What’s the secret to a strong client experience?

As a freelancer there isn’t ‘one’ secret, but rather an ownership mindset that positions you as the go-to resource.

In this episode we’ll understand how Kendol uses his expertise in graphic design and brand to become the trusted resource for his clients.

We’ll cover:

> How to balance being a creative with being client facing

> How to under promise and over deliver

> How to win a customer within 20 minutes

Enjoy!!!!

To Connect with Kendol:

• LinkedIn

As freelancers, we don’t have a ‘wellness’ budget or corporate Universities.

We have ourselves, and as Rowena will show us, succeeding as a remote freelancer means leadership for both ourselves and others.

She’ll break down:

– What’s different about a remote and in-office environment

– Why leadership is even more important when we’re just a company of one

– How to avoid burnout and instead have yourself and your collective freelancers running on all cylinders

Our favorite golden nugget was her process to stay on your game.

1: Write down WHY you work

2: Write down WHAT activities bring you up and down

3: Create a plan for HOW to incorporate these activities

– And make to sure to include:

– A plan b and plan c

– Accountability

– Intentional community

She also dropped a knowledge bomb on how to create intentional remote spaces where your tribe can be their whole self.

1: Create a no work call cadence

2: Create a social (the more Gif’s the better) channel

3: Collaborate on each others well being plan

4: Explicitly outline each other’s cues

We hope you enjoy this as much as we did!

Simran Doshi is a total rockstar content and copywriter.

We were fortunate to catch up with her and talk about what she’s been up to and what she’s looking forward to.

Here’s a preview!

The impact of Covid…her revenue tripled

Her top 3 priorities for 2021…

1: Branding, both sustaining her quality and increasing her reach across different channels

2: Growing deeper within existing accounts

3: Maintaining boundaries

*AND her secret powering this all – forming her trusted tribe of fellow freelancers

Her ONE guiding principle for 2021… Have a positive mindset. This means prioritizing relationships both with her clients and her fellow freelancers.

We hope you enjoy the talk as much as we did!!

How do you create an incredible freelance client experience?

We all know that as freelancers we have to be super human.

Not just in the quality of our work, but in the experience we offer to our clients.

No one better understands how to create good client experiences than Shayan and Yaya – founders of Shadow Creative Studios.

With the combination of Shayan’s consulting experience and Yaya’s creative experience we’ll learn tangible tips and tricks we can apply to our freelance business today.

Enjoy!!!!

To connect with Shadow Creative Studios:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/shadowcreativestudios/

Website: https://www.shadowcreativestudios.com/

 

 

Why do we need a micro-freelancer community?

Usually when we start freelancing we ask ‘where’s my first client’? 

For Elina, instead she asked ‘where’s my community’ and credits her freelancer community for the transition to a soft freelance landing.  

If you’re like me, you introvert you, you most likely cringe at the thought of networking and community. 

But don’t freak out! As Elina puts it, the power isn’t in a million LinkedIn connections, instead “the power belongs to micro-communities”. 

And what’s the secret to building your micro-community? 

Here’s a hint…

Deliberate connection. And growing together with your connections through collaboration. 

Ready to build your micro-community?

Enjoy!!!

To connect with Elina:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elina-jutelyte/

 

 

Last week we introduced some incredible communities.

But what makes a great community vs. a ‘meh’ one?  

Unfortunately there’s a new freelance community daily. Some are great. Some are not.

So how do you know which ones to trust? Or if you want to start one, what ingredients do you need to differentiate?

Below are 4 ingredients we’ve seen in every great community. 

———–

Ingredient 1: Incredible founder or group of founders that still freelance. 

These founders aren’t thought leaders. They have plenty of scars. Those in their niche (potential clients) turn to them for advice and work. And most important – they still freelance. 

Ingredient 2: Training & Resources.

Let’s face it – 90% of what you need to learn can only be learned through experience.

The other 10% – usually in the form of quantifying a value prop/service offering, pricing templates, scoping & proposal templates, invoice templates, skill specific collateral (design kits), and client communication templates – is where a good community differentiates your freelance business.

 

Ingredient 3: Opportunity matching.

Ingredients 1 & 2 set the scene for good opportunities.

