A139 - How do you make time for your side projects?

09/06/18 • 4 min

We’ve all got them right? Even when we are working on client stuff, there are things that we are passionate about, mess around with, even do as a hobby with no real upside to them other than it just makes us happy.

And so I was I was chatting with a friend of mine who has a full-time job and loves it. He asked me, “how do you make time for your side projects?”

I simply replied, “By doing exactly what you said, make time.”

Now we can’t make time and I want to tip my cap to my friend [Curtis](https://curtismchale.ca) for always hitting me on my head with that notion. But he’s right.

How to prioritize your time

What we do though is prioritize time and make room in our every day for the important things.

Time is the only thing we never get back. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. What you do with your time is what you are saying is important to you.

Sure there are times where there are sacrifices to be made and that’s obviously just a way of life. But you can adjust and still cover what you want and need.

Case in point, yesterday at 4 PM I walked out of my office just to grab a drink of water and heard TJ by the front door saying “Daddy, Daddy” as he normally does when he hears me emerge from my office.

I had planned on finishing the day by drafting up a few emails. Which would’ve taken me about 30 more minutes.

My wife said that they were going to go for a walk around the block and asked if I wanted to come.

My answer was simple and quick. “Sure.”

See right there in those few seconds, the priority of the next 30-45 minutes of my day was evaluated and set. Because I do what I do to have the time freedom and flexibility in my schedule to spend time with my family, it was an easy thing to say “yes” to.

Now, what happened to those emails? Well, I woke up a little bit earlier today and wrote them.

So today’s episode is a short one, but I want to leave you with this.

Think about all the things you’ve got going on. All the ideas, projects, and goals you have. Next time you are faced with a choice to make based on the time that you have at the given moment, think about what option aligns with your goals.

Then push the other option aside and if it’s still important enough, create space in your day tomorrow to check it off the list.

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And so I was I was chatting with a friend of mine who has a full-time job and loves it. He asked me, “how do you make time for your side projects?”

I simply replied, “By doing exactly what you said, make time.”

Now we can’t make time and I want to tip my cap to my friend [Curtis](https://curtismchale.ca) for always hitting me on my head with that notion. But he’s right.

How to prioritize your time

What we do though is prioritize time and make room in our every day for the important things.

Time is the only thing we never get back. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. What you do with your time is what you are saying is important to you.

Sure there are times where there are sacrifices to be made and that’s obviously just a way of life. But you can adjust and still cover what you want and need.

I had planned on finishing the day by drafting up a few emails. Which would’ve taken me about 30 more minutes.

My wife said that they were going to go for a walk around the block and asked if I wanted to come.

My answer was simple and quick. “Sure.”

Now, what happened to those emails? Well, I woke up a little bit earlier today and wrote them.

So today’s episode is a short one, but I want to leave you with this.

Then push the other option aside and if it’s still important enough, create space in your day tomorrow to check it off the list.

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👉 For full show notes and to build out your own custom Ask Rezzz playlist.
-------------------

Previous Episode

A138 - How to overcome objections people have about you?

I get asked a lot of questions about what my sales script looks like and how I handle objections during the conversation. As you learned in Episode 102 - What do you use for your sales script?, I don’t have a sales script.

Since I dive deep into my sales process in that episode, I won’t bore you with all the details here.

I mention that episode though because my process preps the prospect of having a productive sales conversation that speaks directly about their project. So much of the sales script is custom.

For me, I’m more comfortable talking with a prospect about the specifics of the project rather than following a specific script. My sales script is given out as an application prior to the call.

That’s not to say that I don’t come to the conversation without any prep. Which is what the answer for today is.

Let’s be honest, it’s hard to answer this question specifically since I didn’t receive any specific objection, but what I’m going to share with you are the 3 objections that are most common in any sales conversation and how I would handle them.

“I’m not sure this is going to work.”

This is something that you may get when first starting out. Mainly because you haven’t put enough in front of the sales call to educate the prospect on the results of your services.

