Jumping in here to offer a bit of context to this post!
We — a collection of 13 consultants — wrote the Independent Consulting Manual (ICM) to offer advice, guidance, and direction to consultants who want to grow their business.
The ICM is based on our shared experience growing our consulting practices over the last few years. While it would be impossible to offer a 'Comprehensive Guide To Everything Consulting,' we've done our best to share strategic (ex: building a productized consulting offering, positioning your business, qualifying your prospects and clients, writing better proposals, etc.) and tactical lessons (ex: using cold email outreach, using facebook ads, avoiding late payment, etc.) to help give consultants, like you, a strong direction of the strategies and tactics available — and how to implement them in your business.
Wherever possible, we worked to go 'above and beyond' in the advice we share to make sure that it's actionable, relevant, and specific to an independent consultant who is looking to grow their business.
As Bryce Bladon was kind enough to write in the introduction:
> It would take years of experience and dozens of new and interesting mistakes to learn as much as I have from Kai and his colleagues over the first few months of knowing them. That’s what this book is: a shortcut for time, effort, and mistakes.
> If you’re someone who considers themselves an independent _anything_, then you’re probably someone who understands accountability. You understand that this book is not going to catapult you to ridiculous new heights of success as soon as you finish the last chapter.
> What it is going to do is provide proven and actionable advice. It’s going to make you reflect on how you do business and it’s going to make you better for it.
We wrote the ICM to provide actionable advice specific to independent consultants. But, much like any skill, it takes action on the part of the reader to implement the advice and, slowly, consistently, over time, improve their business to get to that next level.
I know that from when I started my independent consulting practice to when I had my first 6-figure year, it took 5 years of consistent, steady progress. With the ICM, we're offering lessons, advice, and direction to help the reader understand the steps to take to reach that point. Much like a cookbook, we're offering lessons and recipes to follow. The job for the reader is to implement, test, refine, and repeat.
Our Guarantee — We collectively stand behind our product and the quality of the information we're sharing. If you buy the ICM, read it, and find it lacking in any way, not up to your standards, or not meeting your expectations, all you need to do is hit reply to your order email and let me know you want a refund. Then I'll send you an immediate refund. (We list a 14-day money back guarantee on the website and the truth is after 14, 28, or 365+ days, if you said "Hey, you know what, I made this investment and I'm just not happy with it, I'd like a refund," I'll instantly refund you your purchase).
Am I explaining all of that well? I deeply appreciate any questions you have for me / us. I'll be checking this thread throughout the day. You can also always message me on Twitter as @kaisdavis.
To me, it wasn't an option. I'm not a developer — I'm an SEO and Outreach Consultant — and so using something off the shelf (at first a pages template, now Remarq) made a lot more sense.
I didn't want to build something DIY or right to customize something. Pages — and now Remarq — made it easy for me to get a beautiful output.
And, on top of that, there was an ROI consideration. How much time would I spend getting Pandoc working that I could spend growing my business, mapping out a campaign for a client, or relaxing?
> What steps do you take to ensure clients pay you on time and what actions do you take when they don't?
1. I only work with clients that I trust. How do I find out if I can trust them? Extensive interview process. Is their business sustainable? Have they worked with freelancers before? Do they have references for me?
2. I have clients pay me up front. No, seriously. I have a contract that lists my rate and asks for the money up front. If they want different payment terms, we can negotiate from there (and usually to a point that we're both happy with).
3. I don't let myself get 'underwater' with a client. I use Harvest to monitor the time I spend working on client projects. It sends me a notification when I get within (80%) of the time allotted on the contract. I have a text expander snippet that I fire off to the client with something like 'Hey, we're at 80% of the time you've paid for on the project' and let them know if I think we'll need more time or need to reduce the scope.
4. I attempt to collect in this order:
(a) Phone call to the company [the person I'm working with on their side] confirming they received my invoice (10 days after due)
(b) Phone call to the person who signed my contract confirming they received my invoice (15-20 days)
(c) Repeat phone call to the person who signed my contract (30-40 days)
(d) Letter from my attorney
How often have I had to use these? Once. Why so infrequently? Because I follow points 1, 2, and 3 with new clients.
I haven't done direct outreach for a few months. I'm moving to Honolulu next week and will be restarting direct outreach in November.
Back of the envelope / from memory? Leads (meetings) with ~1/10 contacts and projects from ~1/3 meetings.
I do Wordpress development, online advertising, search engine optimization, and social media work. It sounds like I might fall into both of your markets — marketers who need a solution for wordpress development / tweaks and wordpress developers looking for projects.
If you're interested in chatting, shoot me an email at [email protected].
Background: I'm a freelance marketer (soon to be) in Honolulu, Hawaii.
