If you can choose between finding clients yourself and having clients find you, I strongly suggest the latter.
Nick Disabato runs Draft Revise and he wrote Cadence & Slang, a book about interactive design.
Here's some other stuff from Nick that you may find valuable:
- How to make freelancing a durable business
- How to transition yourself to product-wise consulting (the secret to Nick's success!)
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If you found this episode at all helpful, please leave us a rating on iTunes.
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Keith Perhac and Bryce Bladon discuss how they manage to work remotely.
Keith runs Segmetrics (analytics for people who use infusionsoft) and Summit Evergreen (online courses for product creators).
Check out our previous episode on travelling while working here: http://clientsfromhell.net/post/129137352708/travel-while-working-without-scrubbing-toilets
If you found this episode at all helpful, please leave us a rating on iTunes.
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Kai Davis and Bryce Bladon discuss common freelancer mistakes, their own foibles, and what others can do to avoid them.
Kai has numerous resources for anyone who wants to escape crappy clients here. These include a guide to working with valuable clients, email scripts, and insightful interviews.
Kai's free resources: http://doubleyouraudience.com/l/hell/
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The second half of Bryce Bladon's chat with Brennan Dunn. We discuss when pro bono projects can work for you and when they're a waste of your time.
Check out last week's chat with Brennan, "How to Get Started Freelancing."
Want to help the show? Leave a review on iTunes.
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Brennan Dunn and Bryce Bladon discuss how first-time freelancers can:
- Determine their rates
- Find their first clients
- Avoid productivity pitfalls and make the most of their new business
Next week, Brennan and Bryce will discuss if you should ever do work for free.
Want to help the show? Simply leave a review on iTunes.
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Paul Jarvis and Bryce Bladon discuss crappy clients and unicorn farts.
Paul teaches The Creative Class and runs a popular freelancing newsletter about unicorn farts. He also insisted unicorn farts were mentioned as much as possible in this episode's description.
Listeners can save $50 on The Creative Class with coupon code "CFH" (no quote marks). Learn more here, and sign up here.
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Don't be the couple who quit their high-paying jobs to travel the world and ended up scrubbing toilets. Be like Matt Inglot of Freelance Transformation, who made a career out of working remotely.
If you want to help the show, leave a rating and let us know how we can improve it for you!
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Marie Poulin offers clients and colleagues an open heart and an eager ear. Personally, I avoid offering essential organs or body parts to anyone.
Marie is the Chief Mentor and founder at Digital Strategy School. Her and her partner Ben run Oki Doki Digital.
Leave a rating and let us know how to improve, or check out each episode's featured deal.
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This week's deal: $750 Vintage-style Illustrations for $9
"You can't masturbate in a coffee shop."
Jake Jorgovan and Bryce Bladon discuss this strange and (mostly) pointless work trend.
Leave a rating and let us know how to improve, or check out each episode's featured deal.
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This week's deal: 150+ new vintage logos for $10
Scope creep is bad. Asking creepy questions about my female friends is probably worse.
This week's guest is Sean Frangella, a visual effects artist best known for the weekly tutorials on his popular YouTube channel. In this podcast, I mention my friend Eliza Robertson and her Penguin-published collection of short stories called Wallflowers.
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Who would have thought Fleshlight would be such a wonderful client?
Bradon Dermer is a writer and director best known for his work with The League's Jon Lajoie, his Comedy Central shorts, and the trailer for his romantic comedy with Jenna Haze, Flesh Lightning.
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Note that this is only the FAQ portion of Ilise's webinar. You can check out the complete chat here.
Here's the webinar's accompanying presentation.
Ilise Benun is a national speaker and founder of Marketing-Mentor.com. She's also the author of seven books for the creatively self-employed, including The Designer's Guide to Marketing & Pricing.
Like the show? Leave a rating and let us know how to improve. If you don't like the show, well... Don't feel as inclined to do so.
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Want to support the show? Each episode will feature a deal we believe is of value to our audience. You get an amazing deal, we get to keep the lights on.
This week's deal: 80% off 8 hand-drawn fonts ($37).
Here's this webinar's accompanying presentation.
Ilise Benun is a national speaker and founder of Marketing-Mentor.com. She's also the author of seven books for the creatively self-employed, including The Designer's Guide to Marketing & Pricing.
In this hour-long webinar episode, Ilise explains how freelancers can establish a speciality niche within their respective field or craft -- and why that matters so much.
Also discussed: how to pronounce "niche".
CFH listeners get 10% off Ilise Benun's Pick a Niche Kit (or anything else!) in the Marketing Mentor Shop with “CFHDISCOUNT”. Ilise also offers an online course, Command the Fees You Deserve. You can sign up for her quick tips here.
Like the show? Leave a rating and let us know how to improve. If you don't like the show, well... Don't feel as inclined to do so.
Clients From Hell on iTunes | SoundCloud
Subscribe on iTunes | Android | RSS
Want to support the show? Each episode will feature a deal we believe is of value to our audience. You get an amazing deal, we get to keep the lights on.
This week's deal: 80% off 8 hand-drawn fonts ($37).
Our editor-in-chief had to schedule another talk with Marcus Blankenship after the topic of standing desks proved too interesting to be contained in our previous chat.
