The Top 9 Mistakes Freelancers Make When Getting Started

[00:00:00] Brian: This is the six figure creative podcast bonus episode. Welcome back to another episode of the six figure creative podcast. I'm your host Brian Hood. I'm here with my big bald beautiful purple shorter. Co-host Christopher J. Graham say hi. 


[00:00:12] Chris: Hey, I mean, hi. 


[00:00:14] Brian: Oh, oh, hi. So today's episode, we're going to cover the top nine mistakes freelancers make when starting their new business. 


[00:00:21] And believe me, if you are getting started or you're brand new, or you're looking to get started in your freelance business, and you've been dabbling in the weeds of the world, this episode is absolutely for you so that you can get over those things and actually start taking action and avoiding mistakes all along. 


[00:00:37] Chris: One of the funny things too, about these types of mistakes. Most of us are self-taught right. Most of us are learning on our own. We didn't go through a curriculum. Traditionally, and as a result, we've got gaps in our learning and it's pretty normal with freelancers, with people that are running small businesses for them to be like a decade in and be like, oh, I have never done that one thing before that I probably should have been doing all along. 


[00:01:01] So I'm sure for a lot of you, at least one of these is going to be something that you're like, oh, 


[00:01:06] Brian: Yeah. So it's actually, it's a combination of things you should do and things that you, are currently doing that you shouldn't do. So it's actually a mixture of both of those things. So before we get into today's episode, Chris, how have you been? My dude, 


[00:01:17] Chris: I've been good, man. I got all kinds of stuff going on. I've been building out a new coaching program and just sort of processing through that and that's been so fun. 


[00:01:26] Brian: that's all boring crap. I'm going to actually talk about the thing that actually matters. And that's, that's the fact that you like. You were sick before we started this episode and you, we almost didn't do this episode 


[00:01:35] Chris: true. Yeah. I ate something kind of funny, but here's a better topic of banter. I've been lifting weights again, and it's been so freaking fun. I'm going to brag to our audience. I maxed out on the bench press at 2 25 the other day. 


[00:01:48] Brian: who wants to take bets on whether or not Chris Graham was doing proper technique. He's like moving three inches at a time on the bench press, just like. 


[00:01:55] Chris: Bro when your, when your arms are, as long as mine, the bench is hard. Like it's, it's a lot of movement, but yeah, I've, I'm, I'm a fan I've been feeling great. And I've been taking my iPad into the gym and doing a little bit of cardio while I watch like, videos about business and learn and get better. And it's wild to be like, My brain is getting better and my body's getting better at the exact same time. 


[00:02:17] It's a heck of a high man. 


[00:02:18] Brian: That's what I used. I used to do that when I was working out solo, I listened to podcasts while I worked out, which is kind of weird, but it's like, I do love the multitask where you're like, you're focusing off obviously on lifting weights. You can also get the valuable information into your brain. But now that I'm working out with Bryant, which is just the guy then working out with for years now, he's, he's like, He looks like a great God. 


[00:02:37] As far as the body sculpture he has. And I want to look like him, but I probably never will for many reasons just because he puts in more work than I do. And that's, I'll just leave it at that. Maybe some genetics there too. And he's been doing it longer. However, because of that, I don't listen to podcasts anymore while I work out. 


[00:02:51] Chris: He gave me some weightlifting tips when I was in Nashville and I did them and they were pretty great. I'm pretty excited about it, but he I've thought about this several times, but when he, we had like a little cookout at your house, you know, this fireplace thing. And when Brian walked up, I remember you yelled at him. 


[00:03:05] Hey, Brian, touch your knees. And it blew my mind because Brian doesn't need to bend over to touch his knees. His arms are 


[00:03:11] Brian: You're talking about your long arms, that dude has the longest arms in the world. 


[00:03:15] Chris: true. When it stink for Brian, if he was like a girl and in school, they were like, you're not allowed to wear shorts that are shorter than your fingertips. And he's like wearing Capri pants. 


[00:03:24] Come on. 


[00:03:29] Thank you so much for that. 


[00:03:30] Brian: All right. So mistake number one, we're going to start off strong here and I'm I'm looking at myself here with this one as well, and that. 


[00:03:36] is offering a copycat service. Chris 


[00:03:40] Chris: This one drives me nuts. 


[00:03:42] Brian: I'm about to, I'm about to get on my soap box here. So everyone, pretty much everyone who got started in freelancing is because they followed some sort of passion that they had. 


[00:03:50] They developed a skill, they love to do that skill. And then they started offering it for money. The problem with that approach is not necessarily because you're following your passion. That's not the problem. The problem is that you just literally looked around at the people around you and said, this is what they're doing. So I'm going to do it too. And the problem with that is. Those people also have likely not put any thought into what they're doing as far as the service that they're offering. So let me, let me propose an alternative for anyone who's struggling with this right now, or thinking, is this me right now as well? 


[00:04:19] If you're focused on the service you're offering, you're probably doing it wrong. You're probably making this mistake alternative to this would be focus on the outcome. You're giving your client and see what you can do around. Chris, I know you want to talk here, so I'm gonna give you a second to, to, to get on your soapbox, but I'm on my soapbox right now. 


[00:04:37] so what I mean is. And I'm going to give my, my new business is a great example of this because now it's a new business I'm starting and I don't make the same mistakes I made when I started my first freelance business. And that is podcasts production. This is my new business. And what most people make when they think of, oh, I want to do podcast production for a living. 


[00:04:54] Like that's something that I could do as a freelancer. That sounds fun. I love the auto production side of things. And so they're like, I'm going to edit podcasts. 50 to 80, to a hundred bucks an episode. Cause that's the kind of going rate that I see on the internet for editing podcast episodes. And I'm going to make a good business out of that. 


[00:05:07] That's, that's a copycat service. Instead, what I'm doing is actually looking at the outcome people want, and I'm building my entire package around that. And it's not just one service. It's actually a, a series of services that I'm offering. But it allows me to do two things. One is I'm getting people who don't have a podcast yet, and I'm helping them launch their podcast, which opens up the amount of people that I can work with and to. 


[00:05:29] I am also building out services that these people need. I'm not focused on one individual service instead. I'm focused on the outcome that gets them. What they want. Chris, you, what? You, I know you want to talk here. 


[00:05:40] Chris: Yeah, the copycat service thing is so funny because the real heart of it, that's how I started my first business as a producers and music producer. I looked at this guy ed cash, and I was like, oh, he does everything. He does the tracking and the mixing and the editing. And then he plays guitar and the records, oh, I want to do all those. 


[00:05:58] And so I just tried to copy him and I didn't take into account his incredible experience in genius and it didn't go well. And I think for most people, what you have to offer your clients that nobody else can offer is you it's what makes you unique? What are your superpowers? What are your competitive advantages? 


