Today is going to be all about a process that I put into my business years ago that I reap the benefits from over and over again. That's onboarding for new clients. If you want to get my own Onboarding Email Sequence which is 8 emails with the delays I put in between. Along with instructions on how to use them too, head to rezzz.com/a263 and pick t…

As we embark on the second year of Ask Rezzz, the format will change up slightly. The reason for this is so that you can take action. I'm all about that action taking as you know. Having a show each and every single day without a doubt can be overwhelming. You may already have a backlog of shows that you want to listen to. Maybe there's a bunch tha…

Chris Bintliff from Not Really Rocket Science, is someone who I met through Twitter, but someone I consider a friend. Chris appeared on Live In The Feast and we geeked out about marketing and creating delight for clients. Not only that, but if you want to know anything about home automation, he's the guy to talk with. During a conversation one day,…

I was introduced to Chris Martin through a friend of mine Joe Workman. How do I know Chris? I've heard a few of his shows before in the past and when Joe mentioned that I should reach out to Chris to be on his podcast, Getting Work to Work, for me it was a no brainer. Chris was a great interviewer, genuinely curious, asking things that to be honest…

Janelle Allen of zencourses.co is an Instructional Designer who specialized in custom online course that improve student results invited me to her podcast. I thought that I'd share an answer to a question that she asked me on the show. ------------------- 👉 For full show notes to this episode & more resources for you. ------------------- She asks a…

Inside of the Sustainable Freelancer someone asked a question that I've never answered directly in the previous 257 episodes of the show. This is a great question for a lot of people thinking about how to use social media for their business. Simply put, I don't like saying this, but it applies. The answer is, it depends. I'm going to put aside the …

In A256 - Where do you find freelance clients? we talked about the watering holes, those places where your clients come together to talk business. Today's episode goes a little deeper into that topic to talk about the context and intent of your client at these watering holes. ------------------- 👉 For full show notes to this episode & more resource…

Where you find your clients out in the world is a big question. I held an open door session inside the Sustainable Freelancer FB Group last Friday where I put the webcam on and anyone could pop in to talk about anything they want. ------------------- 👉 For full show notes to this episode & more resources for you. ------------------- Resulting from …

I'm continuing here today with the eleventh and final lesson in the "Finding clients" series. This is the no-nonsense series of lessons that work in today's market to find clients you want to be working with on a consistent basis. Group coaching for leads. WHAT?!? 🤔 ------------------- 👉 For full show notes to this episode & more resources for you.…

I'm continuing here today with the tenth lesson in the "Finding clients" series. This is the no-nonsense series of lessons that work in today's market to find clients you want to be working with on a consistent basis. Who are you surrounding yourself with? Who do you hang with? And I'm not talking about your family and friends either. That you are …

I'm continuing here today with the eighth lesson in the "Finding clients" series. This is the no-nonsense series of lessons that work in today's market to find clients you want to be working with on a consistent basis. Today's lesson will introduce the phrase "You get what you're paid for." Yes, I said "you're paid" not "you pay". -----------------…

I'm continuing here today with the eighth lesson in the "Finding clients" series. This is the no-nonsense series of lessons that work in today's market to find clients you want to be working with on a consistent basis. Today's lesson will help leads relate to your existing clients. It will also give your clients a boost. Can I share with you 2 ways…

I'm continuing here today with the seventh lesson in the "Finding Clients" series. This is the no-nonsense series of lessons that work in today's market to find clients you want to be working with on a consistent basis. Today's lesson will help you work with clients you had in the past with things that you now know because it's the future. --------…

I'm continuing here today with the sixth lesson in the "How to Find Clients" series. This is the no nonsense series of lessons that work in today's market to find clients you want to be working with on a consistent basis. Today's lesson is something that will have you stand out above all others to your market by going onto a podcast that has the ea…

I'm continuing here today with the fifth lesson in the "How to Find Clients" series. This is the no-nonsense series of lessons that work in today's market to find clients you want to be working with on a consistent basis. Today's lesson will help you stay front of mind 2 different ways. ------------------- 👉 For full show notes to this episode & mo…

I'm continuing here today with the fourth lesson in the "How to Find Clients" series. This is the no-nonsense series of lessons that work in today's market to find clients you want to be working with on a consistent basis. Today's lesson will help you position yourself and share insight into what problems you are solving. ------------------- 👉 For …

I'm continuing here today with the third lesson in the "How to Find Clients" series. This is the no-nonsense series of lessons that work in today's market to find clients you want to be working with on a consistent basis. Today's lesson will help you build a pipeline of high quality leads into the business of people and businesses that you want to …

