April 29, 2018
The Freelancer’s Roadmap
Today is the day!
The Freelancer’s Roadmap is now available for sale in digital format (i.e., ePub, mobi, PDF) on my website. It is not available anywhere else and it is not available in print.
In this brief page book, I give you step-by-step instructions that you can follow to transform yourself from a commodity freelancer who’s forced to compete on price, into an in-demand consultant who has pricing leverage in the sales process.
Here’s an excerpt from the introduction that goes into more detail about the purpose of the book:
The first year of freelancing can be scary and hard, but it’s usually not the hardest year. I believe that this is because freshly minted freelancers have a built-in marketing story related to the details of their departure from full-time employment. Stories like: “Alice finally quit her job because of that horrible boss. She’s going freelance!” “Bob’s employer was acquired and the new owners let everybody go right before Christmas! Can you believe that?! He says he’s never putting himself in that situation again. He decided to go freelance!” “Charlotte got fed up being a cube-dweller and is now traveling around the world freelancing from wherever there’s an internet connection. Isn’t that cool?!” These are the kinds of stories that people share with friends, family, and colleagues. Taking the plunge with self-employment is a major life change. It’s remarkable. The story spreads exponentially through your network. Due to the inherent nature of network effects, a surprisingly large number of people end up hearing your story. And these folks want to help. They want to reward your bravery. There’s a sort of fragility to your situation that brings out a nurturing quality in people. They hire you themselves or they introduce you to people who hire you. This is why it’s not uncommon for clients to “magically” appear during your first year. Well, it’s not magic, of course... it’s your network helping you get started. Heck, one or two clients might even decide to follow you from your full-time gig. Or your former employer might hire you on a contract basis. Whatever the case, the magic wears out. This usually takes anywhere from 12 to 24 months. Your “take this job and shove it” story has become old news. Now you’re just another freelancer scrapping for work. There’s no story there. There’s nothing to talk about. So no one talks about you. You have exhausted your network. This is when things get Real Hard™. You have to scramble for work. You accept clients who you know are a bad fit because you’re behind on your bills. You lower your rates in hopes of landing any opportunity that comes your way. This creates a vicious cycle. You are making less per hour so you have to work more hours just to keep up. You are stressed, drained, and demoralized from working with clients who you despise. And you don’t have the time or energy to do what you need to do to attract better, higher-paying clients. The kind of clients you dream about. The ones for whom you could do high-value work that you’d be proud of. Welcome to Freelance Hell™. Your old job starts looking pretty good in retrospect. You start wondering if you could beg your old boss to take you back. Anything would be better than this, right? This goal of this book is to help you escape Freelance Hell.
As a thank you for welcoming me into your inbox every single day, I’m making The Freelancer’s Roadmap available for FREE to the first 50 list members who use the code INNERCIRCLE100 at checkout. I hope you’ll enjoy the book enough to tell your colleagues about it.
Yours,
—J