[00:06:17] What are the things that you know that nobody else does? And you smash all of those together, and that turns into your business. 


[00:06:23] Brian: Yes. So I want to, I want to touch on that because you, you, you make a great point there. When I'm talking about focusing on the outcome instead of the service. I'm not saying that that offering like something you're passionate about is wrong. What I am saying, however, is that when you focus on the outcome that the client wants, that the type of person you want to work with, what they actually want, that allows you to think through meticulously, what you can do for that person to help them achieve that outcome. 


[00:06:47] Instead of being stuck on, I love to do this thing. It's all about me. Me, me. 


[00:06:50] Chris: Technician technician technician. 


[00:06:52] Brian: Yes. All I'm trying to think of is how can I help my client? And that's, that's the kind of the angle I'm trying to give you here is think through about what they want, not what you love to do. And you can find a balance between those things. 


[00:07:03] You don't have to do things that you hate to do, just because that's what they want. You can find something that is that, that gap, that the bridge is the gap between what you love to do, what they really truly need that helps them get to the outcome they want, and also can make you money at the same time. 


[00:07:15] Chris: Boy, I had a coaching session this morning, where we talked about this exact thing about what is the service you're providing. What are they paying you for? And this particular guy, I was coaching, he's a producer. And I asked him a really hard question. Why do your clients want to record a record? 


[00:07:30] And it was so cool. This guy is so smart. He answered, he crushed these questions. But it was so interesting to see him struggle with that and to think, why do my clients want to make a record? Because we assume like, well, why would you want to win the law? it's not that simple. 


[00:07:47] You have to ask, what are they getting out of it? Interpersonally? what is the therapeutic benefit of what you're doing? What's the self-actualization benefit? Is there a financial benefit to them as well? And when you're working for, you know, especially with like, like one-to-one creative clients, where one person hires you to do a creative job, There's almost always an element of self-actualization in there. They're trying to live up to their greatest self. They're trying to self-actualize and you've got to really understand what are they in this. 


[00:08:17] Brian: I want, I do, as we've kind of wrapped this. 


[00:08:19] first one up copycat service, I want to point people to a book that I, that I think Chris and I both love, it's a book called the pumpkin plan by Mike 


[00:08:27] Chris: Looking at it right 


[00:08:27] now. 


[00:08:28] Brian: a great job of helping you think through this sort of thing. Thread entire book, like how can I differentiate myself? 


[00:08:34] How can I set myself apart? How can I not just offer a copycat service and how can I be more valuable to my clients? Okay. Would you say that's a fair book that supports this point? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. All right. So that's number one is copycat services. Mistake. Number two, when people are getting started is, and this is a, this will be quick on this one, just going straight to logo and business cards, press. 


[00:08:55] Have you ever made this mistake? 


[00:08:57] Chris: Well, no at night I've never made this mistake. 


[00:08:59] Woo. 


[00:09:00] Brian: I, I did. I have, I have so many times like, so I'll get excited about a new thing that I'm trying to do. And instead of like, actually putting in the work, I just go get a logo made, gets a business card made and I'm professional at that point. Like, and you can, you can even throw a website on there then if you want to go all three of those, man, I'm just going to say this, the heart behind that is it, is it that you want to look professional? 


[00:09:20] It's that. Typically it's that you have a fear behind taking the scary steps you want to take. And instead of taking the scary steps, you go the cheap way out and just get a logo made, just get the business card made. It feels like progress, but it's actually just procrastination. 


[00:09:33] Chris: Well, and the scary thing there let's be open and honest is talking to real customers, real potential customers, because real potential customers might reject you. It's so much easier to focus on all the low risk activities when what you could be doing is going out and talking to people and asking them about their needs and their pain points and doing real research and trying to solve real problems for them. 


[00:09:57] Instead of being. I have an idea and I assume it will work. Therefore I will brand it. No, you got to go out and get to talk to people. You got to get their opinion. You've got to make sure that you're actually helping people way before you do business name and logo. 


[00:10:12] Brian: Chris don't you don't need a logo. 


[00:10:14] to get started? 


[00:10:15] Chris: No, you need a phone dude. 


[00:10:17] Brian: I'm trying for good fortunate media, my new podcast production business. I'm trying to see how far I can go with that company without ever having a logo design. 


[00:10:26] Chris: That's awesome. Well, the thing that I think is really dangerous with Logan business cards is you get so like, look, if you're a graphic designer and you make logos and that sort of thing for living by all means have a blast. If you don't and you're, you're like, okay, I'm going to start a business. So the first thing I'm going to do is make my first logo. 


[00:10:44] No, No, Don't do that bad, bad, bad, freelancer. Don't do That's a sad, I think for me when I'll meet people are like, yeah, I just launched a business and I'll look at their logo on their name and like, oh God. 


[00:10:56] Brian: Well, again, let me just, let me just say one more time. Again, there could be certain situations, like in certain like niches that you should do this, or you should at least have a logo first, but I'm just saying in most cases, when you go straight for that as a new business owner, before you've ever had a customer free, you've ever had a client, but we've ever talked to somebody before. 


[00:11:13] That's usually a procrastination move. So I just want to make sure it's not that the logos are bad. It's not that business cards are necessarily bad, although I think they're pretty irrelevant these days, but it is. I am just saying if that's the first thing you moved to when you're getting started, that's procrastination move. 


[00:11:27] Chris: Agreed. 


[00:11:27] Brian: So that's number two, logo and business cards going straight to that. Number three, this is your as Chris. You, you introduced number three. 


[00:11:34] Chris: I don't want to, Brian 


[00:11:35] Brian: Number three. I'm just going to say it is obsessing on gear and my podcast. Co-host. Suffers from this more than any other human that I know. So you, you take this one away, Chris obsessing on gear. 


[00:11:46] What's wrong with obsessing on gear. 


[00:11:47] Chris: I learned a new word as I've been spending the last year and a half, and just like non-stop radical healing mode as I'm processing PTSD one of the words that's come up a lot in therapy is disassociation. And this association is something that we all do to some degree. But people with PTSD or trauma typically do it quite a bit more. 


[00:12:07] And this association is basically, I don't want to think about this. So I'm going to think about something right. And for me gear is the thing I reach for. I don't, I'm a weirdo. I don't drink I'm I don't even have coffee now. I am sober as a goat. If that's a phrase, it should be now I'm sober as a goat. 


[00:12:28] Brian: Did you just so you're so straight edge. It hurts. I love it. 


[00:12:31] Chris: Yeah. For the, yeah, for the most part. And. 


[00:12:33] Brian: really. No. 


[00:12:34] Chris: We can go there. 


[00:12:35] Brian: Yeah. 


