In this very first episode of the new WP Elevation podcast I was fortunate enough to chat with Brennan Dunn about being a freelancer. Brennan is a successful freelancer who now helps other freelancers through his books, courses and software.
Brennan very generously offered to give away a seat at his Double Your Freelancing Rate masterclass valued at $1799. Watch the interview for details on how to enter.
Congratulations Roberta! Brennan Dunn has chosen you as the lucky winner of the competition! Thanks for your contribution and keep elevating! (September 2013).
During the interview Brennan mentions that he has studied with Amy Hoy and that he has read articles by Shawn Desouza and  Joel Spolsky.
You can reach out and thank Brennan via his twitter @brennandunn.
Brennan suggested I interview Nathan Barry. Look out Nathan, I’m coming to get you.
Hint: to enter the competition, leave a comment below and tell us the biggest barrier people face in the transition to becoming a freelancer.
11 Responses
Hi Brennan,
For me, I didn’t have any psychological barriers to “quitting my day job” because of the reasons behind it. When my oldest son was born, I had a complete shift in mindset – things changed dramatically for me. I had been a very career-driven person, just a few classes and half a dissertation away from getting my PhD, but when the 6-week after-baby mark came and I was supposed to head back to work, I just looked at my husband and told him, “I’m not going back.”
For me, freelancing has been a way to allow me to stay home with my kids, despite the stigmas associated with it, and to create genuine change for my clients while still keeping my own goals (family, lifestyle) at the forefront.
My own professional barriers have mostly been related to confidence in my own abilities, playing the comparison game and gauging my skill level compared to those of my colleagues and competitors. Predictably, this has led to lots of pricing mistakes, but I’m looking forward to growing my business based on the value I can provide. Appreciate the chance to win a ticket to your master class; even if not, I’m subscribed to your newsletter and look forward to learning more.
Warmly,
Jeni
Troy and Brennan – let me first say “Wow!” great first presentation.
I took copious amounts of notes, mainly because I feel my barrier is validation.
To hear another person who’s opinion is valued and respected, present their ideas and business advice with the same thought process as how I think – well it really helps with my personal validation.
I am currently in the process of redefining my brand. My current website was my first attempt at leaping out on my own but life as I knew it was having no part of it. A major life event pulled the rug out from under me. But now I am ready and preparing for a new launch. Going from my current ugly HTML website to a beautiful and ever expansive WordPress site which is under construction.
Marketing seems to come easily for me, but I know I still have much to learn. I have a few clients even during this transition phase that have come on board which is spurring me on.
My goal is to provide marketing services to entrepreneur’s and small business who need support in reaching their target market, while ultimately changing peoples perception of marketing. Many people have a negative opinion of marketing or they feel it’s the first thing to cut when there is a budget crunch. I believe marketing is fun, exciting and innovative. It’s all about building awareness and a foundation of trust.
I am well versed in multiple streams of revenue and plan to use this model for my own business as well as help others build this area into their own business plan.
I also believe in giving back. I use a referral bonus system as well as giving to a local organization called Project Pooch. This organization uses young men who are currently in detention/correctional center to rehabilitate dogs with behavior problems as these young men themselves are learning to be better people. It has proven to be a successful project for all concerned, the dogs, the young men and the new owners who adopt the Pooch.
I think I would learn so much from your masterclass. The information would come at a pivotal point where I am currently at in rebuilding my business. Then I could take the information and provide added value to my new clients as well.
I appreciate your time and consideration in this process.
I will continue to be a part of this community.
Troy and Brennan,
Thank you so much for the inspiring interview and great insights!
The biggest barrier to success I am facing is generating new business. I’m not new to the business of freelancing, starting on this path 12 plus years ago, after being ejected from the dot com crash. Having made a lifestyle move away from the city and back to the coast it was a double barreled challenge, starting fresh in a crashed digital market, and away from a major centre of business (although, only an hour and a half by car).
It was definitely what you would call a slow build, and 100% based on referrals. I eventually got the point where the business become two people, then a third and around that time, be it the market, our pricing model or pure luck, we were turning work away unless we could schedule it to start in a few months time. No weekends for months and long hours everyday, the downside of success?
