Why A Freelancer Must Have An Education Budget

How Mentoring Benefits Your Freelance Business

 

Let’s face it - you are perfectly capable of figuring it all out on your own.  The web offers a wealth of information on virtually any subject you want to learn.  Why would you want to think about paying for education or mentoring?  

Below are several possibilities.  Do any of these fit your situation?

You are serious about your business

You want to be effective. Find someone who has achieved the level of success you seek.  You avoid the pitfalls they point out.

You want to achieve results as quickly as possible

Instead of taking the scenic route, you want to find out what others discovered the hard way. Find someone who has done it.  You learn how to advance quickly.

You want accountability

Walking this road alone is hard.  A mentor who provides accountability will call you out on time wasters like too much email or social media – or your lack of focus on one main thing until the process is performing solidly.  You stay on target.

You are stuck

This is probably the biggest reason people seek a mentor.  Businesses at all levels experience plateaus.  Getting  someone who isn’t personally involved is valuable to gain perspective and ideas.  You save valuable time and resources and move forward again.

What are your mentoring options?

There are quite a few options to get direction in running your business.  There’s something to fit all budgets.

Books are the easiest form of mentoring you can engage.  If your budget permits, you can find almost any book online. 

You may also find relevant books at the library, depending upon the size of your library.  Some are available free online, if you know how to find them.  

You can study on your own time.  On the other hand, authors are rarely available for questions. 

Classes require availability at a certain time.  You can ask the teacher questions.  You can get feedback by doing assignments.  Accountability is available at differing levels. 

If you must drive a long way, it disrupts your schedule for several weeks.   

Class costs vary by length, frequency,  and quality.

Conferences can be great for focused learning in a short time.  Being in a room (or arena) with a lot of people who want the same thing is powerful.  You come away enthusiastic and ready to take on the world.

You may or may not be able to get questions answered depending upon the size of the event. 

Be prepared for conference let-down, because that high doesn’t last forever.  Costs can be prohibitive because it’s not just the event but often the additional costs of meals, lodging, and transportation.

Workshops are like mini-conferences.  Smaller in nature, there can be time to practice the concepts, and you should be able to get questions answered. 

These also vary in cost with the possible added burden of food, lodging, and transportation to factor in.

Webinars are the online version of a conference or workshop.  Often a shorter, focused event, it may feature a question and answer session at the end.  

Price varies, but is more affordable without transportation time and costs to factor in, nor lodging. 

Some webinars are available the next day if the time isn’t convenient for you.  You often lose the opportunity to interact with the teacher, but it's better than missing out entirely.   

Online conferences usually are a series of webinars.

Online courses vary in length, value, and price.  From free to many thousands of dollars, many successful people offer their knowledge through videos and other content through a private section on their website.  

Often the most convenient, you also usually have a way to get questions answered.  Some courses provide assignments to practice.  

Some provide a coach or mentor to go over your results or create an action plan with you, with some level of accountability.  The ones with accountability are more expensive, especially if they’ve been around for a while.

Direct mentoring costs the most.  One-on-one mentoring means getting expert advice directed to your situation.  If you have selected wisely, this is the most beneficial mentoring.  You don’t have to waste time getting bases covered all over again unless you have a weakness to be addressed. 

Depending upon the mentor's level of expertise, you could be talking $50,000 or more for a single session.  Cost could be considered a downside.

Return on Investment

When looking at your mentor investment options, look at the return on investment.  When you are starting out, the idea of paying for a $10,000 business conference feels crazy.  Struggling to break $100,000 is a big deal.   

Could your investment in that conference show you how to get to $500,000 this year?  Could you return with a roadmap to scale to a million?  At that point, you’ll be looking at the $10k price tag and asking, “Is that all?”

Set Your Budget

Tai Lopez, entrepreneur, offers this practical recommendation.  Set aside 3% of your income for education.  As your income goes up, so does the quality of education you can afford.  

If you can afford  a high-powered business seminar like Tony Robbins’ Business Mastery when you are just starting out.  If you implement what you learn, you will have a huge jump ahead of others just starting out.  The return on investment will  likely shock you.

Never stop being hungry to learn.  Mentors wisely chosen will be worth so much more than you pay.

