Posted in MicroBusiness Musings, Starting Out as a Freelance Consultant, General Freelance Info at 4:30 am by andy

In my city there are literally hundreds of web design firms.  How do I figure out which ones are my competition?

Because barriers-to-entry are almost non-existent (”I have Photoshop and will design for food”), almost everyone is your competition… and yet few really are.

Instead of focusing on individual firms as your competition, what you should do is step back and analyze your competition as a set of distinct groups: large agencies, small agencies, local freelancers, overseas freelancers, in-house employees. Each has a business proposition for your potential clients. How do you stack up against each group? What do you bring to the table that will be unique? For which types of clients do you not match up well and does that reasonably rule out targeting that type of client? Where do you blow the competition away?

Example: for my consulting firm, I directly compete with small agencies, local freelancers, and overseas freelancers for all of my clients. I do not match-up well with the other groups, so I don’t bother competing against them. I’m less expensive and more responsive than small agencies; I’m better able to handle larger projects than most local freelancers. I’m local and speak the local language, so overseas freelancers are the least likely competition for me.

If you market your business across the world, overseas freelancers will provide more competition, since you’re entering their markets as well as they’re trying to enter your market.

Once you start this level of analysis of your business, it becomes easier to figure out which marketing messages will be important and how to deliver them in the most effective way.

For freelancers just starting out, though, most likely you are more focused on landing clients — any clients! — and that’s smart.  Your biggest business threat when you first start out is your own cash flow issues: most businesses fail in the first year because they run out of cash.  If you focus on landing clients that will pay you well for the job you do and return regularly to have you do more work, you will position yourself to succeed while your competition fails.

Posted in MicroBusiness Musings, Starting Out as a Freelance Consultant, General Freelance Info at 6:37 am by andy

Economic downturns usually mean more work for freelancers, since your customers need to do more with fewer salaries on the books, so extra money is usually available for subcontractors to help out.

Although there will be more business for freelancers, having more people out of work increases the pool of potential “freelancers”.  What to do to separate yourself from the rest of the crowd?

1. Learn how to turn every new client into a repeat client.  If you spent all that time landing the client in the first place, you want to get more than one project out of them, because every subsequent project will have a higher profit margin.
2. Make sure you are offering services and/or products that are important to the financial well-being of your clients.  Whether you are helping them improve their top line or their bottom line, make sure you focus your products/services in a way that does one or the other in an obvious way.
3. The biggest and easiest differentiator that a freelancer has is personalized service.  Anyone can get disinterested customer service.  If you provide awesome customer service, you will stand out from the crowd.  Don’t make price your differentiator unless you have a serious plan to continually increase volume while decreasing your prices further.

Posted in Starting Out as a Freelance Consultant, General Freelance Info at 5:55 am by andy

Think freelancing is easy?  Just starting out?  Here’s what you need to know:

1. Freelancing is not easier than a 9-5 job.  You have to be everything from the worker to the manager to the salesperson, but you’re only really paid when you deliver something of value to a client.  Don’t forget that the non-paying parts of the job can be just as important. Remember to include the costs of those non-paying parts in your pricing.
2. Have money in the bank, at least 6 months’ worth at all times. If you start to run out, look for a short-term contract that will tide you over for 3-6 months.
3. Market your services like your business depends on it, because it does. Never sit around waiting for people to call you… until you are so busy you don’t want to talk with them anyway.
4. Know your best potential client like the back of your hand. If your answer to the question “Who’s your best potential client?” is “The one who will pay me” then you have not thought this out enough. By figuring out who your best potential client is, you’ll know where to look for them, where they will look for you, and how much they’re willing to pay for your services.
5. Don’t worry about your competition. Freelancers don’t fail because of their competition; they fail because they really didn’t have a clue how to run a successful business and didn’t have enough time/money to get a clue.
6. Never lower your price after giving it to the client unless you reduce the amount of work you plan to do for them. Never offer a discount up front unless everyone is getting the same discount as part of a promotion.
7. Everyone you know is a potential salesperson for you if you can only get them to learn what you do for a living. It’ll help if they also know what type of clients you want to land, but it’s not always required.
8. Never let the client dictate the terms of the relationship. You won’t be happy if they do. Be willing to negotiate and re-negotiate anything if it’ll help the project succeed.
9. An accountant may be necessary to do your taxes each year.  A good accountant will also help you structure your business and personal finances to your maximum benefit.  Once you get busy, find a good accountant.  What you spend on a good accountant will be more than saved each year.
10. Being the boss of your own company means you get to work when you want.  Don’t forget to take time off when you’re really busy. Don’t forget that when you’re not busy, you need to work twice as hard.

Posted in Starting Out as a Freelance Consultant, General Freelance Info at 9:11 am by andy

Q: I’ve been asked to provide sample idea designs for a new potential client before we have any contract in place.  Is this spec work — which is something I don’t want to do — or just part of the usual freelance interview process?