I'm continuing here today with the second lesson in the "How to Find Clients" series. This is the no-nonsense series of lessons that work in today's market to find clients you want to be working with on a consistent basis. Today's lesson is solely targeted toward getting repeat clients by you adding in a built-in opportunity in your existing projec…

If you are like most service business owners I know, then referrals is where you get most of your work from. Yet you can't figure out how to make those more predictable. Today I'm going to share with you a process that I've developed and used based on business practices that have been in the wild for decades, if not longer. Whether you are just sta…

You are selling a service or product and want to have a system that continuously attracts clients and customers in a predictable way, right? Can I share with you 11 of my top lessons to do so? These aren't tips and strategies that are overplayed. These are pretty unique and work amazingly well. ------------------- 👉 For full show notes to this epis…

First let me say that if you are still working your full-time job or have less than 2 years under your belt as a business owner, this may not be the ideal opportunity for you to try and sell strategy. Simply because you don't have that experience yet. No doubt you have the skills, but to differentiate yourself as a consultant rather than a develope…

Are you providing a solution that allows a potential client to work with you at a lower risk? Custom work is often times a big ask. It's a big investment for someone to not just pay, but also to spend time on. Here's why I like having a smaller, more productized option. Reduces the risk for the lead Reduces the risk for you Allows both you and the …

I want to thank Sara Dunn for asking this question. In her video, she on her YouTube Channel she talks about how she's setting goals for the year over 12-week periods based on the 12-Week Year. This year, I created themes for myself and the business. The reasoning behind this is simple. If I have a project, decision, or question where I'm suddenly …

The features of what the application has are exactly what I need for myself and clients. Yes, I have some [e-commerce clients](https://rezzz.com/services) who may fit better with Drip as their platform, but I have other clients who are non-profits, service-based businesses, coach, and other individuals who are selling only a handful of products tha…

Over the years, I've been known to specialize in a few different platforms, Ruby on Rails, PHP, WordPress, WooCommerce (and a few other plugins), and Drip. Anytime I switch from one to the next, I get asked a lot of questions. "Why did you switch?" "What happened with X that made the decision for you?" "Did you switch because of Y?" For myself and …

I was talking with my new neighbor over the summer about cutting the grass since he saw me out there cutting the grass with my brand new battery powered mower. He shared this with me. "If you are looking for a landscaper, I'd be happy to give you my guys' number. He's a bit expensive, but I haven't paid him in 14 months and he's still showing up ev…

Bottom line is that you don't. You can't convince anyone of anything if they don't have an open mind about it. To be honest, it's actually better for you to refer the project off than to spend the energy working at someone who has already decided not to work with you. With that being said, sales are all about helping someone make a decision. If you…

All too often a client will ask you for something that you are skeptical about. They are convinced that it will work for whatever you are trying to accomplish, but you have some doubts. Your doubts come from 2 places. The first is your experience and the second is from your ego. ------------------- 👉 For full show notes to this episode & more resou…

In episode 233 you learned about how to make a productized service. It makes sense that the next question is how do you sell it. To be perfectly honest, knowing how to sell the productized service really should come before you make it, and here's why. ------------------- 👉 For full show notes to this episode & more resources for you. --------------…

How are those goals, those habits for your business working out for 2019? Are you still focused on them or has the reality of 2019 and life, in general, pushed them aside and you are no longer as focused as you were 4 weeks ago, now that it's Feb 1? ------------------- 👉 For full show notes to this episode & more resources for you. ----------------…

I don't know about you, but I'm constantly bombarded with ideas on making this, and creating that. Thinking that the product will help diversify my revenue and make my business more stable. I'm not wrong. And I don't say that because I'm arrogant. I say that be it is a fact. ------------------- 👉 For full show notes to this episode & more resources…

Last week you learned [how to review your sales process]([https://rezzz.com/ask/how-to-review-your-sales-process/](https://rezzz.com/ask/how-to-review-your-sales-process/)), just as important as that is, so to you should be reviewing each and every project that comes through your business. Ever feel like you finished a project and felt like the wei…

As a business owner, as a salesperson, which if you are freelancing I hate to break the news here, but you are in sales, you need to close the open loops in the decision making for your leads and clients. We don’t have control over the decision-making process anyone has, but we can lead them to that decision. We can create a path to that decision t…