Weekly Challenge

This past week was about finishing as much of my homework as possible for the Joshua Boswell workshop last week.  I finished all but 30 pages of the reading.  Now I’ve been assigned two more books to read!

I signed up for his 12-week mentoring program.  Yes, I could do it on my own, working with the workshop materials.  However, he has a process to make it faster PLUS accountability.  I need my feet kept to the fire at this point.  This will help me focus.  The 12 weeks start next Monday.  

In the meantime, I will be developing my information packet.  Some people call it a credibility packet.

The logo process is resuming.  I didn’t have time to work with the edits last week.  I want to get that finished this week so I can use it in my packet.  I want to do the writing for my webpage as well.

I have two questions for you:

What are you doing to move your business forward this week?

Is this blog useful to you?  Please comment below and let me know what topics you’d like me to cover.

Want to Save Time and Frustration Starting Your Freelance Business?

Flexibility vs Rushing It Through

I was sitting in the bank.  My bank guy was on vacation.  It turns out switching company names on my accounts wasn’t the simple thing it was supposed to be.  It required closing old accounts and starting completely over.  I learned this ensures important details are all there, avoiding a tax nightmare down the road.  Joy.

The Joys of Switching Mid-Stream

Starting a business is complicated.  Many decisions.  Time and focus intensive.

Deciding the type of business structure is important.  I chose sole proprietorship initially because I didn’t understand the value of a higher level of protection from frivolous lawsuits.  I also didn’t feel like I had the resources to invest in creating an LLC.

Therefore, I’m starting over.  Somehow, I missed that someone had the LLC version of my company name.  

Starting over as an LLC feels a bit like new because the name is different.  I feel just as uncertain in the technicalities as I did when I started my sole proprietorship last fall.  That’s leading to a problem.

“Should Be Simple”

I feel rushed.  Stressed.  That’s a problem because I’m less likely to take the time to:

•         Figure out every detail in advance
•          Research every option
•         Know where to find the answers for those details

Since I didn’t get far down the self-marketing route, it should be a simple matter to change my company name. 

Yeah.  Not so fast!   I feel more than a little dismayed at the time I’m spending on admin stuff right now.  

What I Didn’t Expect

Changing my name changed the way my company feels to me.  Certain aspects are the same, like copywriting for the personal growth niche.

Copy By Design felt purposeful.  Carefully designed.  Upscale.

Words To Soar By, LLC feels very different to me.  

When I came up with it, I was just trying to nail down a name.   I just wanted to get that professional email set up.  I didn’t expect to revisit the other details.

I should have expected the logo questions.  Things like framing the company purpose.  Tagline.  I just didn’t realize they should change.

I didn’t realize the impact of the name change until I was trying to order the logo.  This name feels powerful.   The delicate, classy script no longer fit.  The tagline needed to change.  The logo needed a picture. 

Flexibility meant realizing it wasn’t the same and changing the feel of the logo.  Winging it meant trying to zip through a simple name change without other adjustments.   I needed to slow down.

Worth the Extra Time

Being prepared means confident follow through rather than rushed decisions I might regret later.   I’m finding I prefer to have the patience to work through it first.   

Weekly Challenge

This past week was about finishing as much of my homework as possible for the Joshua Boswell workshop this week.  

The logo process has started.  I have peeked at the website building process, but hurrying to purchase a domain isn’t going to mean a live email address until I make the website live, I think.  I need to slow down and not rush that process either.  I’ll probably wait until after the workshop. 

What are you doing to move your business forward this week?

Networking: Beneficial or Waste of Time?

What I Came to Appreciate About Networking

Last October, my husband and son drove me to the airport.  On the way there, I told my husband I wanted to go back home.  Why?  

I was petrified.

I was supposed to fly to Florida for a conference, where I didn’t know anyone.  I mean, there were maybe a handful of people I’d spoken with in a mastermind group online, but I wasn’t sure how well things would go once we met in person.  

What would I say past initial pleasantries?  Could this introvert talk and not bore someone to death? 

I could see the headline now, “Virginia Woman Bores 17 People to Death at Florida Conference.  Details at 11!” 

What’s the big deal?

There was a time when I thought networking meant using people.  It sounded like an awful thing to do, even if it was “mutually beneficial.”  It felt like something fake to avoid like the plague.  I’d much rather be genuine, thank you very much!

