- Previous
- Overview
- About You
- Q&A
- Nuts&Bolts
- Video
- Next
Get Serious about Your Freelancing Biz
As a hard working self-starter with specific skills, you could have a day job working as an employee, and maybe even a good job.
But you want more. You crave freedom and independence, and the ability to choose your own projects. You also want strong relationships with committed clients. And, certainly not least, you want to make a good living.
Isn't that what freelancing is all about?
But there's a problem: while it's easy to start a freelancing business... it's much harder to actually run one.
To change the way-it-hasn't-been-working, you'll need to learn to stop thinking like a technician, and start thinking like a strategist. Instead of being merely a service provider, you'll need to learn to become a solution provider.
That's what the Unconventional Guide to Freelancing will help you do.
- Relieve the pain of operations and client stress
- Rock out your freelance biz with an improved strategy
- Do more of what you love; get paid more to do it
- Manage your money as you build a master plan
- Most importantly—do your own work in your own way
About You
You are a freelancer, or well on your way to establishing a freelance side business. This means you work for yourself, but also for others—a delicate middle-ground between employee and big startup.
As you navigate that middle ground with clients or customers, you have questions: how can I get a better handle on my operations? Can I raise my rates and still be competitive? Speaking of competition, should I be worried?
We can't tell you how to do your craft, but we can tell you is how to run your business. That's what the Unconventional Guide to Freelancing is all about.
This project will help you if you are:
- A Freelancer (of almost any kind)
- Determined to radically improve your business
- Hoping to put your limited time and energy to best use
- Wanting to see what actions your peers have taken to create sustainable careers
- Willing to work hard (that's why you're a freelancer to begin with, right?)
- What kind of freelancers will this guide help?
Since we don't offer much advice on how to do your actual craft, the guide is intended to help a wide range of freelancers. Keep in mind that a freelancer is a service-based provider—not directly employed by someone, but not completely on their own as an entrepreneur either. Designers, writers, coaches, consultants, programmers, agents of all kinds—those are freelancers. If you do something else that fits the definition of “service-based provider,” that probably fits too. - Will this give me a step-by-step plan and tell me everything I need to know?
Not really. If that's what you need, you're probably not a freelancer. Most freelancers are already pretty smart and ambitious. But like all of us, they have holes in their knowledge, often relating to strategy, operations, and money. Those are the three areas we know best. Here's another way to look at it: this guide shows you where the minefields are. Naturally, you'll need to do some minefield navigation on your own.
- What will I gain as a result of this investment?
Click on the "Nuts & Bolts" tab to read up on all the specifics. (At least, all the specifics we could fit there—as usual, we've saved a few surprises for customers.) But in short, you'll get a toolkit designed to take you from service provider to solution provider. You'll rock out your freelance biz. You'll do more of what you love. - Is this for U.S.-based freelancers only?
Even if they don't travel the world, many freelancers are location-independent by design. 90% of the material in the guide is fully applicable anywhere in the world. (About 10% deals with tax issues for U.S. residents, which you can safely ignore if you live elsewhere.) - I need this guide right now and I'm tired of waiting! What should I do?
You should click the button below, decide on your preferred Rockstar Freelancer status, and get excited.
What's in the (Digital) Box
The Unconventional Guide to Freelancing contains 100+ years of experience in a digital box. This wealth of materials consists of a detailed written manual complemented by a series of in-the-trenches interviews. The interviews (available in audio files + transcripts) tell the stories of other freelancers who have successfully tamed the business wilds.
To begin with, you'll hear from a bookkeeper, a designer, a virtual assistant, and a biz and tax lawyer. Additional interviews, complete with a summary and key points, are available in the more advanced versions of the guide.
You'll get:
- An Enormous PDF Manual (22,000+ words)
- A Checklist for Agreements, Contracts, and Policies
- PDFs with Additional “Recommended Resources” and "Lessons Learned" PDFs
- At least 4-10 Interviews (depending on which package you choose)
- PDF Transcripts of Interviews
- 3 Monthly Check-in Calls with Charlie Gilkey (“Bag o' Chips” package only)
