Transcripts
1. Introduction: welcome Freelancing one of course mining, Michigan, Tunisia. I am the founder off Brand Sutra, full service marketing agency that works with plants from all over the world. I also run a men style and fashion community called Helping and Style, which has over 200,000 people inside on. I also run a YouTube channel where I give advice on marketing, entrepreneurship and freelance 2000 thousands of people every single month. Now, to my experience off working with so many clients over the past four or five years, as well as my experience of running that YouTube channel, I've got to know that a few top freelancers start performing freelancers. Rather have some things in common distilled all of that information in this course. So what you're going to learn in this course is how to get started the right way so that you maximize your chances of success. Are guys as entrepreneurs? Contrary to the popular belief, we are not risk chasers, we are risk minimizing, so I want to minimize the risk with you starting your own freelance practice. So we're going to learn to minimize that risk as well as we're going to figure out a strategy and a way that what's for you to generate income either on the side or full time as a freelancer? And potentially, you're going to be able to own or start earning rather within the first month or so off going through all the information in the scores and then applying it to real would. Now, guys, it is very important that you apply all of this information. It is going to be paramount that we not only take this information, but apply it and share it in the project section with other people so that other people can give their input as well. So I welcome you to share your projects to share your port four years in the project section as well. Let's guys go to the next month.
2. Why Become A Freelancer: guys, welcome to the course. My name is Shivam on Before I go on and talk about whatever it is that I'm going to talk about in this course, what I want you to do is make a public commitment that you're going to become a better freelancer or you're going to become a successful freelancer. Put a stake in the ground, go to the discussion section right now. Just write one night that I am going to become the best freelancer that I can. And let's start now. What I want to talk about is why become a freelancer number one in this very lesson. So there can be multiple reasons why would become a freelancer. Maybe freedom is more important to you. Now, if I Come on, look at my scenario. In my situation, freedom is a great thing. Freedom is very important for me. Maybe you want to get to make your own choices about the kind off work you do and with the kind of people you want to work with. That is number two, number three, maybe Want to spend more time with your family with your wife with your kids. So in my case, Certainly I want those things freelancing on the side off freelancing. Full time gives us that flexibility to do so. So I'll give you an example off a classic problem with freelancers. Once you become a freelancer and it's a funny thing, it's a personal example. Up about a year and 1/2 until about a year and half ago, my parents did not know what he should tell people. That is, that their son does. So they used to be always like if somebody asked them what what Steven does, they didn't have a clue. They were not able to articulate it. Now they're really confident. They say Okay, he's a marketing consultant now they know what that means, because I've been ableto generate the kind of income that I generate on. That is how it is. That's how the world works, right? So what we want to do is going to figure out why you want to become a freelancer. What is it that motivators now freelancing is definitely hard work. But if you're willing to work hard and if you're willing to put in the time and the smart work that is required to become a great freelancer. I'm definitely, definitely sure you possess the skill sets that market is going to Ben. All of us possess certain skills. It's that market values. Freelancing is off course. It's not only going to give you the freedom off choice regarding the kind of work you want to do, but also when you want to do it. I think that is extremely powerful. On one of the most important things is that as freelancers, we must learn not off not to fit in there because freelancers who try to fit in end up doing the work for $5 and I and this course is not about becoming just another freelancer. This course is about becoming a great freelancer, somebody who is famous in their niche on somebody for, like somebody. If plants want to work with, they do not care what their budget is. That's the kind of freelancers we want to become. Want to become famous, don't want to work for $5 on different freelancing, upset, so I'm not going to tell you to do to create a profile on one of these websites and start looking for $5 just to build your career as a freelancer and to get your first plaque. That is not what I I look it. So what I'm going to tell you is in this course, one of the most important things that I can tell you right now, right at the start of this course is that you must not quit your job. What you need to do, in my opinion, is keep your job. Start working full time in your job. If you don't have a job, take up a job on start freelancing on the side. Maybe one are every day on the weekdays and to ours on the weekends. That is going to be enough to get you started to get some income. And once you are able to touch twice the income from freelancing in as compared to the income that you make from your full time job. So if you make $10,000 from your full time job until and unless you're freelancing, career starts giving you $20,000. You're not supposed to quit your job. The reason being, we want to be flexible beyond the freedom. We want to choose the kind of work they do. We want to choose our clients, and we want to choose our plans in a way that gives us the best expansion into our careers , right? And if you are dependent on your freelance and job, are your freelance career on the money that freelancing gets for you to pay our bills and to pay your rent, you are going to make certain decisions for that money that set off decisions might not be the right decision or that one decision might not be the right decision if you want to become a create freelancer, so we want that flexibility. And so I always advice. I'd get a lot off these questions across my YouTube instagram in all those places on. I always advice. Keep your job. Do not create the pressure on your freelancing to pay a rent right at the beginning of your career. So guys start small. Start with small, incremental days like start with one hour a day to ours on the weekends. On that, I guarantee you is going to be enough to get you started to get you some income going so that you know this is a viable option for you guys. I'm going to see you in the next lesson where we're going to tackle the first exercise in this course