One day I was reading about networking and something shifted:

Networking is as simple as knowing where to go when you need something.

Did your computer lock up?  If you don’t have a computer guru on your speed dial, you’ll probably ask your friends whom they use.  Were you complaining about an organizational problem to a friend and got a recommendation for a product that simplified things? That’s all networking is. 

Not so scary after all!

Know Your Networking Style

Maybe it’s a personality thing.  Highly social people may be more inclined toward socializing.  Who would have guessed?  People who are highly motivated with a long list of tasks may see it as a waste of time.  Laid back people who aren’t into the people thing just find people stuff quite stressful.

Personality alone doesn’t determine if networking is worthwhile.  It’s the way to meet connected people.

For example, if you were a real estate investor, there are several types of people you are interested in meeting at a real estate investing networking event.  Contractors, realtors, private moneylenders, and other investors are all useful contacts.  

Different Ways to Network

Different styles of networking appeal by personality and need.

If you are a laid-back introvert, a cocktail mixer probably ranks right up there with nails on a chalkboard.  On the other hand, if you are a driven, task-oriented person, it might be perfect.  Meet the kind of people you were looking to meet - once you meet your objective, leave.  If you’re an introvert, it may be easier to go to a meeting where a presentation takes up most of the event.  If you talk to the person next to you and discover someone beneficial to know, bonus points!

Meet-Up has groups for all sorts of interests, business or otherwise.  Local chapters of the Chamber of Commerce or Ruritan Club can be valuable as well.

Conferences and special events are a great way to meet contacts in your field.  As an introvert, I enjoy the learning.  I also enjoy being in a room or stadium full of people who get my interest and know my struggles.

Social media is a great route for highly busy or highly introverted people.  It may take longer to make connections.  However, if you make the deliberate effort regularly, and you can still build a good network.

Indirect networking takes longer, but can build a satisfying set of connections as well.  Community service groups, church groups certainly aren’t about building your business.  Obviously, as a person of integrity, you wouldn’t get involved if you weren’t into their central mission.   Yet sometimes along the way, you learn a member knows someone that needs you … or just the person you need.

Dealing with Nerves

•         Hi, I’m (insert name) with (insert company name.)  What’s your name?
•         What do you do?
•         What’s your specialty? (If appropriate to learn more.) 
•         What sort of project are you working on right now?
•          May I have your card and send you some information (if they seem interested in what you do.  Follow up as immediately as possible.)

Remembering that this person may also be just as uncomfortable as you are might help as well.  They also came to meet people and make connections.   Both of you want the same thing:  find out if this is a good connection to develop.

Any time you’re around people you may run into people that don't click with you.  That’s ok.  You aren’t signing up to be best friends.  You aren’t obligated to your new contact.  You are just checking out some possibilities. Listen to your gut and follow through accordingly.  

Swallowing My Fear

My husband was encouraging as I poured out my fears.  My resolve hardened, and I got out at the airport, determined to wring every drop of joy out of the event.  By the next morning, I realized that everyone else was in the same boat.  

It felt like these were just friends I hadn’t met yet because we had a commonality - our love of words.  I decided exchanging names and home states was easy, and asking if it was their first time at the event made good stock questions.  Having those questions made me more comfortable and it was easy to make the first step with dozens of people over the rest of the event. 

Not bad for an introvert!

Worthwhile Networking

Networking lets you meet people in your field, provides potential clients for you to serve … or vendors to serve you.  You may also run into someone who becomes a mentor.  And a good mentor is priceless.

It’s good to challenge that comfort zone a little.  However you go about it, you are providing potential value to the person you meet.  If they are in need of your service, or know someone in need, and you connect well with this person, you will be on the short list of people to call.

The old cliché, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know,” still applies.  Your next great client may be at a networking event, looking for you.  Will you be there?

Have you beat the networking blues?  Please comment below with your best networking tip.

Weekly Challenge

Last week, my weekly challenge was to get the ball rolling for my new business entity so I can get a domain, email address, logo, business card, etc.  As of 15 minutes ago, I received my EIN so I can start transacting business under the new name.

This next week will be about finishing as much of my homework as possible for the Joshua Boswell workshop in a week and a half.  I’ll also be getting a new logo and purchase a domain.  I’ll probably only peek at the website building part because I think that’s more time than I have until after the workshop.  

