Articles
The Way of The Entrepreneur
Today marks the conclusion of my five-part series on entrepreneurial freedom. If you've missed any of the posts in the series, here they are in order: 1. The Four Freedoms of Entrepreneurship This post talks about the four freedoms we all…
A Tale of Two Locations
Over the past few weeks, I've been writing on how to achieve freedom as an entrepreneur. Last week, I discussed how your work can help you achieve freedom by asking yourself whether the work you do is rare and valuable.…
Freedom of Work
Over the past two weeks, I've been writing about entrepreneurial freedom. Last week I wrote about the two mindsets when it comes to financial freedom: 1) the Spartan mindset of frugality and 2) the Athenian mindset of abundance. Today I…
Financial Freedom: Spartan or Athenian?
Last week, I talked about the Four Freedoms of Entrepreneurship. Today, I wanted to take a deep dive into one of the most important pillars - financial freedom. Financial freedom is probably the number one most sought-after milestone for anyone who jumps…
The Four Freedoms of Entrepreneurship
Everyone wants freedom, but not everyone is willing to pay their dues to attain it. Freedom comes at a price. The ancient Spartans fought the Persian Empire to protect their freedom and 300 Spartans willingly died at the Battle of Thermopolyae…
Does it really take 21 days to form a habit?
Last week, we talked about commitment, and the activities you can undertake to grow your business. I'll get back to commitment in a moment, but first, I wanted to ask a question. What do the following phrases have in common?…
Are you committed?
We all want something in business and life. “I want a million dollar business.” “I want to travel the world.” “I want to be the best in my industry.” Wanting something is easy, something that every one of us accomplishes…
Stay Top Of Mind
Do your clients think of YOU when they think about the services you offer? If not you, then who? If your email inbox is as clogged as mine, it’s no secret to you that today is the day GDPR becomes…
The 8 Second Brain
There's too much information in the world right now. And we're all too busy trying to keep up, so what do we do? We crave the summary. We crave the cliffs notes. We crave the silver bullets. "Just give me…
Your Clients Don’t Trust You
Last week, we talked about the Snowball Strategy, where I argued it is THE key to growing your revenue over time in your freelancing, consulting, or agency/service-based business. Client relationships are the foundation of the Snowball Strategy. You need to…
The Snowball Strategy: The Secret To Growing Your Revenue Over Time
What’s the secret to growing your profits year after year as a freelancer, consultant, or agency/service-based business? Is it a) more clients? Is it b) selling high-profit services? Is it c) more advertising? What if I told you that it…
How the best Salespeople keep deals flowing
What is the most underrated part of selling your professional services to clients? Lead quality? Tenacity? Deal-closing skills? Nope. It's having a defined system for tracking and following-up on deal flow. That's the backbone of successfully selling your services; not sales…
Make Your Agency Great
Last week’s post talked about Revenue Planning, one of the most critical business activities you can do in your agency. In today’s post, which is our final post in our The Truth About the Agency Business series, I share with…
Revenue Planning 101
Last week, we talked about Hiring Your First Employee, and I shared two frameworks you could use to help you determine if you are ready to hire an employee or not. Today, I want to discuss one of the most…
Hiring Your First Employee
So you want to hire your first employee? Congrats! That’s the BEST problem you can have in business... to have so much work and new clients that you've decided that it's time for you to bring on an employee to…
How to Select Business Partners
Last week, I talked about The ONE test ALL outsourced contractors need to pass before you hire them. I shared with you the "A Player Guarantee Test" and in my experience, it virtually guarantees that a contractor is the right fit…
The ONE test ALL outsourced contractors need to pass
Last week I talked about How To Outsource Your Client Projects The Right Way, and today’s post is a continuation on the same topic. With so many contractors on platforms like Upwork, Fiverr, and LinkedIn Gigs, how do you ensure…
How To Outsource Your Client Projects the Right Way
Should you outsource client projects to subcontractors? And if you make that choice, what’s the right way to do it? That's the focus of today's post and video. Sometimes it makes sense to outsource client projects because it leads to “easy money,”…
Why 99% of Client Projects Are Late
Last week I talked about managing clients the right way, and the importance of communicating often and setting clear expectations. Why is this so important? Because managing clients is only half of the equation to getting projects delivered on time.…
Managing Your Clients The Right Way
Last week I revealed three secrets to closing the sale to help you land your next client. After the contract is signed and the ink is dry, congratulations you now have a client! And of course, we love our clients.…
Three Secrets to Closing The Sale
