Previous Top 20 Posts:

Top 20 Guerrilla Freelancing articles from 2009
Top 20 Guerrilla Freelancing articles from 2010

Below are the top 20 Guerrilla Freelancing articles from 2011. I hope you enjoy them and find something you may have missed over the past 12 months! The list is in no particular order

5 Fight Club Tips for Freelancers – Tweet

The benefits & drawbacks of Freelancing during the grave yard shift – Tweet

10 Creativity killers you should be watching out for – Tweet

6 Hidden benefits of being a Self Made Freelancer – Tweet

Crappy Clients: How (and when) to fire them without feeling guilty – Tweet

Social Media Ass Slapping Syndrome (SMASS™) – Tweet

8 Ways to Kick Start Your Hustle Efforts – Tweet

You and your client are dating: First impressions mean everything – Tweet

8 Days A Week: How to find an extra 24 hours for your freelance business – Tweet

7 items freelancers should back up but probably don’t – Tweet

5 Unusual questions that freelancers MUST ask their clients – Tweet

If you’re not pissing people off, you’re doing it wrong – Tweet

Top 5 mistakes of first time freelancers – Tweet

The four words that every freelancer is scared shitless of hearing – Tweet

3 Reasons you’re not making more money and how you can change it – Tweet

7 ways you can instantly make happy clients – Tweet

Bedroom Businesses: The naked truth behind building a business from home – Tweet

How to build your own guerrilla marketing strategy – Tweet

The benefits and drawbacks of being a hustler – Tweet

101 Freelance Resources you can use today! – Tweet

What were your favorite articles on the list?

I’d love to hear what your favorite articles were on the list from 2011. You can tweet out your favorite by clicking the tweet link next to the titles above or drop a message on our Facebook page letting us know what your favorite were.

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Let’s review 10 of the biggest business cliches!

#1. Thinking outside the box

If I hear someone else say “thinking outside the box” again, I’m going to jump off a building. Well, not really, but you get the point. People overuse this phrase and have beat it into the ground in recent years. Really, it’s just a failed attempt at telling people you’re creative – show them instead.

#2. It’s a win-win situation

This phrase reminds me a lot of a used car salesman. Sure, it sounds like a good idea (a win/win situation even) but I just can’t help but think that there’s a load of bullshit covered up ready to be stepped on.

#3. Giving 110%

Giving all you’ve got is something that should always be done – if you have to tell people you’re giving 110%, you’re really not doing everything in your power to be the best that you can be. Action speaks louder than words, right? So instead of talking about it, start hustling and people will take notice.

#4. At the end of the day

… you go to sleep. Yeah, this phrase is one that’ll definitely put people to sleep after using it a few times. It’s like people saying “um” during a speech – it’s filler. Condense your pitch and resubmit it again tomorrow because at the end of the day (ha), that phrase will cause people to run the other way.

#5. Low hanging fruit

I don’t even know what to say about this one. Besides the fact that it’s way overused in business, it doesn’t even give the person you’re talking to a clear understanding of what you’re talking about. Do you go after the low hanging fruits because they’re easier to get or are they considered less valuable because they’re so easy to get? Tip: don’t confuse your target audience with phrases that are open-ended.

#6. Push the envelope

If there was one phrase on the list that’s been overused the most, this one just might be it. So you push the envelope? So what? Again, actions speak louder than words so instead of trying to use witty words to convince people that you’re awesome, be proactive in your daily actions and show them instead.

#7. Knock the ball out of the park

This one is just plain dumb. Not every good play involves a home run. One home run in a game might get you (at most) 4 runs, but what if you got base hits 5 times in every inning? You’d end up 10 runs and win. Same goes for inside the park home runs, doubles, triples, etc.

#8. All your eggs in one basket

Are you the Easter Bunny? If not, stop using this phrase right now! There’s plenty of other ways to talk about being diversified with your income sources. Passive income is a great way to get started earning money in other areas, so focus on that instead of this overly used catch phrase.