Scaling back a little over the last few years, a lifestyle decision as much as anything, add to that the downturn in the market overall and I’m finding the referral model is letting me down big time. 90% of my work comes from referrals and always has, the volume of work has now become project to project with scary moments of limbo in between.
I think I am on the right path to discover new ways to access clients and at a more consistent rate, your course sounds awesome and exactly the guidance I need to overcome this psychological barrier I find I am now facing. It is something I know I need to get right to secure my business moving forward.
I have managed to evolve my business from creating Flash based animations and websites in the early 2000’s to the dynamic WordPress sites I create today. I’d love to be able to do the same with the way that I generate leads and acquire clients.
Cheers
Luke
Thanks to Troy and Brennan – this has been one of those podcasts worthy of multiple listens!
The biggest psychological barrier for me is separating self worth and business worth.
I started freelancing because my husband’s job saw us moving frequently and it was just easier to do something for myself than try to maintain employment somewhere. (I tried it once and ended up with a 210 mile round trip commute each day).
I was in the very fortunate position that I didn’t have to maintain a household and I got sucked into doing a lot of pro bono work and working at very low rates because I felt sorry for clients or wanted to help.
It’s difficult to explain how this has happened but because I haven’t valued my time or expertise I now find it difficult to charge anything close to going rates. The end result is working very long hours for next to nothing. It’s difficult to for me to have confidence in my business value – but I think it must be there as I retain clients.
Times have changed for me and I need to earn a proper income. It’s almost like starting my freelancing business from scratch. What I have done prior to this really doesn’t count.
Sadly, right now, purchasing a ticket to your event is way out of my realm of possibility but I have absolutely no doubt about the value it would bring to my business…….to win an opportunity to attend would be extraordinary.
Thanks again to both of you
I was fortunate enough to encounter and fall in love with computers in the late seventies however my first major career was in the super construction industry (skyscrapers), I’ve run sales and estimating departments, drawing offices and even ended up as the commercial director of a major company in the Middle East company turning over well in excess of one hundred million per year. During these years I believe the amount of money your earned related to your worth as a member of society, how wrong was I, one failed marriage later and looking at myself in the mirror and not liking the person that was looking back at me, much… I decided to change my life.
I quit my job and returned to the UK… determined at that time to turn my life around. Upon arriving back in the UK, it was 1996, I once again started to use the Internet and quickly realised that this was something I wanted to get involved with. However I was still somewhat hesitant to make the jump. Having a secure, well paid job was something I was supposed to have, my parents, teachers and everyone that I had grown up with or had influenced me in my years had instilled this.
So, I put the word out to those people I know that build skyscrapers and pretty soon, I had two interviews lined up, one in Italy and one in the Philippines, I visited each company (their expense) and spent a week with both. Still not really wanting to drop everything and not really committed to working construction, I decided to sign an alternative deal with the Italian company whereby I had the rights to their systems and products within the UK… at the time I thought this was a good compromise however my heart wasn’t in it, I wanted a change but didn’t trust myself to make a go of it, with the Internet at that time.
I had been tussling with this for a few months, these are the physiological barriers I had to overcome
Security of employment and a regular pay check
It’s amazing how many people work in jobs they hate, simply because it pays the bills… being recently divorced and still having a pocket full of money, this decision was still hard however it would have been impossible I feel if my circumstances at that time were not what they were.
Fear of Failure
Now, I am not afraid of many things (not in those days, buy me a beer and I can you some real stories) however taking a step in the web design arena in 1996 was frightening. The vast majority of businesses at this time didn’t even know what the Internet was, let alone wanting to pay someone to make it work for them. My skills were not what they were today and I used to often learn how to do something once I had a client wanting that particular skill.
The secret however I found to overcoming these issues was simply to commit fully, I decided that this was me and what I did and I went for it, I attended a government funded course on running a small business … picked up some clients there and well the rest is history.
Not sure if this is what you are after … but I’ve been up for hours watching Troy’s latest Webinar on landing pages and I am known to do strange things when not sleeping… and for those that don’t know me, I now live and work in Australia.
Steve
Great show with tons of great info! Thanks for sharing and I’m looking forward to future episodes.