3. EXERCISE: Who Are You: guys, this is the first exercise off this course, and in this exercise we are really going to figure out who we are on what makes us tick. This would be the most important exercise that you are going to do in this scores. Hands down. So, guys, let's start with the first question that you're going to answer. So where do you like these things? Down? Just go to the resource section. I have uploaded Siri's off pdf's for each of the exercises that are about to come in the scores. Just download those you can either right those answers on a diary like I do or you can answer. You can just take up, bring down if you have a printer at home and you can start writing the answers in the space that I have provided for you in those PDS to The first question on I think is a question that not a lot of people get you to answer when they're talking about freelancing is what is it that I get the most compliments on. So what do I do? What different things do I do which get me a lot off compliments for from people around me . It can be people at your job. It can be people in your family. It can be a friend. You want to figure out. What are those things that get you? The most amount of compliments. The second question in this world chip that you will have to answer is each of these things that you have listed in the first question. So, for example, I managed to get a lot of compliments on the the way I talk about marketing the way I talk about personal development, right? So that means I have a skill set for public speaking, right? It's about the way I talk about those things, right? So it's about public speaking. So my first answer would be public speaking is something that I get compliments on. So second thing is going to be I have to raid that skill or whatever. I get the compliment on from 1 to 10 on a scale of 1 to 10 10 being the most fun and one being the least fun. So if I have quite a bit of fun, why is speaking our while doing public speaking or while making these videos, I will answer, then in front of that in the second question. And that, I think, is going to be very important because we want to figure out the things that fulfill us to the best off our expectations. And those are the things we're going to build upon if you do not have fun doing something, but it is paying you there. It's maybe it's going to be a year and you're going to start regulating what do you do? And that's what happens for most off us in our jobs these days, right? So you must. Rick, what is it that you do? And what do you get? The compliments on you? Read them from a scale on from 1 to 10. Now, the third question is, what is your work going to be, Peter? It does not need to be the work that you do in your job right now, right? So if I am working as a software developer, my work is not going to be developing software's. It can be if I have fun at my job. But if I was having fun at my job, I would not be watching this course, right? So if I'm a software developer. Maybe I want to do graphic design, so my work is going to be as a graphic designer. I would want to design an amazing graphics that make people stop, look at my graphics and have an emotional response to my graphics. That's the kind of response I want for my work as a graphic designer, right? So that is what I want you to answer in the third question does not need to be your job. If it is very well. So no problem. If you're taking up freelancing just to get some extra income, that works, too, right? So the next question that I want you to answer is look at the people, maybe in your own country. So for now, like right now I'm in India. I used to live in pasta when all of this started for me. I was in the United States, so I looked at people in the United States, people who had similar skill sets as me. Maybe people who came in from India and got into United States. Had they done this before, were they able to successfully get into marketing and then build their careers as marketing freelancers. That's what I looked, and I also look that will I be able to model those guys? Will I be able to model the steps that they took on? Would I want to be what that guy is or who that guys are, who that girl is you want to figure out? Are there other people who have done this and that gives us a lot off positive Bush, which I think is very important. If you're talking about starting something new so that you can write down very specific names on, you can write down even the steps that they took if you want. For now, I'm fine with names in the worksheet on Lesson. As I had told you, Freelancing is not going to be easy for this year. Reason, because there are a lot of things in what you have to manage your money. You have to talk to plants, get the clients, get paid from them. So you have to also negotiate along with doing the work that you do. Being a freelancer is definitely not easy, So are you willing to do everything in your part to be ableto create the work that we love to be able to do the work that you love and create a life that you want. Are you willing to do everything in your power? That is the last question in the in this worksheet. So I'm gonna see you in the next lesson with the last word shit off. This scores on. We're going to die a little bit deeper into what kind of work are you going to do for the market?