[00:12:36] Chris: Okay. So season zoo we've never shared this before. We're not saying that you should do this or shouldn't do this, but I PTSD and I have a prescription for the marijuanas and I like it. And, but I don't drink or do caffeine, but the ma the marijuana has been massively helpful because I have a disorder 


[00:12:54] Brian: Well, how does this pertain to gear Chris? Can we bring the conversation back to gear obsessing 


[00:12:58] Chris: obsessing on it. So if I were an alcoholic and I didn't want to think about something that I would drink if I were anorexic, and I didn't want to think about something, I would try to take control of my body by doing those things. If I were a gear hoarder like myself, and I 


[00:13:16] didn't want to think about something, I would be like, I know what I'm gonna do. 


[00:13:19] I'm going to go on YouTube and watch videos about cameras. I just learned something I'll never use and I feel better about myself. And, you know, I watched a re a review for a piece of gear that I would never buy even, or what, but it helps distract me. And usually it's from facing some hard truth from acknowledging something like, oh, I'm really mean in this context 


[00:13:43] Brian: Here's The thing. I just think this is in motion. This isn't, this doesn't necessarily mean it's tied to some trauma or some you're trying to avoid. I do think however that this is something that a lot of people do because they're just trying to procrastinate. It's just another form of procrastination. 


[00:13:57] Similar to going straight to logo and business cards. They don't want to fail. They don't want to take the hard steps towards building a business. They, they love the thought of gear. They love the, the alert, the allure of gear, but they don't, they don't need it yet. It's almost like they they're looking for gear that they're not quite ready for yet is really what it, a lot of times when it comes down, 


[00:14:14] Chris: Well, and this is a strange thing for us in the music industry, because so much of our job is done. People's job in the music industry is done remotely. Now, before when everybody would go to studios, you know, even like five years ago, there was a lot more of that going on. Your gear was it was proof that you were good at it. 


[00:14:31] And, you know, as I get more into photography and videography photographers and videographers have a little bit of a different situation because they bring their gear with them. It's around there. And someone looks at you and looks at your camera and makes a judgment about you and obsessing about gear often is actually obsessing about what other people will think of you based on your gear. 


[00:14:54] Brian: That's actually a really good point. 


[00:14:55] Chris: Yeah, that was, so that was so good. I was like, oh Like, that's why I do it. Oh, no. Yeah. I think that really is a big part of it is the gear. It's a great distraction. It's a great disassociation. It's a great procrastination. It's a great avoidance tactic. 


[00:15:13] Brian: Yeah. I think that's all there is to say on that, like full transparency. I'll start over with this too. Like in my own way, I I'm like the most anti-gear person as anyone can attest to, from listening to this podcast. If you've been listening since then, I am like I get on to Chris for talking my gear. 


[00:15:30] We used to have an alert for gear addicts or gear hoarders. And now we don't have that anymore, which is probably a good thing, but I still struggle with this in my own way. So like I've, as I've tried to, like, if anyone watching this, this, this episode on YouTube, you'll see that my lighting is cool and my video quality is better than it probably has been in the past. 


[00:15:48] And I'm like trying to get all these things down. And this is, this is me. Getting into the gear world and it's, it's, it's a dangerous, slippery slope. So I'm not like also getting the YouTube channel back up and going. I've been looking into all these different things I could do and should do. I'm not allowing myself to do those things until I hit a certain milestone. 


[00:16:03] And so that's kind of the limit I'm putting on myself there. And for you, for any of you who are looking to get started, who obsessed over gear, this is the problem. It's not that the gear is bad. Let me just go ahead and say that it's that your obsession over the gear that you're not quite ready for. It, you haven't, or you haven't even earned the right to get yet is the bad thing. 


[00:16:18] So set milestones for yourself and reward yourself with gear. If that's really the route you want to go. Don't just procrastinate with gear. Don't just buy gear because you want it, even though you don't necessarily need it, or, you know, I'm just trying to say reward yourself, but don't go over. 


[00:16:31] Chris: This episode hurts, bro. 


[00:16:32] Brian: I know, man. 


[00:16:34] I mean, these are all mistakes that Chris and I have made in some capacity in our past. So this is, this is what Chris used to say. He stopped saying this, but this is Chris preaching to himself 15 years ago or 17 years ago or 18 years ago, however many years ago it was now because we update it every year. 


[00:16:46] That number goes up. But number four is reading books that you aren't ready for yet. 


[00:16:52] Chris: Okay. 


[00:16:53] Brian: And by the way before Chris gets into a story, if you don't read books, shame on you, first of all, but this also just means consuming any education that you're not ready for yet. 


[00:17:03] Chris: So ready for yet. I read a lot of business books. I disassociated from my issues by reading lots and lots of business books. And sometimes I would have a hard time finding a good business book. So I would read one that was for like 50 year old CEO. with, you know, 400 employees and it was tough to take a business book like that and apply it to my, you know, little small business where I was just trying to keep from having a boss, like the person that that book was written for. 


[00:17:33] And I read these books and I would take some of their pithy sayings to heart. And, you know, I'm a huge fan of Jim Collins. He writes a lot of, some of the most classic business books. But they're much more geared towards organizations than they are towards small businesses. And while there's a lot of good stuff to take home, there's a lot of stuff that's bad that you don't want to focus on in a small business. 


[00:17:55] For example, leveraging your personality in a big business, you don't want to leverage the personality like the face of a business very often, because they can like die and stuff. And then everybody is in trouble that works for that. But as a small business, leveraging your personality is like one of the best moves you can possibly do, because nobody can take it from you. 


[00:18:13] Nobody can steal it if you're being yourself for a living, but here's the story. So I'm not, I promise I'll only say PTSD one more time. This episode, Brian, but 


[00:18:21] Brian: I'm going to take bets that this is not the last time you say that 


[00:18:24] Chris: you're probably right. So as some of the PTSD. 


[00:18:26] There's a 


[00:18:27] lot. That was my one more time that, no, 


[00:18:29] that, that was the one more time. 


[00:18:30] So as someone with the disorder, which I shall not name a second time, 


[00:18:35] Brian: Okay. 


[00:18:35] Chris: I used to struggle a lot with how I looked at danger. 


[00:18:41] And to me, danger was sort of everywhere and, you know, PT, the thing didn't do, I didn't say is really wrapped up in this idea that. Somebody from your past is going to come back and finish the job. And so I was really consumed by this. And then I was, I got really into history books and I heard about this book called the 48 laws of power. 


[00:19:03] And it was like a lot of miniature biographies of a lot of like, you know, famous people, powerful people. And I thought, oh, this sounds really, really interesting. And it was awful. 


[00:19:13] Brian: Oh, I started that book. it, 


[00:19:15] is, it is awful. 


[00:19:17] Chris: it terrified. 


[00:19:18] Brian: Yeah, well, it's also, it's also just an awful look at it's like it's all, it's the 48 worst ways to exude your power. Like that's to me, that's what it's like the most toxic power possible. Yeah. I would never recommend. 