A: Here’s how you can tell if something is spec work or a legitimate question:

1. Do you create the sample work in front of the client or at home?

Read more…

Posted in Starting Out as a Freelance Consultant, Marketing Your Freelance Consultancy, General Freelance Info at 6:03 am by andy

I have a policy for CustomBytes: all of my new clients are going to become references to any new clients that come along after them.  I tell my new clients that, so they understand that they’re going to be treated just as wonderfully as all my past clients.

Some consultants collect testimonials for their web site and other marketing materials.  They do that so that potential clients can see at least a brief amount of feedback from their past clients.

Why have references or testimonials?  Read more…

Posted in Starting Out as a Freelance Consultant, Marketing Your Freelance Consultancy at 1:55 am by andy

I just got laid off and want to start freelance consulting.  Where do I start my marketing?

1. Create a real marketing site for your services. Your question didn’t say what you do, so you’re possibly not doing a good job telling people what you do and why they should hire you. The site does not have to look perfect, but it must quickly capture the client’s attention and convey what you do and why you’re different/better.
2. Once the web site is at least functional as a marketing site for a professional services firm, spend between $200 and $300 on Google Pay-Per-Click ads targeting your local market (because those are cheaper ads and will be quicker to see results).  By “targeting your local market”, I mean to include your city name along (or the name of any other large city near you) in the search terms you buy. E.g., “Paris web design” if that’s what you do, etc.

Read more…

Posted in MicroBusiness Musings, Starting Out as a Freelance Consultant, General Freelance Info at 7:59 pm by andy

What should I charge for subcontracting to an agency?  Do I need to discount my time?

I’ve had many different roles in my career, from employee to manager to owner.  Here’s what I found about rates:

• As a consultant, your employer wants to bill you for at least 3 times your salary on a per-hour basis.  If you make $100K, they want to bill you at $150/hr and so on.  Some industries actually look for a higher return — e.g., SAP consultants – because they may not be able to book you full time, but 3x is a good rule of thumb.

Read more…

Posted in Starting Out as a Freelance Consultant, Marketing Your Freelance Consultancy at 6:28 am by andy

What should you include on your freelancer web site?

1. Make sure every single page has a way to contact you without viewing any additional pages.  You just never know how many clicks you can get a person to do on your site.

2. Never include pricing unless you plan to offer products or packages that are the same every time.  It’s just distracting and — since the customer wants to know the price anyway — provides an excellent reason for customers to contact you.

3. Don’t be too verbose.  This is especially hard for non-writers, so it might be worth having someone who is a good writer look over your text when you’re done to see what you can pull out to “tighten” your message.  If you want to be verbose, add a blog to your site and do it there.  Your marketing text must get to the point quickly to keep the client’s attention.

4. Include the latest news about jobs you just landed.  You don’t have to have more than one sentence on each job and aren’t required to even list the client name, but it’ll give customers a sense that you regularly land new business.

5. Make sure your site includes specifics on why choosing your business is a smarter choice than some of the alternatives that get a lot of press time (like outsourcing to Elbonia).  What’s your hook that makes you different/better?

Remember: you likely have one minute of eyeballing time to impress the client with your web site.  Don’t waste that time with things that aren’t going to convince the client to contact you.

Posted in Starting Out as a Freelance Consultant, Marketing Your Freelance Consultancy at 10:00 pm by andy

I recently got laid off from my programming job, but the company hired me back as a contractor for 15 hours per week.  I love the freedom freelancing brings me, but 15 hours isn’t enough to live on.  I’ve tried eLance and GetAFreelancer, but haven’t won a job yet — even bidding $25/hour for my efforts, which is far below what I was making when I was employed.  What do I do?

How do you jump-start a new freelance business?

1. Forget bidding against the global market.  If you live in an emerging economy, the bidding sites are perfect, because the clients from mature economies are happy to pay you double what anyone local would be able to pay you.  But if you want to build your business and live in a mature economy, forget the bidding sites and focus on developing your business with clients closer to home.

2. Create a Web Site.  Even if your marketing strategy doesn’t involve using the Internet to drive sales, you need a web site to lend your freelance business instant credibility.  I’ve seen this in many other industries: when you cold-call a customer on the phone, the first question they have if they’re at all interested in what you’re saying is “Can I take a look at your web site?” Read more…

Posted in MicroBusiness Musings, Starting Out as a Freelance Consultant, Marketing Your Freelance Consultancy at 5:13 am by andy

Are you a “WE” or are you an “I”?  As a freelancer, do you represent yourself to clients as something larger than yourself?

Some freelancers consider it “dishonest” to represent themselves as being an entity larger than one person.  They figure that the client can see through your BS and see that you’re a “one man band”.

My view is that you present yourself the way you want your client to see you.  Read more…