4. EXERCISE: What Value You Provide To The Market: guys, welcome to the next exercise off This freelance, of course, on this exercise revolves around the value that you are going to provide to the marketplace on. Now. If you look at the work ship, it states, it's pretty clear. What can you provide to the marketplace? A lot of times, freelancers get stuck on what I would like to do. What I have fun doing what they are not able to map out is due. Does the market need it? Do the people want what I want to give them? And that's where important. Right hence. The previous exercise had a question about Have other people done the same thing because that also it tells you that the market wants it. If somebody else has done the same thing that you want to do when they're successful at it , that gives you that. That gives you the proof, US demand in the marketplace for what you are about to do. So the first question is going to be What can you give to the market on what problems are you going to be able to solve for those people using your skills that you want to impart to the market. I'm going to give you an example from one of my mentors, Grant Cardone. What he used to say was, if you want to make a $1,000,000 must solve a $1 million problem, right? So $1 million problem can be split into multiple ways. One can be you saw a $1 problem for a 1,000,000 people. Second can be you can sort of $10,000 problem for 100 people both ways. You end up making a $1,000,000 so you must solve problems with the skills that have. Now, how do you map out those things? So if you look at the workshop, you'll have two questions. One is off course, going to be the skill that you are going to give to the marketplace. So in my case, for example, I know for the shop I know video living. I know pop record videos. So I know cinematography. I know color correction. I know marketing strategy. I know how to run Facebook ads that give you huge r a y on yourselves. Right? So I know all of those things. Those are my skin's. What problems do I saw. So if I'm a graphic designer, Am I solving somebody's problem? Does not have a logo. If I know for the shop, I can solve a problem for somebody who does not have a local, I can solve a problem that somebody might have. And that problem could be that that person once better pictures on there. That person wants maybe better lighting. They want more exposure in their pictures. So if you know light room, you're going to be able to solve that trump. So same way if somebody wants to capture their life events so that they can remember those events till the day they die Well, yes. If you know photography, you can solve that problem for them. And that is what I want you to write in the second answer, right? Just as the last example that applies to me. If somebody does not know how to get sales online for their business, I annoying digital marketing. I have the digital marketing skin can solve that problem for them. So if I'm able to make them $100,000 that was $100,000 problem, my soul for them so I can get paid potentially 10 to 20% off that easily, right? That's how it works. You consultants, freelancers, if they are positioned well enough normally would get about 15 to 20% off the immediate value that you can bring for a client. And that's why we want to start with these exercises in the scores. First, was mapping these out are going to put you on the right path now, lastly, what we're going to talk about next is the experience that you're going to provide the clients on that is going to be the key in you being able to frame what you do well enough.
