Scaling Freelance
By Sean Crowe
Each week we release interviews with the best freelancers in the world. We talk about real monthly revenue numbers, growth strategies, work/life integration, and the secrets that top freelancers keep to themselves that make them so successful.
Scaling FreelanceApr 15, 2020
023: How getting kicked off Upwork catapulted her freelancer career w/ Heather Deveaux
Scaling Freelance by Devscale
Our guest today is Heather Deveaux - an experienced adult-learning specialist. She has designed and delivered programming an a ton of different topics. She works as a full-time freelance writer and business coach that teaches others to make money as a freelancer.
Freelancer Fav Five:
1. Revenue: $18k
2. The Big Leap, You are a Badass
3. Canva, Buffer
4. KA Social Media
heatherdeveaux.com
thefreelancewritingschool.com
022: Why this freelancer curates a local community of 300 female leaders w/ Jennah Lear
Scaling Freelance by Devscale
Our guest today is Jennah Lear, the owner of Blue Loui Studio - a brand strategy studio that helps purpose driven female entrepreneurs create a brand to attract clients.
Freelancer Fav Five:
1. Best Month: $21k
2. Big Magic, You Are a Badass, You Are a Badass at Making Money
3. Adobe Suite, PayPal, Zoom, Moonclerk
4. Andy J. Pizza
021: How connecting with others (and NOT pitching them) can get you more clients w/ Josiah Mory
Scaling Freelance by Devscale
Josiah is an iOS developer, consultant, and bass player that helps e-commerce Shopify stores convert more sales. He's helped multiple clients scale to 5x their conversion rates.
Freelancer Fav Five:
1. Best month of revenue: $8k-ish
2. The War of Art, Nobody Wants to Read Your Shit
3. Calendly, Todoist
4. Phillip Morgan, Jonathon Stark
020: How this freelance marketing wizard is using LinkedIn to get clients w/ Ronnie Kassiff
Scaling Freelance by Devscale
Freelancer Fav Five:
1. Best month revenue: $20k
2. Book Recs: Traction by Gino Wickman
3. Software Recs: Hubspot, InfusionSoft, Zapier
4. People to Follow: Greg Jenkins at MonkeyPod Marketing
Ronnie Kassiff
rkinboundmarketing.com
hello@rkinboundmarketing.com
019: How this freelancer makes $120k a year w/ RJ McCollam
Topics we covered:
- The biggest step in any freelancers career is the step into full-time
- How RJ figured out how to freelance full-time with no plan
- How a fake job-listing led to meeting his business partner
- What it means to scale out instead of scaling up
- How RJ implements retainer contracts
- The benefits of having an accountant and being an S-corp
Freelancer Fav Five:
- Bests month of revenue: $18k
- Book Recommendations: None
- Software Tools: Buddy (deployments)
- People to Follow: Justin Jackson
Guest Info:
RJ McCollam
018: How this freelance writer got her work in the New York Times w/ Kat Boogaard
Our guest on the show today is Kat Boogaard! Kat is full-time freelance writer and focuses on crafting online content related to careers, productivity, and entrepreneurship.
Topics we cover:
- Full-time freelance writer for 5 years!
- Transitioning from full-time job to full-time freelancing
- How to boost referrals to land project
- Cold email and cold pitching
- How Kat sets her rates as a freelance writer
- The importance of having a niche
Freelance Fav Five:
- Best month of revenue: $12,000
- Book Recommendations: Tell Me More
- Software: Quickbooks Online, Mailchimp, Toggl
- Inspirations: Abby Wolfe, Kaleigh Moore, Maddy Osman
Guest Info:
Kat Boogaard - KatBoogaard.com
017: Going from $500 websites to $50k deals w/ John Wons
Our guest today is Jon Wons! John is a Digital Marketing Enabler. He helps family-owned businesses to brand, market and ignite their digital footprint.
Topics we cover:
- Chicago neighborhoods ;)
- Team structure for his freelance business
- Transitioning from full-time job to full-time freelance
- 2-3 month plan for his freelance business
- Why Jon asks for 1-year commitments from his clients
- Why doing good work is invaluable to growing your freelance business.
