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Unleash Your Freelance Superpowers: Revolutionize Your Creative Business with the TOTS Playbook Method

Are you ready to make your freelance life more efficient, enjoyable, and, let's face it, less chaotic? Our latest podcast episode is the perfect companion for your creative journey!
 
Discover the secrets to organizing your freelance business for more consistency and room to grow. Say goodbye to flying by the seat of your pants and welcome the magic of creating your very own “recipes” using the TOTS Playbook Method.
 
In this episode, we explore:
  • Starting small: Pinpoint the tasks that zap your energy and learn to map out your client journey from start to finish.
  • Crafting your recipe: Master the TOTS Playbook Method (Training Video, Outline, Timing, and Specifics) and capture your creative process with our favorite tools.
  • Fine-tuning your masterpiece: Gather feedback, make tweaks, and keep polishing your process for outstanding results.
  • Growing your creative world: Embrace the benefits of systems and processes to take on more projects without losing your sanity.
Don't miss this opportunity to level up your freelance adventure and tap into your full creative potential. Experience the difference that a little organization can make for your creative work and well-being.
 
🎧 Are you ready to unleash your creative superpowers? Click here to listen now!
 
In this episode you’ll discover:
  • Why creatives are prone to inconsistent results
  • Creating playbooks to give your clients great final products every time
  • What's top of mind for you to outsource?
  • Breaking down TOTS
  • The creative mindset vs the entrepreneurial mindset
  • Creating replicable results for your clients

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Podcast

Unlock Your Potential: How Defying Conventional Wisdom Leads to Unprecedented Success | With Paco de Leon

What if breaking the rules and embracing your uniqueness could revolutionize an entire industry? 🤯
 
Meet Paco de Leon, a trailblazer who defied conventional wisdom and turned the world of finance on its head by being unapologetically herself.
 
As the author of Finance for the People and founder of The Hell Yeah Group, Paco has leveraged her personal brand to create an irresistible appeal that sets her miles apart from the competition.
 
Her unconventional approach has landed her features on TED, New York Times, Forbes, Business Insider, NPR, Vice, Bloomberg, Good Morning America, and countless others.
 
How did Paco achieve such success in an industry as notoriously bland as finance? She wholeheartedly embraced her uniqueness and used the 80/20 principle to make everything she touches turn to gold.
 
Feeling like you're putting in endless hours of work but not gaining any traction? Let Paco de Leon be your guide! Join our conversation to make this year a resounding “Hell Yeah!” year 🚀
 
In this episode, you'll uncover:
  • How Paco's unique approach distinguishes her from “regular” bookkeepers 📚
  • The secret to maintaining a low client number while maximizing revenue 💰
  • How to repel the wrong clients through strategic branding 🚫
  • Running a thriving business without constant self-promotion 🌱
  • The art of practicing energy efficiency in your brain 🧠
  • Utilizing processes and procedures to scale your company 📈
  • Learning business skills from playing in a band 🎸
  • Overcoming fears and obstacles in your entrepreneurial journey 👊
  • Crafting a career-focused marketing plan for long-term success 🎯

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Podcast

From Hourly to $10K: The Package Pricing Strategy That Will Revolutionize Your Freelance Business | With Brandi Mowles

You’ve probably heard my rants on hourly vs. project-based pricing before…
 
Yet you're still charging by the hour or day.
 
I've heard all the excuses at this point”
  • “Well yeah Brian, project pricing works for some people, but not me.
  • “What if I spend too much time and I lose money?”
  • “What if my client wants all this extra random stuff done after we start the project?”
  • “I do WAY too many things to bundle them into one project price!”
 
Well, Brandi Mowles, from the Serve Scale Soar Podcast, is here to show you that you can simplify your packages, without a bunch of added work… and the best part is that you can do it more profitably than hourly projects.
 
Brandi debunks the common myths, mistakes, and reservations freelancers have on switching from hourly to package pricing, and helps them hit the $10k per month mark without a team.
 
If you’re ready to get out of the day-to-day hourly grind, and truly soar in your business, listen in on my conversation with Brandi Mowles!
 
In this episode you’ll discover:
  • How to make your marriage last (hint: pick the right person)
  • Why package pricing is advantageous if you set it up properly
  • Avoiding the pitfalls of package pricing
  • What “package hacking” does for your business
  • How to set your pricing for packages
  • Using “up to” language in your pricing
  • What's the most important to you?
  • Why package pricing should not be based on your time
  • Raising your prices on existing clients

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Podcast

How To Turn Your Website Into A Lead Generation Machine | With Delia Monk

Writing all of the different elements for your website is one of the most painful things… especially if you're trying to create a website that turns strangers into clients.
 
Unless you are a copywriter, typing out a persuasive sentence feels like:
 
“Selling out”
 
“Overstating your achievements”
 
or
 
“Being another sleazy salesperson”
 
When these thoughts pop into our heads, it’s important to realize “persuasive” does not mean “sleazy.”
 