5. EXERCISE: An Unforgettable Experience For Clients: So, guys, this is not much more off an exercise, but something that is a must If you want to become a freelancer, this is one of the things that a lot of business plans miss on. I off course always say that business plans usually don't work in the real world. But this is something that mean must must complete because we want to create experiences in a way for our clients that they tell other people they make it their life's purpose, if rather to tell other people that I worked with this real answer. And I have had the most amount of fun that I had in my life working the feelings. So I'm going to put set good in here. I was lucky that I came across that golden because I was in marketing. I got to know about him and he gave this example for freelancers. He talks about three things that a freelancer can have three different ways that people look at a few answers. Number one is that freelancer good at following deadlines. Number two is their work great. And that, of course, is a must. And lastly, is that freelance or fun? to work with. Do I ask? Somebody was hired that freelancer have fun and have have a joyous experience with hiding that freelancer. Now what he give what he was saying? What said Gordon was saying at that time was, If you are able to do to off these, correct are two of these well enough, you're going to have a great experience for a plan. If you touch all three off these, you're good at your deadlines. You are great at your craft. Were like one of the best at the skills that you do on your fun to work with. That is a jackpot on that client. If you're you are able to deliver these three things to a plan, it is going toe be the best thing ever for your freelance angry. Another example That said, Gordon, gifts before I take you to the exercise and the question that you are answering is going to be what story and that exactly pertains to these three things that I was not. What story is the client going to tell their friends about working if somebody hires you and they were sent in by their boss to hire a freelancer. Maybe the boss said higher. The cheapest freelance. And you were not the typist. You were in the middle. That person hired you. What story can that person go in? Tell their boss about you. Why did not they agree to what their boss wanted? Why did they spend more money than they were supposed to? Is this free nights of grade? Maybe that person can don't know. I'm No 10 off my friends in these these these companies who this freelancers worked with And they are crazy about the kind of working us on what kind of story are you creating that story with the tracks? So if you look at the work shed in the resource section, what you're going to find is a simple question. If someone asks your client, how would during the project, what with the answer? Were you a straightforward person? Were you good at following deadlines? We're creating a delightful experience. Were you professional off for you? Discipline? Right where you detail oriented. So I'll give you a last example to wrap this. Listen off is my personal experience with Amazon now Amazon is not a freelancing company, but I think this example, comes straight on. When I was in Boston, I had ordered a gift for my friend for Christmas on it, so I had already known Prime. But I had not ordered it on a one day delivery because I had time, but it got stuck somehow. Got it was getting late, so I called up Amazon support. I explained in the situation that I'm supposed to give this to a friend for Christmas. It's not. It's not arriving. What should I do? So that person says this amazing thing. They say what that person said to me was, What I'm going to do is I'm going to refund the money that you paid for the item. It was a scarf. I'm going to refund the money that you paid for that scarf, and I'm going to send another scarf for from a one day delivery method. You don't have to pay a single dollar for that. Treated as a gift from me on Christmas for you on that scarf, I guarantee you it's going to be delivered to you in one day on, and if after three days the old scarf that you had ordered arrives, you can choose to keep it or you can choose to send it back to us. It's like, what? Wait, what? So you refund the money? You send another scarf on a one day delivery, and if I get the 2nd 1 I can still keep it. So I get to scars for free and that it's not about free off off course because I'm an Indian. I'm going to be a It's free. But it's not just about getting the free. It's about the experience. It's about that person understanding the situation I was in and that person changing the rules a little bit. Or maybe they were not the rules, right? So what is the experience that you are billing to create for your clients? I'm willing to go the extra mile or not. These other things I want you to answer in this exercise
6. Dealing With Rejection & Failure: So guys, let's talk about field now. Fear off rejection and fear of failure. One of the biggest reasons that people don't start what they want to work on on people don't start their own practice either as a freelancer are as a business owner is the fear off failure the moment you tell your family and your friends that you're going to start your own business or you're going to become a freelancer. The rejection, the stories off rejection rather start immediately on fear starts to kick in, and you start thinking if this is the right right choice, if you are going to be stable enough, if you're going to make as much as you do in your job and everything that you have taught through, Don's and do an if statement, that is what we want to away now. What we need to understand that is that fear is a natural process. It is a part off who human beings are tear off Failure is something that everybody expedience is the people who we say that this person has defeated the fear. What that sentence means is not that they have been able to eliminate fear from there kind of internal dialogue. What that means is that that person has learned to ignore that waste in the head. What that person has learned to do is to ignore that West in the head and progress with what they want to do towards the goals that they want to achieve. No doubt that you're going to fail a few times. No doubt that a few clients are going to say no. What we need to understand is that a lot off times, these clients and these prospects are not saying no. Do you business? They're saying no. So maybe the work that you are doing, so you need to improve on their skins. What we need to do is we need to disengage ourselves from the situation on, analyze it with minimal amount off emotionally involved in that analyzation process. Maybe that line said no because they really did not have the budget. Maybe that no, we do not have the budget does not mean that they don't want to hire you. May be really means that that person does not have the but maybe you were not able to sell your story well enough, so failure is going to be a part off learning, and that is how human beings evolved. When we learn a new language, we make mistakes, and we learn from those mistakes. When a child starts to walk, they have fallen hundreds and hundreds of times, even before they were able to stand when they're learning to stand on their own there for hundreds and hundreds of times. And that is not when the parent goes No, no, no. I know one person who started walking on, fell down and broke their nose and tired balance. Do not say that to their side. The woman that child starts to stand up on their own and fall parents clap. So the next time you feel at something flap, let me know I will clap for you because you've just tried something new in your life. You've just tried something that could have potentially changed who you are and your life. And if you keep on trying and keep on failing, you will figure out a way that is eventually going to work. Eventually, you're going to find out the way that is going to work, and it's going to take you to the next step. So that is what being need to realize as human peaks. Failure is a part off learning on promise.