[00:19:30] Chris: Yeah. It's I forced myself to read it because I thought because I was struggling to finish it, that I should finish it. And boy, it really just, it messed with my worldview. It really did a lot. Like, I, I, my behavior changed after reading that. And I regret it. And now looking back at it, you know, when you're going to spend 30 hours with a book, you better make sure that it's the book that you need picking the right book is like 80% of the work. 


[00:19:58] Brian: Well, let me, let me, let me push in here and just say, one thing that's important to distinguish here is this is actually a two, a two for one for you reading books you weren't ready for, or in Chris's case here, reading a book that you should never read in the first place. Like no one should read 48 laws of power, unless you want to just see what those are. 


[00:20:14] So you can avoid the use of those against you. 


[00:20:16] Chris: That's how I justified reading it as I was like, I, my, I was terrified of somebody having power over me so I read this book thinking it'd be like a good defense. And it just was like, oh my God, humans are. 


[00:20:28] Brian: Yeah, I was going to say that book will really just make you lose faith in humanity. 


[00:20:31] Chris: Yeah. Yeah. 


[00:20:32] Brian: Yep. So that's number four is just reading books or consuming any education that you aren't ready for yet. That's beyond your level. Like in Chris's example, reading a book that's meant for 400% organizations trying to get to 10,000 people instead of like a solo business owner who really just wants to be a solo business owner. 


[00:20:47] Like that's not the book for you for you. So that's number four, number five. 


[00:20:51] Chris: Quite connected to number four. 


[00:20:53] Brian: Yeah, sorta kinda number five. Just consuming, endless research or doing endless research. You may be doing this right now. If you listen to this podcast, you may be on a kick right now. Like, Hey, this is the year that I'm going to get out of my day job. Get off the golden handcuffs and finally break through and start my business and go full-time. 


[00:21:12] And if that's you like, first of all, kudos to you. But second of all, you're probably in the situation right now, where you're just consuming endless education around that subject so that you can feel prepared for the time that you do leave your job. And there's a balance here. The balance is consuming as much as you need and no more the danger isn't. 


[00:21:30] I know I personally fall into this so much is over-researched where you just endless and consume and never actually do any. 


[00:21:37] Chris: Yup. Sometimes when we're getting ready to record an episode, Brian will over hash out what we're going to talk about that day, because he's nervous about starting the episode. He's nodding. His head is we've never actually talked about this before, but it's definitely, it's a thing. And we think we all do it on some regard is, is it's a, it's a procrastination technique. 


[00:21:56] It's like, there's a scary thing. I know I need to do. I'm going to come up with something that I probably should do first, which I really don't need to do for it. 


[00:22:04] Brian: Yes, and no. So there's, there is a little with that. So when, when someone comes on the podcast with absolutely zero preparation and has done no research or outline or anything ahead of time, then that puts stress on me and I have to get the outline done and ready, and I have to do all the research and get it done. 


[00:22:17] So That's why I do that. But that's, that's outside of the, this number here. What does endless 


[00:22:22] research, endless research is, is whenever you watch, you know, 66 YouTube videos in a row of like that certain thing that you're trying to get into, 


[00:22:31] Chris: never done that. 


[00:22:32] Brian: You've never done it before 


[00:22:34] Chris: I didn't do it yesterday and 


[00:22:35] I won't do it tonight. 


[00:22:37] Brian: Yeah. Okay. Well, so what's your poison right now? 


[00:22:39] Like Christus full transparency. 


[00:22:41] Chris: Camera videos, man. 


[00:22:43] Brian: Oh my God. How many videos? How many videos have you put out in the last six months? 


[00:22:48] Chris: Not that much, but 


[00:22:49] Brian: No. How many videos have you put out in the last six months? 


[00:22:52] Chris: only a couple, but I made two yesterday. So I've got a new intern Monday. Phillip is a video prodigy and we've been making some videos together in preparation for this. 


[00:23:02] 


[00:23:03] Brian: quick question. How many videos have you consumed about making videos 


[00:23:06] Chris: Do you mean like ever or like in the past 


[00:23:09] hour 


[00:23:10] Brian: in the past? six months in the past six months, you've made two videos. 


[00:23:13] Chris: hundreds? 


[00:23:14] Brian: Hundreds? 


[00:23:15] Chris: Yeah. 


[00:23:16] Brian: No, I'm, I'm digging in. I'm like, I'm priding it, Chris right now. Just to let you know that, like, we're both human. If Chris proud of me back, it would be the exact same thing for me. I'm trying to get, I'm trying to get the YouTube channel, like up and running back, going again for six-figure creative. 


[00:23:29] And like, by the time you see this, there will likely be more content on there. Depending if I get the video editor things sorted out. But all that to say is like, I have consumed. Dozens of videos and podcasts about building and growing the YouTube channel for the six-figure creative. And I have put approximately zero videos that I've shot at least on YouTube. 


[00:23:46] So I've shopped for. Yeah. So I'm right in the same boat with you all. I'm just saying, like, we fall into the same traps and we're in the, I've been doing this for 11 years now. Like I've been for, for over over 10 years and I still follow these traps as a beginner. These things are there can help you avoid the pitfall. 


[00:24:01] Doesn't mean you're going to not make mistakes. You will always make mistakes, beginner, but just knowing that, that mistake, that trap is there. You're more likely to be able to get out of the trap once you fall in. 


[00:24:12] Chris: Are we this next one, number six, a bad or no portfolio. One of the things that. The end all be all of being a freelancer. The non-negotiable is your portfolio like there's we can argue about everything, Brian and I have ever talked about about whether it's relevant to everybody or not. That's not our goal. 


[00:24:30] We're not trying to come up with content. That's relevant to everybody trying to come up with a bunch of tools and then you pick your own. But when it comes to the portfolio I would be astounded like absolutely floored to ever meet a creative freelancer with no portfolio. That is correct. 


[00:24:44] Brian: Yeah. So I mentioned a second ago, like if I get the F if I get the video editor things sorted out, I'll have more YouTube videos on the YouTube channel. Here's the thing. I put a little PS line in one of the emails to send out recently looking for a video editor. Just reply if you are, if you are one or, you know, one, and I had maybe 10 replies, which is like a decent amount. 


[00:25:01] Two people out of the 10 who replied to that actually had a portfolio. what are you doing? If you don't have a portfolio? What is the point? I can't, I can't look at your work. How am I going to hire you? That's the number like the number one thing. This goes, whether you're on Fiverr, whether you have your own website, whether you have no website or no Fiverr or any of that. 


[00:25:21] If you have a portfolio, you can get hired. Even if you're just manually sending somebody a Dropbox link or a file pass link, and hint, you can still get hired, but she will not get hired without some sort of proof that you can do what you say you can do. I'm not going to take someone's word for it. 


