Weekly discussion by freelancers and professionals about running a business, finding clients, marketing, and lifestyle related to being a freelancer.
Similar Podcasts
The Stack Overflow Podcast
The Stack Overflow podcast is a weekly conversation about working in software development, learning to code, and the art and culture of computer programming. Hosted by Paul Ford and Ben Popper, the series features questions from our community, interviews with fascinating guests, and hot takes on what’s happening in tech. Founded in 2008, Stack Overflow is empowering the world to develop technology through collective knowledge. It’s best known for being the largest, most trusted online community for developers and technologists. More than 100 million people come to Stack Overflow every month to ask questions, help solve coding problems, and develop new skills.
Kalra Legal Group
Employment Law and HR Advice from Kalra Legal Group (https://www.klglaw.co.uk/) - employment solicitors based in London and the South East UK.
El Estoico | Estoicismo en español
En este podcast vamos a hablar Estoicismo, figuras estoicas y ejercicios estoicos para mejorar tu vida y tu resiliencia ante las adversidades.
Episode 177: 168 FS Branding with Sunny Bonnell
01:05 - Sunny Bonnell Introduction Twitter Motto @wearemotto Ashleigh Hansberger: @ashleighsnotes (Sunny’s Co-Founder) 01:38 - Archetyping Is Your Brand the Rebel, Hero or Lover? Discovering Brand Archetypes Understanding The Brand Archetype 05:48 - Is archetyping important for the solopreneur? Johnny Cupcakes 12:21 - Identifying *Your* Archetype 15:37 - Branding ROI 21:44 - What do you do once you choose your archetype? Munk Pack Anthony Bourdain 25:12 - Implementing Motto’s Archetype 26:04 - Can you blend archetypes? 28:47 - Finding a Target Audience 33:54 - Changing Brands 42:27 - Client Intake Process/Discovery Red Flags/Turning People Down 49:14 - The Audience TOMS Shoes 51:51 - Changing Archetypes Levi's Extras Best Advice I Ever Got: Don't Be a Slave to the Ordinary 10 Ways to Find Your Purpose as a Designer 12 Principles For Leading An Extraordinary Company Five questions to get to the heart of your business Follow Your “Why,” Not Your “What” Picks Circa Notebooks (Jonathan) Expensive Problem Coaching Call (Jonathan) Naomi Dunford: What Is Price Anchoring? (And Should You Do It?) (Eric) Setting a goal, making a plan, and executing a plan (Chuck) Masters of Sex (Sunny) Readymag (Sunny) Niice (Sunny) Yellow108 (Sunny)
Episode 176: 167 FS When And How To Hire
Checkout RailsClips and Angular Remote Conf! 01:03 - Panelist Experiences With Hiring 03:00 - Hiring Virtual Assistants (VAs) Mandy = @therubyrep / DevReps Virtual Staff Finder 10:02 - Hiring For Design Work / One-Off Projects Wet Frog Studios (Aaron Mahnke) Podcast Motor Elance Fiverr Odesk => Upwork 16:23 - Hiring Subcontractors Infinum 27:58 - Hiring Employees Picks Uber (Reuven) Consider the Fork: A History of How We Cook and Eat by Bee Wilson (Reuven) Morgan’s Paradox for Freelancers (Eric) Marcus Blankenship (Jonathan) The Mortified Podcast (Jonathan) Developer On Fire Episode 017 - Charles Max Wood - Get Involved and Try New Things (Chuck) Elevator Saga (Chuck)
Episode 175: 166 FS Investing In Your Business with Equipment, Software, and Other Services
Check out RailsClips and Angular Remote Conf! 01:39 - Purchase Criteria 08:09 - At what point to do you switch/kill off/upgrade services and/or hardware? Lost Productivity Costs 21:03 - Justifying Big Equipment/Furniture Purchases 32:58 - Try Before You Buy 37:04 - Travel Expenses 47:33 - Quality = Positive Return On Investment (ROI) Self-Representation Products and Services Referenced During This Episode: BuiltWith Edgar Buffer Basecamp Dropbox CleanMyMac Synology Drobo Emacs Keynote IPython Notebook Uber Picks ExpressVPN (Reuven) Young Money: Inside the Hidden World of Wall Street's Post-Crash Recruits by Kevin Roose (Reuven) CommitStrip: A Very Common Coder’s Youthful Mistake (Eric) Paul Jarvis: The one thing every aspiring freelancer, college student or person with access to a time machine should know (Eric) Amazon Echo (Jonathan) 1-877-223-0342 (Chuck) freelancershow.com/15minutes (Chuck)
