Freelancer Mentor & Coach Blog

Sometimes I let bad things happen so that good things can happen.

13 life-changing things I did to tidy up my freelance WordPress biz that concurrently work magic in my life. With real-life examples that you can take action on TODAY to free up headspace and make your freelance biz the work of your dreams!

Sometimes we small business owners just need to get our of our own way! Getting curious about my value has provided me with the right boundaries needed to be creative in my space.

1. Answer the phone, qualify the lead, and ask for the $$$ on the first call. My phone script looks like this: Hi!  Nice to meet you! Give me the high level overview of what you need. [they say some stuff here] Oh, that makes sense.  I talk to people all the time who...

A quick primer on How To Break Through Your Blockers and Permanently Solve Your Business’ Revenue Problems.

#business #smallbusiness #lifehacks #innovation #entrepreneurship #strategy #productivity #personaldevelopment #emotionalintelligence #culture #consultants #freelancers #seo #optimization #websitesecurity #wordpress #wordpresssecurity #businesshacks #wordpresshacks #wordpressplugins

"Toby, I just spent the last week responding to an RFP, and when they received my reply, they said they already chose someone else!" Eee Gads!!! Here's a Table of Contents from a real RFP I received in my inbox today: This is a Table of Contents from a real RFP I...

I no longer write custom proposals. I found a better way to run my WordPress Design company. It all starts when someone asks to buy something from me.  Yesterday, an existing customer asked for a website redesign. Up until yesterday, I didn't have a product to...

Y’all who work at normal 9-5 jobs don’t need to deal with the B.S. that is an RFP process (or rather you get paid to deal with it).

But us freelancers gotta deal with a whole big bag of schtuff when it comes to custom proposals.

Here’s my quick-and-dirty RFP filtering process that I use every time.

(It’s about a minute read.)

Enjoy!
Toby

#business #smallbusiness #lifehacks #innovation #entrepreneurship #strategy #productivity #personaldevelopment #emotionalintelligence #culture #consultants #freelancers #contracts #freelancing

Freelancers get fired all the time. For better or worse, it’s part of our business’ DNA.

But did you know getting fired can be empowering? Both to you and to the person doing the firing?

Here’s how you can make the most out of getting fired.

"Are you a non-profit organization?"A question on my website cost calculator.  Fact: Organizations with multiple stakeholders require more time/energy/money/etc to build consensus compared to their single-person small business counterparts. Groups of People Take...

There are 2 types of people who build websites: Craftspersons who care about how a website looks & feels. Businesspersons who want a website to deliver results!  I'm a businessperson. What Do You Mean By Results? Results = sales. Sales = results. How Do Websites...

I'm on a 3+ year journey to make my working life a great fit for my life! Here are some things I'm actively doing to make my work better I'm doing more in-person meetings. I'm doing more walk-and-talk meetings. I'm taking meetings on my cellphone while walking around...

The quality of your website is only as good as the questions you ask of it! Below are some common questions I field from customers along with my conversation-starter responses. Bad Question: My WordPress site is currently having issues - it's slow, and...

Corporations are famous for covering their asses. For example, Apple's Terms of Service are famous for covering their ass.  (If you want to gross yourself out, just watch the South Park episode about accepting Apple's TOS!) I'll save my "Covering Your...

I've never made a pitch like this before, and, frankly, I'm a little scared to do it...  I'm in the midst of a career crisis, and this is me reaching out for help.  Here's the deal: Time is short for all of us, and I'm realizing I don't...

"I'm sorry!  I have to pull an all-nighter again," I shamefully told my wife as I slunk into the chair in my kitchen after dinner, 3-month-old baby crying in the background. It was May 2011, and I was miserable. I was thankful for my wife and infant daughter, but my...