Issue #15 – January 23rd, 2015

Two quick notes for this week.

First, if you know a blog, website, or resource that provides great, on-topic articles about freelancing and consulting, let me know. (Click reply)

Second, I’ve created a resource full of resources for you (how meta!). It’s called the Best of Freelance Chi and it includes the top links from all of the past issues in one handy download (PDF). Please share it if you think it’s valuable.

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Lessons Learned Building A Productized Service (smashingmagazine.com)

Brian Casel shares lessons he’s learned building Restaurant Engine into a SaaS and then into a manual productized consulting service. People often forget that automation can be done with processes and people, not just software.

How to Scale Your Business in 2015 (freshbooks.com)

Once you become fully booked you have to use different strategies to grow your freelance business. Freshbooks has a list of five strategies you can use. I’ve done the first four myself.

Learn How To Start Freelancing, Find Clients, and Create a Successful Business (theadmin.org) SPONSOR

If you’re starting to freelance or need help finding the ideal clients for you, join my free newsletter for freelancers. With 67+ weekly lessons, you’re sure to learn something new every week.

Should You Ever Work For Free? (doubleyourfreelancing.com)

Brennan Dunn writes about why some clients ask for free work and when working for free makes sense.

When Clients Disappear: How To Give Your Business A Proper "Clearing" (bidsketch.com)

Terri Scott writes about what to do when clients disappear. During the sales process I call this "going dark" and have a specific follow up process I use with them.

Filter out bad clients before you work with them (theadmin.org)

In this article I share my Red Velvet Rope policy I use to evaluate leads and clients.

Completed Tasks Aren’t a Measure of Success (curtismchale.ca)

Curtis McHale writes about how important is it to measure the success of your client project. I feel even if you don’t reach the target, having something to aim at will give you a lens to focus with.

7 steps to create the perfect customer persona for your business (nusii.com)

I talk about describing your ideal clients a lot but you can take it a step further and create a customer persona. In this article Hannah Moyer give you the seven steps to creating a persona.

Create Your Consulting Client Magnet (consultingsuccess.com)

Michael Zipursky writes about attracting your ideal clients by focusing your marketing towards them and not worrying about repelling "the others".

50 Books to inspire you on your entrepreneur & business growth journey (freelancelift.com)

If you’re looking for your next book to read, Liam Veitch has a list of 50 to get you started. (Sidenote: I just finished Liam’s book Stop Thinking Like a Freelancer this past week and I recommend it).

Thanks, I’ll see you next week

Eric Davis (@edavis10)