She’s struggling. She’s floundering. She’s desperate for help. So, what’s she saying?
Spoiler alert: It’s probably not something like, “I wish I had more organized email folders!”
via American Idol on GIPHY
But, so many freelancers are out there saying things like, “I help busy entrepreneurs organize their systems!”
If you don’t know the difference between what your clients need — and what they want — you’re not going to be able to sell them the right things. Which means… you’re not going to get the clients you want.
So on today’s episode of FreeMamaTV, you’ll learn how to tell the difference between what clients need and want — and how you’ll use that information to get those clients clamoring to hire you.
Want to set yourself apart from the crowd — and snag the best clients? Then don’t miss FreeMamaTV!
FreeMamaTV is such a good way to hone in on your virtual assistant skills, whether you’ve been doing this for years, or you’re brand new! I can’t wait for you to check it out!
Have you wondered how start freelancing today? Only read this if you want to start earning money from home NOW!
If you’ve been following along for the last few weeks, mama, you know that my path to freelancing was paved with tears. A lot of tears.
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When I finally decided that I was going to break into social media management, I had exactly no experience. I didn’t even have a personal Instagram account, and my Facebook skills were decidedly casual. I had no idea what I was doing — plus I still had this full time job that I couldn’t quit.
So, step one — even before I started looking for clients — was to read my company’s HR manual. Then I talked to my boss and told her what I wanted to do.
Now, if the idea of talking to your boss has you quaking in your boots, I get it. But I want to ask you this: Did you ask your boss if it was okay for you to start a blog or sell Scentsy? I’m guessing no.
I definitely recommend talking to your boss about starting your freelancing business, and I want to remind you that you’re not doing anything wrong. As long as you’ve confirmed via HR that you don’t have a conflict of interest, and your company’s policy allows the side hustle, you are in the clear.
My very first client was actually my boss’ husband. My boss and I made it clear that when I was at work, I was at work — working for her. I did my freelance work at night and on the weekends.
And remember, I didn’t know how to do this social media thing when I started, so I basically got paid to learn new skills. No, it wasn’t a tremendous amount of money, but I had my first client.
I learned so much about what I did and didn’t want to do, about how I wanted to run projects, about time management, and about what it’s really like to have a business. Instead of enrolling in a business course, I got paid to learn those lessons in real time.
Imagine just for a moment what it would be like to say yes. Yes, I’ll take on this project. It won’t pay a ton, and I’ll be giving up Netflix for the next month, and I’ll have to figure out a few things, but I can do that.
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Imagine what your life could look like a week, a month, or a year from now if you say yes today. Imagine if you stopped wondering how to start freelancing today, and started your business with saying yes.
When I said yes — to that first client, and to the ones immediately after — I had to say no to a lot of other things. At times, I totally undervalued the work I did, and massively undercharged for it, too.
Quick tip: I figured out pretty quickly if I hadn’t charged enough for something, because instead of feeling grateful and excited when I sat down to work, I felt resentful and frustrated. Resentment = charge more next time!
It wasn’t pretty or shiny. I didn’t know everything I needed to know. I just knew that I had to start.
That is truly the only thing you need to know, Mama. You just need to start, and you’ll have time to refine and smooth out those rough edges later.
You deserve to have the life you want — and I want to help you get there. So head on over to the Free Mama Facebook group and tell me what you’re going to do TODAY to get your business off the ground.
It’s time for some tough love, mama. I’m about to let you in on the real reason you weren’t hired!
You’ve got the leads coming in, and you’re getting on discovery calls, but you’re not closing the deal. If you want to know why, then you need to watch today’s episode of FreeMamaTV.
Let me guess: you think it’s your prices.
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I promise you that you can keep lowering your prices, and it won’t make a difference. If you want the real scoop on why you’re not getting the clients you crave — and you’re ready for some hard truths — then I can fill you in.
The good news is that once you know what’s really happening, you’ll be able to make the right changes — and finally start landing those clients #likeaboss.
Check out FreeMamaTV so you can stop playing the “my prices are too high” game — and start addressing the real issues – the real reason why you weren’t hired!
FreeMamaTV is such a good way to hone in on your virtual assistant skills, whether you’ve been doing this for years, or you’re brand new! I can’t wait for you to check it out!
Sunshine, roses, unicorns and rainbows — that’s my life, mama.
That is, you might be tempted to believe that’s my life. I mentioned last week that the final two Free Mama Meetups of the year are coming up, and I got a comment or two about how perfect my life is.
Yep, that’s me, jetting off on a whim, taking vacations left and right. No cares, no worries, just fun, fun, fun.
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Let me take you back about three years, Mama. When I was the primary breadwinner — and the Holder of the Health Insurance — for my family. When my husband worked seven days a week on his business. The business for which we had taken out a six figure loan. The business that did not pay him a salary.
We took exactly zero vacations back then.
I cried a lot.
What I said last week about the pain and the courage? Not just a story. That was my life. It was hard, and gritty, and we fought and we yelled at our kids, and we worried all the time.