Freelancer Fav Five:
- Revenue
$75k (April 2019)
- Books
Company of One by Paul Jarvis
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
Quench your thirst by Jim Koch
- Software
WebFlow to build all websites
Canva
QBO
Dropbox
Nearbynow for SEO
- People
Business and Biceps Podcast
Focus Three Podcast
- Younger self
Always move forward!
Guest Info:
John Wons
IG: @ontheroadwithwons
016: This consultants plan to hit $150k in revenue this year w/ Raj Nathan
Our guest today is Raj Nathan. Raj is a hype-consultant, keynote speaker and rap artist. Basically, he consults with startups to help them pitch better.
Topics we cover
- How Raj helps startups not suck
- How he got into consulting
- Why it's so dangerous to NOT label things as failures
Freelancer Fav Five
- Revenue
$15k (maybe $45k 😉)
- Books
Shoe Dog by Phil Knight
- Software
Calendly, Zoom, Mailtrack.io
- People
Daniel DiPiazza
Guest Info
Raj Nathan
015: How joining Facebook groups was game changing for her freelance business w/ Noelle Steegs
Our guest freelancer today is Noelle Steegs! She's a full-time wordpress web developer focusing on the Divi theme. Her work supports her digital nomad lifestyle as she travels all around the world.
Topics we cover:
- How Noelle made the shift to working remote and eventually completely nomadic.
- Her recommendations on how to transition into full-time freelancing.
- How joining facebook groups changed her freelancing career.
- Value-based pricing vs hourly based pricing
Freelancer Fav Five:
- $5k
- Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss
- Freshbooks for Time Tracking and Invoicing
- Rodolfo Melogli from businessbloomer.com
Guest Info:
Noelle Steegs
014: Why she quit her high paying job to become a freelancer w/ Christine Lieu
Our guest freelancer today is Christine Lieu! She is a graphic designer that traded in climbing the corporate ladder for climbing mountains around the world.
Topics we cover:
- Started out owning an apparel brand
- Importance of transparency with clients
- What it's like quitting a great job
- How she found her first few clients
- How she's getting conversions on instagram
- Value-based pricing vs Hourly
- Eat the Frog!
- Work out of co-working spaces to beat loneliness
Freelancer Fav Five:
- Best monthly revenue: $13k!!
- Book Recommendations:
Happiness Equation
- Software Recs:
Asana
Adobe
- Influences:
Make Lemonade Co-working
Connection Collective Co.
Katy the copywriter
Guest Info:
Christine Lieu
013: Go from agency employee to full-time freelancer with this 3 month plan w/ Nicholas Moegly
Our guest today is Nicholas Moegly. He is an illustrator and graphic designer that creates gig posters and album art for the music industry. He's located in Cincinnati, Ohio and has worked with several Grammy award winning artists.
Nicholas and I talk about
- What it's like running a super lean freelance business.
- Why he decided to start contracting out specific parts of his business.
- Nicholas's three month plan for quitting his agency job and going full-time freelance
- How to get clients while you have a full-time job
Freelancer Fav Five
- Revenue
- July 2019
- Books
- Tools of Titans by Tim Ferris
- Software
- Caato Time Tracker
Guest Info
@nicholasmoely - IG
012: The money-making effects of retainer contracts w/ Bizzy Coy
Our guest today is Bizzy Coy! Bizzy is a freelance writer based out of the woods in upstate New York. She writes website copy, emails, and event description. This was an amazing episode where we dig into a lot of the nitty gritty details of her freelance business!
Bizzy and I talk about
- Her path from Full-time agency employee -> full-time remote -> part-time freelance -> full-time freelance!
- Why her pricing model right now is retainer-based
- How to work with small number of clients on a consistent basis
- Getting to a point where you don't have to chase clients
- What a retainer agreement actually looks like
- Time tracking sucks! Here's how to stop doing it.