7. Talking To Clients 101: now guys one off. The most important things that I have seen freelancers make mistakes on is when they're talking to their clients. Freelancers end up, hands out. I want your money in a meeting with the flying, and that is the wrong way to look at a meeting with a client. Our client's a client, in my opinion, is your business partner. You are a businesswoman as a freelancer. Client is a business owner as your client, so why not talk at the same level? Why not talk to them as a partner? As to partners coming together to solve a problem, a common problem. So freelancers, then to ignore the goals that line has. I only look at the goals that they have. It is normally I want the money. I want this project because this is going to get my name out if I leave all of that. And I stopped insulting the client by thinking off them as the client and I start respecting who they are by thinking off them as a partner as a business owner, Wooding myself as a freelancer. If I put myself as a freelancer in my client's shoes, I will have a better closing rate with the clients. So when you're going into a meeting, beat the first meeting with the second meeting. Think off the client as your teammate on their goal as your cool. If you're able to do that, you're you're not only be ableto, you're not only going to do good work, but you're also going to build a great relationship with that line because now there is a mutual respect. Now the relationship is not Oh, this freelancer. I'm just going to give him my money, and he's going to do whatever I want. Now that client also sees you as a business owner as somebody who has self respect because you've given them the respect that you want it back. And if if you are able to work through our meetings, our talks are brain as a whole and treat the client as a partner. We have higher chance off closing the deals. We have higher chance of doing better work because our goals become align with theirs. So what they want is going to be the same thing that we want And, oh, by the way, the money you get now becomes a bonus. And if you're able to do that, then as a vomit city says, if we are able to convince somebody that they need us as much as we do price off, the service becomes a mere triviality and that is how we want to pitch. That is how we want to talk to our clients.
8. Becoming A Famous Freelancer: guys as freelancers. We need to take care not only off our craft. No. We also need to take care off marketing, accounting, managing the money and managing the client's getting the contracts, all of those things. So what I want to do is I want to make marketing a little bit off a breeze for you through this. Listen. So the most important thing that we ask freelancers need to learn is that on our we must number one is we must have a port for you. Either Website are a profile. If your photographer, you can look at it, you can get 500 PX. Designers, look at behinds. All of these great places writers can write on medium Got these websites give you organic exposure as few answers and you can have the world freelancer in the heading off your profile. So these definitely give you that organic exposure that you might need in the longer. But building these marketing assets stuff that brings you clients slowly is going to take time. But if then right, it's going toe help you because now the client reaches out to you. Now you have a better chance in negotiating good price, negotiating the kind of and negotiating the kind of worth that you want to go with that plan, right? So the biggest mistake that I've seen freelancers may on this is the mistake that even I made when I was starting up is I kind of highlighted all the projects I had in my put for you. And that is not right, because the moment somebody looks at 100 projects one, you can't make them click on the best project because they have a choice off 100. What we need to do as freelancers is we need toe pick 3 to 5 key best projects if you're a photographer, 10 to 15 Best pictures. Let's say you have three different categories. You shoot that weddings, portraits, architecture 10 to 15 each, and you're done. Not anymore. So do things happen when you have When you list only a few best off your projects, you make sure that the client clicks on the best project automatically. Now that possibility off them, landing on a on a subpar project zeal. So that's one that you watch it. Number do by highlighting only a few off your best projects. You've shown the plan that you have taste. You have tasted great quality work. They don't need to know that you had You have done 100 city projects to land on these three best products. What? This is you have 3 to 5 best projects great products, and that is going to help you. Number two on social media, there will be 10. Like a number of strategies. I go over like endless and less social media videos on my YouTube with one most important strategy that I can