How Debt & Desperation Led to Value-Based Pricing & Selling Strategy
04/28/22 • 18 min
Are you getting paid to uncover pains and problems your clients don't know they have? If not, you're probably in the same situation as Austin was: juggling multiple ventures, meeting with clients, and helping them get clarity around their problems (but not getting paid for that).
Discovering that his family was back in debt made Austin realize that certain aspects of his business just weren’t working. He had just stumbled on Brennan Dunn's The Double Your Freelancing Podcast, and Brennan shared an intriguing idea: project roadmapping.
Wait, you can sell project strategy on its own?!
This paradigm shift helped Austin break the relationship between time and money, get off the content and copy hamster wheel, and pivot to consulting and value-based pricing.
Freelancers have a creative skillset that gets us into freelancing: writing, graphic design, coding, you name it. However, soft skills are often just as valuable. Many clients don’t know what their real needs even are, and we can get paid handsomely to help clients get clarity, confidence, and traction.
More freelancers need to wake up to the possibilities!
In this episode, Austin shares his journey toward roadmapping, value-based pricing, and selling strategy as a standalone offer. This new path has offered more income and more time for creativity and relationships.
If you feel stuck and need help getting better leverage in your freelance business, then be sure to save this episode. Also, check out the link to the Freelance Cake coaching program below.
Key points
- Intro (00:00)
- Perfect start to their journey? Not my story (00:37)
- The deflating debt discovery at the beach (02:12)
- From $30k months to living paycheck to paycheck (07:05)
- The road trip that led me to the idea of getting better leverage in my freelance business (09:26)
- Getting paid for offering strategy for the first time (12:55)
- “Go find your most valuable aptitudes, not just your most valuable skills” (15:59)
- Do you want help getting better leverage in your business? (18:02)
Notable Quotes
"I haven’t had the Midas touch. And if we’re using mythical people, I have felt more like Sisyphus pushing a boulder up a hill."
“Go find your most valuable aptitudes, not just your most valuable skills.”
“Maybe why I really appreciate the people online who share all of the good, bad, and ugly in their stories is because my story has had some ugly too... I often find people’s failures more relatable than their successes.”
Resources
Listen, rate, and subscribe!
For specific beliefs, principles, and practices you can use right away to make the freelance game more profitable and satisfying, subscribe to Freelance Cake podcast on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts!
Are you getting paid to uncover pains and problems your clients don't know they have? If not, you're probably in the same situation as Austin was: juggling multiple ventures, meeting with clients, and helping them get clarity around their problems (but not getting paid for that).
Discovering that his family was back in debt made Austin realize that certain aspects of his business just weren’t working. He had just stumbled on Brennan Dunn's The Double Your Freelancing Podcast, and Brennan shared an intriguing idea: project roadmapping.
Wait, you can sell project strategy on its own?!
This paradigm shift helped Austin break the relationship between time and money, get off the content and copy hamster wheel, and pivot to consulting and value-based pricing.
Freelancers have a creative skillset that gets us into freelancing: writing, graphic design, coding, you name it. However, soft skills are often just as valuable. Many clients don’t know what their real needs even are, and we can get paid handsomely to help clients get clarity, confidence, and traction.
More freelancers need to wake up to the possibilities!
In this episode, Austin shares his journey toward roadmapping, value-based pricing, and selling strategy as a standalone offer. This new path has offered more income and more time for creativity and relationships.
If you feel stuck and need help getting better leverage in your freelance business, then be sure to save this episode. Also, check out the link to the Freelance Cake coaching program below.
Key points
- Intro (00:00)
- Perfect start to their journey? Not my story (00:37)
- The deflating debt discovery at the beach (02:12)
- From $30k months to living paycheck to paycheck (07:05)
- The road trip that led me to the idea of getting better leverage in my freelance business (09:26)
- Getting paid for offering strategy for the first time (12:55)
- “Go find your most valuable aptitudes, not just your most valuable skills” (15:59)
- Do you want help getting better leverage in your business? (18:02)
Notable Quotes
"I haven’t had the Midas touch. And if we’re using mythical people, I have felt more like Sisyphus pushing a boulder up a hill."
“Go find your most valuable aptitudes, not just your most valuable skills.”