Because of #1, they provide exclusive access to good ops. These are generally the high quality, high dollar amount, and longer length projects. Really good communities also give you access to impressive clients. 

And because of #2,  you have the basics to nail these opportunities.

Ingredient 4: Micro-Community/Segmentation 

The toughest business decision to make is balancing size (immediate revenue impact) vs. engagement (usually immediate impact as cost).

Most communities start with the same mission/vision of a tight-knit community. Then as the community grows, it’s easier to add people at $30 per freelancer than to make sure each freelancer finds value.

Which is where micro-communities come in.

The best communities aren’t just one huge network. The best communities offer micro-networks.

The reason micro-networks are so essential for you, is because these micro-networks become your tribes you’ll collaborate with, refer work back and forth to, and grow together. Like any group, the larger these get, the less personal your experience.

———–

Bonus: Every community will say they have these ingredients, but how do you truly evaluate? 

Talk with the members.

What if you can’t find any members? Well there’s an answer.

What if you find a member? Are they proud to be part of the community? Has membership led to material value? Do they collaborate with fellow members? Of course – are they still in the community?

Another Bonus: What’s the difference between community and collective? 

Generally communities are larger, while collectives are more focused on job opps. Think of a collective as a group of freelancers running an agency. Collectives are generally more close knit, and might result from members of the same community. 

You’re incredible at what you do.

You’ve mastered your craft, whether a writer, designer, marketer, or developer.

Your clients love you.

And you’re delivering consistent results.

But how do you go from 2 to 3 happy clients to a fully scaled freelance business?

Here’s a hint from Anastasiia:

1: Under promise, over deliver

2: Sell the package, not the time

3: Collaboration, NOT competition with fellow freelancers

Let’s learn from Ana in this week’s Freelancer Talks!

To connect with Ana: LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/anastasia…

The favorite part of my job is meeting incredible freelancers like yourself.

The second favorite part of my job is meeting leaders in the ecosystem supporting freelancers like you.

Which is why this has been an extra awesome month as we prioritized meeting leading freelancer communities.

We had three major takeaways:

1. Not all communities are equal (duh).
2. Micro-communities, usually focused on a specific niche, or curated into buckets based off a niche, seemed to provide the most value for each individual freelancer.
3. The value of a community seems to be shared purpose, deep knowledge-sharing, job referring, and accountability. 

With the above revealing some of our criteria for evaluating communities, below are communities you should be aware of ASAP. 

– Freelance Founders, Creatives focused. Blown away by the quality of the community and Carolyn’s focus on each individual freelancer. You won’t be getting a community leader who freelanced for 6 months then started teaching. Carolyn still actively freelances and from a client lense blew me away.  

– Kitchen Table Community, Focused on freelancer-based agencies. Blown away by the caliber of John’s agencies in the community, and his own agency Write Arm. Like Carolyn above, John’s got scars. .  

*Meet John in Freelancer Talks

– IDLance, Instructional Design focused. Blown away by both Andrea and Parker’s tangible understanding of how to be a good instructional design freelancer.

– Freelance Heroes, UK and freelance business focused. I admit Ed’s humor won me over. But I was also blown away by his understanding of day to day struggles for freelancers. 

*Their podcast

– Freelance Business Community, Europe with strong event management expertise. Blown away by the communities expertise driving events at scale. 

*Meet Elina in Freelancer Talks 

– Betoo.be, Building a freelance business focused. Blown away by Jean-Paul’s experience running freelance projects at scale ($1m projects and above). 

– Freelance Mastermind, a small but mighty group, I’ve been blown away by the vetting for each member and support between each freelancer. 

Honorable Mention 

* We haven’t seen the actual communities, but thoroughly enjoyed their public content.

– Freelance to Founder Podcast

– Digital Freelancers

– The Freelancers Show

 *Also – as you know, most freelance platforms are a race to the bottom. NOT THESE. These platforms have a strong emphasis on community, freelancer development, and we’ve personally met with freelancers who have raving reviews of each platform. 

– Customer Support: Instant Teams

– Marketing: We Are Rosie

– Finance/Accounting: Paro

– Students: Parker Dewey

– Creatives in Asia: CreativesAtWork

SORRY!  We obviously missed really great communities. Feel free to email me at [email protected] and we’ll figure out if we’d be a good fit

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