[00:25:35] I got people saying I could hit deadlines and I'm like, I do this as my day job. And like the bullet point bullet point bullet point, all the reasons you should hire me, but I don't have a portfolio not going to hire you no matter what. 


[00:25:46] Chris: Yep. It's true. Yeah. I would never, ever, ever consider hiring somebody without a portfolio and less, they were local. And I spent a significant amount of time with them and they were just incredible. And I was going to re I was going to teach them from the ground up, but like even 


[00:26:00] my 


[00:26:01] Brian: I'm not, teaching somebody from the ground up. That's an I'm hiring for that. 


[00:26:04] Chris: that for that particular task. 


[00:26:05] But 


[00:26:06] depending on, on how systemized, the thing you're hiring for is you can hire somebody that's completely fresh, 


[00:26:11] but that person's an employee. They're not a freelancer. And, you know, I think I've been struggling with this because you know, my main gig right now has been uh, doing business coaching and I love it. 


[00:26:23] It has been an enormous part of my healing just to be able to hang out with people and talk about their business and just not think about my own issues. And that's been really, really cool, but the problem with a business like that, it's a creative business, but a portfolio is challenging because there's not a piece of media necessarily that I'm creating with each of these people I'm working with. 


[00:26:42] So 


[00:26:43] testimonials 


[00:26:44] Brian: No dude, I'm going to coach you right now, Chris, you 


[00:26:46] Chris: do it. 


[00:26:48] Brian: You create a case study. Anyone can do this. Anyone can do this. So let me, let me separate this into two buckets. Chris has advice as someone who has been doing business, coaching has tons of clients right now. I'm gonna give him that advice, but I'm also going to say for anyone listening right now, who doesn't have clients, which is the beginner's listening right now, if they're still listening, they likely haven't gotten too far to their careers. 


[00:27:07] So they probably wouldn't be listening to this episode, but for the beginner, let me address you really quick. And then I'll get to my, to my misaligned or missing misadvised co-host here. 


[00:27:15] And sorry, if I'm being mean I'm not being mean, but I, I just, I wanna, I want to help you with this cause there's deftly something you can do if you're brand new. 


[00:27:21] easiest way to get a portfolio is to. to do your own projects. Like for me, when I got started as a music person, I just recorded my own music and then showed my friends. Yeah. My friends were like, that sounds amazing. Sounds better than the studio. We just paid $5,000 to, I'm gonna hire you. 


[00:27:34] And so that's how I got my first gigs. You can do the same thing with your video graphic design and it. 


[00:27:37] you can make, you can create stuff because you're. Or you wouldn't be listening to the six-figure creative, you're a creator, so create stuff and then show it to people. That's your portfolio. But for you, Chris, once you have clients, you can do case studies and case studies or an incredible way to show someone that you are effective at what you do. 


[00:27:54] Chris: And I was just gonna say that when you 


[00:27:56] interrupted me, 


[00:27:58] Brian: I'm not talking about testimonials. testimonials. are different from case studies. Testimonial is Jim Bob saying Chris was a fantastic business. Coach A-plus would recommend like, it's basically like a Google review, but a case study is here's where I was before I hired this person. 


[00:28:13] Here's how this person helped me, 


[00:28:15] And here's my life or the result that I got from this person. Three things. 


[00:28:19] Chris: Gotcha. Okay. Well, I think, I don't think I've been defining case study and testimonial differently in that case, case studies have been what I'm calling. And the other day you know, Anthony alumni of the podcast who have done some business coaching for made a testimonial video on my coaching page. 


[00:28:34] And like he's crushing right now. Absolutely crushing. 


[00:28:38] Brian: Yeah, with the student has become the master. Would that student has making more than either of us 


[00:28:42] Chris: He makes a lot more than we do. 


[00:28:44] Yeah, 


[00:28:44] he's absolutely crushing. But his case study was he sent me a testimonial video video and was like, Chris is great, blah, blah, blah. Made some systems with him. He was my business coach. I say 15 to 20% of my time each week now, as a result of those systems and that I'm like, oh my gosh, I just need like more people to make me videos like that. 


[00:29:03] And that's like an unbelievable amount of value that than Anthony is claiming that I provided for him. And I have a hard time wrapping my mind around that and I built these systems with him, but that sort of thing of, of having, I guess there's a couple things here. You've got your portfolio, you've got testimonials and you've got case studies. 


[00:29:24] And so these are three different ways that you can show what you've done for people, but here's the. if you're creating something, if you're a video editor or an audio editor or producer or whatever, like your case studies are going to involve portfolio work as well, it's going to involve the art that you've made. 


[00:29:39] And that in a lot of ways is a lot easier. You think about a photographer, you can glance at their portfolio and form an opinion in one second, videographer takes you longer. Audio person takes you to cut us considerably longer time Different businesses have different obstacles when it comes to showing your work and saying, look what I did for this person. 


[00:30:00] Wouldn't you like me to do this? 


[00:30:02] Brian: So that's all I'm gonna say about that. That's a, that's a great way to leave off number six, which is a bad or no portfolio. And we kind of ventured into the testimonial and case study world, which really they do go hand in hand. So there's some, some bonus content for you there. So let's move into number seven. 


[00:30:16] Now on the top nine mistakes freelancers make, when they're getting started with their business. Zero clarity on messaging. 


[00:30:23] Chris: I don't know what you mean. Brian explained. 


[00:30:25] Brian: okay. Yeah. I was about to say, this is, this is something that people don't think about. Okay. Why should someone hire You period, if you can't answer that question, you have no clarity on 


[00:30:36] Chris: You know, I'm a multimedia person. I've got, you know, I do audio, I do editing. It'd be video. I'm an expert on Minecraft and, uh, world of Warcraft, really all the crafts all the games that involve the word craft. Also, I know how to use PowerPoint and Excel, so whatever you need. Okay. 


[00:30:55] Brian: You joke, but that's somewhat similar to a lot of people's pitch, which is I can offer 34 services, therefore hiring me. And what I hear is you have no idea how to message your business. And so you're just offering whatever the hell you can offer, hoping that someone's like, oh, I kind of need that. But what you're actually doing is. 


[00:31:13] Here's 34 reasons not to hire me. It's like every single thing you try to tag on, and this is what people would go back to all the way back to number one on this list, which was offering copycat services. You see those people that are offering 34 services on their website or on their social media pages or wherever they're advertising. 


[00:31:29] And you say, well, I'm going to do that too naturally. That way, if I get like one person each month in each of these categories, all of a sudden I have 34 customers a month or clients I'm like, oh my God, Instead, when you focus on the outcome instead of the service, then you can start to build a message around why someone should hire you. 