“Maybe why I really appreciate the people online who share all of the good, bad, and ugly in their stories is because my story has had some ugly too... I often find people’s failures more relatable than their successes.”
Resources
Listen, rate, and subscribe!
For specific beliefs, principles, and practices you can use right away to make the freelance game more profitable and satisfying, subscribe to Freelance Cake podcast on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts!
Previous Episode
The Good Kind of Cheating - How a Positioning Statement Makes the Freelance Game Easier to Win
Freelancing isn’t easy, but many of us make it harder than it has to be. Working harder often doesn’t... work. Spending more time on the wrong things won’t produce better results.
The way to break out of the freelance hustle is to ask what six-figure freelancers do differently. For starters, they remember that the Pareto Principle, better known as the 80/20 rule, is at play in every business. 20% of your effort produces 80% of your results.
The trick is finding those points of leverage.
A good place to start is with a brand positioning statement or a positioning cheat code. When you make yourself the easy, obvious choice for your dream clients, you have an easier time winning the freelance projects you really want.
In this first episode, Austin introduces the concept of better leverage. He also covers how a positioning statement links up with the 80/20 rule and what both of those mean for smart, ambitious freelancers. If you want a step-by-step process for writing a positioning statement, then you listen all the way to the end and check out the link to the copywriting templates below.
Key points
- Intro (00:00)
- What is better leverage? (00:39)
- Why working harder is usually not the answer (02:24)
- A real-life example of a freelancer getting better leverage (04:44)
- Why your freelance business needs a positioning cheat code (07:57)
- A step-by-step process for creating your cheat code (09:55)
- The real benefit isn’t what you think (12:21)
- Now, it’s your turn. (13:25)
Notable Quotes
“Work harder is only good advice when the person that you're talking to is straight up lazy.”
“How could spending even more time on the wrong things fix the problem? To spend even more time on the wrong strategy or weak strategy would simply be pouring water through a sieve at a faster rate.”
“Freelancing is a real game with real money when you win and a positioning cheat code makes the freelance game easier. You can make more mistakes and still win.”
Resources
Click to create your own cheat code + copywriting TEMPLATES
Listen, rate, and subscribe!
For specific beliefs, principles, and practices you can use right away to make the freelance game more profitable and satisfying, subscribe to Freelance Cake podcast on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts!
Next Episode
3 Freelance Goal Setting Questions to Keep Your Business Moving in the Right Direction
Freelancing is hard work. There are so many moving parts in your freelance business: project management, marketing strategies, setting your freelance rates, you name it.
With all those priorities flying around, all that noise and motion, it’s easy to get off track. It’s easy to keep saying yes to crazy clients and boring projects. It’s easy to forget why you got into this in the first place.
One of Austin’s coaching clients experienced a record month, and said "It nearly killed me."
Can you relate? Do you ever feel like you’re getting dragged around by your freelance business? Take this podcast episode as your opportunity to reconnect with what you really want.
Freelancing can be rewarding and exciting. The more clearly you define your freelance goals and motivations, the better your decisions will be. Clear goals generate desire and intent.
Are you not making enough? Are you making enough but working too much? What needs to change?
Discipline is remembering what you want.
In this episode, Austin shares the goal-setting exercise that helped him and his wife break their overspending habit. He also goes over the 3 questions you need to keep your freelance business on the rails and get the kind of growth you want.
Listen through to the end, take 20-30 minutes to write down your goals and core motivations for your freelance business, and put them somewhere you can’t miss them.
Key points
- Intro (00:00)
- The quote that helped me beat overspending (00:38)
- Identifying your goals for your freelance business (02:17)
- 3 questions you must ask yourself to determine your freelance goals (04:16)
- Why setting your freelancing goals is important (07:40)
- Increasing your income opens up new opportunities (10:20)
Notable Quotes
“In our darker moments when the wave of emotions and the wind of doubt are tossing the boat around, our goals can act as a lighthouse.”
“When you stop worrying about money, when cash flow is no longer your primary limiting constraint, your imagination stands up, shakes out its wings, and takes flight.”
“You’ll find it easier to finish what you start if you focus on what matters most to you.”
Links and resources from this episode
Listen, rate, and subscribe!
For specific beliefs, principles, and practices you can use right away to make the freelance game more profitable and satisfying, subscribe to Freelance Cake podcast on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts!
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