My experience has been that freelance gigs for marketers come from 3 different sources:
1. Personal / Professional Referrals
2. Direct Outreach to Businesses
3. Craigslist / elance / community sites
## 1 — Referrals
Referrals are the best way to get a client / gig because someone is vouching for your experience. I generate referrals by asking clients if they know of other business owners for have a need for {skillset}.
In short — manufacture interested customers by defining the types of companies you want to work with, making a list of companies that fit that criteria, identifying who is in charge of the department you want to work with, and set up an informational interview to learn about the company.
## 3 — Craigslist / Aggregate Sites
These sites suck. When a job reaches these sites, it's generally because the employer went through options (1) and (2) and couldn't find someone capable. These jobs have been picked over.
That said, I have some success browsing craigslist, seeing businesses that have listed an open position / a gig and emailing them.
I like looking at businesses that post in the 'services' section (not advertising a need for a marketer) and then contacting them to learn about their business and offer my skills.
That's incorrect. I believe I heard this via Cable on John Gruber's 'The Talk Show,' but you can still have an app in the MAS and provide updates even if the app is not available for sale.
You aren't asking for a job, you're asking a _person_ to talk. Not listen to a pitch. Not give you anything. Just talk about their experience and what they see going on at the company.
Kai's Rule #1: People love to talk. They love to talk about their jobs, their struggles, and their opinions on the company.
Encourage them to talk. They'll tell you where the gold is buried.
I'm approaching this from a marketing perspective and effective follow-ups can make the difference between a lead becoming dead or turning into a prospect.
It also proves that I'm human and not an automated mass email. (We all hate those).
The second one is a phone call, not an email. I'd refer to it as being 'forceful' or 'insisting.' I'm interested in setting up a meeting and sometimes the person I want to meet with, sees the email, but is buried under 100 more important things to do and doesn't get a chance to respond back.
Giving a quick, direct phone call
> 'Hey, I'd love to meet, I'm Kai, I emailed a few days ago, would meeting for an informational interview this Friday for 20 minutes work for you? (yes/no)'
can be a great way to get a direct response and fast.
What's the worst case? They say 'Sorry, I can't meet.' I'd rather have that direct answer than wonder about unreturned email.
My success ratio is high enough that I'm happy with this method. I don't have detailed records of how it's performed, but I'd guess that somewhere between 10% and 25% of the emails and calls I make turn into meetings. I'm really happy with that math.
Feedback is either 'Hey, we'd love to meet, how about <time>' or 'Sorry, I can't meet.'
If they say they can't meet, I either ask them if they know of a similar company they can direct me to that I can meet with or ask if they have time for one quick question (generally I ask what skill they're looking for in applicants and candidates).
I'm moving to Honolulu in November and I'm excited to double down on using this method again.
(This looks like a lot, but it usually takes me 2-3 hours all together)
I use a combination of Google Maps, LinkedIn, Googling, Virtual Assistants, and my friends.
Let's say I want to work for software development companies in Eugene, Oregon. I'd go to Google Maps and search for those (and similar) keywords. I'd make a list of companies in a Google Doc.
I'd go to LinkedIn and search for the industry in my area and see what companies match the size / description.
I'd Google for the industry and the location I want to work in. (Sites like http://siliconshire.com/ are great for Eugene).
I'd talk to my 10 closest friends and tell them the exact type of company I want to work for ("Hey Adam, I'm looking for a freelance Internet Marketing role with small (5-10) person businesses. I'm looking to work on Search Engine Optimization, Content Creation, and Social Media. I like companies that are focused on selling products, like organic soaps. Do you know of anything like that?)
I'd use a Virtual Assistant (like Fancy Hands) to automate some of this research.
Then I'd go through the list of companies I generate, visit their websites, read their blogs, and see 'Is this a company I want to work for?'
If it is, I contact them. If it isn't, I'm the wiser for researching.
(Thanks for asking! I'm about to meet with a client, so this is pretty stream of consciousness. If you have any questions, leave them here or shoot me an email at [email protected]!)
I pitch the meeting as an informational interview to learn about the industry. I let them know I'm active / looking to enter the industry and I have a few questions for a 15-20 minute meeting.
I'll check LinkedIn / my personal network / company website to find the name and title of the person that I want to meet. It's generally the owner (smaller companies) or project director / department director.
If their email address is public, I'll send them a short (~5 sentence max) email. If it's not, I'll use LinkedIn / Rapporative / Spokeo / calling the company to dig out their email address.
I'll send a short email saying something like:
(I do marketing consulting, but this has worked for my buddy who is a Python Developer, and my ex-girlfriend who does front end design)
"Hey,
Do you have 15-20 minutes free this Friday for a short informational interview? I'm a Marketing Strategist in town and I'm curious about the skills you look for in marketers in your industry.
Would you be free to meet this Friday at 1:00pm? (If that time doesn't work, just let me know when a good time for you would be).
Thanks!
Kai"
If I don't hear back from them in 1-2 days, I'd do a quick follow-up call.