[00:31:46] And people do not put two seconds of thought into this before they start putting themselves out into the world and trying to get clients. 


[00:31:53] Chris: It's a Karen move. 


[00:31:54] Brian: can you explain why that. 


[00:31:55] Chris: Well, if Karen's going to start a restaurant, Hey, welcome to Karen's restaurant. We got the best Italian food, TAF food, Japanese food, American food, Southwestern food, American Indian food and Alaskan food. Oh, that made me feel sick to my stomach. 


[00:32:11] Brian: Stupid soundboard. I don't know. We're we're, we're having fun here anyways. Yes. That's a great example of just like, if I go to a restaurant that has all of those, what kinds of food I'm running the other way? Like that is not a good restaurant that I want to eat at. So how can you, as the person who started their business, clarify your message to the person that you want to hire you. 


[00:32:32] And I think a good, I mean, I'm not going to go into all the steps here, cause that's honestly, that's. It's a, it's like an hour's worth of content by itself. But I think a really good place to start is StoryBrand. 


[00:32:42] And the reason I think is so good on getting this messaging thing across to people. the reason I love it is because. There's something that he presents and that is that your, the guide and your customer or client is the hero of the journey. And you're actually guiding them to the outcome that they want. 


[00:32:58] And it's the basic hero's journey that many, many movies follow. Well, you said Chris, where you're talking about, I'm the number one blank and blank is making you the hero of the journey instead of making your customer the hero. And so I didn't get that right for six figure home studio podcast. I still don't get it all right in my businesses and everything that I do. 


[00:33:17] But I'll tell you right now with, with good fortune media, my new, my new business. If there are I've I've already started, that I'm working on right now is everything on my website. Everything I did from the very ground up was making sure my messaging was dead on and that I'm talking about how I helped my client reach the outcome that they want. 


[00:33:34] What, at no point do I go on the spiel about how I'm the number one blank and blank. There's no point in which I talk about how I'm the best at something and how I'm this. And I'm that I use the word. Or your, or whatever. So many times with one second, I'm talking about them and their desires and their, what they want. 


[00:33:51] as a client. So that's, that's what I mean, one by messaging. Is this Nick not making it about you? The freelancer it's making it about them. 


[00:33:58] Chris: Cause I, I do think it was a great move. I really do. I don't think that's the only way to do messaging, but I think that's one way that can work. And in that context it did. And so what I would say is like the podcast is the best thing we ever did. Like it, the success of it far outweighs anything else I've ever done. 


[00:34:16] Brian: So, Yes. you make a good point there. And I will say on the intro of the podcast, I did do one thing right. Of the old podcast. If you go back and listen to any episode one 50 and before, and then it says you're a, the number one resource, the six figures studio is the number one resource. That was the wrong thing. 


[00:34:31] I didn't think talking about us should have been the right thing for growing a profitable home recording studio. That's the outcome that we're helping people work 


[00:34:38] Chris: Yes. Okay. I don't listen to our podcasts. I don't really know 


[00:34:42] Brian: Yeah. Yeah. So really that intro was like half wrong half, right. Half of it that was wrong was just talking about ourselves and talking yourself up. But the outcome that we help lead our people to, that's why people stuck around. And so you, as the freelancer, if you're listening to this or watching this on YouTube, and you're trying to figure out like, what the hell is Brian and Chris talking about? 


[00:35:00] Chris: Let me push back. I think in order to talk about the outcome, you first have to make an appeal to authority. This is the outcome you want right here is why I am capable of getting you there. And I think that you did it really great with the podcast intro because you made an appeal to authority and you talked about where people wanted to go and that we could take them there. 


[00:35:19] And even the name of the podcast, I talked about this a million times with a million people, your idea to call it the six figure home studio that is where people want to go. This current podcast, the six-figure creative. Do you want to be a 600 creative? Yeah, I do. That's awesome. Like what more could you possibly want in life? 


[00:35:37] Then six figures and all the creative work and freedom that you want. Blah. That's amazing. So I think that there, that, that we are in agreement here, but there's so many caveats with messaging. I think one of them is, yeah, you get a hero's journey. I'm huge into that. Huge into that. I'm obsessed with it, but at the same time, I think when you are offering to be someone's guide, if that's your business, you know, Hey are your pipes clogged? 


[00:36:03] Do you want your shower to drain all the way? I'm a licensed and bonded. This is such a stupid appeal to authority, but it's the standard. I'm a licensed and bonded Angie's list. Five star. 


[00:36:14] Brian: I think though that your portfolio, when you're getting started out is your appeal to authority. You're saying I do this. Here's the outcome. Here's the thing that I can provide you. Like, if, if a video editor had replied to me and said, here's my portfolio, it's, it's excellent. But I'm like, this is just a side hustle for me for fun. 


[00:36:30] Like. You know, a full time professional with us. I wouldn't care. I don't care if you have the biggest clients in the world. I don't care if you are full-time or part-time or working out of your parents' basement or working out of a million dollar video studio. All I care about is really your portfolio at the end of the day. 


[00:36:45] That's the thing I'm hiring you for. So if you can show me that that's the only appeal to authority that I need. And so if you can do that, then, then you've won half the battle. 


[00:36:53] Chris: Case in point. One of my favorite things, I don't really talk about this very much. It's kind of a private thing for me now, but one of my favorite things in the world to do is to sit down with my guitar and write songs. I'm always, I process my fields and I've really wanted to get into writing with other people. 


[00:37:07] I haven't really done anything with it. I've been so busy with everything else in my life, but if somebody reached out to me and said, I would love to write songs with you and sent me one song that was killer. I'm going to say yes. One song. That's the amazing thing about creative work and about making art is that you can do one thing and put it in your portfolio and crush on that one thing. 


[00:37:33] And that's how I closed. A lot of my first customers is I would hang out with a friend of mine that was thinking about recording a record and I'd sit him down and I had one good song of my own. That I had made that I was really, really proud of and I'd sit them down in front of my monitors. I'd press play and they'd turn around and say, let's record it. 


[00:37:49] Brian: Yes, but that one thing going back to the portfolio, which is number six on this list has to have messaging behind it, which is number seven, no clarity on messaging. It has to say, Chris, I only have one song in my portfolio. Here's what it. 


[00:38:00] sounds like, but I can help you write the song that matches your vision. 


[00:38:04] I can help you with X, Y, and Z, because I know that's what you ultimately want. At the end of the day. You want a song that you can show your kids when they're growing up about how you love them so much that you had to write this song. And now this is part of your legacy. You leave for your kids. If that's the goal you have for the songs. 


[00:38:19] That's a great way to message your song writing services. The whole point of this is just, this is just say, what is the outcome that my client wants? How do I speak to my client so that they know that I can help them this outcome? And then how can I prove it with a great portfolio? 