Episode 174: The Freelancers' Show: LIVE Q&A #9 - June 23, 2015
00:57 - Do you find it hard to work 40 billable hours in a week? If so, how do you explain it to an outsider? 08:59 - How do you set aside time for admin work? Billing, blogging, etc. 15:41 - How can someone measure when they are "ready" in their skills to break into freelance from a full-time job? Is it better to just dive in and see what happens? 26:26 - Is it still important to niche down right away? Might it be more helpful to wait a little longer until I have more experience to choose a niche from? 32:55 - When do you suggest is an appropriate time to start billing when you’re ramping up a project? Picks Proposal Template PDF (Jonathan) Existential Comics (Reuven)
Episode 173: 165 FS Strategy and Project Management with Marie Poulin
Check out RailsClips! 00:58 - Marie Poulin Introduction Twitter Blog Digital Strategy School Doki 01:42 - Marie’s Background and Digital Strategy School Evolution 04:57 - Working with Breanne Dyck The Freelancers' Show Episode #164: Teaching and Learning Courses wit Breanne Dyck 06:55 - Freelancer => Strategic Business Owner “Everything that’s on your plate is there because you said yes to it.” -- Danielle LaPorte 09:33 - Mindset: Looking At Your Business as a Business (Getting Serious) 14:55 - Business Audit: Why are you doing what you are doing? What do you want to accomplish with your business? Tara Gentile: Know Where You’re Headed (Your Chief Initiative) Monthly, Quarterly, Yearly Check-ins Changing Your Business Takes Time 21:38 - Execution 24:27 - Accountability and Discipline BJ Fogg The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg What’s happening now? What’s happening later? “Work with your energy” Track Tasks [Skillshare] Get Stuff Done Like A Boss: Design Your Workflow and Double Your Productivity in 21 Days with Tiago Forte What is at stake? (F This Moment) 29:13 - Making Tough Decisions 35:18 - Mastermind Groups Entreprogrammers 44:44 - Doki Picks Vornado 530 Compact Whole Room Air Circulator (Eric) Paracord (Chuck) Soto Pocket Torch (Chuck) The Strategic Designer: Tools & Techniques for Managing the Design Process by David Holston (Marie) Creative Confidence by Tom and David Kelley (Marie) [TED Talk] Brene Brown: The Power of Vulnerability (Marie)
Episode 172: 164 FS Teaching and Learning Courses with Breanne Dyck
Check out RailsClips and RemoteConfs! 01:14 - Breanne Dyck Introduction Twitter My Name Is Breanne: Master the Business of Teaching Online 02:13 - Transitioning: Contracting => Teaching Courses Content Marketing 05:59 - Structuring Content Deep vs Wide Business Model 10:19 - Where do you start? 13:05 - Getting Results Levels of Mastery Surface-Level Learning Higher-Level Mastery Badass: Making Users Awesome by Kathy Sierra Spectrum of Confidence/Competence The Backwards Brain Bicycle 24:15 - Setting People Up to Succeed Pilots, Alpha and Beta Phases Outcomes and Objectives 80/20 Rule (Pareto Principle) 33:57 - Should I charge for pilots? (Pricing) Ramit Sethi 35:39 - Experimentation > Textbook/Traditional Learning 43:22 - Selecting Content For Your Course The 5 Whys Technique Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability by Steve Krug 52:50 - Getting and Keeping People Interested in Your Courses Through Completion Massive Open Online Course (MOOCs) Passive Participants The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg Planning For Success Picks The Art of Outbound Lead Generation by Blair Enns (Eric) Is Positioning Professional Services Different Than Products? Al Ries Explains (Eric) Badass: Making Users Awesome by Kathy Sierra (Eric) remoteconfs.com (Chuck) God (Chuck) Jesus Christ (Chuck) The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Chuck) Brain Rules (Updated and Expanded): 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School by John Medina (Breanne) Brilliance by Design: Creating Learning Experiences That Connect, Inspire, and Engage Kindle Edition by Vicki Halsey (Breanne) Quiet Power Strategy by Tara Gentile (Breanne) Your Perfect Participant: Unlock What Buyers Want & Need From You by Breanne Dyck (Breanne)
