2023 year in review:
- My personal co. made $364,217.96
- I grew my X account to 33,347 followers
- I began working with a web3 unicorn
- I did zero WordPress work for the first time in 12 years
- My education business’ growth stalled
- I travelled to Ireland, Mexico, Spain, and
Freelancers! You’ll have heard this before, but I’m still seeing people getting burned.
Do not lift a finger until you get a deposit.
50% preferably. A third at least.
In my experience, no client is fully commited to a digital project until they’ve parted with some money.
- Getting clients is easier when you show proof of work
- Negotiation is easier when you have other projects
- Pricing is easier when you don't need the money
Freelancing is easier when you make marketing part of your job.
Want to go freelance?
Scared of selling?
I've sold over £500,000 of projects in the last 4 years.
Here's everything I've learned about getting over sales fright.
A thread.
Rules for fixed-price projects:
1. Get a deposit
2. Get a fixed scope
3. To reduce the price you must reduce the scope
4. Don't use estimated days x day rate = price
5. Add a minimum 20% contingency
6. Price high enough to make a profit after you've paid yourself
Don't get tricked into sharing tons of project specific information in a proposal.
If you can't write a proposal without research then you need a pre-project.
Discovery work has value and should come at a price.
Things that increase perceived value and thus project price:
- The scarcity of your time (availability)
- What you've done before (credibility)
- The project price itself
If you want to raise your rates in future,
When billing by the day,
Max out at selling 4 days per week to clients.
Give yourself time to grow your own business.
Do you want to avoid:
- Estimating every small task?
- Filling out timesheets?
- Sending tons of invoices?
- Having to justify every time you go "over"?
Avoid hourly billing.
If you bill your client daily, you're giving them a day's work.
Nothing else.
It's a rolling engagement for a reason.
Day rate can't come with a guarantee of completion.
"I can't get clients"
Do you advertise?
Do you have a website?
Have you told people you're available?
Do you document your work, thoughts & progress?
Are you sharing any of this online?
Do you build rapport with like-minded people on social media?
Do the work to get work.
You don't have to use the same pricing methodology for every engagement.
Client 1: Day rate
Client 2: Fixed priced project
Client 3: Ongoing retainer
Use the strategy that fits the work best.
Pricing freelancing projects is tough
There's no 1-size-fits-all solution
Understand each method
Have your preferences
Be aware of your position
Gauge what your clients are most likely to accept
Apply the most appropriate strategy to get the job at a price you're happy with
Freelancing, indie hacking, solopreneurship, being self-employed.
Whatever you want to call it, I've done it for 12 years.
Here's everything I'd do earlier knowing what I know now.
A thread.
Sometimes pricing a freelancing project can be as simple as :
Freelancer: "I'm happy to do the work for this price".
Client: "I'm happy to pay this price for the work completing".
Questions to ask yourself to help narrow your focus:
- Who do I like working with?
- What do I do better than most?
- What feels like fun to me and work to others?
- What can I do for a long time?
- Where do I want to take this eventually?
If you're the most expensive option,
And a prospect who cares can't understand why,
Your positioning is off.
Price tells it's own story, but it needs back up from credibility.
Remember that when you give a fixed-price for a scope of work,
You are guaranteeing completion.
Going back to the table for more money at this stage leaves a bad taste.
Value-based pricing TLDR version:
Your client's average lead value = £500
You estimate that your work will get them 100 leads in year 1.
That's £50,00 of value.
You give a price for your work based on a % of that figure.
If you can show the value, you can justify the price.
7 ways to gain trust online:
- Be discoverable (website, social)
- Be authentic (don't fabricate)
- Be transparent (show results)
- Be accessible (help people)
- Be relatable (tell your story)
- Be brilliant (do great work)
- Be useful (spread value)
A note for parents who love their work:
Don't put making memories on hold.
I know it's hard.
You like working, so it's easy to keep going.
An extra hour here, an extra hour there.
Maybe you have an evening project or two.
Then the weekends sneak in.
You might be doing it
How to work for free for yourself:
- Self-initiate projects that prove the results of the service you want to sell
- Write articles and tutorials that make your expertise obvious
- Build an audience of connections that see you as an authority by helping people
If it's most risky for you to work with the client the price should be higher.
If it's most risky for the client to work with you the price will be lower
Price mirrors risk.
7 ways to gain trust:
- Be discoverable (online and offline)
- Be authentic (don't fabricate)
- Be transparent (show results)
- Be accessible (help people)
- Be relatable (tell your story)
- Be brilliant (do great work)
- Be useful (spread value)