highlight for you guys is show the process off how you work because everybody, everybody is interested in the process. If you an artist, I want to know how you got started with a blank pit. How did a black page turn into a great painting are drained? Great drawing. If you're a website designer, I want to know where you started from. I want to know the process. I want to know the thinking. So sharing all of that is going to get your lot off people. If you go to different website designers in second profiles as an example, and look at the places where they have shared a process where they have shared maybe a video, our time lapse kind of video off them. Designing a website. Those are the core pieces of content which have done the best. And there is proof so that you can look at multiple freelancers, multiple profiles sharing their process, and you compare it with the other posts on their profile, and you would see it for yourself. No, the next most important thing is linked in no matter what kind off freelancer you are, you can be a writer. You can be a Web developer. You can be a website designer. You can be a programmer wherever you are. You can be any type of freelancer. You must have a complete LinkedIn profile because Lyndon gives you a hard off organic reach . If you have built your profile correctly, and if you have key words sprinkled all over the profile, if you have key words sprinkled in your about section, if you have key words sprinkled in your headline. If you have keywords, Sprinkle in your skills. If you have keywords, Sprinkle in the recommendations that you've got, so you can ask for recommendations to your friends and ask them to highlight one or two things about a specific project that you did. Instead of giving you a general recommendation, those things help you turn up in the search. So when somebody's looking for content writers, you are you Your profile has a higher chance off ranking number one in London. Lastly, what I promote each one of you guys is to write a block. Okay, I know. I'm gonna take a heat. I'm going to take heat for this. But having a blawg in my opinion, is the best decision that a freelancer clinic, because they can share the process, they can share the war and they can teach other people what they know. You have to give everything that you know for free. And you'd be surprised how many times people have asked me if there is anything else to learn apart from my YouTube videos. And I always tell them I do not hide even 1% off what I know. If something is on my you tube, that is 100% off what I am doing and what I know and everybody is shocked. But you will also be surprised a knowing that how many clients have worked with me by watching my YouTube videos. When I had, like, 20 views, 30 views on a video, somebody saw that video and they felt this guy knows what he's talking about. Not have many subscribers at that thing did not have many views on the video that that person thought This guy knows what he is talking about. I am on top. I have taught them everything already through my YouTube videos and to the block. What are they going to perceive me as they are going to perceive me as the authority figure they have a choice to do all off. What I have explained on their own with zero experience are minimal experience. Are they have a choice to reach out to me? I asked me, How much will I charge, or will I work with them on build this for them? Even though I explained and given all my secrets out, they would still want to work with me and get me to do the work because nobody wants to do the work themselves, especially if they have the budget for, and that is how marketing can be effectively done
9. Final Thoughts: now, guys, this is the end off the course. What I would love that you do is that you go to the discussion section. If you have any doubts, make sure to ask questions. Make sure to go through the resource is and the project section. Make sure you follow the project because in this course project is a commitment. Once you made that commitment on because that commitment is public, you're going There's a higher chance that you're going to keep at it. If you need some motivation, just write down a common in the discussion section. I'm going to be their plants and those things other people are going to be there in the discussion section toe have these great discussions as freelancers with you guys, right, What you agree on, but you don't agree on. All of these things are very important because the better rebuild the community around us. The more motivation we are going to have to do our work have issued the best off luck in your freelance career. I hope you turn out to be a big on a great freelance on a that time. I hope you reach out to me and you tell me what you've been able to accomplish? I would not. I would love to share that with my friends and with my family aspect.
Shivam Chhuneja -, Marketer, Entrepreneur And A YouTuber