Episode 171: 163 FS Winding Down a Project
01:47 - Context For Discussion 05:13 - Getting That Last Check 08:03 - When Things Aren’t Working Out… Business Value 11:26 - Pricing Features (Billing) 18:20 - “Offboarding”: The Handoff Phase/Transitioning Client Mailing List Screencasts/Video Tutorials Transcripts 27:30 - Parting Ways on a Good Note 30:44 - Asking For Referrals, Gaining Introductions 37:59 - Horror Stories? Uncertainty Sucks Working With Startups 45:47 - “Offboarding” Cont’d Picks Podcast for America (Reuven) HRV4Training (Eric) Terrifying Robot Dog (Jonathan) Bartesian: the Ultimate Home Cocktail Machine (Jonathan) Mandy's Fiancé's Video Game Fund (Chuck) Downcast (Chuck) Aftershokz AS500 Bluez 2 Open Ear Wireless Stereo Headphones (Chuck)
Episode 170: 162 FS Restructuring An Agency with Matt Inglot
01:23 - Matt Inglot Introduction Twitter Tilted Pixel @tiltedpixel Freelance Transformation Podcast 02:22 - Transitioning (Mistakes Made) Scaling Generalization Fixed Overhead 04:13 - Specialization, Positioning, and Targeting Clients and Customers Virtualization 08:30 - Pivoting to Being a Remote Agency Getting Clients Networking and Referrals Inbound Marketing Direct Outreach 13:34 - Running a Remote Team Contractors, Subcontractors 16:55 - Company and Team Identity Adding Overhead 26:57 - Scale 28:10 - Pricing and Billing; Recurring Revenue 30:18 - Recurring Services Campaign Management SEO Building Email Marketing Services 31:16 - Prompting Change in a Business 34:52 - Specialization (Cont’d) 39:49 - Being a “Web Agency” / Calling Yourself ____ 49:05 - Choosing a Niche Picks aText (Jonathan) Amy Cuddy: Your Body Language Shapes Who You Are (Eric) Sonic Pi (Chuck) Freelance Transformation (Matt) Kirk Parsley: America's Biggest Problem | TEDxReno (Matt)
Episode 169: The Freelancers' Show: LIVE Q&A #8 - May 26, 2015
01:40 - Prepayment, Deposits, Trust, and Risk 14:55 - Pricing a SaaS (Software as a Service) Tier Pricing Grandfather Clauses Beta Test Features Unlocking Features 27:02 - Scope 30:07 - Tier Pricing (Cont’d) The Win Without Pitching Manifesto by Blair Enns 38:49 - What’s a marketing/lead generation channel that’s been successful for you that you hadn’t expected to be successful for your consulting business? Podcasting Speaking Engagements 45:03 - The Get Clients Now Approach The Freelancers' Show Episode #20: Get Clients Now! with C.J. Hayden 46:47 - If you could give yourself two or three bits of advice when you first started out, what would they be? Specialize Book Yourself Solid by Michael Port Charge More Don’t Be Afraid to Make Mistakes 51:03 - Mastermind Groups Picks Pay Your Love First (Eric) The Consulting Pipeline Podcast (Eric) Drip Sherpa (Jonathan) Double Your Freelancing Conference (Jonathan) CodeNewbie Podcast (Chuck) This Is Your Life Podcast (Chuck)
Episode 168: 161 FS Budgeting
02:02 - “Budgeting” 04:01 - Incentive Jesse Mecham 11:09 - Time Cost/Emotional Cost 14:47 - Approaching a Budget YNAB Features (Desktop) YNAB for iPhone YNAB for iPad YNAB for Android 21:31 - Keeping Up a Budget (Discipline) Financial Accounting Managerial Accounting 39:14 - Amending Budgets Budgeting for Taxes Depreciation Expenses 46:19 - Expense Division? Dave Ramsey 54:15 - Getting Started Buy YNAB 55:56 - Default Questions Cash Flow Statement Is it worth it? Do I have enough extra to invest? 59:34 - Reconciling Accounts (Transfers) Using PayPal Picks The Positioning Manual for Technical Firms by Philip Morgan (Jonathan) Econtalk (Reuven) Blair Enns: 5 Reasons You Should Offer Guarantees (Eric) YNAB (Chuck) Serial Podcast (Chuck) Startups For the Rest of Us (Chuck) Aftershokz AS500 Bluez 2 Open Ear Wireless Stereo Headphones (Chuck)