[00:38:33] Those that's really the key to great messaging with your portfolio to back it up. 


[00:38:38] Chris: Totally. You made me all emotional. When you talked about making 


[00:38:40] Brian: Right. I was speaking to your desires though, right? Like that's the thing is like, you want to touch somebody's soul when you're speaking to them. And even in a sales environment, like, you don't have to like make the sleazy or scammy, but like, if you give someone chills or make them tear up, when you're talking about what you're going to help them achieve, you're doing it right, 


[00:38:59] Chris: That reminds me of this episode hasn't aired yet. I don't think, but the episode I did with Ben Hartley, from the six figure photographer, he was talking to me when he interviewed me and he was talking about wedding photography and the bro made me cry. No, this is good. She's so good. And you're right. 


[00:39:16] Like there's when people have a true pain point, you will get an emotional reaction from them when you solve it for them. 


[00:39:23] Brian: Or when you just have the right messaging around that pain point and then how you can help. Overcome that pain point with the service that you offer. So let's move on here. Number seven was the longest one on this list, but you know what I told you, we could talk for over an hour on just that one thing, because that's how broad that topic can be. 


[00:39:39] So, like I said, just start small and work your way up with messaging. I can help blank achieve blank. I can help this person achieve this outcome. That's the most messaging you need when he gets started. But number eight on this list is having no marketing plan. So basically having no answer to the question of how are you going to get strangers to hire you as a freelancer, you may start with your friends and family and acquaintances, but eventually if you ever want to do this, full-time you have to have a plan for how to get hired by strangers. 


[00:40:08] And the mistake is not having any clarity on what that plan could look like. Chris when you started, did you have a clear plan on how you're going to get custody? 


[00:40:15] Chris: Believe it or not with the master in business? Yes, I did. With the production business. I did not. And this is funny, cause I think this is probably the best item on our, on our listicle right here, but not having a marketing plan. Like you really hit the nail on the head. People launch a business, thinking I'll get my with only the thought of I'll get my friends and family to hire me. 


[00:40:34] And then eventually, if you're really good at your new business, they do. And then you're all out of friends and family. And you don't have any way for strangers to find out about you. And if you're really, really, really, really lucky, one of those friends and family has hooked you up with a complete stranger, but it's still not really a 


[00:40:53] marketing 


[00:40:54] Brian: no referral referrals are not. It's not a, it's not a form of, it's not a marketing plan. 


[00:40:59] because referrals are on their time. 


[00:41:00] Chris: Yeah. Referrals are not a marketing plan, but more importantly than that, referrals from friends and family are not a marketing plan because you, you're not going to. Unless you are the luckiest sob in the planet. You are not going to work for friends and family. And then a friends and family tell a bunch of strangers and then strangers I'll hire you. 


[00:41:18] And then those strangers tell more strangers and they all hire you. you. need a way to reach out to strangers. And I was working on this earlier today when I was working on my course when I was working on my coaching program and thinking about this moment where the first time a stranger higher. When I had a marketing plan, which was, Hey, a cool website. 


[00:41:35] That explains that was an audio mastering engineer. It explains what audio mastering is. And then I'm gonna run Google ads to it for people that are searching for a mastering engineer online, to help them finish their record. I get them to come to my website saying, Hey, I'll do a free sample for you, a free song. 


[00:41:49] And then they play with my before and after player, which was revolutionary at the time. then I have a conversation with a stranger. I'll never forget having a phone call on my back porch with a guy named Greg from Pennsylvania. And then Greg didn't have a PayPal account and he ended up mailing me a check for 350 bucks. 


[00:42:04] And it absolutely blew my mind that I was able to effectively market myself to strangers. If you are only selling to friends and family, I would say there's a 95% chance of failure. not a doom and gloom podcast. That's not our vibe, but in my experience, I have very rarely seen someone break through the friends and family bubble. 


[00:42:27] That's a phrase we should use from now on the friends and family bubble into the outside world and get strangers to start hiring them. A marketing plan is how do you get complete strangers to find you on the internet and then hire. 


[00:42:40] Brian: Yeah. So I do have a, a free email course on this called jumpstart, your marketing. I don't have a, I don't think I have a landing page prepared for this, but it'll be in our show notes if you want to join that email course, because I think it's actually on the six figure home studio, not six-figure creatives website. 


[00:42:54] I'll figure it out. It's in the show notes. If you wanted to join up on that, but you need some sort of plan and we don't have time in this episode to go, but not having a plan is a shame fire away to struggle as a new freelancer. All right. So that actually leads really well into number nine on this list. 


[00:43:09] The final thing on this list, and that is a mistake that so many people make including myself for years and years and years. It's actually, I think I got successful when I started out, despite my best efforts to ruin it. 


[00:43:20] Chris: I made this mistake later. 


[00:43:21] Brian: And this is the mistake trying to close a client over email or. Instead of getting on the phone with him. 


[00:43:28] So, Chris, you just mentioned this just throughout your story there, you were trying to close a client sitting on your back porch on the phone. This as you're getting started should be your deal, the fault method for closing clients. And here's why when you're just starting. More than anything else. You need feedback. 


[00:43:42] You need to know why someone didn't hire you. You need to know why the person where they're tripping up or where they're losing interest or where their eyes go dead. And they're just like, I'm not really interested or where they push back or what objections they have. When you try to do this over email, you get none of those things best. 


[00:43:58] They're going to just say, sorry, we've moved on to someone else. And at worst, they're going to just ghost you and you have absolutely no idea. Why. So when you talk to somebody over the phone, who's interested in hiring you. This is a fantastic way to talk through what, what their goals are, how you can help them. 


[00:44:13] There's a whole framework that I use on my calls and you don't have to have a whole framework, just talk as a human to human and try to get feedback for why they wouldn't hire you. They go with someone else, or why wouldn't, why is this not work for you? Or what can I do to make this better? Like you can do so much to get feedback from people on the phone when you're trying to close clients, especially at the beginning, when you are so starved for information on how you can. 


[00:44:35] Chris: This is the most useful part of this episode to me. So my kind of personal story on this is, you know, I mean, even this business coaching thing for 


[00:44:42] two years now worked with Amy 


[00:44:44] Grammy. 


[00:44:44] Brian: you do business coaching? 


[00:44:45] Chris: Yeah, I do. I have only mentioned it every five seconds or so on this podcast, when I first got into it, it just sort of exploded on its own. 


[00:44:52] Like the podcast just sort of wrote it. And as I've been kind of leaning more into this, and if I don't even know how many coaching sessions I've done, I've fallen in love with it. I love it. It's the most creative fun I've probably ever had in my life. And one of the things that I've been challenged on that is I'm a systems. 