- Long-term relations are so much better than one-off projects
- How to handle burn out on agency life, city life, commutes, and giant mice
Freelancer Fav Five
- Revenue
- $24k
- Books
- Setting the Table by Danny Meyer
- Software
- Strikingly
- Headspace
- People
- Kristen Gaerlan (Website | Twitter)
Guest Info
Bizzy Coy
011: The best thing you can do right now to get more clients w/ Shannon Colón
Our guest today is Shannon Colón! Her work mainly focuses on branding for startups and entrepreneurs. She also does product design for mobile apps and web apps. She's been freelancing full-time for 7 years and is based out of Providence, Rhode Island.
Shannon and I talk about:
- What it was like quitting her job to figure out how to freelance full-time
- Why there's never a perfect time to quit your job
- How to hire your previous employer to get your first freelance client.
- How joining a co-working space was 'monumental' for getting more clients.
- What to do when you have no projects lined up.
- How to raise your rates as a freelancer
- Day rates, weekly rates, hourly, value-baed. All of the pricing goodness
- How Shannon takes a 1 month long vacation without clients getting mad
Freelancer Fav Five
- Best Month of Revenue
- In the 5 digits
- Book Recommendations
- Four Hour Work Week
- Rework
- Software Recommendations
- Notion.so
- Harvest - Invoicing/Time Tracking
- People to Follow
- @Naval
010: Start looking in these three places to generate more freelance clients w/ Jake Kahana
On today's show we have Jake Kahana! He is an artist and teacher helping people thrive in a world overrun by distractions by leading them in 'unlearning' bad habits and replacing them with new ones. He is a freelance UX/UI designer and runs his startup CaveDay on the side.
Jake and I talk about:
- How hourly pricing can actual make you LESS money in the long run
- Why getting fired was the catalyst to being a freelancer
- How Jake funds his business CaveDay with his freelancing work
- The three main places that Jake generates freelance leads from
- The typical day for Jake
Freelancer Fav Five
- Best Month of Revenue
$24,000
- Book Recommendations
The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
- Software Recommendations
MixMax
Calendly
- People to Follow
Jason Fried/DHH
David Cain
Guest Info:
009: The importance of value-based pricing for freelancers w/ Jessica Jones
Joining me on today’s episode of Scaling Freelance is Jessica Jones, a freelance designer based out of Cincinnati, Ohio. Her work primarily on brand identity designs and surface pattern design.
Jessica and I discuss:
- How Jessica gets the major of her freelance clients through SEO
- What is a Brand Identity freelancer?
- How to make the jump from full-time job to full-time freelancer
- How to manage multiple projects at the same time.
- Why increasing your freelance rate is crucial to your business
- Value-based pricing vs hourly
Book Recommendations:
Software Recommendations:
People to Follow:
Guest Info:
Jessica Jones
008: The ONLY two things freelancers need to focus on to succeed w/ Devesh Khanal
Joining me on today’s episode of Scaling Freelance is Devesh Khanal. Devesh is the Co-founder of Grow and Convert and the CEO of Growth Rock. He got his start freelancing and transitioned into growing two agencies. Growth Rock increases conversion rates for 7 and 8-figure online businesses through A/B testing anduser research. They have deep expertise in optimization and user experience of ecommerce and SaaS business in particular.
Devesh and I discuss:
- How to successfully manage a remote team
- Why hiring can be SO hard
- What your first hires should be and how to think about it
- Why Virtual Assistants don't work for him
- Product Market fit
- Finding a repeatable channel for
Book Recommendations:
Tool Recommendations:
People to Follow:
Guest Info:
007: Leaving your 9-5 job to go full-time freelance w/ Eléna Potter + Kate Busby
Joining me on today’s episode of Scaling Freelance is Eléna Potter and Kate Busby. Eléna is a freelance designer and illustrator in Chicago and Kate is a freelance web developer who is remote in Lisbon right now. They came together to form the boutique web design studio, fittingly called Busby-Potter. And by teaming up, they offer start to finish websites with Eléna handling the design and Kate handling development.
Eléna, Kate and I discuss:
- How they quit their 9-5 to become full-time freelancers
- How to get clients as a new freelancer
- Hourly vs Value-based pricing (and why this can make you $$$$)
- What it’s like being a nomadic freelancer
- Why they decided to partner up instead of staying solo-freelancers.
