck)
• The Boy Scouts Of America (Chuck)

  This episode is sponsored by hired.com

02:40 - Getting Started on a Project Using Value-based Pricing; Figuring Out the Why 13:33 - Setting Goals and Expectations

• Agile Methodology

33:04 - Proposals 40:06 - Can you combine hourly billing and value-based pricing? 44:28 - Retainers, Maintenance Contracts 47:24 - Startups and Value Pricing   Picks

• Win Without Pitching (Jonathan)
• Deadpool (Jonathan)
• Stranger Things (Philip)
• Tend (Philip)
• The Economist Magazine (Reuven)
• The Victory Lab by Sasha Issenberg (Reuven)