[00:45:09] What can I do to provide the most value to people? You know, Anthony's testimonial is such a perfect example. I saved this dude 15 to 20% of his time per week by helping him build unbelievable 


[00:45:20] Brian: for someone, for someone, making $10,000 a year, that doesn't sound like that much. So if you're like getting started and you're like, whoa, but when you're at the level of the, Anthony's at making multiple, multiple six figures a year, like that's a significant amount of savings like in 


[00:45:32] Chris: Yeah. It's worth, that's worth a lot of. And as I've been kind of chewing through that, I've been like, I should just focus on systems. that's really where my mind works best. And as I've been kind of working through bringing new people in for coaching and helping them build systems as they get more efficient so that they make more. 


[00:45:50] It's been a little bit different sales process to be like, I'm going to coach you, but I'm I don't think I have been hands-on enough with phone calls. 


[00:45:58] We've started, you know, face-to-face or phone calls or zoom or whatever. And then I've, then I've moved to email. And as I'm doing this, I'm learning like this is a brand new offering. And while I do know an awful lot about systems, I really don't know a whole lot about how to build a coaching program slash. 


[00:46:14] Brian: Well, let me, let me bring this back to our listeners. Cause these are freelancers that are trying to build their creative business and they may not be able to relate in their heads with someone trying to do coaching. So let me just, let me just say this. The reason phone calls are so powerful is because when, when you're trying to get someone to hire you, who doesn't really know you or trust you, or even like you yet, a phone call is not only a great way to learn, but it's also a way to build that relationship. 


[00:46:37] So they, they, they learn to like you, it's a great way to build trust because they learn to trust you. As long as you have basic social skills. The biggest thing to me, the biggest win for, for phone calls is when I talk to a potential client on the phone, I learn whether or not I can even help them achieve what they want, because if I can't help them, No amount of money in the world is going to help me, help them. 


[00:46:56] It's going to, it's actually going to be a detriment to my business. If I, if I let that person hire me, because now I'm not actually helping them at all. I mean, I'm just taking their money. And if you just take their money, you don't have a very good business model because they're not going to be happy at the end of the day because you didn't provide them with a thing that they ultimately wanted. 


[00:47:10] So a phone call helps you align expectations as well. And all along the way, you're gathering feedback on what worked, what didn't work, how did they respond to this? How do they respond to that? How do they respond when you told them the price? Cause man, you want to talk about getting over your fears? 


[00:47:26] Tell someone the price of the project right there on the call, and then just shut up and see what happens. Like it is a powerful thing to tell a price and then shut the hell up and see what the response is without talking yourself back or negotiating against yourself, because you may be surprised. Yeah, I'm in, let's do it like how many times that happens. 


[00:47:45] It's incredible. But yeah, so that's, that's my thing is like calls are the only way I close clients at this point, because I need it to not only make sure that they're a good fit for me, but then I'm a good fit for them. And to be able to overcome objections and gain feedback all along the way that improves my future calls so that I can close them where people it's. 


[00:48:03] It's an incredible thing. I am all aboard the phone call. 


[00:48:07] Chris: Amazing. I love it. 


[00:48:08] Brian: All right. So that's it for our episode. Let me just wrap it up real quick and go through these all nine of these. And You can tune out at this point if you're the kind of person, but it's just good to review these things. So number one on this list was just offering. Basic copycat services that everyone else in your circle is offering. 


[00:48:24] If you don't do that, you're never gonna you're. It's going to be hard to get customers at all. Number two is going straight for the logo and business card. This is typical newbie mistake. When they're starting a new business, they get excited. They don't want to do anything real that pushes the business forward. 


[00:48:37] So they do the small little. It feel nice, which is a logo and a business card, or you can insert whatever your advice is. Are there number three was obsessing over gear, especially gear that you're not ready for yet. Mistake number four was reading business books or consuming any sort of education that you're not ready for yet. 


[00:48:55] You may not be at the level of that yet. Number five was just. Endless research, the person who is, feels like they're never ready to take that leap of faith that they have to take in order to launch their business. And so they just endlessly consume content for this their lives and they never actually create anything. 


[00:49:09] So that's number five. The fifth mistake that beginners make number six is a bad or no portfolio. Those are two unforgettable sins. If you have a bad portfolio, you need to get better because that's really the core of this. You will never be a six-figure creator. If you're bad at what you do, but you also need a portfolio to show proof that you can do what you say you can do. 


[00:49:27] Number seven. Mistake was no clarity on messaging, not being able to answer the question. Why should someone hire you in the first place instead of the person down the road? Mistake number eight was having no marketing plan whatsoever. Having no path to getting clients. Outside of your circle of friends and family. 


[00:49:43] And then number nine is just trying to close people over email and direct message because you're too shy to talk to somebody on the phone. Those are the nine mistakes. Chris, any final parting thoughts here as we wrap this episode up, 


[00:49:55] Chris: You know, trying to close people over DM and email reminds me of a girl. I asked out I was like 


[00:50:04] 20 years old. 


[00:50:05] And yeah, and I was like, oh, I'll ask her out on instant messenger, AOL, instant messenger. That's what all the kids use back in the day and broad don't do that. It's a terrible idea. She said, she said no 


[00:50:18] Brian: And then you were forever scarred from rejection there. 


[00:50:21] Chris: yeah, 


[00:50:22] Brian: But did you know why she said no. 


[00:50:24] Chris: probably specifically, because I asked her out on aim instead of. You know, finding a way to meet up with her and, you know, whatever. I mean, it was, it was a train wreck. Well, actually it's worse than that. I, I, called her to ask her out and her parents' answering machine picked up. Cause back in the day she didn't have a cell phone. 


[00:50:41] We didn't have cell phones. So her parents answering machine picks up and I'm like I'll just ask her out on the answering machine. 


[00:50:46] Brian: No. 


[00:50:47] Chris: And it's so terrible. And then a couple days go by. I never hear back from her and I see her on instant messenger. And so I messaged her like, Hey, did you get my my message on your answering machine? 


[00:50:59] She's like, no, I didn't. And I was like, and she was like, what was it? And I was like, oh I'm trapped. I can't call her now. That'd be so weird. So I have to do it on instant messenger and it was, you know, inner sin and pause and pause and pause. And she doesn't even to type back at this 


[00:51:20] point. The pause has been long enough that I know 


[00:51:21] Brian: The 


[00:51:22] longer, the way it is, the more you're sweating at that point. 


[00:51:24] Chris: Yeah. Oh, I was freaking sitting at my mom's desk too on her computer and I was like, dude, come 


[00:51:32] Brian: All right. So take whatever you want. You want from that lesson. But closing clients over the phone is the way to go. So let's, let's wrap this episode up. 


[00:51:39] Chris: Don't be like 


[00:51:40] me 


[00:51:40] Brian: Thanks everyone for listening or watching on YouTube. Now that we're a video podcast until next time. Happy hustling.