#9. The ball is in your court

The ball is on the court, not yours or mine. The game is played on the same court, so why do you think that every player has their own court? Stop using this phrase now because it’s not making you look intelligent in your target markets eyes.

#10. Rome wasn’t built in a day

No shit. Neither was the hole-in-the-wall bar down the street from your house, but the length of time it takes to build something doesn’t really matter – it’s the quality you put into it that matters the most. Are you putting out the best product possible? Is your service 10 levels above your competition? If not, you need to reevaluate your freelance business in it’s entirety.

That’s what you need to focus on more than the time it takes to build something – you can build something awesome in a few hours (see WP Guerrilla for proof of that) or take months to build something and watch it crumble (see Throwing in the towel).

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Do you want to have more time?

If your ultimate goal is to get more time to do things you love, you’re going to have to change up your approach a bit when freelancing and focus on things that’ll help you achieve this goal.

First, you’re going to want to cut back your expenses a bit. Do you pay for Netflix or other subscription based items? If so, they’ve got to go. Are you eating fast food on a regular basis? Yeah, that’ll have to stop too. Do you buy a ton of music on iTunes? Spend some time listening to songs on Youtube instead, but don’t watch the videos, just listen to them – you don’t want to waste all the extra time you’re finding by watching videos all day.

Next, you’ll need to raise your rates so you can earn more money while doing less work. Start by increasing price quotes by 20-30% and see how the responses go. If new clients are still buying your services at the same speed as before, increase the pricing even more.

It’s not a bad thing to want more time to spend with friends and family, so if this is what you want to do, you’re going to have to accept the fact that most freelance businesses will need to either stay the same or increase rates while decreasing spending in order to make it work.

Do you want to have more money?

If your ultimate goal is to get more money, there’s some things you’re going to have to give up too, so don’t think you’re getting off that easy. When you’re looking at the worlds most successful people (I’m talking about multi-millionaires and billionaires), you’ll notice that they’re constantly working and moving their businesses forward, so if you’re wanting to get more money, be prepared to hustle your ass off and working 8 days a week.

First, you’ll need to stop going out to bars, the movies and brunch with friends. Actually, you’ll notice that in order to really hit strides in your monetary growth, you’re going to disappear for a while. If your friends aren’t calling your phone and asking you if everything’s o.k., you haven’t been hitting the ground running hard enough.

Next, you’ll need to cut back on your spending as well. Just like the people who want more time, Netflix and other subscription based services should be cut. The trick here though is to cut subscription services which don’t further your business (ie: Netflix, magazines, music, etc) while keeping memberships that will benefit your freelance business.

But can there be balance?

I know there’s someone reading this right now who thinks that this article is bullshit and that there’s definitely ways to balance both time and money. Hell, maybe it’s you who’s thinking that right now.

And you’re right.

Yes, you can balance both time and money but you’ll never reach the full potential on either side of the spectrum.

If deep down inside you just want to spend time with friends and family, travel, read more and see the world, you’ll find it hard to do while working 40+ hours a week on average to maintain a normal work life.

If you’re looking to put a couple extra commas in your bank account, you’ll find it hard to do when you’re constantly distracted by friends and family who want to hang out, talk, go see a movie, go to bed at a reasonable time, etc.

Staying in the middle ground is death to your spirit. It’s what we call average and I know you’re anything but average. So quit trying to be average, figure out what you really want most out of your life and hit the ground running.

You’ll love your live much more that way.

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So why do most of us fall victim to the fears we have? It cripples us and causes unnecessary timidness in our daily activities. Instead of getting out there and going after our goals, we get trapped into believing that good is good enough.

It’s never good enough.

Or at least it shouldn’t be.

So how can you turn your fear into fuel? How can you take a minute or two out of your day, acknolwedge your fears and then turn that nervous energy into the ability to stay up past 4am working, busting your ass and making sure you’re not going to fail?

Before we get to that, let’s look into what one of the biggest fears that freelancers have.

Fear of failure.