No, really. Standing desks are a fascinating examination into the modern worker.
Check out our previous chat with Marcus, How Client Porn Ruined my Agency.
Like the show? Leave a rating and let us know how to improve. If you don't like the show, well... Don't feel as inclined to do so.
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Want to support the show? Each episode will feature a deal we believe is of value to our audience. You get an amazing deal, we get to eat. No worries if you're not interested.
This week's deal: 90% off on Stock Photos
Illustrator Alex Mathers has worked with Google, Sony, and Wired. In this episode, he discusses his “Client Hit List” and how that list is the key to so much of his success.
Alex runs a site for helping illustrators and other creatives to market themselves, called Red Lemon Club. He also runs an illustration platform called Ape on the Moon.
If you’re an illustrator intrigued by what Alex has to say, he just wrote a new book called How to Get Illustration Clients.
Having trouble finding clients? If this episode interested you – particularly, the ideas about how to get dreamy new clients – check out our previous webinar with Jake Jorgovan, where we discuss how Jake gets clients as a designer. He has a new service that handles your outbound marketing for you at Outbound Creative.
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“I want to talk about something that caused a lot of problems at my agency: client porn.”
Marcus Blankenship discusses why nice guys finish last and what drove his agency into the ground.
Don't forget to rate the show and let us know how to improve it for you!
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NOTE: This is the Q&A portion of a webinar with Jake Jorgovan. Here's the full chat, with accompanying resources and some additional information.
You can also download it here.
Sponsor: Web Designer News
Sponsor: Web Designer News
UPDATE: Shortly after our discussion, Jake launched Outbound Creative, a service that offers to do the work discussed in this webinar for you.
Jake Jorgovan – blogger, designer, marketing expert, and the host of the Working Without Pants podcast – joins Bryce Bladon for a webinar to discuss how he finds new clients and project leads as a designer.
His technique, dubbed Cold Emailing, isn’t an easy “get rich quick” scheme, but it did net him $20k his first year of using it. And those are sales just from this– it’s not including Jake’s other work and referrals.
“How do I find clients?”
Experienced or new, full-time or free-time, this is simple and actionable advice for anyone, at any stage of their career.
Helpful Links
How Jake used stalking to land Fortune 500 clients
How Jake generated $12,030 with cold e-mailing
How Jake’s case studies turn prospects into paying clients
Extra Credit and Useful Materials We Discussed
Streak – The CRM system Jake (and now Bryce) uses inside Gmail
Rapportive – Learn everything about your Gmail contacts via their LinkedIn profiles
Yesware – The email tracking and analytics tool that Jake uses
In the webianr, Jake mentions a trick he used to find a potential client’s contact information. Here’s a YouTube video explaining the process.
Satchell Drakes – owner of the YouTube channel Satchbag Goods and co-host of the podcast Cinephelia Anonymous – joins Bryce Bladon for a webinar to discuss how creatives can use their existing skill sets to create a Podcast or YouTube Channel. The advice within doesn’t just apply to those two mediums, though.
“This isn’t a prescriptive path to success,” warns Satchell. We’re not guaranteeing you’ll have 100,000 subscribers by the end of the month, or that you can quit your day job tomorrow.
However, it is a fantastic starting point. Satchell expands on how he got started, how he met his heroes, and how his projects improved. He suggests best practices and he gives practical advice for getting started.
We discuss:
- The value of mentors (19:30)
- The importance of criticism (21:30)
- The duality of free work (26:00)
- The power of community and shared culture (34:30)
- How sincere relationships trump superficial networking (36:20)
- Growing and learning (50:15)
- Why getting started is more important than planning each and every step (53:30)
And, as always, we address common questions from the live listeners in the audience.
Cliff Notes:
- Don’t waste too much time planning – getting started is more important. Make meaningful steps.
- Once you’ve gotten started, reach out to those admire. Seek criticism, and act on it; if you actually follow-up on someone’s advice, that person will appreciate it and they’ll appreciate you for trying.
- Free work can be okay as long as you’re the one initiating it. Work without a price tag is sincere, and it’s a great way to build relationships and a community based around a shared culture.
- Ditch the business cards for sincere connections. No one is upset if you tell them you appreciate their work. Seek others who share your interest, and build connections around that. Trust and a sense of community have incredible value.
- It’s easy to get distracted by productivity porn. While research is important, don’t spend all your time planning your first step. Start creating. Start doing. Do your homework when you hit an obstacle, and seek advice if you feel like you’ve stopped growing.
- We’re all growing and learning, regardless of how many followers or views we have. Don’t put yourself or those around you on a pedestal. Instead, focus on how you can help them reach new heights.
- Part of loving something is paying attention to how it’s received. The value of online communities is that feedback is always close, as is support.
TL;DR:
Create, collaborate, and listen. Be consistent in your work and how you interact with your audience and mentors.
Extra Credit:
In this episode, we discuss the documentaries Helvetica and Indie Game: The Movie. Both are fantastic sources of inspiration.
A comment from Tim Ferris’ recent Reddit AMA offers some great advice (and books) on the good kind of networking.
This article from Business Insider (again, with Tim Ferris) addresses what’s holding you back from getting started on a project.