For me, I think the biggest psychological barrier I had to overcome to quit my job and become a full-time freelancer/consultant was the illusion of security. Even though the opposite is actually true, it’s so easy to believe that working for someone else is more secure and reliable. I was so very afraid that I was going to quit my job and not be able to find enough clients to support myself or pay my bills. I’m almost one year in, and sometimes I still can’t quite believe that I’m actually making it work. But I’m really valuing the ability to shape my own workday, business, and work.
Great info guys. I can’t wait to read the “Double your freelancing rate” book.
The biggest barrier people face in the transition to becoming a freelancer is “fear of failure”.
I think the best way to overcome this fear is to remember this:
Life is short to spend working at a job you are not happy in. So take a deep breath and change it now! Take the plunge, work hard at your goal and if you really want it – you will achieve it.
Hi Troy and Brennan,
What a jam packed interview! I thoroughly enjoyed this video and took some notes on a few key points that have resonated with me.
This is definitely valuable information that I can use since I’m planning to launch my own WordPress Consultant/Web Design business but I do want to start small and not overwhelm myself with trying to learn about every tool, plugin or technology that exists. I’m first focusing on creating effective landing pages and am using WordPress to increase my email list.
My biggest psychological barrier that I still struggle with is fear of failing because I am doing it alone and need to use the time I have effectively. I don’t want to spin my wheels or try to re-create the wheel for that matter when others have gone before me. So, I desire to have the guidance of a mentor who has walked the path before. I still have not found a system that will teach me about when or how to add value to my products/services on an ongoing basis. It would be great to not only have a blueprint for my business but to actually know how to offer valuable content or services to customers while in the midst of running a successful business. As Brennan mentioned, learning about automating certain tasks to run the business would definitely help.
I also see that Brennan offers a mini-course titled “5 Days To Better Freelancing” that I just signed up to on his website which I’m also ecstatic about! Needless to say, if the giveaway course focuses on how to maximize our value so customers in return can value our expertise, elevate our brand and/or re-use our services then I definitely would love to be one of your success stories!
I look forward to following both of your blogs. Thank you again for sharing this information.
Warmly,
Michelle
I still have a ‘day job’. I’ve been trying to learn as much as I can about starting my own business and doing consulting work as I can. But with the day job I have benefits/health insurance, which is incredibly important for me, my wife, and kids. For me to be able to quit the day job and consult, I’d have to make enough to eliminate that concern.
And since I think I could compete reasonably well with you, Brennan, for the title of Most Introverted, finding clients is not something I’ve had any success with yet. If I can’t find any clients to even do part-time consulting work for, it’s even more difficult to take that leap when I have a family to support.
Great interview!
For me, the biggest psychological barriers to moving from being an FTE to being a full-time consultant were sales and working 3 or more months ahead.
#Sales
Learning how to find potential clients, approach them, connect them, write a proposal, handle objections, and close the deal were all intimidating to me. Each and every one of those things intimidated me!
A big breakthrough for me was to realize that the game was rigged. For whatever reason, I started out thinking that a beginning consultant is stuck with approaching potential clients hat in hand asking them for work (with nothing to really offer them except my services which don’t have any value until *after* they’re rendered). Framing sales in this way is what made it intimidating, not the sales process itself!
I’ve learned that there are *tons* of things one can offer a prospective client to start the relationship *without* asking for something. Free publicity for the client, packaged versions of expertise like reports, guides, etc are all great ways to start a relationship with a potential client. And doing it this way totally reframes the sales process in a way that’s taken the fear out of every step, at least for me!
#Working Ahead
The first time I had a slow month and didn’t feel any immediate cash flow effects, I thought I’d dodged a bullet! About 75 days later when my checking account got scary-low and I started looked around for stuff I could sell on eBay, I realized for the first time how important it is to work 2 to 3 months ahead.
It was a painful lesson, but it got my thinking gradually adapted to realize that the prospective clients I’m talking to now will turn into money much later, and the value I’m creating for current clients now will turn into cash 1 to 3 months from now (depending on billing arrangements, etc.).
An interesting side effect of this is that I realized there’s just no good reason for offering clients credit terms longer than about 7 days. At least with the kind of work I do, if a client has the money to pay for the work, they can send a check almost immediately.
Again, thanks for this great interview!
Hey Roberta,
Congratulations! Brennan chose your response as the winner of the contest. He will be in touch shortly with details on how to access his next masterclass valued at $1799!
Thank you all for participating.
Now go elevate!