The Freelancers' Show

02:07: “Sales Conversation”

• Starts as:
  • Initial Contact From a Prospect
• Culmination:
  • Homework and Brain Dump Research for Phone Calls (on Both Sides)
  • Writing a Proposal

05:47 - Value-based Pricing Resources

• Episode #96: Value-Based Pricing with Brennan Dunn
• Episode #109: How to Determine Value and Set Pricing with Kirk Bowman

06:08 - Is There an “Expensive Problem” to be Solved?   08:32 - “Value”

• ROI (Return On Investment)

10:38 - Qualifying Customers as People You Want to Work With

• Be Picky

12:49 - Sales Conversations When In Demand vs When You Need Work NOW

• Do NOT Be Desperate or Needy
• Confidence

20:19 - Doing Your Homework 24:01 - Pitches and Avoiding Wipe Out 36:20 - What Do You Want to Communicate to a Client?

• Requirements: Get Treated Like an Expert and Professional
• All-Inclusive Rate/Fee
• Traveling Rates/Fees

54:02 - Demonstrating Your Value Picks Talk Python To Me (Reuven)
The Martian: A Novel by Andy Weir (Jonathan)
Pitch Anything Book by Oren Klaff (Jonathan)
The Reckoners Series by Brandon Sanderson (Chuck)
The Magic of Thinking Big  David J. Schwartz (Chuck) Check out Jonathan’s new coaching services site, Expensive Problem!

02:07 - Robert Williams Introduction

• Workshop
  • @letsworkshop
• Emails That Win You Clients by Robert Williams

02:28 - How Does Workshop Work?

• Lead Generation Newsletter
• Help a Reporter Out (HARO)

04:07 - Getting Picked (Competing For Leads?) 05:24 - How is it Different From a Job Board?

• All Freelance Jobs
• All Project-Based
• All Remote

07:35 - Other Curating Services Compared

• Peter Cooper Newsletters
• Crew

09:47 - Finding Leads to Offer

• Wheelhouse

11:54 - Success Stories > Statistics

• Josh Pigford of Baremetrics

15:27 - Pricing and Value

• Kurt Elster
• Shopify

20:14 - Email Content 22:10 - Expanding / Contracting / Refocusing Based on Feedback? 23:56 - Writing Emails: Emails That Win You Clients by Robert Williams

• PR LEADS
• Top Tips:
  • Short
  • Deliver Something of Value
  • Thumbs Up/Yes for More Info (Kai Davis)
  • Optimize Subject Lines

35:56 - Referrals 37:06 - Upsale Opportunities and Maintenance Agreements

• Non-compete Clause

Picks Simplecast (Jonathan)
Amazon Dash Button (Jonathan)
Welcome to Night Vale (Reuven)
Steelheart (The Reckoners) by Brandon Sanderson (Chuck)
Paparazzi (Robert)
Just Tell Julie (Robert)
The Magic Email (Robert)

06:09 - Q1: Do you group your products / services into one big site to pool traffic, or do you think its better to build them as their own brands?

• “Online Split Personalities” to Appeal to Specific Groups
• Jonathan’s Starbucks Gift Card Story

17:39 - Q2: As a freelancer, a designer has a portfolio. As a programmer, do you think your blog / user group and conference speaking says enough? Or, do you need to have Open Source to help backup your work? Obviously, it depends if the person hiring knows what GitHub is or not. I'm thinking about screencasts to add more visible portfolio items since it’s not easy to show code by itself. Thoughts? 27:29 - Q3: If you are preparing to go freelance, you're wanting to show you're an expert and build clientele. You have some good long-term customers for the existing business. How do you recommend getting a testimonial from them that you could use while at the current business, and when you go freelancing, without compromising the business relationships? Do you try to steer clear of any links to old work, or just direct them to LinkedIn so that it’s obviously linked to you and avoids complication? 35:20 - Q4: My thought is, if you do blogs, create screencasts, and are active on GitHub, etc., it would put you in the top 10% [of developers] right there though, right? Most developers are “dark matter developers”: you can't see or hear them, but they're still there.

