Freelancers can no longer be ignored as fringe workers, in-betweeners, and the occassional slacker seeking to hide his true unemployment. Freelancers now make up a significant portion of the creative economy, especially in Cities like New York where fashion, film, theatre, design, and music industries thrive outside the walls of conventional employment relationships.
In this episode, we hear from Alex Signh (@AutomaticYes), Co-Founder of Domino, an online community for freelancers, Matt Inglot (@MattInglot), host of the Freelance Transformation podcast, and Jaime Campbell (@TierOneServices), a CPA and business coach who has worked with freelancers throughout her career.
Together we examine some definitions, ailments, and mindsets shared by freelancers. We also drop a few action steps any freelancer can take to make the transition — or the next step — that much smoother.
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Get The Episode
- Download The Busy Creator Podcast, Episode 73 (MP3, 39:03, 18.9 MB)
- Download The Busy Creator Podcast, Episode 73 (OGG, 39:03, 20.3 MB)
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Show Notes & Links
- 6 Mistakes Every New Freelancer Makes by Domino
- The New Normal by Kristen Fischer
- Kristen Fischer on The Busy Creator Podcast ep 60
- WashPo WorkBlog: Freelancers’ Union lobbies new bill
“A Freelancer to me is essentially just an entrepreneur.”
—Alex Singh
“Calling yourself a freelancer is the greatest way not to get paid.”
—Matt Inglot
- Finding clients & managing relationships are the key struggles, according to Alex Singh
- Most freelancers get started because they’re “really good” and want to collect the full fee, according to Jaime Campbell.
- Only ten percent of experienced freelancers know their monthly expenses, according to Alex
- Being a freelancer is like being Batman; suddenly, you’re called on to save the day. But the rest of the time, you’re an orphan.
“20 clients is a lot of proposals to close.”
—Matt Inglot
Tools
Techniques
- Don’t describe yourself as a commodity, jump right into your positioning and story
- Be specific about who you will — and won’t — work with, and the types of projects you will take on.
- Look for clients who can best benefit from your work, not just the person who needs work done today.
- Call yourself an Agency (and raise your rates)
- Get referrals from other people via relationships. Make other people your “sales team.”
- Leverage other people’s time so you can work on different tasks
- Track “income by referral source”, or build it custom if needed
- Solve people’s problems on online forums/sites. Do it publicly.
- Get registered as an expert so you get notified first.
- Get clear on numbers, especially your effective income.
- Develop a long-term strategy
Habits
- Understand yourself and re-evaluate yourself
- Always learn new skills, test new systems
- Spend 5 minutes a day answering questions online
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Add your experiences in the Comments section below.
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