10 Cheat Codes For Freelancers

Let's be real. We all want to improve, get better clients and earn more money. The way to achieve all this is by trying new tactics and challenging yourself. In my first seven years of freelancing I'd grow around 20% in income every year.

These are the cheat codes I found.

1. Having a crystal clear specialized proposition

Generalists and freelancers offering multiple services generally struggle more than specialists. I recommend you soulsearch your way into finding a proposition:

• offering one specific service
• for a clear target client
• with a defined outcome

When someone asks you what you do, you should be able to answer in the following fashion:

I offer <service> to <target client> with the goal to <outcome>.

2. Working with value based pricing

Hourly rates in many cases are a suboptimal way of pricing yourself. First off no client calculates in hourly rates, but in budgets or ROI. Second, you might be limiting your growth with an hourly earning maximum. Try to find a way to get paid:

• per month
• per project
• per outcome

3. Writing everyday

Being able to vocalize your thoughts and convince readers is a skill any entrepreneur benefits from. I recommend writing everyday. Try journaling, writing newsletters or daily LinkedIN posts.

4. Sharing knowledge on socials

I only started posting online three years ago and wish I had done so earlier in my career. You'll meet likeminded peers by sharing your thoughts online and with the right strategy also leads will start to DM you.

5. Building a personal brand

Share your thoughts consistently and with a plan in mind, and you're on your way to build a personal brand. Once people start recognizing you as an authority in your field, doors will open and clients will line up.

6. Leveraging kick-back fees

About 60% of my freelance biz has come through referrals. The referred leads accelerated when I started rewarding my network with 10% kickback-fee for leads who'd become clients. Once fully booked, I started referring leads to other freelancers and asking the same 10% commission.?

First you book yourself with clients, then start earning by forwarding leads.

7. Using productivity best practices

Most freelancers struggle to get in the zone, or staying there. Here's a few tips to get more out of your time:

1. Swallow the frog: start with the hardest tasks
2. Listen to music without any lyrics
3. Take mini-breaks every 90 minutes
4. Clear out your desk from clutter
5. Phone on silent and upside down

8. Getting ample rest

Your brain is a muscle. After you stress it, it needs to rest. Work too much and sleep too little, your stress will accumulate, leading to decreased productivity, feeling depressed and eventually burnout.

Take walks daily. No work in evenings and weekends. Sleep 8 hours per night. Use no alarm clock if possible.

9. Productizing knowledge

If you're a specialist and you're practicing your daily writing, it's a small step towards a secondary income stream. Collect your thoughts, bundle your writing and create an e-book or sheets for an online course. Then produce it and sell it on your website. I did this in 2021 by writing the book Super Freelancer. I sold over 2,000 copies, yielding me $75,000 in revenue.

10. Finding peers

One of the best things to do in your career is to find peers on a similar mission. These people will motivate you, challenge you and inspire you. This is a massive cheat code for rapidly improving as a freelancer and entrepreneur. Go share an office or create a micro-community on Slack or Discord with likeminded folk.

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