What’s the secret to freelancing success?

Deliver. Good. Shit.

Let’s be honest, Megan Gray’s work deserves more than that paltry summary, but there many freelancers who forget the foundation of a sustainable business. They often get lost in how to create bigger profits, rather than putting out respectable work.

Some time has passed since I’ve harped on the five-hundred dollar website being delivered by the consultant, and not based on the client’s budget. That is to say, if you want to have a real career, you can’t treat “building websites” like a part-time gig. Something on the side that nets a few hundos every month, just for you to spend it on margaritas. Not that there’s anything wrong with margaritas. What’s more badass than sipping on a margarita? Owning the margarita machine, or hell, the bar!

In today’s episode, Megan’s going to teach you how she bought the bar and works from the beach.

Megan Gray on being a freelancer for hire

I remember a time where they said you needed to be great at one thing in order to be successful.

Who are they anyway? I never do know …

Are we moving back to being solutionists?

You could argue you never moved away from offering an all encompassing service, and that might be true, but I bet many of you cut the fat and focused on being great developers, great marketers, or great designers at some point over the last few years. It just made sense. You could market yourself easier, tell the pitch in an elevator, and create squeeze pages like a boss. Creating a nice little package to offer to customers at an affordable price.

I know I did.

Here’s the thing, I’ve started to notice a trend with clients — they want more. They want to spend more, get better service, and grow their business leveraging new technology. In the years after the financial collapse, folks tightened both their wallets and their willingness to invest in new ventures. Now, I see more of a trend to move faster, be more agile with their web and marketing, and hire a team to do it for them.

But they want it all, not just a piece of it.

Moving (back) from specialist to solutionist

Here’s the deal, you might listen to our podcast today and think Megan is a specialist. She does great design, and that’s “it.”

Au contraire!

While she might be handing off more advanced development pieces, social media management, and ad buys, she certainly designs with that in mind. If you need her to pull the pieces of that puzzle together for you, she’s perfectly capable of putting the teams in place to get it done. That’s the role of a great solutionist.

What keeps the business on autopilot?

We said it before, she designs great work with a portfolio to back it up. To the point where she doesn’t worry about a pipeline or devising schemes to find new clients. They find her. House of Gray’s focuses on providing value, delivering work with integrity sewn in, and the clients come-a-knocking.

It takes time, don’t think it happens overnight, but investing in this now — for your own business — pays off in the long run.

The links

* Megan Gray on Twitter

* House of Grays website