What is your goal to move your business forward this week?

School of Freelance Hard Knocks: Email

The Email Mistake You Don’t Need to Make

Funny thing happened today.  

I was researching to see how a process worked.  One thing led to another, then another.  I found myself in a quagmire and I hadn’t even started writing.  So let me tell you what happened.  Hopefully it won’t happen to you.

The topic of today’s post is about your email address.  It can hurt if you don’t take this seriously.  I dislike that it’s a thing.  Ignore at your own risk.  

So, I learned I had a problem.  When I started to take steps to correct is, I discovered I had a bigger problem.

Where It All Started

Last fall, I opened up my business entity, a sole proprietorship.  I wanted to have some business cards to hand out at the conference I was attending in Florida in October.

I remember getting overwhelmed and not understanding business entities very well.  What I did understand was that it was easier to start a sole proprietorship.  Cheaper too, which was a plus.  I could always change it later, right?

So I was still finishing my coursework.  Time got away from me.  More classes to take.  More ways to put off the big scary thing:  asking for pay in exchange for services.  But I digress.

The more I talk to other business owners, the more I’m convinced I need to form an LLC.

A Small Detail

Why is that an issue today?  I'm dealing with email, right?  

Well, I need a domain name to deal with the email issue.  Looking into the domain issue, I discovered someone else has my business name as an LLC.  

If I stay as a sole proprietorship, I’m fine.  However, I’d rather avoid the confusion, where possible.  

I haven’t done a lot of marketing yet aside from networking on LinkedIn.  If I’m going to change my name, now is the time to do it before I have stationery printed.   I need move forward meaningfully with my workshop in a couple of weeks.  

I would have been wise to consider this last fall, but here I am.   Moving forward, feeling farther behind.

Progress Killer

So … to get my email, I need my domain.  To get my domain, I need my new business entity set up.  Instead of simply getting a domain and getting my email set up this morning, I’ve been researching business names.  

Choosing Email Wisely

Like anyone pursuing a new career, I’m busy.  Focused on important details of skills growth, forming a business entity, bank accounts, etc. - who cares what my email address is!  It’s the quality of what I produce that counts, right?

People I’m currently working with don’t seem to be bothered in the least by my email address.  Then again, it’s a labor of love (otherwise known as pro-bono.)   

Why should I worry about what my email looks like?  Turns out it could be costing me clients.

Email as a Statement

Quite a few business owners and people with hiring power talk about this.   They don’t take someone seriously without a “professional” email address.

Late last week, my new computer guru echoed the sentiment.  He added that it’s cheap to get a domain.  You don’t even have to set up the website.  Just use it to create your email.  You can even use Gmail to do it. 

But his bottom line?  People aren’t serious about their work if they don’t have a professional email address.  An email address makes a statement about a business before opening the email.  That statement could cause it to be deleted - unread.

Unfair?  Sure.  Facing a full inbox, it’s not surprising someone looks for  dis-qualifiers to tame the monster.  You don't want it to be yours, right?

Getting Out of Email Purgatory

By now, you’ve already figured out your Yahoo, Hotmail, or Gmail address isn’t going to cut it.  You need to buy their business services to use the email client you are familiar with, while presenting your best professional persona to your business contacts.  

There are some freebies out there, but user complaints suggest non-existent customer service and terrible spam filtering make paying worthwhile. The technology might not be as helpful as you are used to.  Definitely worth the time to do the research if you want to use a free option.

Oh, and choosing your business name now might be better than changing it down the road. 

Weekly Challenge

I ended up getting a used laptop last week.  I was determined to buy new.  However, my husband asked me to give a local company a call.  Listening to the owner on the phone, I was convinced a used one he had was worth a look. 

Servicing local businesses for the past twenty years, it made sense to buy from him.  Next time, I’ll probably buy new from him.

Now I need to get it set up and start working tutorials.  I get to learn programs I’ve never worked with before.  That can only help me move forward more effectively.

I chickened out of my weekly challenge this past week.  I worked on other parts of the assignment but not the calls.  I decided I’d better get a professional email address first.  What I didn’t realize was I needed to call a lawyer first.  Isn’t starting a business fun?

My weekly challenge is to get the ball rolling for my new business entity so I can get a domain, email address …. logo, business card, etc.