"Hey, this is Kai. I sent you an email a few days ago about setting up an informational interview. I'm curious, would this Friday at 1:00pm work or would there be a better time?"
If the meeting is set up, I'd write down the top 10 questions I have about the industry and bring the notes + a notebook to the meeting with me.
My goal is to keep them talking. My goal is to learn what problems they're facing as a department / as an industry, what skills they look for in new employees / freelancers, and who is the best person to know to find about open positions.
I don't look for jobs that have been posted — my feeling is that jobs that make it to Reddit / GitHub / Craigslist / Monthly Hiring Threads, are all jobs that have been picked over by people working at (or close with) the company.
I make a list of the type of company I want to work with (I want to be paid $X, they should use this technology, I want to solve this problem or work on this project) and then I backtrace it and figure out which companies match those criteria.
Then, I contact those companies. I set up meetings when I can. My goal is to learn:
* What sort of projects they work on
* What challenges they're facing (geez, our biggest client needs _IDEA Z_)
* What skills they look for in new hires / freelancers
* Other companies in the area / tech / market
When appropriate, I tell them about my background and skills and ask who I should be in contact with to learn when new opportunities open up.
Then, I do two things
If they mentioned a huuuuge problem / pain point they're facing, I send them a follow-up email talking about the problem they mentioned, what I can contribute to solving it, and suggesting a time for another meeting.
I follow up with any other companies / people they mentioned and set up a quick coffee meeting.
Periodically, I'll check in with my contact. Nothing spammy, just an update about something relevant to their industry / problem.
Rather than fight over the same jobs that everyone else sees on 37Signals / Reddit / GitHub / HN hiring / Craigslist / LinkedIn / Etc, I want to be at the top of mind with the companies I want to work with.
Every job I've had — salary or consulting - has come from someone inside of the company calling me up, telling me about a position they have, and asking me if I want to interview. This bypasses the slog through submitting a resume and fighting against 20+ other candidates for a position. This gets me the positions I want working on the problems I want to solve.
I wrote a piece about how I'm working on habit change with reminders on my iPhone. Why HackerNews?
• Are you struggling to add a habit to your life (on- or off-online)? At my last job, I needed to force myself to take breaks / lunches and go outside.
• Are you forgetful? Do you wish you could have something else remember those little habits for you during the day?
Jumping in here to offer a bit of context to this post!
We — a collection of 13 consultants — wrote the Independent Consulting Manual (ICM) to offer advice, guidance, and direction to consultants who want to grow their business.
The ICM is based on our shared experience growing our consulting practices over the last few years. While it would be impossible to offer a 'Comprehensive Guide To Everything Consulting,' we've done our best to share strategic (ex: building a productized consulting offering, positioning your business, qualifying your prospects and clients, writing better proposals, etc.) and tactical lessons (ex: using cold email outreach, using facebook ads, avoiding late payment, etc.) to help give consultants, like you, a strong direction of the strategies and tactics available — and how to implement them in your business.
Wherever possible, we worked to go 'above and beyond' in the advice we share to make sure that it's actionable, relevant, and specific to an independent consultant who is looking to grow their business.
As Bryce Bladon was kind enough to write in the introduction:
> It would take years of experience and dozens of new and interesting mistakes to learn as much as I have from Kai and his colleagues over the first few months of knowing them. That’s what this book is: a shortcut for time, effort, and mistakes.
> If you’re someone who considers themselves an independent _anything_, then you’re probably someone who understands accountability. You understand that this book is not going to catapult you to ridiculous new heights of success as soon as you finish the last chapter.
> What it is going to do is provide proven and actionable advice. It’s going to make you reflect on how you do business and it’s going to make you better for it.
We wrote the ICM to provide actionable advice specific to independent consultants. But, much like any skill, it takes action on the part of the reader to implement the advice and, slowly, consistently, over time, improve their business to get to that next level.
I know that from when I started my independent consulting practice to when I had my first 6-figure year, it took 5 years of consistent, steady progress. With the ICM, we're offering lessons, advice, and direction to help the reader understand the steps to take to reach that point. Much like a cookbook, we're offering lessons and recipes to follow. The job for the reader is to implement, test, refine, and repeat.
Our Guarantee — We collectively stand behind our product and the quality of the information we're sharing. If you buy the ICM, read it, and find it lacking in any way, not up to your standards, or not meeting your expectations, all you need to do is hit reply to your order email and let me know you want a refund. Then I'll send you an immediate refund. (We list a 14-day money back guarantee on the website and the truth is after 14, 28, or 365+ days, if you said "Hey, you know what, I made this investment and I'm just not happy with it, I'd like a refund," I'll instantly refund you your purchase).
Am I explaining all of that well? I deeply appreciate any questions you have for me / us. I'll be checking this thread throughout the day. You can also always message me on Twitter as @kaisdavis.
Thank you!
— Kai, Editor, Independent Consulting Manual