I was asked a question on a Twitter chat I was a part of that said “A few of us are clearly uncomfortable with the idea of seeming like a nuisance. Have you received a negative response to multiple follow-ups?” Following up with someone after they’ve expressed interest in you is not being a nuisance or annoying or bothersome. Unless you are emailin…

Let’s assume for the sake of brevity that you are segmenting your list at least to the point of people who have bought and haven’t bought from you. If you are like me, you are tag happy, they want to track everything someone on their list does and so they tag everything. This is great, but if you don’t do anything with the information, it’s just cl…

Are you sitting there thinking that you suck at sales? Maybe you say to yourself “I’m not confident in my selling skills.” Are you feeling like you are doing all the things in sales that the best salespeople are telling you to do? LinkedIn outreach, using tools for followup, even your [business coach](https://rezzz.com/coach/) aren’t 100%. You have…

Since Feb 26 in 2008, I’ve built my business without selling on Twitter. I have no qualms about saying that Twitter is my home away from home. Without Twitter, I’m not sure where I’d be right now to be honest. I can attribute the growth of my business, my network of friends and colleagues, my clients, and you listening to this episode right now to …

This is where there’s a mismatch between the value that you have for the work and the value that the client sees in the work. As the professional, you need to close this gap through education and focus. The education is on the potential of the return on investment. That return on investment is focused on the success of the project. Focus on the suc…

Maybe it’s the time of year where goals and aspirations are high, then reality sets in the fears, the hesitations, the mind games start to mess with those aspirations because over the past couple of weeks through email, through Twitter, and in some communities I’m in people seem to be asking this same question. How do you do the work and push past …

I’ll be honest, I’m not sure why I’ve been asked this. I’m honored, but I’m not in any sort of position to give a great answer. Simply because I’m one who studies business trends and not in that analytical type of position. With that being said though, I’d like to share an aspect of the business that I’ve seen grow and produce amazing results, not …

Jonathan Stark invited me onto his podcast where I unpacked being a platform specialist and how I built a productized service. I actually shared some of the fears I had along the way. ------------------- 👉 For full show notes to this episode & more resources for you. ------------------- How do I know Jonathan Stark? Jonathan Stark, author of Hourly…

In the last episode you learned some things to delight and create the perception of value in your business. Today you will learn exactly what to deliver that validates that perception. I get asked how to get more clients and I often say that it’s not about “more clients”, it’s about “right clients.” I stress that it’s about getting the right qualit…

It’s not about how many clients you have, it’s the quality of the client. You want to attract clients who have bigger budgets so that you can raise your rates and get out from that hamster wheel. ------------------- 👉 For full show notes to this episode & more resources for you. ------------------- Where is the money First is to know where the mone…

I think by now you that I’m big on communication and followup is the biggest piece of communication especially early on. In episode 135, I shared 11 ways to stand out as a freelancer. And while that’s a great list and got awesome feedback, the one thing that is most often attached to that is the word “the most.” I get asked “How to stand out as a f…

Today I’m going to give you 3 very small, yet powerful tactics to improve your sales process as a freelancer. Quick, small, yet powerful tweaks you can make to your sales process that you can put into practice today. ------------------- 👉 For full show notes to this episode & more resources for you. ------------------- Find out how to close those w…

During any part of the sales process, whether it’s a call, form, or email, there are critical and absolutes, when it comes to questions to ask. This is true if you are a developer, a designer, a marketer, or even a photographer. ------------------- 👉 For full show notes to this episode & more resources for you. ------------------- Before I jump int…

The internet tends to fool us. It creates this illusion that everything is a click of the mouse and we’ll be bringing in 6 figures or that if we do these 7 things in 2019, we’ll be sitting on the beach in a month sipping umbrella drinks working 3 hours a day. This isn’t truth. There’s nothing about this that is valid. If a magic wand exists, then I…

With the holidays, I don’t know about you, but I still get asked about the business in a way that the person asking is skeptical that I am stable. To me, it’s a bit funny that they ask this because I’ve been in business since 2010 and often times this person I’m talking to has had multiple jobs with multiple companies over the same period of time. …

So excited for today’s episode, because today will be the Ask Kim show. Kim Doyal is all about content. I’ve known her from the WordPress space for years but she’s since pivoted her business to focus more on helping business with their content and the Content Creators Community. She’s coined the phrase “Everything is Content” and since I know that …

If you haven’t yet listened to Episode 207 - How to overcome objections in sales?, I encourage you to do so. When encountering a “price buyer” there’s often nothing you can do to have them come up and see the value from a cost perspective. I don’t want to beat a dead horse on what to say when this happens because I dive into what you should be doin…