Maybe you’re the only person in your house that’s working and your entire families success weighs on your shoulders. Maybe you’ve just found out that you’re expecting a child and your current income is only enough to keep you and your significant other afloat.

Maybe, maybe, maybe.

No matter what the specifics of the fears you have are, they almost always boil down to a fear of failure.

Will I land this new job? Will I totally rock during my next meeting? What if I cannot get the rent for this month? What will happen if my main source of income suddenly dries up?

Yeah, I’ve been there.

I’m there right now actually. It’s 4am and I’m writing this post and designing at the same time (well, not at the exact same time – I obviously can’t write and design at the same time, but you know what I mean).

I’m scared too.

But what I’ve learned is that this fear that fills my mind can be a good thing.

You know the cliche “when your back’s against the wall…” right? Well, it’s something that I always looked at as just another cliche but lately I’ve really been seeing the benefits of having your back against the wall.

Instead of feeling comfortable with my life and being happy that I’ve been freelancing full time for 5 years, I’m nervous and I love the feeling. The idea of the unknown really excites me.

It scares the living shit out of me, but it also excites me beyond belief.

Fueling your freelance business with fear

So how do you use fear to your advantage? The first thing you need to do is understand that your fears are not going to break you. The fear itself is just your idealistic mind creeping into your gut and shutting down your adventurous side.

Instead of being crippled by your fear, you can use it to build up a non-stop work ethic and fuel your freelance business to new heights because you know if you don’t work as hard as you’ve ever worked in your life, your whole world will shut down.

Remind yourself every day of what you’re afraid of first thing in the morning and right before you go to sleep. Focus on your fears and allow yourself to see the fear for what it is – your mind telling you what you need to do.

Your fears are just hidden clues to what’s really most important in your life. Acknowledge the fears and recognize their power.

Instead of spending time on social media sites thinking that tomorrow will come and you’ll be able to get a project done, get off your ass and start hustling. Spend the next 6 hours knocking out a project you were putting off.

Remind yourself during this time that if you don’t get it done you’re going to go broke and lose your house, car and entire life.

Drastic? Yes.

Essential? Definitely.

There’s a reason that a lot of success stories you hear about a lot of the wealthiest people in the world involve them being poor and/or homeless, down on their luck and at rock bottom.

It’s because when they hit that wall and couldn’t back up any more, they had no choice but to fight back. Fight or flight kicks in and instead of being giant pussies, they dug their feet into the ground and pushed back.

Your fear is a bully.

The longer you pretend that it will go away if you don’t feed it, the longer it’ll be right there in your face pushing you and beating you up.

How do you get rid of bullies in school? You punch them right in the fucking face and they learn that you’re not someone they can push around.

The same is true with your fears.

So instead of allowing your fears to stop you from being successful, use it to your advantage. Remind yourself daily about why you’re fighting and never stop pushing forward.

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You can submit to more job boards, set up guerrilla marketing tactics to find more work, etc. But what about figuring out ways to make money over and over again without any additional work? Got your interest?

Passive income is a great way to earn some additional cash while still doing your current freelance work. Yes, you’ll work more hours, but you’re a hustler so why would that bother you?

The hidden truth behind being a freelancer is that you’re not truly free – you’re working for clients, bending to their needs and in essence, they’re your boss. In order to be truly free, passive income comes into play. It’s all around you, but sometimes it’s hard to see it since

Ebooks

One of the quickest ways to earn some passive income is by sharing your knowledge. I’ve personally done this with the Guerrilla Guide and One Man Army books I’ve released on this site and can say without a doubt that it’s a great way to earn some extra income.

Think about your current business and write up a guide for beginners on how they can do what you do, or go in a completely different direction and write an ebook about one of your passions – sports, painting, etc. If you pack the book with enough kick ass information you’ll be able to sell the hell out of it and build your passive income up to a respectable level in no time.

Vector/Graphic Files

How many files do you currently have on your computer right now that were built for a client but never used in production? How many times have you posted random designs to Dribbble that were created “just for fun”? Well, these files can be turned into passive income.