The answer to this question is to followup with some proof of results. This is usually explaining or sharing with them, the results that you have had with your business.

This could be a particular technology, or process, or even new tactics and strategy.

I often run experiments or learn new strategies and techniques using my business as a sort of test kitchen first, before I ever offer it as a solution to a client. This way I can confidently offer it up when the opportunity arises.

“I guess this works for you...”

This is where you will want to share the results of your past clients.

Preferably clients that are similar in nature than that of the prospect. This is so that they can feel that you understand their business.

This kind of social proof builds a track record of success for you to be able to counter this sort of objection from a prospect.

“It’s not going to work for me...”

This is where you outline the process or path from this point in time to what their life will look like after having worked with you.

Make it simple and clear to them of what that transformation will look like.

That doesn’t mean it isn’t complex or time-consuming. It just means that by following the process you have, they’ll be able to achieve the results that they are looking for.

If you take a little bit of time, say 10 minutes, before your next call with a prospect and answer these objections before the call, when they appear in some way, shape, or form on the call, you’ll be able to answer swiftly without stumbling or wondering what to say.

You’ll not just be someone who knows their stuff, but you’ll present yourself that way too. Making a great impression on your lead.

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Next Episode

A140 - How can I start freelancing as a web developer?

Today's episode are the 3 steps you need to do immediately, to start freelancing as a web developer and get your first client today.

How to start anything is to commit to it. So let’s just get that out of the way now and assume you’ve committed to this.

I don’t think it’s a surprise to you if you’ve heard more than a couple of episodes that finding your niche would be the number one thing to start freelancing as a developer.

1. Find your niche

There’s a very tactful reason for this and that is because the sooner you can focus your efforts on solving a particular problem, the easier it will be to find your ideal client, industry, location, technology, to market yourself to.

This will differentiate you from all the commoditized web development services out there in the market today.

You will start to become a trusted advisor because you understand the business, not just the lines of code.

2. Show up

The second step is to just do the work. Let’s assume you already have done some development whether it’s in school, at a job, or for yourself, think about what you’ve done and enjoyed doing and the problem your code solved and do more of that.

It doesn’t need to be elegant or fancy, just seek out someone or some business that you can help. Either by email, through Facebook, or through a friend. However, it may be, don’t worry about being all perfect with it, just reach out.

Show them that you understand the problem they have
How important it is to them (usually by explaining that their problem is wasting their time or costing them money)
Then that you can solve it for them by sharing your past work

This doesn’t need to be overly complex either. What I did when I first started out even though I had built complex Java applications for startups and corporations in the late 90s and early 00s, I found websites online that their contact form was broken.

Reached out to the businesses either through email or some other means and told them. Told them that I could fix it for them for a couple of hundred dollars and it was costing them business. Because back then, most websites out there, the contact form for small businesses was a means to get customers.

Today it could be reaching out to businesses that have a crappy website on mobile or that their SSL certificate is invalid. In both those cases, Google has said that these are ranking factors in their algorithm which results in less traffic to their website.

3. Get yourself testimonials

This is key because you want to show a track record of solving the problem.

There are 2 ways to go about this.

First is just be mindful of compliments via email, phone, Skype, etc. One-liners like “This saves us an hour a day.” is a testimonial.

Second is asking for one. Through email just simply ask for one, but help them to provide you one by asking specific questions, like “what was one benefit in working together”, “what was the challenge in finding a solution before we started and how did I address that”.

This helps you get more focused responses about yourself and gives your client a specific question to answer rather than leaving it open-ended and them wondering if you are looking for just one sentence or 16 paragraphs.

It’s really that simple and your client will be happy to provide you with one.

If you want a surefire way to get testimonials, check out the Freelancer’s Sales Kit where I provide you with the email templates and a video walking you through how to use them and nudge your client to respond to your request.

There are other steps, like getting paid of course. Which when starting out, then just keep it simple by using PayPal or Venmo or some other means of payment like that.

But you can follow these 3 steps and get started today. Land your first client, and then worry about all the other things once you get this ball rolling.

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