The Six-Figure Freelancer by EntMedia

the six-figure freelancer

YOUR ROADMAP TO SUCCESS IN THE GIG ECONOMY

Laura Briggs

AUTHOR OF START YOUR OWN FREELANCE WRITING BUSINESS

iii contents foreword by Hayden Brown, president and CEO of Upwork . . . vii introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi The Road to Six Figures .................................. xii What to Expect in This Book .............................xiv CHAPTER 1 your freelance launch point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Aiming for Six Figures as a Freelancer ..................... 2 Setting Realistic Financial Goals for Your Freelance Business: Your Finances ....................... 6 What Got You Here Might Not Get You There: Your Clients . 8 Are Your Old Habits No Longer Serving You? .............. 11 Avoiding Burnout: Your Schedule and Systems 12

the six-figure freelancer iv $ contents Chapter Summary Points 16 CHAPTER 2 master your mindset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 What’s Your “Why”? ......................................... 20 How to Recognize Limiting Beliefs ............................. 22 The Beginner’s Guide to Building a Mindset Practice .............. 24 Get Started and Embrace the Journey ............................ 31 Habits of Six-Figure Freelancers 33 Chapter Summary Points ...................................... 37 CHAPTER 3 agency vs . solo models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 How Do I Know Which Model Is Right for Me? .................. 40 Running a Solo Model Freelance Business ....................... 42 Starting an Agency ........................................... 45 Tips for Switching from Agency to Solo Model 51 Does My Model Make Any Impact on Conversion? 51 Chapter Summary Points ...................................... 53 CHAPTER 4 attracting and keeping high-dollar, high-value clients . . . . . . . . . . 55 How to Craft a Great Unique Value Proposition .................. 56 Positioning Yourself to Potential Clients ........................ 56 Finding the Right Mix of Clients in Your Business ................ 60 How to Identify Your Ideal Client Avatar 61 How to Handle Existing Non-Ideal Clients ....................... 66 Chapter Summary Points ...................................... 71 CHAPTER 5 marketing for the advanced freelancer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Four Signs Your Marketing Process Is in Danger ................. 74 Marketing Options for Advanced Freelancers .................... 77 Tracking Your Marketing 78 Does Niching Make Sense? 80 Ten Advanced Freelancer Marketing Tips ....................... 83 Chapter Summary Points ...................................... 92

the six-figure freelancer contents $ v CHAPTER 6 advanced proposals, packages, and retainers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Writing Winning Proposals .................................... 94 Packages Make Sense for You and the Client ..................... 98 How to Create Packages and Pricing .......................... 100 Mistakes to Avoid in Packaging ............................... 104 Leveraging Retainers ......................................... 105 The Freelancer’s Guide to Following Up 107 Chapter Summary Points 110 CHAPTER 7 running your business like a ceo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Phase 1: Owning Your Rates .................................. 112 Phase 2: Crushing Conversions ................................ 114 Phase 3: Creating a Template Pitch and Adding Client Pain Points ................................... 117 Phase 4: Claiming Ownership Over Your Finances 122 Phase 5: Nailing Your Boundaries Down and Honoring Them 124 Chapter Summary Points ..................................... 128 CHAPTER 8 streamlining with systems and shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 Setting Your MITs and Quarterly Rocks ........................ 130 Putting the Right Systems in Place ............................. 134 Limiting Distractions ........................................ 135 Making the Most Out of Every Work Block 137 Setting Deadlines and Breaking Down Projects 138 Setting Up Automated Processes ............................... 142 Chapter Summary Points ..................................... 144 CHAPTER 9 outsourcing to professionals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 Why You Need to Outsource .................................. 147 Making the Most of Your Revenue-Generating Hours ............ 152 Having the Right Mindset to Outsource 154 Knowing What You Should and Should Not Be Doing 155 Chapter Summary Points ..................................... 162

the six-figure freelancer vi $ contents CHAPTER 10 screening, training, and working with outsourced support . . . . 163 Attracting the Right Talent ................................... 164 Interviewing Your Prospective VA ............................. 168 How to Screen Test a Virtual Assistant ......................... 170 Giving Great Instructions .................................... 173 Paying a Virtual Assistant .................................... 174 Onboarding a VA 176 Outsourcing in Your Personal Life 180 What to Do If Your Virtual Assistant Doesn’t Work Out .......... 180 Chapter Summary Points ..................................... 182 CHAPTER 11 your future-oriented business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185 The Freelancer’s Introduction to Upskilling ..................... 186 The Freelancer’s Guide to Pivoting ............................. 191 The Freelancer’s Introduction to Passive Income 193 Getting Support for Your Growing and Evolving Business ........ 196 Schedule Time for Working on the Business ..................... 197 Be Mindful of Burnout ....................................... 199 It’s Your Time .............................................. 201 Chapter Summary Points ..................................... 201 acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203 about the author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205 index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

Laura, your work samples are solid. But let me give you a piece of advice: You need to charge more. Your rate is so low that I’m not sure why you’ve set it there. It makes me question the value.”

It was 2013. I’d just left my job to officially become a full-time freelancer. I’d taken a call with a prospective freelance writing client while sitting in my car, but the conversation left me confused.

I’d had plenty of clients who said I was too expensive and that they could get better prices elsewhere. But no one had ever told me I charged too little before.

