Updated 10/30/2019
Freelancing is a business and great results come when you get your business basics down. Below you’ll find a few resources to help you get started. Don’t feel like you have to take them all on at one time — it’s best if you rotate through when you see weak spots in your freelance game or feel like you need a refresher.
Marketing
Seth Godin: His blog, podcast, books — all of it. One of the few marketing gurus who doesn’t need quotes around the title.
Confessions of a Pink-Haired Marketer: A really good podcast for anyone who isn’t a natural marketer or dislikes the idea of it.
Project Management
Project management can make a HUGE difference in how much time you’re spending on your freelance business, so make sure not to miss out on the opportunity to up your PM game.
Project Management Demystified: This was the textbook used in my project management course in business school but it’s a good intro and reference book.
Project Management Tips to Increase Productivity and Profitability (FreshBooks)
A Systematic Way to Tackle Overwhelm: Really solid episode of the High-Income Business Writing podcast that covers ways to address (and avoid) overwhelm, stop chasing shiny solutions, and start working more efficiently.
Sales
Selling is an essential freelance skill (even if you’re like me and hate it and never want to cold call), so definitely check these out.
Seth Godin-The Difference Between Marketing and Sales: Short, but an important distinction everyone needs to understand before getting started.
The Advanced Selling Podcast: I pop into this one sometimes and they have a lot of good tactical advice. It can dig a little deep into the profession of sales (which is a freelance skill), but the episodes are short and digestible, so you can get a lot of ground covered in a short time. I like episode #542 on building a question bank.
HubSpot-Frictionless Selling: Gain a new perspective on sales and better insight into the B2B selling process.
Customer Service
Customer service can go a long way in maintaining and growing your most valuable relationships.
The 10 Commandments of Great Customer Service: This isn’t specifically targeted toward freelancers, but almost all of them are great advice for us.
Proposals
Proposals tend to be specific to an industry or niche’s culture, but there are a few basic concepts that hold across the board.
Advanced Selling Podcast Episode #543: Definitely had to include this interview episode since it covers proposals. Yours might be a little more simplified, but the tips are applicable to freelance proposals. It’s from a sponsor so it veers into commercial territory, but does a good job of covering mistakes, saving time, pacing, and not ending up in a “beauty pageant”.
Power Proposal Tips: This one’s from Upwork, so some of the advice is specific to sending proposals on a platform, but worth a review if that’s what you’re doing.
Got any resources you want to share? Shoot them over to connect@blackfreelance.com
