How to Make More Money, Happier Clients, and Go from Surviving to Thriving as a Freelancer with Jonathan Stark

12/07/20 • 58 min

Jonathan Stark is a former software developer who is on a mission to rid the world of hourly billing. He is the author of Hourly Billing Is Nuts, the host of Ditching Hourly, and he writes a daily newsletter on pricing for independent professionals.

In this episode we discuss:

How Jonathan Stark went from working a typical job to becoming coach for independent software developers
Why is hourly billing so bad?
The problem with growing your business by hiring more people
What are the alternatives to billing by the hour?
How else can you price project based work?
What is value based pricing?
How you should create and structure your proposals to maximize your income AND the client's happiness
How to deal with (inevitable) scope creep on a fixed price project
Avoiding adversarial client relationships by aligning your incentives with your clients
How many options should you offer in a proposal and why?
How can you figure out how valuable the work is to the client
The importance of uncovering an actual business outcome
The exact questions to ask a prospective client before giving a price or writing a proposal
How to get a prospective client to sell themselves on working with you
The important question that most people are too afraid (or too shy) to ask
You have more options than you realize!

Links:

Jonathan's free Value Pricing Bootcamp (start here)
Lots more free resources on Jonathan's website
Alan Weiss who helped inspire the "Why conversation"

In this episode we discuss:

How Jonathan Stark went from working a typical job to becoming coach for independent software developers
Why is hourly billing so bad?
The problem with growing your business by hiring more people
What are the alternatives to billing by the hour?
How else can you price project based work?
What is value based pricing?
How you should create and structure your proposals to maximize your income AND the client's happiness
How to deal with (inevitable) scope creep on a fixed price project
Avoiding adversarial client relationships by aligning your incentives with your clients
How many options should you offer in a proposal and why?
How can you figure out how valuable the work is to the client
The importance of uncovering an actual business outcome
The exact questions to ask a prospective client before giving a price or writing a proposal
How to get a prospective client to sell themselves on working with you
The important question that most people are too afraid (or too shy) to ask
You have more options than you realize!

Links:

Jonathan's free Value Pricing Bootcamp (start here)
Lots more free resources on Jonathan's website
Alan Weiss who helped inspire the "Why conversation"

Previous Episode

Francis Tapon is Hiking his own Hike Around the World

In this episode we discuss:

How Francis manages to hike through snow without a warm jacket (or underwear)
Practicing discomfort and gratitude
The two traits Francis learned from spending five and a half years in Africa and traveling to all 54 African countries
Falling in love and getting married in Africa
The benefits of growing up with exposure to multiple cultures
Collecting "cultural souvenirs" as we travel
Why the idea of "cultural appropriation" makes no sense
How the weather changes culture from Africa to Europe to SE Asia
What Eastern Europeans Can Teach Us
The role of history in American, European, and African cultures
How the Moors shaped modern Spain
Slowing down in Spain and reevaluating what's important in life
Francis provocative writing style and why it's so hard to write a book about Africa
Reverse culture shock on returning to America after a long time away
The East Coast mentality and "default question"
What the rest of the world thinks about Americans that we don't realize
The three areas where America is hands down the greatest country in the world
Where Francis plans to go next and making the most of life before we move on
What it means to "Hike your own hike"

Links:

Francis' Website (https://francistapon.com/)
Francis' First Book Hike Your Own Hike: 7 Life Lessons from Backpacking Across America (https://francistapon.com/Books/Hike-Your-Own-Hike/)
Francis' Second Book The Hidden Europe: What Eastern Europeans Can Teach Us (https://francistapon.com/Books/The-Hidden-Europe/)
Francis' Patreon Account (https://www.patreon.com/ftapon) - Get access to "The Unseen Africa" book as Francis writes it
Francis' TEDx Talk "How and why travel transforms you" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2Bd8pNYH8A)
Francis' TEDx Talk "Bring Out Your Inner Black Sheep" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVfADBIsgB8)
Francis' TEDx Talk "7 surprising lessons from picking up 3,000 African Hitchhikers" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WxfRLByD60)
The Jacks R Better sleeping bag that Francis uses and recommends: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CfBrJX5zoU)
Francis' gear list from hiking the Continental Divide Trail (https://francistapon.com/Travels/Continental-Divide-Trail/CDT-Gear-List)
The Time Paradox book by Philip Zimbardo and John Boyd (https://www.amazon.com/Time-Paradox-Psychology-That-Change/dp/1416541993)

Next Episode

How to Have Your Best Year: Choosing Goals and Quality Questions with Justin Gary

In this episode we discuss:

Reviewing 2020 and setting goals for 2021
What do you do with goals you set for 2020 but couldn't accomplish?
How Justin conducts past year reviews (and why it takes him a lot less time than it used to)
"Aggressive but achievable" goals
What it means and what to do if you have a goal that just doesn't get done
Why you should beware of chasing "Laser pointer goals"
How to make difficult things like going to the gym more fun.
The lesson from reading Neil Strauss's interviews with hundreds of rock stars and other celebrities, and how it changes the goals you should set.
“Before enlightenment; chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment; chop wood, carry water.” — Zen Kōan
Unveiling your next goal or the next "layer of your karma"
Combatting "shiny object syndrome"
Justin's superpower "Rule of 3" for goal setting
My "master goal" that makes all of my other goals possible
How to build an audience.
My goals for 2021 - Creating value for others and creating consistently
How to use Leading indicators instead of Lagging indicators when setting goals
Replacing SMART goals with a PACT
Designing your ideal day
How to actually get the benefit from self improvement books and lectures
A Great Question Can Change Your Life - Get One in Your Inbox Every Day
Quality Questions (https://qualityquestions.co/)
Closing the year in gratitude