Converting the strangers on your website into paying clients is a massive step towards getting out of the feast-or-famine lifestyle, and you can do it without compromising any of your values.
 
Whether your website conversions are floundering, your about page is blank, or you just can’t get that client to respond with a testimonial, Delia Monk has answers for us!
 
As an expert in conversion-focused copy, she helps us turn all of our boring, vanilla website copy into personality-driven, radiant, and most importantly, highconverting websites.
 
Listen to my conversation with Delia to take the next step toward building your new 24/7 lead-generating machine!
 
In this episode you’ll discover:
  • Why copywriting is incredibly important for your website's conversion rate
  • Common copywriting mistakes on freelance websites
  • Making yourself shine to stand out from your competition
  • Turning testimonials into copy for your website
  • Discovering why clients come to you
  • Reasons to avoid stuffy, corporate copywriting
  • How to resuscitate your about page
  • Using stories to sell your services
  • Staying current on copywriting trends

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Podcast

Why Freelancers Need to Stop Believing These Paid Ad Myths ASAP

You are AMAZING at what you do as a creative. You create stunning designs, produce incredible music, or breathe life into visual media like photos or videos. Paid ads aren’t for you, right?
 
The truth is, paid ads can work for anyone, including freelancers.  
 
This has been proven time and time again, in industry after industry… Paid ads are one of the quickest ways to multiply your income and bring in more clients.
 
The beauty of paid ads is that you have complete control over them.
 
It’s not like referrals, where you’re sitting around waiting for someone else to send you clients.
 
It’s not like cold outreach, where you feel like you’re spamming people.
 
It’s not like social media, where you’re relying on the algorithm gods to put your content in front of people.
 
By using paid ads, you can take matters into your own hands and steer your business in the direction you want.
 
If you’ve tried paid ads before and they “didn’t work,” don’t give up just yet. 
 
In this episode, I debunk 6 paid ads myths that are holding you back from using this powerful lead-generation tool.
 
In this episode you’ll discover:
  • The pros of paid ads
  • Why survivorship bias is bad for business
  • How paid ads can boost your business with real leads
  • Why it's your fault if a client hires someone else and has a bad experience
  • “Paid ads don't work for me” – nah, you just didn't try
  • The perks of Client Financed Acquisition
  • Building a long-term snowball using paid ads
  • Looking to other industries to learn how to use paid ads for your business

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Podcast

Robots to the Rescue: How AI Can Help Freelancers Land More Clients

I know the internet hasn't shut up about AI over the past couple of months, and you're probably thinking “dammit Brian, not another person talking about AI.” But, hear me out…
 
Right now, AI isn't something to be afraid of, but actually, a tool that can be used by freelancers in a bunch of ways…
 
  • Having trouble figuring out how to fire a client politely after too many red flags? AI can help you.
  • Are you struggling to come up with ideas for what to post on social media? Again, AI can help you.
  • Trying to write an effective, non-cringe “about me” section for your website? AI can help you with that, too!
Of course, you could always do this stuff on your own, but why make things harder for yourself? It’s a hell of a lot easier to let AI do all the heavy lifting and simply go back to tweak some words here and there.
 
Instead of jumping on the pity party bandwagon of:
 
“ChatGPT is going to take our jobs!”
 
Or brushing it off as:
 
“This is just another crypto phase…”
 
The truth is, AI is here to help you, not to replace you (at least, not yet🤖).
 
Ready to take advantage of the opportunity that AI tools like ChatGPT can offer your business? Join me as I walk you through 9 ways to make ChatGPT and other AI tools work FOR you as a freelancer, not against you.
 
In this episode you’ll discover:
  • Why AI isn't the end of the world for most freelancers
  • How to use ChatGPT to respond to emails
  • Using AI to help choose your business name
  • Coaching AI to give the output you want
  • The power of AI in SEO
  • Creating social media content using AI
  • Crafting excellent ad copy by using Chat GPT

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Podcast

She Used Puppet Shows And Sea Shanties To Grow Her Agency To $500,000 Per MONTH | With Becca Kingsbury

If I were to ask you to think of the most bizarre marketing ideas you could think of to get clients, what would you say?
 
I'd almost guarantee it doesn't include any of these:
  • Fax machine marketing…
  • Writing sea shanties…
  • Performing puppet shows in client meetings…
  • Cold outreach with homing pigeons???
These ideas are ridiculous, right?
 
Well, the creative marketing agency Dingus & Zazzy doesn’t think so. Their mantra is “no idea is a bad idea until we try it”.
 
And you might say:
 
“There is no way these methods would work, they’re way too far out there!”
 
And to that, I'd say JUST LOOK AT THE NUMBERS…
 
Dingus & Zazzy are bringing in over $500,000 per month in recurring revenue.
 
Yes, you read that right… per MONTH.
 
And this isn’t just a good month. This is automatic, recurring revenue every single month!
 
Whether you have aspirations of earning $500,000 per month, per year, or even $50,000 per year, this conversation has applications for your creative business at any level.
 
