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Articles about Leverage for freelancers

Long form content on Leverage for solopreneurs

Sep 05 2024

#44 The only x3 ways to make more money as a freelancer

  • Leverage, Productivity, Systems

FAQs from solopreneurs about Leverage

A bit of both….

When I started DH whenever a client asked me if I offered a service, I would say yes then quickly go learn how to do it and offer it to other clients:

Mastering a skill takes time, but I find if you focus properly, you can usually learn the broad strokes of most skills pretty quickly.
You only need to learn enough that your better at it than the customer.

But now that I run my own business I don’t have time to do that anymore.
Nowadays I find someone better than me and pay them to do it.

 

Things I can do well.
Web design,
coding,
IT,
networking,
brand strategy,
brand design,
copywriting,
email marketing,
social ads,
google Ads,
sales calls,
team building,
lead funnels,
automation,
offers,
finances,
public speaking
Things I talk about
Marketing.
The benefits of a lifestyle business.
Solopreneur mindset
6 figure Business Systems
Things I sell
Design services for solopreneurs.
Business coaching for solopreneurs
See how it narrows down?
Freelancers and solopreneurs wear a lot of different hats.
Successful solopreneurs are usually good at a hell of a lot of things.
It’s tempting to learn everything.
But when it comes to your personal brand, and your content, try to maintain focus.

My goal for you is to become the owner of your own business,
the only way to do that is to eventually get “off the tools” and onto higher-value work (sales, managing clients, setting up systems, lead generation)

I try to reduce my core services to offer 3 basic services which complement each other. Brand => website = SEO.

When it comes to tools…

I stick to ONE platform or ONE tool and get really familiar and quick with it.

Example, for web design, some people use Shopify, some Webflow etc.

Personally I use WordPress and Elementor and I’ve mastered those.

So if someone wants a E-commerce website or a booking website I know exactly how I’ll achieve that, what plugins to use, how they work etc.

HOWEVER skills are different.

Marketing nowadays is complex.

It’s absolutely essential that you pick up the basics of other fields that complement your niche.

You don’t need to master them but being good at copywriting is going to aid your website design.

Knowing a bit about SEO and keywords is going to help your websites rank.

Knowing a bit about email marketing will help you create a good E-commerce website and so on.

The best strategy is to try to be a T-Shaped marketer ;

Be a master at a few skills, and a novice at multiple skills that amplify the benefits of your core skill set.

Shorter articles about Leverage

So I’ve been experimenting with a new ai journalling tool.
It’s good.
Really good.

It gives reflections on your entries, in the voice of the worlds greatest thinkers like Marcus Aurelius, Steve jobs, or whomever your heros are.

What’s more,
they mentor you, it remembers past entries and reflects on them with you in a chat, like it’s therapy.

Each week you get a deeper reflection with suggestions and prompts and analysis, plus some quotes.

It really is brilliant, the advice it gives is on point, nuanced and personal.

But one thing I’ve noticed is that
Since I started using it,
Instead of me scanning my week,
Thinking about it,
Reflecting,
And making behavioural adjustments,
I’m just taking it’s reflections as my own

I’ve outsourced my thinking to the app,
I don’t think deeply about my entries at all,
I just read the reflections,
I’m learning the insights, without absorbing them through experience.

Even if the results are good,
Is it really wisdom if it’s gained 3rd hand?

I don’t think so, that’s just knowledge not wisdom.

And it speaks to a larger trend of outsourcing our thinking to ai.

As we outsource more and more of our lives to ai we are in danger of getting out of the practice of actually coming to our own conclusions,
of becoming weak-minded, and not able to even think for ourselves.

If we are no more than our thoughts,
But our thoughts are provided by AI,
Then what the hell are we?

Read more

Everyday I wake up, stretch and row 1km.
I’ve been doing it about a year.
I do it even when I don’t feel like it. Which is most days.

Here’s something interesting I noticed:
It takes me almost exactly 5 minutes.

On some days I give it everything I have.
I strain
I push
I practically poo myself.

⌚It takes me almost exactly 5 minutes (give or take 10 seconds)

On some days I don’t feel it.
When I feel I’m in danger of not doing it, I allow myself a “cheat” day,
where I put in the minimum amount of effort.

⌚It takes me almost exactly 5 minutes (give or take 10 seconds)

Sometimes putting in maximum effort makes so little difference, that you may as well show up and put in just what’s needed.
This is known as the Pareto principle or the 80/20 rule:

The exact ratio doesn’t always hold,
But the law applies across almost all of life and business:

80% of your leads will come from one source
One client will be the source of all your woes.
Spending 20% of the budget will achieve 80% of the results.

Where else can we apply this principle in your life and business?
Where can we put in less energy for more results?

The answer seems easy.
Just do more of the 20% and less of the 80%.
Telling them apart is the tricky bit.

Concentrate on the vital few vs the irrelevant many.

The least amount of effort, compounds into the same result as “giving it your all” if you keep it up long enough.

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If you want a simple life,
spend extra to work with competent people.
Here’s what happens when you work with people who aren’t competent.

  • They expect you to solve all their problems
  • They don’t follow up
  • You have to take on responsibility for the project
  • They aren’t able to run through a repeatable process
  • They aren’t able to respond succinctly to questions
  • They aren’t able to deal with unexpected situations
  • You need to explain the same thing several times

Sometimes this seems to be 80% of people.
This is fine.

But occasionally you will meet people who ooze competence. When you work with competent people, your life is easier, smoother, less stressful.

  • Here’s how to spot them.
  • they don’t use lingo or jargon.
  • they don’t waste time.
  • they can summarize succinctly.
  • they are organised.
  • things happen correctly.
  • things happen with polish.
  • they assume responsibility
  • things get finished.
  • things happen seemingly by themselves
  • you don’t need to spend time hand holding
  • you don’t need to tell them the next step

seek out and spend extra to work with competent people.

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If you are a freelancer, you are a knowledge worker.
Knowledge is the new gold.
Your knowledge = your work.
So gain more knowledge.
Read.
Read like a mofo
Then go read some more.

Reading is the path to a better life

Read more

More topics for solopreneurs

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