If you check out sites like istockphoto, graphicriver, etc. you can see how people are able to upload premium design files and sell them. Do you run your own blog? Sell the items directly on your own website and keep 100% of the profits.

Web Hosting Recommendations

This is one that I’ve currently been implementing into my business lately and I have to say that it’s a great way to get some checks in the mail for virtually zero work. If you’re a web designer and your clients don’t have hosting set up, why not recommend them to a hosting company that you like and get paid for the referral?

I personally recommend HostGator for hosting (coupon code: GuerrillaFreelancing gets you the first month for 1 penny) and get paid every time someone signs up under my affiliate link. I recommend it because I use them for my own websites so I know they’re a good company and worth the client signing up for.

WordPress Themes

I know what you’re thinking, “aren’t there enough of these damn sites out there already?”, and you’re right – there are a lot of WordPress theme companies out there. Yes, it seems like an over saturated market but then again people say the same thing about earning money by running porn websites and we all know those will never go away.

So instead of trying to build your own full blown theme company, release your own commercial WordPress theme on your portfolio website or your own blog. By doing this, you aren’t running the risk of building a WordPress theme company that eventually has to close down.

Build your own websites

If you look at this website, Guerrilla Freelancing is a perfect example of building your own website to earn some extra cash from. I write about things I know a lot about, I teach others on a daily basis and I have a blast doing it. In return, I release guides and have advertisements on the site which earn me passive income.

So get out there, build a website surrounding a passion of yours, put some ads in place and start earning yourself some passive income. Yes, the site might take a while to build and start earning money, but once it’s grown to a respectable size, the effects snowball themselves. Pat from Smart Passive Income has a TON of great information on building niche websites that you might want to check out as well.

Software Development

Everything from WordPress plugins, iPhone apps, web apps, etc. can be turned into passive income. Do you want to build your own to-do web app or how about a project management app? If you’re not able to code out something like this, link up with a developer who knows how to code and you bring your skillset the table (designing, copywriting, etc) and join forces to earn some passive income together.

Stock Photography

This is another passive income stream that I’m working on over at the inspiiired magazine website. By taking photos of textures and releasing them I am able to build up traffic and exposure for my site. Now I’m working on actually taking stock photos to release which will grow the passive income earned from the site because every shot I upload has the potential to earn money on a regular basis.

iStockPhoto is a great place to look for ideas on what Stock Photos earn the most money. Check out their popular items section and see which items you’re able to recreate and sell on your own website. Everything from business men and women to children toys have the potential to earn you cash so don’t limit yourself to only one or two types of shots.

What are you waiting for?

If you’re reading this and you’re still not doing something at this very moment to help you earn some extra passive income, what are you waiting for? Is there something holding you back from building up some nice side business income? If so, let’s talk on Twitter and see what we can do in order to get you moving forward with at least one passive income stream this week.

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Some people were fortunate enough to know the recipe early on in their lives but a lot of us have to find out the hard way, through years of struggle and doubt. There’s a lot of times that you’ll be within feet of the answer to your businesses problems but you’ll stop, turn around and go the other way.

Ready? The secret recipe to making your own luck only has two ingredients in it. I told you – simple.

Ingredient #1 – hard fucking work

If you want to get ahead in this world, you can become a snake and slither your way through the grass, biting unsuspecting people along the way, but eventually you’re going to find yourself under a lawn mower – trust me, you don’t want to know how that turns out.

So how do you get ahead the right way?

Hard work.

Anything worth having is worth fighting for, right? Then you need to get out there and hit the ground running. Learn how to kick start your hustle efforts, build a guerrilla marketing strategy, cut out the social media bullshit and put one foot in front of the other.

I know it’s not something a lot of people want to hear and maybe you don’t want to hear it either, but it’s the truth. If you look at successful people in business, a lot of them (and I mean, a lot) sleep for 4 hours or less per night, work for months on end without a single day off and are intensely focused. If you’re not ready to follow in their footsteps, don’t be surprised if you never end as far ahead in life as they are.