Episode 167: 160 FS A Deep Dive on Positioning Yourself As a Specialist with Philip Morgan
Get your Ruby Remote Conf tickets and check out the @rubyremoteconf Twitter feed for exciting updates about the conference. 02:09 - Philip Morgan Introduction Twitter Philip Morgan Consulting The Positioning Manual for Technical Firms by Philip Morgan 02:30 - Thinking About Positioning and Communicating What You Do Expensive Problem: The Benefits of Pigeonholing 27:08 - Finding Target Markets 35:25 - Acquiring New Skills to Support a New Position 39:00 - Refining Your Positioning Marketing, Publicity 56:07 - Positioning Exercise Picks Kurt Elster: Email Templates for Freelancers (Jonathan) Expensive Problem: Market Research Cold Email Template (Jonathan) Bryan Harris: How I Made $10,000 in 24-hours With My First Product (Case Study) (Reuven) Jewish guide to visiting China by Reuven Lerner (Reuven) Spark by Readdle (Eric) AmazonSmile (Chuck) Listen to other people’s views (Chuck) Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind by Al Ries (Philip) Rolls MS111 Mic Switch Latching or Momentary Microphone Mute Switch with Passes Phantom Power (Philip) The Consulting Pipeline Podcast (Philip)
Episode 166: The Freelancers' Show: LIVE Q&A #7 - April 28, 2015
07:06 - Finding Work on Sites Like Elance and Upwork (formerly oDesk) Danny Margulies The Non-Scuzzy and Totally True Story of How I Earned 6 Figures in 12 Months by Mastering the “Hidden Elance Economy” Danny Margulies: How to Make Money On Elance – My $100,000 Year Fiverr 14:24 - What sort of project/scope documentation do you generate for clients to supply time/budget estimates? ROI (Return On Investment) ChiliProject 23:26 - How much time do you spend with the client defining the scope of the work before you sign a contract? 27:20 - Do you have a timeline to review deliverables (weekly) or is it ad-hoc based on when the work is finished? 33:12 - You have mentioned, at least in the early podcasts, that you do about 20-30 hours of billable work per week, and you also have multiple simultaneous clients/contracts. I'm currently working a W2, 40+ hour week with a large product backlog that has me busy all week, so I'm struggling to visualize what a week in the life of a freelancer looks like. If you only work 20-30 hours per week, and have at a minimum of 2 clients, does that mean you only dedicate 10 or so hours per client? 42:50 - What sort of non-development tasks do you bill for that fill up some of the extra time? 46:12 - How much development time per week do your clients expect you to dedicate to the project? 49:58 - Have you ever had a client specify a maximum number of hours per week in your contract? 50:27 - Is the feedback loop so slow that you always have time to work on another contract while you're waiting? 53:54 - Do your clients ever feel like you're not putting in enough time per week? How do you respond that? Picks Danny Margulies The Non-Scuzzy and Totally True Story of How I Earned 6 Figures in 12 Months by Mastering the “Hidden Elance Economy” (Eric) MicroConf (Chuck) Mini Habits: Smaller Habits, Bigger Results by Stephen Guise (Chuck) Habit Stacking: 97 Small Life Changes That Take Five Minutes or Less by S.J. Scott (Chuck) How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie (Chuck) Slate's Whistlestop Podcast (Reuven)
Episode 165: 159 FS Email Marketing with Rob Walling