The encounter caused a sea change in the way I approached my freelance business. The truth was that I couldn’t compete with every other freelancer out there on price alone. That was a surefire way to

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race to the bottom. And, as I’d just discovered, it was driving some great clients away because they assumed my low prices reflected some problem in the process. Maybe they thought I delivered late or copied someone else’s work, but none of those details mattered. I’d accidentally branded myself as “cheap.”

A few days later, one of my best clients told me it would be easiest if I just took over all his blogging projects for him. He needed four blog posts a week and didn’t want to schedule them on social media, enter them into his online content management system, or track keywords on his own. Having previously sold my blog posts only in batches of four to ten at a time, The client wasn’t just asking me for the core blog posts, but add-ons that could increase the total value of this contract. This introduced me to the concept of both retainers (ongoing work) and upsells (additional services.) It was time to let go of the idea that my business could thrive on a project-by-project basis. It was time to raise my prices, convert as many clients as possible to retainers, and look for other opportunities to scale my business. It was time to work toward becoming a six-figure freelancer.

The Road to Six Figures

Freelancing is definitely having a moment, and in the coming decades the influence of independent contractors will be felt clearly in economies around the world. Technology has made it easier to work from home, and the remote work revolution means that more companies are recognizing that it’s best to partner with the most qualified talent, no matter where that person lives. Given the recent impact of a worldwide pandemic and the greater need for and interest in remote work, freelancing is front and center now more than ever.

I started freelancing in 2012 as a side hustle. I was working during the day and going to graduate school at night. My plans of working in education had been shattered after just one year teaching middle school in Baltimore City. I was lucky enough to get an offer to work in marketing, which I took while I figured out what to do with my life. During that time, I inventoried every skill I thought I might have and landed on writing

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as a skill set I could expand on to make extra money. In my day job, the company ended up using some of my slogans and marketing tag lines in national campaigns, so I started to research marketing, advertising, and content strategy.

Before long, I was earning a few hundred dollars a month for freelance writing I completed before work, at night, and on the weekends. But I was terrified to leave my day job. I didn’t know if I’d be able to make enough money on my own, month in and month out. As it turned out, however, using that side hustle as my launchpad was an extremely successful strategy and one I would recommend rather than trying to jump feet first into a freelance business without a safety net.

I stopped working at my day job 13 months after I started side hustling. My revenues grew dramatically when I began dedicating 40 hours per week, rather than 10 to 15, into completing work and looking for new projects. I’ve been able to sustain or grow my freelance business every year since 2014 as a six-figure enterprise, topping $200,000 for the first time in 2018.

Over the years, I’ve met many other freelancers who also scaled their businesses to an advanced level. Many of them are featured throughout this book so you can benefit from their expertise and tips on growing your business, whether you’re a bookkeeper, virtual assistant (VA), web designer, writer, or any other kind of freelance creative service provider. But I’ve also met many people who struggled to surpass $3,000 to $5,000 a month, often toiling more than 50 hours a week to crank out projects as quickly as possible.

That’s why I wrote this book, which is for freelancers of all stripes who already have an existing business and are looking to scale to the next level. Because whether you’re looking for the road map to scale your business the right way or you’re one of those freelancers stuck on the hamster wheel, making too little money for far too much time and energy, this book is designed to help you analyze and tweak your business model so you can earn a good living being paid what you’re worth as a freelancer in your chosen industry.

For some freelancers reading this book, success might look like $80,000 in revenue. For others, it will be well over the $100,000 mark.

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No matter your financial goal, the end result is the same: owning and operating a fulfilling, service-based business that meets or exceeds client expectations and allows you to live the life you want.

What to Expect in This Book

Here’s what you can expect in this book: a chapter-by-chapter breakdown of the most important elements of a high-level freelance business. You’ll discover how to achieve the mindset you need to be successful, how to decide whether to run your business as a solopreneur or as an agency owner, how to connect with the right clients on the right projects, how to optimize your business model, and how to continue growing even after you reach your desired revenue goals.

You’ll find numerous references to resources throughout this book. To make things easy and to ensure they’re updated when those resources reference technology or other time-sensitive information, you can find them in PDF format on the book’s website, www.sixfigurefreelancebook.com, which you’ll always have access to as a buyer of this book. These resources and worksheets will help you complete the necessary exercises to analyze and implement road map suggestions in your own freelance business. In addition to the resources called out in the book, you’ll find bonus material, like scripts you can use for awkward conversations with clients and subcontractors and invoicing software for freelancers, at www.sixfigurefreelancebook.com/resources.

Even though there are many references to the six-figure mark in this book, adjust accordingly as you read if your financial goals are under $100,000. There is no wrong answer in terms of what your nextlevel vision of your freelance business should be. If your sweet spot is $50,000 a year, this book will still help you get the most out of your working time and make sure you have the right clients, systems, and support to thrive.

A quick note: I’m a freelance writer, but that doesn’t mean the tips in this book will only apply to someone with a copywriting business. I’ve included numerous examples of how these strategies might apply to someone who is freelancing other tasks, and have shared the wisdom

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of 19 other six-figure freelancers to help you see how they work for them, too!

Your toolkit is here. There’s no reason not to move forward. Now is the time for you to level up your freelance business to benefit yourself, your clients, and the people most important to you. Let’s get to work!

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