Ingredient #2 – more hard fucking work

What? You thought there was another magical ingredient? What you need to do is pile on a bunch of hard fucking work and then step back, stare at what you’ve done and multiply that by ten! You’re going to need to look at who you’ve got around you and cut people out who aren’t helping you get ahead. Then you’ll need to see what type of work ethic you’ve been accustomed to and totally rewire your brain.

Get some motivational quotes, print them out and put them around your house, office, car, etc. Sit down with some guerrilla marketing tactics, study them and figure out how you can use them for your business. Figure out how to build repetition into your business, get yourself an extra day per week to work and hit the ground running.

Seriously, do it now!

The truth about making your own luck

The truth is, there’s no secret formula other than hard fucking work. You want to be in the right place at the right time? Be there all the time and eventually wherever you are will become the right place. It’s that simple.

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it comes dressed in overalls and looks like work.” Thomas Edison

I know you’ve heard the phrase work smart, not hard before, right? It’s bullshit. If you’re working smart you also need to work hard as hell. The four hour work week is a mirage. For 99% of the world it’s never going to happen. You can chase that dream or you can make your own luck, work really fucking hard and turn your dreams into reality.

The choice is yours.

Need more proof?

Fast Company wrote an article titled “How to Make Your Own Luck” back in 2003. Then in 2010, Psychology Today wrote an article titled “Make Your Own Luck“.

Thanks to Rob Dyrdek for putting the phrase “Make Your Own Luck” out there on t-shirts, on t.v. etc. It inspired this article and inspired me to be up at 3am writing this article because I know what I need to do in order to win.

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#1: “This is your life, and it’s ending one minute at a time.”

The most important thing you can learn from the movie Fight Club is this – your life is ending and you’ve only got a limited amount of time to do important shit, so quit wasting it playing angry birds. Steve Jobs also said something similar to this, so if you can’t get the picture by watching Fight Club, go watch the youtube video of Steve Jobs saying pretty much the exact same thing.

Here’s the problem with most of us (myself included), we think that the world’s going to be here forever, we put off things until tomorrow and we pretend that we’re not going to wake up one morning and look in the mirror only to see a shell of our former selves. So quit waiting to do the important shit – get out there and do it now.

#2: “No fear. No distractions. The ability to let that which does not matter truly slide.”

Never let your business get weighed down by the unimportant things that come up. Yes, in the grand scheme of things your accounting is really important, but that won’t matter at all if you’re not bringing in sales. And you will not bring in sales unless you’re marketing your business and getting customers/clients.

Take some time and clean off your desk, remove unused icons from your desktop, delete old files you no longer have a need for and clean your house. By removing these unneeded distractions, you’ll free up space and give your mind more room to roam and create. Then, stop being afraid of being great and get out there and make your business grow to new heights you never even thought possible!

#3: “You’re not your job. You’re not how much money you have in the bank. You’re not the car you drive. You’re not the contents of your wallet. You’re not your fucking khakis.”

You’re a freelancer but that doesn’t mean it’s how you should define your entire life. Not only is that unhealthy, but it’s also limiting. I used to think that I had to fit within a certain group of people, dress a specific way and act just like they did but then I realized that being unique is much better for myself and for my business.

So now, instead of keeping the normal 9-5 hours, I work for around 16-18 hours a day, split up between morning and late at night when most people are sleeping, allowing me to talk with people from the US as well as around the world. Instead of wearing dress clothes, black rim glasses and weird hats, I wear loose fitting jeans, a t-shirt and a baseball cap.

What can you do that’s different than everyone else? How can you live your life so that you’re not defined by a simple title like “freelancer”?

#4: “I say never be complete, I say stop being perfect, I say let’s evolve, let the chips fall where they may.”

Learning is infinite, we do it every day. If we don’t evolve, we die. The same holds true for your freelance business. If you’re not learning new guerrilla marketing techniques and keeping up with the news and advancements in your industry, you’re going to be left behind.