• Reference: Scoff Hanselman: Dark Matter Developers: The Unseen 99%
• “Garbage Disposal Guy” Example from John Sonmez of Simple Programmer

42:53 - Q5: Should you import your old blog posts from old websites to new ones?

• Michael Port’s Website

51:43 - Q6: What about Content Marketing and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) with having so many sparse sites? Versus pooling?

• Find Your Buyer: Is there a conference for it?

59:07 - Referrals

• The Brain Audit: Why Customers Buy (and Why They Don't) by Sean D'Souza

Picks Pebble Time Kickstarter (Jonathan)
If This Then That (IFTTT) (Jonathan)
Naomi Dunford: On Learning and Keeping Stuff (Eric)
Emails That Win You Clients by Robert Williams (Reuven)
80/20 Sales and Marketing: The Definitive Guide to Working Less and Making More by Perry Marshall (Chuck)
Miracles and Massacres: True and Untold Stories of the Making of America by Glenn Beck (Chuck)

01:57 - Tools and Scheduling Apps

• Google Calendar
• Sunrise Calendar
• Calendly
• YouCanBook.me
• Due: The Superfast Reminder App
• BusyCal

08:16 - Prioritizing and Planning a Productive Day (Making a Commitment and Sticking to a System)

• The Pomodoro Technique
• KanbanFlow
• Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen

18:27 - Getting Started

• Leo Babauta’s MIT Idea (Most Important Task)
  • The “Dragon Task” <= That ONE Task
• Tracking Back and Forth vs Having Everything in One Place

25:17 - Booking and Filling Time Gaps

• Following Up with Past Clients and Contacting New Leads

28:16 - Weekly / Monthly Reviews 29:29 - Avoiding Scheduling Conflicts and Being Consistent with Your Scheduling

• Expectation Setting with Clients
• Being (or at least) Appearing to be “In Demand”

41:14 - Routines 47:08 - Keep Some Flexibility in Your Schedule and Setting Minimums to Avoid Stress 49:01 - Offloading to Free Up Your Schedule

• Have a “Workshop” Every Week
  • The Ultimate Sales Machine: Turbocharge Your Business with Relentless Focus on 12 Key Strategies by Chet Holmes

Picks Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (Reuven)
The Complete Guide to Finding and Selling eCommerce Clients: Learn How to Find, Price, and Sell Clients on Your High-Value Service by Brennan Dunn (Eric)
Starcraft II (Chuck) Q&A Signup: Freelancers’ Answers

01:35 - Josh Earl Introduction

• Twitter
• GitHub
• Blog
• Books
  • Sublime Productivity: Code Like a Pro with Today's Premier Text Editor by Josh Earl
  • Writing Sublime Plugins by Josh Earl
• Mailing Lists
  • The Sublime Text Tips Newsletter (Sublime Text)
  • DeskHacks (Standing Desks)
  • JoshuaEarl.com (Marketing)

02:17 - Getting Started

• Leanpub
• Peter Cooper
• Twitter
• Running a Contest

05:17 - Format

• Wes Bos
  • Sublime Text Power User: A Complete Guide by Wes Bos
  • Tutorials

07:44 - Promotion and Getting Subscribers

• Contests
• Guest Blogging
• Twitter
• LinkedIn

11:40 - Sharing Content

• ROI (Return On Investment)
• Drip
  • Autoresponders
  • Lead Scoring
• Courses
• Open Loops (i.e. Cliffhangers, Arcs)    

23:58 - Lead Magnets

• Courses
• Free Report
• Content Upgrade

27:00 - Driving Traffic: Website or Email List?

• Email Marketing Clients
  • Drip
    • Rob Walling
      • Startups For the Rest of Us Podcast
  • AWeber
  • MailChimp
• Lead Scoring Feature (Drip)

35:13 - Is This [Concept] New?

