![]() It is only from the time you meet the bid "T" (Time), among other things, that I see it as an actual business. Nonetheless, something that is tied to YOUR time. Point 3 here would be the most ideal Time vs Money trade, as you also described, by going into the realm of packages instead of hourly. Stage 1-3 have in my opinion nothing to do with business, let alone with a fastlane, it's a pure time vs money trade (one better than the other). Just like that dude nobody messed with in high school because he seemed like he could tear you a new a**hole (even though nobody has EVER seen him fight!), the way you interact with and carry yourself around your clients should subconsciously-for the most part-communicate this. Now, this doesn't mean you have to LITERALLY tell them that. And if they'd like to have it another way, they already know what they can do. You will openly accept ideas, suggestions, and client feedback but if your way is already getting them stellar results/completing objectives in time, then you will not follow them. ![]() If they have a problem with it, they can find someone else. You will not be treated as an employee but as a business partner essentially.You will not tolerate being micromanaged.Because at the end of the day, results are all that matter, and if you've got the track record to back you up, you can essentially tell your clients that: If you truly know your shit, then act and talk like it. You owe yourself (and your client, for that matter) to set expectations from the get-go about your role in their business. Clients, whether intentionally or not, will test your boundaries all the time. You have to position yourself as an independent contractor and NOT as an employee. Which, as I said, isn't the case.īut if I were to actually propose they pay me $200/h, I can assure you they'd be very hesitant to agree. The thing is that when you make people a lot of money, they get the impression that you must've spent a lot of time doing that for them. For them, it was because they knew exactly how much I was going to charge them every month, and, after averaging out the revenue and profit I made them over the past few months, they knew I was making them a LOT of money.įor me, it was because I really only had to put in about 5 hours of work per month to get them the majority of their results. So for my next clients, I began proposing a fixed monthly rate that basically amounts to $150-200/h and we were ecstatic about it. ![]() I had clients who felt I was taking too long to write a single email and were prone to micromanaging me. ![]() That's a decent hourly rate, but I'd abolish hourly rates altogether and instead negotiate fixed rates with clients and/or commission-based pay.įor example, I used to write emails for $50/h when I was starting out with email marketing. ![]() Looking back over it, was having the agency to execute how you wanted to and in more concentrated blocks for more pay a bad decision you'd just avoid? I've been doing test runs over my weekends and I like the structure a lot more than my dayjob and it's bull$h!t miniutiae and waiting around but I realize everyone has a different experience. Now- I'm not doing anything with retainership yet which seems to have been a drag in your case, was this something that hit right out of the gate when you started offering them? Of those I've worked with, I only have one that seems to be on my case but I've had an opposite experience freelancing where they bring me in, entrust me to make everything "work", and leave me at it. I'm still in my dayjob and have been working around the clock for two years to take it full time and I'm just about to be able to. Could you talk a little about the industry you worked in or the type of clients you were choosing? If you went back, do you think there's a way you'd structure your contracts and agreements to prevent some of those downsides? I can see the issues you discussed, mainly that at one point clients were reaching in around all hours to demand your time. Taking the step alone to step out of a job that needed a degree to freelance is worthy of applause but you said you doubled your income with "less" hours worked/week (theoretically) which also deserves some lauding. Thank you for posting about your experiences! ![]()
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