Your business needs to be nurtured every day. It’s just like weight lifting for freelancers, you need to exercise and grow your muscles in order to get stronger, faster, better.

#5: “Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken.”

On the flip side of the above tip, you can do everything in your power to pretend to be a great business mind, killer designer or excellent copywriter but if you’re not able to perform, you’re just lying to yourself and others. You can dress the part (although as #3 mentions, I’d advise against it), you can learn the lingo and you can build up a front for yourself, but at the end of the day if you’re not performing like a true champion, you’ll never be able to wear the belt.

You want more?

I wrote about Marketing Tips from Tyler Durden a while back, so you can always check that out if you’re looking for more Fight Club inspiration. Oh, and read the book if you haven’t – it’s much better than the movie, and the movie is one of my all time favorites so that should just go to show you how great the book actually is.

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I have a neighbor who moved in a little over two months ago. He comes outside first thing in the morning – every morning – and sweeps the garbage, debris and leaves from under everyones carport.

He doesn’t have to, its not in the lease agreement as a requirement for living here, but he does it anyway.

In the short time he’s lived here he has built a reputation for himself as the guy who sweeps the leaves.

After a while I asked him why he does it and he said that it keeps him busy and out of the house. He mentioned that he served in the United State Marine Corps and that he had some surgeries after his time in Vietnam so he doesn’t get to do much.

Sweeping up every day kept him active and gave him a sense of accomplishment. “Plus” he said, “sitting inside all day doing nothing seems like such a waste of a good life”.

I smiled and thanked him for sweeping. Then I went back inside, knowing he is still out there continuing his daily routine.

So what does this have to do with your freelance business?

There’s magical powers in repetition

Most things in life require you to put in some effort on a consistent basis in order to see results and your freelance business is no different. Just like professional athletes train for years to become great (see Michael Jordan, Mike Tyson, Anderson Silva, etc) you need to build up your repetitions in business to grow your skill set and more importantly your reputation.

How much better are you right now at your craft compared to a few years ago? That’s due to practice and repetition. Do you want to speed up the process of getting great? It’s all done through constant repetition – every day for an entire year put in as many hours as possible to improve your skills and see how much growth you experience.

Building a name for yourself

My neighbor is forever going to be known as the guy who sweeps outside every day. You need to build a name for yourself, creating a unique selling position that makes your clients remember you over anyone else they’ve ever talked to in your field.

A ridiculous work ethic is one great way to stand out because your competition will generally follow a 9-5 schedule, so by keeping your hours open longer and being easier to reach at hours when your competitors aren’t you’ll burn an everlasting image of awesomeness in your clients minds.

Doing great work consistently pays off

Are you surprised that people who work the hardest tend to get the luckiest? It’s hard to believe but a lot of people overlook this simple technique because they’ve been overwhelmed by the dream of living free as a freelancer; following the 4 hour work week, checking emails only when you feel like it, etc.

Besides the obvious benefit of building a name for yourself, you can also benefit from repetition in different ways. So what other benefits are there from doing great work consistently?

• Your skills increase and when your work becomes well known you are able to market yourself as an expert in your field.
• Your rates increase because your skills are being sharpened and by being considered an expert, you are able to charge expert rates.
• Your clients will love the work you’ve done for them and will become Word Of Mouth marketers for your business. The better you work, the better your clients feel and the more they want to talk about you.

What are you doing right now?

Are you spending an hour or two reading through your RSS reader? Are you browsing Twitter or Facebook and looking for something to inspire you?

Stop looking for inspiration and go inspire yourself.

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We’ve been hinting at things happening around here for the past couple weeks (see our 11-11-11 post) and today we finally get to showcase the work that’s been going on behind the scenes.

So what’s new?

Well, if you haven’t seen the previous site design you can see how it looks below. As you can see, we rebuilt everything from the ground up. The logo has stayed the same but everything else has got a fresh coat of paint.

click the image for a larger view

As you can see, the new design is cleaner and more polished. It removes a lot of the visual clutter and adds more emphasis on the content that is written here. The old design was clean but it wasn’t clean enough. I also kept updating and tweaking the old layout to see what worked best so this new site design is a result of all of those tests.

