Category: Podcast

How To Be Consistently Creative So You Can Do What You Love For The Rest Of Your Life | With Todd Henry

Post author By James Cross
Post date March 8, 2022
No Comments on How To Be Consistently Creative So You Can Do What You Love For The Rest Of Your Life | With Todd Henry

Ever had an off day where you just didn't feel creative? What about an off week, or an off month? Where things can get dangerous is when our income depends on us being creative on-demand, but we're just…off.

The great thing is that there are certain actions we can take to stay consistently and brilliantly creative for a long, long time.

This week we interviewed Toddy Henry, author of the best-selling book “The Accidental Creative: How To Be Brilliant At A Moment's Notice”. We discussed how creatives can create consistency in their work so that they're able to consistently put out their best work.

In this episode you’ll discover:

The three most important things in your life as a creative entrepreneur
Taking a step back to think
Where to look for inspiration
Forming healthy habits
Reacting vs. thinking
Setting (and respecting) boundaries
Being aware of our shortcomings

Podcast

The 5 Business Bottlenecks Holding You Back From $100,000 Per Year

Post author By James Cross
Post date March 1, 2022
No Comments on The 5 Business Bottlenecks Holding You Back From $100,000 Per Year

Want to know the secret that separates failing freelancers from 6 figure freelancers? It's this one concept:

6 Figure freelancers constantly solved their business bottlenecks. If it sounds stupidly simple, it is, but it's definitely easier said than done. Let me break it down real quick…

There are 5 main parts of any real business (freelancers included). Here they are:

Part 1: Lead generation – This is the part of your business where new people find out you exist and that you offer a (hopefully) valuable service.

Part 2: Lead Nurture – This is the part of your business where you're staying top-of-mind over a long period of time until the lead is ready to hire you. According to studies, only about 3% of any market is ready to buy “now”, so nurturing them until they're ready is crucial to getting hired.

Part 3: Sales – This is where conversations turn into clients (i.e. dollars in the bank).

Part 4: Fulfillment – This is where you're actually doing what you've been paid for.

Part 5: Lifetime Value – This is how much one client is worth to your over your lifetime. It can be determined by how much you charge, how often they come back for more, how many people they refer to you, etc.

The issue is that ONE of these five areas is your bottleneck right now. Until that bottleneck has been fixed, there's no point in improving anything else in your business.

The freelancers who make it to $100k/year are the ones who constantly solved their ONE bottleneck, took a step back, re-assed their business to see what the next bottleneck was, and dove all-in on that bottleneck until it's solved. Rinse and repeat.

This week's podcast episode dives into each of these 5 areas and what you can do to solve the bottlenecks in your own business.

In this episode you’ll discover:

Why Brian is wrong for being anti-air-fryer
Business bottlenecks: how they related to your personal life
Determining what's holding your freelance career back
Why lead generation isn't the problem most freelancers are facing
Email's not dead – use an email list for your business!
Why mastermind groups are important to your success
What a fulfillment bottleneck means for your sales process
How to solve your biggest bottleneck

Podcast

The 4 Personal Bottlenecks Holding Your Business Back From Earning 6 Figures

Post author By James Cross
Post date February 22, 2022
1 Comment on The 4 Personal Bottlenecks Holding Your Business Back From Earning 6 Figures

If you run a freelance business, there is no real separation between you and your business.

That means any personal issues you have are guaranteed to affect your business.

There are actually 4 specific “personal bottlenecks” that act as single points of failure as an entrepreneur.

No time
“Dirty Fuel”
Lack of skills
Blindspots

If any of these 4 issues exist, your business is 100% guaranteed to suffer.

