The Six-Figure Freelancer: Your Roadmap to Success in the Gig Economy

by Laura Pennington Briggs

Overview

Start and Scale Your Freelance Business

The freelance portion of the workforce and the economy is growing at a rapid pace, but the lack of proper training or knowledge about how to run a freelance venture sets most freelancers up for failure. With this new workforce picking up speed, the need is real and the time is now for freelancers to learn how to take their businesses and their paychecks to the next level.

The Six-Figure Freelancer is a proven path, a battle-tested guide that works for freelancers of all types and includes the author's five years of trial-by-fire lessons used to find, land, and amaze your clients. The book follows an outline of proven tactics to grow a business to the six-figure level and keep it there:

Knowing the current phase of your freelance business

Getting into the right mindset to shift your money power

Knowing how to spot high-value, high-dollar clients

Determining the structure of your six-figure business (solo or agency model?)

Speeding your process up and structuring your ideal freelance workday

Putting together a client benefit-focused marketing tools plan

Raising your rates and transmitting value to prospective clients

Avoiding those six-figure earner pitfalls
Throughout this book, readers will have guided action plans and checklists to customize their own specific freelance business.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781642011166
Publisher:	Entrepreneur Press
Publication date:	10/27/2020
Pages:	200
Sales rank:	348,413
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.70(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Laura Pennington Briggs is a former middle school teacher turned freelance writer, project manager, and online course creator. Since leaving her teaching career in 2012 to pursue freelance writing, she's helped more than 6,000 students launch or optimize their freelance business. She's been featured in Inc., the Huffington Post, and Business Insider. Laura is also a PhD candidate in public administration and policy at Virginia Tech. She blogs at Better Biz Academy.

Table of Contents

Introduction vii

The Road to Six Figures viii

What to Expect in This Book x

Chapter 1 Your freelance launch point 1

Aiming for Six Figures as a Freelancer 2

Setting Realistic Financial Goals for Your Freelance Business: Your Finances 6

What Got You Here Might Not Get You There: Your Clients 8

Are Your Old Habits No Longer Serving You? 11

Avoiding Burnout: Your Schedule and Systems 12

Chapter Summary Points 16

Chapter 2 Master your mindset 19

What's Your "Why"? 20

How to Recognize Limiting Beliefs 22

The Beginner's Guide to Building a Mindset Practice 24

Get Started and Embrace the Journey 31

Habits of Six-Figure Freelancers 33

Chapter Summary Points 37

Chapter 3 Agency vs. solo models 39

How Do I Know Which Model Is Right for Me? 40

Running a Solo Model Freelance Business 42

Starting an Agency 45

Tips for Switching from Agency to Solo Model 51

Does My Model Make Any Impact on Conversion? 51

Chapter Summary Points 53

Chapter 4 Attracting and keeping high-dollar, high-value clients 55

How to Craft a Great Unique Value Proposition 56

Positioning Yourself to Potential Clients 56

Finding the Right Mix of Clients in Your Business 60

How to Identify Your Ideal Client Avatar 61

How to Handle Existing Non-Ideal Clients 66

Chapter Summary Points 71

Chapter 5 Marketing for the advanced freelancer 73

Four Signs Your Marketing Process Is in Danger 74

Marketing Options for Advanced Freelancers 77

Tracking Your Marketing 78

Does Niching Make Sense? 80

Ten Advanced Freelancer Marketing Tips 83

Chapter Summary Points 92

Chapter 6 Advanced proposals, packages, and retainers 93

Writing Winning Proposals 94

Packages Make Sense for You and the Client 98

How to Create Packages and Pricing 100

Mistakes to Avoid in Packaging 104

Leveraging Retainers 105

The Freelancer's Guide to Following Up 107

Chapter Summary Points 110

Chapter 7 Running your business like a ceo 111

Phase 1: Owning Your Rates 112

Phase 2: Crushing Conversions 114

Phase 3: Creating a Template Pitch and Adding Client Pain Points 117

Phase 4: Claiming Ownership Over Your Finances 122

Phase 5: Nailing Your Boundaries Down and Honoring Them 124

Chapter Summary Points 128

Chapter 8 Streamlining with systems and shortcuts 129

Setting Your MITs and Quarterly Rocks 130

Putting the Right Systems in Place 134

Limiting Distractions 135

Making the Most Out of Every Work Block 137

Setting Deadlines and Breaking Down Projects 138

Setting Up Automated Processes 142

Chapter Summary Points 144

Chapter 9 Outsourcing to professionals 147

Why You Need to Outsource 147

Making the Most of Your Revenue-Generating Hours 152

Having the Right Mindset to Outsource 154

Knowing What You Should and Should Not Be Doing 155

Chapter Summary Points 162

Chapter 10 Screening, training, and working with outsourced support 163

Attracting the Right Talent 164

Interviewing Your Prospective VA 168

How to Screen Test a Virtual Assistant 170

Giving Great Instructions 173

Paying a Virtual Assistant 174

Onboarding a VA 176

Outsourcing in Your Personal Life 180

What to Do If Your Virtual Assistant Doesn't Work Out 180

Chapter Summary Points 182

Chapter 11 Your future-oriented business 185

The Freelancer's Introduction to Upskilling 186

The Freelancer's Guide to Pivoting 191

The Freelancer's Introduction to Passive Income 193

Getting Support for Your Growing and Evolving Business 196

Schedule Time for Working on the Business 197

Be Mindful of Burnout 199

It's Your Time 201

Chapter Summary Points 201

Acknowledgments 203

About the author 205

Index 207