• Infusionsoft

42:07 - Strategies for Growth

• Twitter
  • Twitter: Capture user interest with the Lead Generation Card
• Guest Posting
  • Josh Earl: What I Learned From Growing My Email List 3,418% (Nearly 200k) in Just 11 Days

46:38 - Facebook Ads? 49:15 - Survey Subscribers

• SurveyMonkey

50:09 - Marketing From the Stage (Public Speaking)

• Texting Opt-in Services

Picks Nathan Powell: Jobs to be done, and jobs that are simply done (Eric)
FlipBelt (Eric)
Ez Texting (Jonathan)
Perry Marshall: Look Over My Shoulder as I Craft Living Soul Connections via Email, The World’s Most Intimate Marketing Medium (Josh)
Autoresponder Boot Camp (Josh)
RumbleRoller Beastie Ball (Josh)
TextBlade (Josh)
Gumroad (Reuven)

01:46 - What is a Proposal?

• 3 Tier Options
  • Budget
  • Middle
  • High-value
• Statement of Work (SOW)
• Alan Weiss Sample Proposals
• PO (Purchase Order)

15:18 - Legal Situations?

• Reuven’s Cautionary Tale
• Arbitration
• Mediation

19:31 - The Proposal is NOT a Pitch (80/20)

• RFP (Request For Proposal)
• Negotiations and Agreements
  • Have Someone On Your Side (Work With the Right People)
  • Value-based Pricing

27:45 - Recycling Proposals vs Starting From Scratch

• Use Templates
• Modify Text as Needed

30:34 - Things NOT to Put in a Proposal

• Never Change the Price or Give a Discount (Prevent Haggling)
• Write Everything Down => Meeting Notes

33:39 - Sales Conversations Are Everything 36:44 - Proposal-Writing Tools

• Bidsketch
• Nusii

40:11 - Understand Client Wants and Needs Picks Getting More: How You Can Negotiate to Succeed in Work and Life by Stuart Diamond (Jonathan)
The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick) by Seth Godin (Eric)
Workflow (Eric)
YouCanBook.Me (Reuven)
Calendly (Reuven)

Ask your questions via Twitter! Tweet to @freelancershow or show up to our next live Q&A on Tuesday, March 24th at 11AM Pacific, 2PM Eastern: http://freelancersanswers.com/webinar. 01:40 - Are RFPs (Request For Proposals) worth applying to if you’re a solo freelancer? What are some strategies for landing RFPs? 08:26 - Handling Taxes

• Hire an Accountant!
• Save Extra

13:02 - Subcontractors

• Form W-9
• 1099s

15:11 - Partnerships 19:56 - How does one break into a market to launch a product?

• Entering a Niche
• Email Lists
  • MailChimp
• Podcasting
• Writing Newsletters
• Tweet/Interact on Social Media
• Attend Conferences/Meetups
• Be Genuine

28:06 - Popups, Guest Posting, Lead Magnets, and Giveaways See Also

• Authority: Become an Expert, Build a Following, and Gain Financial Independence by Nathan Berry
• No Is NOT a Curse Word by Curtis McHale

Picks Launch: A Startup Documentary (Eric)
The Best of Art of Value Podcast (Curtis)
The Quitter by Jon Acuff (Curtis)
BLU Life 8 Phone (Reuven)
John Sonmez's How To Build A Blog That Will Boost Your Career (Chuck)

Freelancers' Answers -- Go here to submit questions for The Freelancers’ Live Q&A shows!   Check out RailsCasts on Kickstarter!! 02:19 - Lifestyle Choice and Changes 03:09 - Clients That Have Run Their Course 05:29 - Having More Work Than You Can Handle

• Hiring Subcontractors
  • Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
• Seasonal Highs and Lows
• Disappearing Clients    

12:40 - Non-Résumé Worthy Work 13:33 - Getting Bad Vibes From Potential Clients

• Just Tell Julie

21:44 - Transitioning to New Kinds of Work

• Splitting Your Focus
• Moving to Product Building

37:14 - Management 39:13 - Reopening Doors to Previous Offers Picks Carbon Copy Cloner (Reuven)
Vivis™ Knight V3 13000mAh Dual USB Portable Charger External Battery Pack (Jonathan)
Gin Gins® Spicy Apple Chewy Ginger Candy (Eric)
YouTube (Chuck)
FFmpeg (Chuck)
Ruby Remote Conf (Chuck)
Developer’s Box Club (Chuck)

The panelists welcome back Jonathan Shank to talk about how to attract clients without doing sales.

The panelists discuss the importance of consistency in marketing.