In this week's episode, we discuss each of these 4 personal bottlenecks in detail…

In this episode you’ll discover:

Why expensive gear doesn't matter if it isn't earning you money
How personal bottlenecks are choking your business
Superheroes to save you from your bottlenecks
Clean fuel vs. dirty fuel – are you doing things for the right reasons?
Creating a step by step plan to tackle your bottlenecks
Why time won't let you go
When to ask for help with your bottlenecks
Handling your blind spots

Podcast

Quitting Her Day Job To Become A 6 Figure Illustrator | Lisa Congdon’s Success Story

Post author By James Cross
Post date February 15, 2022
No Comments on Quitting Her Day Job To Become A 6 Figure Illustrator | Lisa Congdon’s Success Story

If you're stuck in a dead-end job, about to turn 30, and thinking, “I wish I could open my own business… But I'm too old to start…” then listen up.

You're not too old – it's never too late to start your freelance career or open a business.

World-renowned designer Lisa Congdon didn't even start designing until her late 20s, and she didn't even start gaining traction until she was nearly 40. In the decade and a half since starting her business, Lisa has grown it to multiple six figures.

Listen now to hear about Lisa's journey from struggles and setbacks, to ultimate success as a creative.

In this episode you’ll discover:

Why it's not too late to jump into a freelance career
How Lisa began her creative journey
Giving yourself permission to be alone and its effects on your mental health
Why it's important to have diverse income streams (but still stay on-brand)
Selling physical products as a creative
Building your team: don't start too soon
Growth and mental health in a creative field

Podcast

The 6 Levels of Freelancing – Part 2

Post author By James Cross
Post date February 8, 2022
No Comments on The 6 Levels of Freelancing – Part 2

Last week we introduced the first of a two-part series about “The 6 Levels of Freelancing”. The 1st level was “yes mode” and the 2nd level was “the generalist”.

This week we're walking you through what it looks like to move up the ladder into levels 4-6. If you feel stuck and you're ready to move up a level or two, fire up your favorite podcast app and let's dig in…

In this episode you’ll discover:

How good systems will avoid Chris' Poopocalypse 2.0
Avoiding survivorship bias: don't always listen to the “old dogs”
The word-of-mouth death trap
Your hourly rates aren't your actual rates
Why Disqualifying bad leads to focus on good leads is great for your income
The difference between systems and automation
What the best automations have in common
Why experts focus on one specific area rather than learning everything
Growing your business the smart way: using SOPs
How to remove yourself from your business

Podcast

The 6 Levels of Freelancing – Part 1

Post author By James Cross
Post date February 1, 2022
No Comments on The 6 Levels of Freelancing – Part 1

Most freelancers have no idea what they are doing and end up stuck in a low-paying, dead-end job because their business never gets enough clients to pay the bills.

In this episode, we discuss the levels of your freelance career, and how to move from one level to the next so you can earn more money and work with better clients.

If you want to learn how to become an expert in your field, get paid well for your work, and want to work from home on your own schedule, this episode is for you!

In this episode you’ll discover:

Everyone starts on the same level
Why you're not special if you take every job that comes your way
How to learn what you want to do with your life
Listening to the market: your clients will help you pick an offering
Why you're shooting yourself in the foot if you offer two drastically different services
Automation: is it helping you or harming you?
What common business advice is actually bad for your business
Imposter syndrome: what to do when it rears its ugly head
Why the generalist never wins

Podcast

The 5 Most Clever Ways To Eliminate “Ghosting” From Your Leads 👻

Post author By James Cross
Post date January 25, 2022
1 Comment on The 5 Most Clever Ways To Eliminate “Ghosting” From Your Leads 👻

You FINALLY get someone to reach out to you asking for your rates. Wooooo! 🥳🎊🎉

You rack your brain to come up with a price for the project and send it off.

Days pass… you don’t hear back. So you send a follow up.

Weeks pass… now you’re trying to figure out where you went wrong.

The would-be client has just ghosted you.

The worst part is that you have NO idea why…

Was it pricing? Scheduling? Did they decide not to do the project? Did they hire someone else?

Did they even SEE your message?

Ghosting SUCKS. So we set aside an hour of our time to create an entire episode dedicated to the topic.