Listen in on my eye-opening conversation with Becca Kingsbury, co-founder and COO at Dingus & Zazzy, about her mastery of the recurring unlimited business model, hiring over 150 creative employees, and scaling to nearly 8 figures per year by using… interesting marketing methods.
 
In this episode you’ll discover:
  • The reasons for Dingus & Zazzy's zany name
  • Offering unlimited work to your clients as a form of differentiation
  • Finding your pricing by shooting in the dark
  • Hiring the right people to support your company culture
  • Encouraging your staff to solve problems proactively
  • Using whacky ideas to make people remember your
  • When it's time to fire the customer
  • Calling your clients proactively to keep them active
  • Focusing on your newest clients for smooth onboarding

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Podcast

How One Cold Email Resulted In $60,000 Of Referral Work | With Joana Galvão

I see a lot of creatives comparing themselves to their successful peers, saying things like:
 
  • “Oh they have more experience than me, that’s why they can charge higher prices…”
  • “They have a bigger network than me, that’s why they have more clients!”
  • “They niched down, but I don't want to do that because it's not fun”.
 
While having experience, a network, and a niche are helpful to becoming a successful creative, I want to show you an example of how those things are NOT all required when you're early in your career.
 
Meet Joana Galvão.
 
Joana is the owner of the incredibly successful GiF Design Studios. When she launched her freelance design career straight out of college, her calendar was booked solid for 6 months…
 
Without years and years of experience…
 
Without a long list of contacts and relationships built up over time…
 
Without niching down…
 
Now that we have those excuses you had out of the way, listen in on my conversation with Joana to break down the concepts of lead generation, referrals, and how to thrive as a creative!
 
In this episode you’ll discover:
  • How Joana launched her brand new freelance career with a calendar full of paid projects
  • How she earned $2k in ten days to pay for an unexpected expense
  • The problems with accepting any request a potential client has
  • How to stand out (and get clients) as a generalist in a “red ocean”
  • How she's turned “word of mouth” into a strategy
  • Asking easy questions to get a response
  • The $60k cold email
  • Forming strategic relationships to grow your network
  • Handling cash flow problems in your business
  • Asking for referrals the right way
  • Ways to keep yourself accountable as a business owner

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Podcast

The Creative Who Cracked The SEO Cheatcode (And Gets 1 Million Website Visitors Per Month) | With Jacob Cass

I know, I know, as soon as you hear “SEO,” you throw your headphones across the room and continue on with whatever fluffy, fun creative task you’ve been working on the past eleven hours.
 
While the technical jargon of SEO, marketing, and web traffic sounds boring as all hell, I’m here to suggest that you give it a chance.
 
The reason you should take a second glance:
 
Infinite…
 
Money…
 
OK, that's an over-exaggeration.
 
But just think about how many problems would be solved for you if you had 1,000,000 people coming to your website Every. Single. Month.
 
You'd never need to worry about making ends meet again. No more fumbling around on social media. No more endless barrage of cold email pitches.
 
If you are diligent about the SEO practices in this episode, you can develop completely organic traffic to your website (that means NO paid ads) and even monetize the visitors that show up through affiliate marketing.
 
Having worked with Disney, Omega, Nintendo, and many more big brands, Jacob Cass is THE guy to listen to when it comes to the secret sauce behind SEO.
 
If you haven’t quite hit that 1 MILLION site views per month milestone (like Jacob has), give this episode a listen!
 
In this episode you’ll discover:
  • How Jacob became a digital nomad before it was cool
  • Growing your business with focus and intent
  • Using affiliate marketing to boost your income
  • Scaling your business with SEO
  • Researching keywords for SEO ranking
  • The tools you can use for SEO ranking
  • Understanding domain ratings
  • Determining your entrepreneurial personality

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Podcast

5 Sets Of Skills Every Freelancer Should Be Improving | Full Stack Freelancer Pt. 2

After covering the marketing, sales, and problem-solving skill stacks last week, we should be ready to knock our creative business out of the park, right?
 
Not quite yet…
 
There are a few more “non-creative” skill stacks that are essential to get right if you want to be a well-rounded and effective freelancer in 2023 and beyond.
 
Some creatives may look at these skills and say…
  • “These things don’t inspire me.” 
  • “I only need to get better at my craft.” 
  • “I’m bad at these, so I can’t improve them!”
If that sounds like you, then all I can do from the comfort of my sofa as I type this is facepalm. 🤦🏻‍♂️
 
Do you, your income, your business, and your clients a favor by at least giving this episode a shot. 
 
I wholeheartedly believe investing time and energy into these 5 skill stacks will improve your relationships, increase your productivity, and help you earn more this year.
 
In this episode you’ll discover:
  • Focusing on a wide band of skills rather than the selfish “I band”
  • Making friends and maintaining relationships
  • The skill of having self-awareness
  • Combining focus and discipline
  • The dilemma of opportunity cost
  • Using tools to manage your time
  • Why you need systems and processes
  • Understanding your business's key performance indicators
  • Knowing how and when to hire staff