01:47 - Rob Walling Introduction Twitter GitHub Blog Startups For the Rest of Us MicroConf @MicroConf Drip @getdrip 02:46 - Rob’s Background in Email Marketing Rob Walling: The Number One Goal Of Your Website @ Business Of Software 2010 04:32 - Email Marketing ≠ Spam Personalization Small vs Large Companies 10:07 - Drip Features Tagging Targeted Emails 14:25 - Templates 19:20 - Best Practices Email Capture Forms Everywhere Autoresponders Lead Scoring Eric's Mailing List 25:58 - Frequency and Growing Your List Patrick Mckenzie Software by Rob James Clear 29:01 - Exclusivity Permalinking Nick Disabato P Public, But Not Visible Social Shares 35:20 - Updating Content Michael Port 40:06 - Vanity Metrics 46:07 - List Segmenting NeverBounce 52:04 - Lead Magnets (Opt-in Rewards) Clay Collins Picks Saas Marketing Essentials by Ryan Battles (Rob) Bloxels: Build Your Own Video Games with Blocks by Pixel Press (Rob) Circa Notebooks from Levenger (Jonathan) Book Yourself Solid: The Fastest, Easiest, and Most Reliable System for Getting More Clients Than You Can Handle Even if You Hate Marketing and Selling by Michael Port (Jonathan) Content marketing isn’t the dirty word you think it is (Eric) LEGO Mindstorms (Reuven) Brixton Brothers Books (Reuven) Pleco (Reuven)
Episode 164: 158 FS Coworking and Collaboration with Alex Hillman
Check out Ruby Remote Conf! 01:56 - Alex Hillman Introduction Twitter Blog The Coworking Weekly Show Indy Hall @indyhall Amy Hoy Unicornfree 30x500: Build and Launch a Profitable Product Business Without Venture Capital 02:57 - Collaboration and Coworking Spaces 08:34 - Nights and Weekends? (After Hours/Night Owl Working) Unconferences and BarCamps 13:05 - Coworking is NOT a Talent Agency 15:02 - Isn’t Coworking Distractive? Choice Architecture Full-Time / Flex-Member Separation = Bad 22:33 - Forming Relationships for Collaboration Examples: Parker and Jake Flycops @flyclops Domino Amanda and Christine Lanternfish Press @lfpbooks The Legend of Sherlock Holmes Kickstarter Project 35:13 - Interns 36:54 - Collaboration vs Cooperation Choice vs Forced Collaboration “Half Baked Ideas” Where Good Ideas Come From by Steven Johnson 45:20 - Committing to a Coworking Space 49:39 - Should You Cowork? Self-Management Confidence: “If I can do it, you can do it.” Honest Exposure 01:03:58 - Starting a Coworking Space Core, Committed People Community Barn Raising Resources: How To Fund Your Coworking Space How Much Does It Cost To Start A Coworking Space? The Three Necessary Ingredients For Community. Do You Have Them? Picks The Tim Ferriss Show - Lazy: A Manifesto (Eric) Kai Davis: How to Hire a Part-Time Employee (Jonathan) Working Podcast (Reuven) Startup Podcast (Reuven) Fundraising While Female (Reuven) CodeNewbie Podcast (Chuck) Ask Me Another Podcast (Chuck) Ruby Remote Conf (Chuck) Reply All Podcast (Alex) Just Listen: Discover the Secret to Getting Through to Absolutely Anyone by Mark Goulston M.D. (Alex)
Episode 163: 157 FS Roadmaps and Estimates
Check out Ruby Remote Conf! 02:36 - Estimates Offering a Range Educated Guess Confidence Score When Clients Balk Trail Map Adding Buffers 12:09 - Roadmapping Eric’s Sample Trail Map Identifying and Reducing Risks 18:12 - How to Sell It 23:06 - Roadmaps vs Estimates (Defined & Differences) Wireframes 30:21 - Dealing with Conflict (Estimate Pain Points) Communication: Feedback & Check-in Points 33:10 - Budget and Value Hourly Billing / Fixed Bid / Weekly Billing 39:43 - Mismatched Expectations (Communication Cont’d) Red Flags Episode 44:47 - Productized Services and Consulting Kurt Elster Website Rescues The Freelancers’ Show Episode #131: Tiny Sites and Productized Consulting with Kurt Elster Picks Eric's Sample Trail Map (Eric) Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder by Nassim Nicholas Taleb (Eric) The Terrible Two by Mac Barnett (Reuven) INBOX PAUSE (Jonathan) CouldApp (Jonathan) Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business by Gino Wickman (Chuck) 99Designs (Chuck) Fiverr (Chuck)