So, you’ve started prospecting for potential clients, and you’ve avoided the #1 pricing mistake service-based businesses make when selling their services. You've finally begun submitting proposals to potential clients, and you feel confident it's going to be a slam dunk…
CASE STUDY: How Sid 5x'ed his fees with a simple insight
Imagine being able to walk into your next meeting with a potential client and get DOUBLE or TRIPLE your service or consulting fee. What impact would that have on your business? In today's blog post and video, I'll be sharing…
The #1 Mistake Agencies Make When Pricing Their Services
Pricing is where most freelancers, consultants, and agencies fail. Fail to charge what they're worth. Fail to price based on profit. Fail to overcome client objections to pricing. What's the #1 mistake we make when pricing our services? In this…
How To Get Your First 10 Clients
Last week, we talked about The Imposter Inside you, a.k.a. “Imposter Syndrome” where you feel like a fake, but you really aren’t. The week before that, I shared with you A Comprehensive Guide To Outbound Prospecting to help you contact…
The Imposter Inside You
Have you ever felt like you weren’t capable of doing something? Have you experienced that little voice in your head that says, “No, I can’t do that... I'm not qualified. What if people found out the truth?” Sound familiar? That’s…
A Comprehensive Guide to Outbound Prospecting (for Agencies and Consultants)
Two weeks ago, I announced the 90 day relationship challenge, and in that blog post I outlined a simple six step process on how you could get started. Today I’ll expand upon that process, and give you a step-by-step system…
3 Simple Steps To Thrive This Year
According to a recent New York Times article, 25 percent of New Year’s Resolutions have fallen by the wayside! Only 8 percent of resolutions are actually accomplished by December 31st. Will you be in that 8 percent? It's rare for a…
90 Days, 90 New Business Relationships
Today I want to start off with a bold assumption: You want to grow your agency or one-person consulting business in 2018. But what steps are you taking to get there? Do you have a plan in place? More importantly,…
Bringing on Partners in Your Agency Business
If you have been working as a freelancer or consultant, the idea teaming up with others to form a business partnership can be exciting. But there are also a lot of daunting questions that must be addressed. Who do you…
What would it take to 5x your rates?
Earlier this week I saw a note come in from an Agency Course student named Sid. He's deep into Agency Course right now and putting his new skills into action. Here's what he told me about his experience. I used the…
Be specific
Last week I sent an email with some really terrible advice. It was titled "Be Generic" and it was written with my tongue firmly planted in cheek. And most of you were in on the joke. Except for the unsubscribers…
Be Generic
Stay average. Don’t be compelling. Don’t give anyone a reason to care about what you have to say. Don’t go above and beyond. Don’t make things personal. Don’t give anyone a reason to invest emotionally. Don’t take a stand. Don’t…
The Compound Interest Effect of Niching Down
When you first start selling your services, it’s common to hear yourself saying “I can do that!” to anyone with a dollar in their hands. Anything to bring revenue in the door. You position yourself as the solution, even if you've…
Two Unintuitive Tips for Pitching Your Services
Last week, I shared my story about helping Josh improve the Pitch Deck for his new startup. This week, I wanted to share two specific pitch tips that I think are missed by 90% of service providers when they try…
Pitching Services: How to Leave Them Wanting More
Yesterday I had a call with Josh, one of my closest business friends. Josh was working on his sales pitch for his startup Brandish Insights, and he wanted honest feedback. I gave it to him. Uncensored. "This sounds cool, but I…
Already Planning for Next Year?
There have been many times in my agency career when I was surprised by the extended planning cycles of clients. Let me give you the setting. It would be a cold January morning (sub-zero temperatures in St. Paul, Minnesota), and…
What is the best way to pitch your services?
Last week I left you on a cliffhanger. We set the tone for a pitch situation, and I recommended starting the pitch by answering the question on everyone's mind: "Who are you, and why are you here?" Establish your credibility…
Who are you, and why are you here?
The agency business is a relationship business. Same goes for any other form of professional service you might offer. Delivering good work may feel like your primary obligation, but it's the relationships that keep your clients paying their bills. Work…
Execute and Iterate
Rome wasn't built in a day. It took centuries to create all those roads. Your business works the same way. Like all good things, it takes time to achieve success. Yet it's easy to see the results of others and…
Seeking Validation from the Marketplace
Marketing a business shouldn’t be a Hail Mary pass. Paid advertising shouldn’t be your last hope. Throwing good money at a bad customer experience rarely works, unless you find joy in lighting money on fire. When struggling to grow your business,…
What do you want to be in business?