What does this mean for the content?

The content will still be published without missing a beat (today’s article is going up in a couple of hours). The new design was created to give it the content a better dress outfit, it will not change the quality of the content at all.

If anything, coming here and seeing a new design will only inspire me to write more often, so keep an eye out for more great content being published.

The future of Guerrilla Freelancing

The truth is, this design is only one step in a series of events that are going to change the way you use this site forever. There’s a couple big things coming in the next couple of weeks and I’m even more excited about those than I am about the new design.

So take a minute and look around the site because you might even find a hint or two as to what’s coming (and trust me, you’re going to want to be a part of it).

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That’s where you come in.

As a freelancer you’ve got to be ready to learn at every turn, so preparing yourself with these five unusual questions that most freelancers forget to ask will help put you in a position to better your business and simultaneously grow your profits.

The reason I call these questions unusual is because most freelancers forget to ask them. We’re well aware of the questions we ask clients during the project brief but we forget to ask a few questions that get our clients talking and letting us know hidden truths.

Do you want to make your freelance business better, attract more clients and make more money? If you answered yes (you better have said yes) then you need to ask these questions to each and every client you ever come in contact with.

Why did you hire me out of everyone else they’ve checked out?

Odds are, your client shopped around before landing on you as their go-to freelancer for the job. They might have posted a job board listing, searched Google or asked their Twitter friends for recommendations. But somehow they ended up choosing you – it’s now your job to find out why.

What did you do that was so special it put you over the top with your client? It might be fast email responses, your down to earth tone or the fact that you gave detailed responses that were more informative than sales-oriented and they felt comfortable working with you because they could tell you weren’t just after their cash. Ask them and find out so you can continue to do it for future clients.

What additional services do you wish I would offer?

Sometimes we unintentionally pigeonhole ourselves into a specific job listing without really noticing the chances for expansion. For instance, I primarily create WordPress designs but have realized lately that clients are consistently asking for logo design services.

Instead of outsourcing things that I could do myself, I am now able to offer logo design services along with blog designs. There’s always going to be something that your clients wished you did (copywriting, logo design, business card design + printing, etc) so ask your clients and see what patterns emerge.

Who do you know that is in need of my services?

Yes, you’ll get the clients who love your work and brag to everyone they come across about you, but for some people they just don’t think to do it. Ask for the referral. Let your client know that you’d like to work with friends or colleagues of theirs and find out if they know of anyone who’s currently in the market for services that you offer.

When you ask, they immediately run through friends in their mind and see if they know of anyone which brings you much closer to additional deals because without you asking, they wouldn’t have even tried thinking of anyone. Want to take it one step further? Offer your client a referral bonus for each new client they send your way.

Is there an area of my business that you think I could improve on?

This is the type of question you need to pay most attention to because you can do 1,000 things right but the second you start doing something horribly wrong, you’re jeopardizing the future of your business. So ask your current clients if there’s anything they’d recommend you work on that they think would make your business better.

Most clients will find it hard to say something negative about you, especially since you’re going to do amazing work for them, but if you ask them they’ll feel more compelled to give you a response and their answers are priceless to the growth of your freelance business.

What was your favorite part about working with me?

Find out what they liked about working with you – was it your exceptionally fast response time to emails? Your creative skills? Your ability to include them in the project every step of the way? These are things you should be figuring out because if you see patterns developing in the answers your clients give you, you can identify your unique selling position (USP) for future marketing tactics.

The takeaway

Larger companies don’t take the time out to talk with their clients on a more personal level like this. Asking questions makes your clients feel more important and shows them that their opinions are valued. By being the scrappy freelancer that you are, you know this is the perfect opportunity for you to stand out and build a better business.

Remember, the more questions you ask, the more answers you will get so engulf yourself in this question process and pick your clients brains to learn as much as you can about what you’re doing right, what you should improve on and what direction your marketing can go in for the future.

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