In this episode you’ll discover:

Why your clients are ghosting you
How to not get ghosted
Building a connection with your customers so they don’t want to ghost you
Why you need to get on the phone
How to create natural scarcity and urgency
Why you should never give your pricing out quickly
How to get help growing your business

Podcast

Lead Nurturing | Changing The Way You Think About Client Relationships

Post author By James Cross
Post date January 18, 2022
No Comments on Lead Nurturing | Changing The Way You Think About Client Relationships

Here's a list of the most common reasons someone might hire someone else instead of you:

They don't trust you
They forgot you exist
They felt like you were manipulating them
They felt misunderstood
They’re not confident you can give them what they want/need
They felt no connection to you

What’s funny is that this list is nearly identical to the reasons a new romantic relationship might fail.

My point? It’s pretty simple…

If you start dating someone brand new, you’re likely going to put SOME sort of effort into building that relationship.

Right?

You’d text/call them. You’d go on dates to get to know them. You’d try to figure out if you’re compatible by having meaningful conversations.

You wouldn’t simply leave them alone and hope they propose to you later, right?

You’d intentionally nurture that relationship.

It’s the same thing with your potential clients.

They reach out to you…but wtf do you do in the days/weeks/months between the first conversation and the point they hand over their hard-earned dollars?

Most freelancers do a whole lot of sitting around and smoking Hopium. You’re just waiting for that phone call where the person finally “proposes” to you.

On this week’s episode, we dive deep into the process of intentionally nurturing your leads.

In this episode you’ll discover:

Why the “Chrisstache” is a thing of the past
Smoking “hopium” is hurting your business
Nurturing leads is 100% necessary for your business growth
Building relationships should be a one-on-one process
Why you need to “exclude to attract”
Why fear is holding you back from doing this the right way
Simple but effective ways to stay top of mind
How being a Go-Giver helps you and your client and your bank account

Podcast

The Word-of-mouth Death Trap And How To Avoid It

Post author By James Cross
Post date January 11, 2022
1 Comment on The Word-of-mouth Death Trap And How To Avoid It

It’s the beginning of 2022 and I recently completed my end-of-year retreat where I went off the grid to dig deep into my own businesses and plan for the year.

During my retreat, one of the things I did was dig into my analytics to see what’s been working, what’s not working, and what needs to change in the future.

This week’s podcast episode is the direct result of one of my most interesting discoveries when diving into my analytics across everything I do.

In this episode you’ll discover:

What you’re missing out on if you don’t follow the 6 Figure Creative YouTube channel
Why word of mouth is not the solution for a new business
How to get more clients without word of mouth
You’re a creative who is averse to marketing: now what?
Six ways to bring traffic to your website
How to get your business ranked by Google
Using affiliate marketing in a freelance business
When it’s appropriate to use ads for your business
182 reasons you should subscribe to our YouTube channel in a Blink

Podcast

Our Favorite Tools For Building A 6 Figure Business In 2022

Post author By James Cross
Post date January 4, 2022
No Comments on Our Favorite Tools For Building A 6 Figure Business In 2022

Implementing helpful tools into your business is one of the best, most cost-effective ways to increase your income or decrease your time spent doing tedious, frustrating tasks.

Every single tool we discuss on this week's podcast is created to either straight up make you more money, or save you time, money, and frustration.

One quick word of warning…while tools are amazing when fully implemented, a half-implemented tool is a total waste of money.

Make sure you're 100% ready to take on the (sometimes boring) implementation phase before using any of the tools we discuss in this episode.

In this episode you’ll discover:

Having too many unconnected systems can be worse than no systems
Why Brian is going to fight Chris in a parking lot
Avoiding the Apple Mail app
The power of Keyboard Maestro
Eliminating pain points so you can maintain flow state
Why giving away free merch is worth it
The system behind a successful follow-up
What Chris Graham wants in his inbox (hint: it’s feet)
Is it worth it? Camera and lighting equipment for video