You have a choice. Do you want to grow into a huge corporation? Do you want to build a lifestyle business? Do you want to have more time outside of work? Do you want to achieve fame and fortune? You…
The Fastest Way to Make a Million Dollars...
... is to help someone else make 20 million dollars. That's it. The fastest way to improve your own financial position is to improve the financial position of others. Help others reach their goals, and you can get compensated through commissions,…
You can always get a job...
We all have hang-ups when it comes to improving our career prospects. Some of these hang-ups are related to risk-aversion. Others are due to a lack of confidence. For many, it's a fear of failure. That feeling we only get…
But I'm not an expert...
It feels weird to call yourself an expert. Egotistical, even. It's much better to leave that designation to a third party. For years I was of that opinion; frightened by the word expert. Afraid of what it meant. Afraid of…
Hard Work vs. Smart Work Business
Hard work is the only way to get ahead in business. I've heard that sentiment many times over the years, as if working hard is all you need to be successful. Now I look back fondly on the naivety of…
Survivor Bias and the Unassailable Mountain
You should be skeptical about trusting the story of how someone achieved their success. They always make it sound so easy; summarizing everything in frameworks and formulas. "Success is a simple three step formula." Simply take a chance on your…
Good Things Take Time
Every marketer uses language like quick, fast, rapid or instant to describe the results they promise. As if reading this one article is going to be responsible for you becoming a millionaire. Or watching that one video. Or clicking through…
Should Freelancers Partner Up to Build Something Bigger?
I often come across freelancers who want to partner up with other freelancers to form an agency. The logic is simple: birds of a feather flock together. Two freelancers working together to solve a problem is better than one. But is…
[Case Study] Do Surveys Get Better Responses with an Incentive?
Last week you were part of an experiment. I'm sorry for not telling you sooner, but it would have skewed the results. But now that the experiment has concluded, I'm happy to share with you the methodology and my findings.…
How Much Should You Charge for Your Services?
For years, I stressed over how much I should charge for my services, as if there was a right answer. There is no perfect answer. There is no one magic formula to use. There is no right answer, and there are no wrong…
How Content Marketing Gets Your Agency Noticed in 2017 (Case Study)
One of the considerations we made during the production of Agency Course was to make sure our lessons provided value to business owners across several markets. While my experience is primarily in the US market, these courses have reached students all…
What Does Success Mean to You?
My favorite part of the Agency Jumpstart Course is having one-on-one calls with agency owners and budding freelancers. Each conversation is dynamic, intense, and highly valuable for everyone involved. But most of them start the same exact way. Rather than…
What is the Half-life of Your Agency Resources?
Over the years, I have had the fortune of observing many businesses across hundreds of industries. Some of them are clients, some are peers, and others are the workplaces of friends and family. Many of my posts come from these…
Outsource Everything! (And Why This Fails for Service Businesses)
Your plans come together with the precision of a Swiss watch. Step 1: Win over a business with your charm and wit, convincing them to lock in your services for a big fat contract. Step 2: Outsource all of the…
Holding Your Business Together with Duct Tape
[vimeo 218967971] Duct tape has always been a handy asset in my home. Whether it’s used on a leaking faucet or a busted bumper, duct tape fixes almost everything. It may not be the prettiest, but it is a quick…
Listening to the Marketplace
We were ahead of our time. That’s the only conclusion I could draw from the looks in their eyes, as we sat across the table from a nameless, faceless, wall of rejection. We had a product, we targeted a market, but…
An Ode to the Dreamers
We all have dreams. It could be dreaming of traveling or purchasing a new home. Social and financial security. Or even a new laptop. And then there are the dreamers… Dreamers see the world for what it can be, not…
What exactly is a qualified lead? (SPOILER ALERT: It's the only leads that matter)
Leads come in all shapes, sizes and definitions. Just trying to keep up with the terminology makes my head spin. You may call them prospects, inquiries, demos, or even hot buttered customers in waiting (ok, I took a few liberties…
Should You Work For Free to Win Clients?
Last month my friend Dan Shure published an article about the pain in writing SEO Proposals. It was an honest look at the proposal process that we go through as freelancers, consultants and agencies. While you will find the whole…
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