Book Recommendations:
Software Recommendations:
People to Follow:
- https://clientsfromhell.net (blog and podcast)
- http://www.ghostlyferns.com (IG )
Guest Info:
Kate Busby
Eléna Potter
Website - Busby-Potter
Instagram - @BUSBYPOTTER
006: How to work for 6 weeks, then take off for 2 w/ Joe Martin
Joining me on today’s episode of Scaling Freelance is Joe Martin. Joe recently published a book for entrepreneurs and business owners, 6-week cycles which offers a new perspective on productivity, corporate culture, and an understanding that family should always come first.
Joe and I discuss:
- Why nurturing your clients is so important to boost referrals
- Branding as yourself vs a company name
- How to work for 6 weeks and then take off for 2 weeks
- How Joe got is first few clients
Book Recommendations:
Tool Recommendations:
People to Follow:
Guest Info:
005: How creative freelancers can scale their business w/ Abbey Woodcock
Joining me on today’s episode of Scaling Freelance is Abbey Woodcock. She is a freelance copywriter that has been featured in some of the largest brands online. Over the years, she's developed systems and strategies that have boosted her revenue beyond what she imagined. Aside from freelancing, she also started freelancecoop.org to help make creativity sustainable.
Abbey and I discuss:
- How to get your first freelance copywriting clients
- Going to networking events can CHANGE your freelance business
- Why you should NOT tell your first client that they are your first client
- What you should actually DO at networking events to get business
- How to network as an introvert
Book Recommendations:
Tool Recommendations:
People to Follow:
Guest Info:
https://onlifeandwriting.com
http://freelancecoop.org
004: Learning how to code to six-figure freelancer w/ Jessica Chan from Coder-Coder
Joining me on today’s episode of Scaling Freelance is Jessica Chan, the founder of Coder-Coder. She got her start out in web development at an advertising agency. She went full-time freelance in June 2018 and has since launched a tutorial site to help people how to code!
Jessica and I discuss:
- How to learn how to code on your own
- What it's like going from 9-5 to full-time freelancer
- Selling digital goods like courses and e-books
Book Recommendations:
Software Recommendations:
- Trello
People to Follow:
Guest Info:
003: Traveling the world as a freelance photographer w/ Phillip Van Nostrand
Joining me on today’s episode of Scaling Freelance is Phillip Van Nostrand. Phillip is based out of New York City. He has a strong background in weddings, commercial, and lifestyle projects, and is an expert in capturing bright, cinematic lifestyle imagery. He travels abroad 5 times a year and has photographed in over 40 countries.
Phillip and I discuss:
- How to become a photographer with no formal training
- Charging more for your work
- How he is able to travel the world and support is lifestyle
- How to live an epic freelance life
Book Recommendations:
Tool Recommendations:
People to Follow:
Guest Info:
002: Generating consistent income as a freelancer w/ Preston Lee
Joining me on today’s episode of Scaling Freelance is Preston Lee. Preston is the founder of Millo.co where he and his team have been helping freelancers thrive for over a decade. His advice has been featured by Entrepreneur, Inc, Forbes, Adobe, and many more.
Preston and I discuss:
- How to get consistent income as a freelancer
- Finding your first client
- 68 Freelance Job Sites to find your first gigs
- How to get to the next level of income while freelancing
- How to leverage past clients to generate more revenue
- How to successfully structure a retainer contract
- Why you don't need to be afraid of SALES
Book Recommendations:
Software Recommendations:
People to Follow:
Guest Info:
001: Behind the scenes into the life of a six-figure freelancer w/ Avani Miriyala
Joining me on today’s episode of Scaling Freelance is Avani Miriyala, the host of the podcast The Six-Figure Freelancer. Avani is a business coach for freelancers. Her mission is to help freelancers who want MORE and break free of the hamster-wheel so they can get more clients with ease and scale sustainable to 6-figures and beyond.
Avani and I discuss:
- Why networking is THE most important tool for freelancers
- How Avani time blocks like crazzzzy to be super efficient
- How to balance money-later tasks, maintenance tasks, and money-now tasks
- How to structure a retainer projects with clients
- Why growing a team is KEY to freelance growth
Book Recommendations:
Software Recommendations:
Blogs/People to Follow:
Guest Info:
https://avanimiriyala.com
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