Navigating life as a creative freelancer is all about balancing what you love doing with what pays the bills. It's often framed as "selling your soul", but really, it's about making tough choices: do you follow your passion or chase the cash? For creatives, this dilemma is pretty intense. You've got the classic 'starving artist' on one side. They're rich in satisfaction but often struggle financially. Then there's the other side - the freelancers who focus mainly on what brings in money. Sure, they might be doing better financially, but at what cost? This week's episode explores each side in a ..read more

Client acquisition is obviously an important part of running a freelance business because it’s how you make sure you keep getting paid every month. Despite how obvious this is, many freelancers don’t take this seriously enough... and it shows when work dries up and you're back into the dreaded feast-or-famine cycle. If you worked in a day job that decided to stop paying you for weeks or months at a time, you'd probably do something about it. However, many freelancers never do anything about this in their own business. They just keep showing up to "work" week after week, month after month, acce ..read more

In the final episode of this 4-part series, we're diving into one of the most powerful but often misunderstood methods of standing out from the crowd. I saved the best for last. This has been the "secret sauce" behind my all of my successful businesses, from freelancing, to Airbnb, to multiple software companies, and even podcasting. Without this last piece of the puzzle, nothing I've tried would have worked, and I'd likely still be working at Gamestop for minimum wage (missing out on millions of $ in the process) If you're ready to become absolutely indispensable to your clients, listen to th ..read more

"But they do it for less". If you've heard lines like that over the past year, get ready to hear it even more over the next 5-10 years. Why? Well here's a terrifying stat: There are an estimated 500,000,000 freelancers "coming online" by the end of this decade. WTF can we do to set ourselves apart from all those people WITHOUT resorting to dropping our rates? It all comes down to one unsexy word: Differentiation. Why should someone hire YOU vs alllll the other options they have? If you don't have a damn good answer for that, you're going to have a bad time... Stick around for this new ..read more

If you're an obsessive learner (or ADHD) like me, there's probably a long list of new things you've learned and implemented as a freelancer over the past year. Maybe you've set up that rock-solid client contract, nailed down an onboarding process that's smooth as butter, or started following those essential tips for staying top-of-mind with clients without driving them or yourself crazy. Or perhaps you've been working on your project management skills to keep all your ducks in a row or taken a page out of Michael Janda's playbook to become someone people just can't help but like. And let's not ..read more

So you made it to $100,000+ per year... Congrats. Too bad you made so many sacrifices that you're constantly stressed out, you're missing out on time with friends and family, and you resent your business. The irony is that you became a freelancer because you hated your day job and you wanted to work for yourself. Now, you feel like you have 50 "little bosses", and you hate your life a little bit more with each new client you gain. If this sounds like you, it may be time to put boundaries into place to get to that sweet spot between hitting your income goals while also enjoying your life and bu ..read more

You have had one of those projects that went south fast? You're cruising along, and then boom, you hit the revisions stage, and it's like hitting a brick wall. Emotions run high, lists of changes start flying in, and what was supposed to be a quick fix turns into a never-ending nightmare. If you've been freelancing for a while, then I'm sure you've been there. This is the make-or-break moment in your quest for repeat clients and referrals. If the revisions process feels like a battleground, you're in trouble. It's supposed to be about making things better, but instead, it can end up being the ..read more

Being likable is a super power for freelancers, and here's why... This business is all about making a great first impression, keeping your clients coming back for more, and getting them to tell their friends about you. When you meet a new client, hitting it off right away can make a huge difference. Just like when you meet anyone new and instantly click — you just want to hang out more. For freelancers, being more likable means clients are more likely to pick you over someone else, and stick around AND refer more work your way. See why this matters? Here's what sucks... Some people are just ba ..read more

Today, let's chat about a struggle that hits home for a lot of us creatives... We kind of have a bad rep for getting projects across the finish line on time without dropping the ball. You know the drill – underestimating how long things will take, forgetting those tiny yet crucial details, and then, bam, you've dropped the ball... Again. Then we get those fun 3 AM panic attacks about that thing you forgot to send off to your client. Yep, been there, done that. Here's why we kinda suck at this: Trying to store every single tiny little project detail, deadline, and step in your head is a surefir ..read more

Pretty much all of us got into this "trading creativity for $$$" thing because we absolutely love what we do. It's easy to forget that there's more to the game than just passion + being good at your craft. The whole "client communication" thing usually isn't the most thrilling part of your day. It's like, we get so caught up in the excitement of creating and learning new things in our field that we kind of let the whole talking-to-clients thing slide. It's not because we want to be bad at it, and it's not because we're terrible people... But because we're just not wired that way, especially if ..read more