So, yeah, you can choose to tell yourself, “It’s easy for Lauren. She’s always traveling and having fun and meeting people. She’s not like me.”
For a long time, I told myself that it was easy for other people.
When I was working my way through the blogging/networking marketing/secret shopper trifecta, I saw plenty of people who were more successful than I was, and when I was feeling down (which was a LOT of the time), I drowned my sorrows in graham crackers and nutella and told Justin how those people had it so much easier than I did.
(Except I was really talking to myself, because Justin was never home.)
And also, I was wrong.
Not one of those people had it easier than I did. They all had to start somewhere, with no knowledge and no experience. They all had to work really hard in the beginning, to get things going.
If you only show up for the curtain call and all you hear is the applause, you have no idea what things looked like at the very first rehearsal.
If you only see the beautiful ballerinas on stage, you have no idea what their feet look like inside those toe shoes.
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Beginnings are messy. It’s about getting started. You can refine things later — but only if you get started now.
If you still think that the beginning of my business was shiny and pretty, then make sure you don’t miss next week’s email, where I’ll show you just how imperfect the whole thing was.
I’ll break down the step by step of exactly what I did so that you can see it for yourself — and follow the same process for your own life.
Think self-promo is icky? Here’s how to change that!
Do you hate the idea of promoting yourself? Does the thought of building a personal brand make you cringe? Do you feel gross when it’s time to sell yourself and your skills to others?
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The thing is, creative self promotion doesn’t have to be hard, inauthentic, or icky. It can even be — are you ready for this? — fun. Plus, when you do creative self promotion right, it’s easy to connect with amazing clients.
If self-promo is a struggle for you, you’ll love today’s episode of FreeMamaTV, where you’ll find the best ideas for creative self-promotion that are guaranteed to be ick-factor-free.
Plus? These strategies will work wherever you want to use them — on Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn, at in-person events, and even when you’re just talking to people.
If you’re looking for a fun and easy way to attract more clients, then go check out FreeMamaTV — and see how simple and effective creative self-promotion can be.
FreeMamaTV is such a good way to hone in on your virtual assistant skills, whether you’ve been doing this for years, or you’re brand new! I can’t wait for you to check it out!
Are you curious about the secret to confidence, mama?
Three years ago, I was looking everywhere for that secret. The next webinar would have the answer. Learning this one other skill would give me what I needed. Just a little more preparation. I wanted to know how to find courage.
And in the meantime, I’d put on my big sunglasses for the drive home so the kids wouldn’t see me crying.
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I was in pain and going through the motions for a long time.
I believed the story I told myself — that I was almost ready, but not quite. That I was learning and preparing for — something.
Part of me truly believed that one day, a timer somewhere would sound, and POOF! I’d be confident! I’d be ready!
Instead, I got a different kind of wake up call, when I had a miscarriage.
It took that level of pain to give me the push I needed to walk away from my job. And that’s what I don’t want for you, Mama. I don’t want you to keep believing that there’s a secret strategy for gaining confidence and courage. There’s no magic recipe for how to find courage.
There isn’t.
And all this time that you’re putting into “learning” and “preparing” could be time you’re spending earning money. You could be doing the work instead of thinking about it. You could be gaining experience instead of dreaming about your perfect life.
Do you remember your very first driving lesson? You got in a car, and the instructor told you to put your foot on the gas.
And all of a sudden, you were driving. On roads. With other cars around you and traffic lights and (if you were really unlucky) roundabouts to navigate.
You didn’t feel ready, but you had no choice, so you clutched the steering wheel, leaned alllllll the way forward and you drove.
On the flip side, I’ve seen posts like this in our community:
SO DEPRESSED! The client wants me to do _______. I told her I’ve never done that before. She didn’t care and wanted to hire me, but I just don’t think I can do a good job, so I said no.
Mama. You are in a warm and supportive community of twenty-five thousand women. Someone in here has done exactly the work the client needs, and will talk you through the hard parts. And I can promise you that when you actually sit down, the hard parts won’t be nearly as hard as you think.
via Chelsea Handler on GIPHY
But if you push away every possible opportunity, you’ll never, ever get where you want to go.
So….how to find courage? Courage comes from inside. From taking action. No one else can give it to you. You have to decide that you want to act, and then do it.
That’s the only way.
P.S. The FINAL TWO MEETUPS of the year are almost here! If you’re an Orlando or a New York area mama, I WANT TO SEE YOU!
Income stability as a freelancer? Here’s what you need to know!
Have you heard that freelancing has to be feast or famine, mama?
Have you been told that you’ll never have a steady, consistent income unless you get a J-O-B?
Well, I’m here to tell you that you’ve been lied to.
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That’s right — it’s totally possible to achieve income stability in your freelance business, and on FreeMamaTV you’re going to learn exactly how.
Check out today’s episode for three simple tweaks you can make in your business today if you want to stop worrying about where you’ll find that next client, earn consistent money, month after month, and have the flexibility that comes with freelancing — along with steady cash flow.
Yep, you really can have the best of both worlds, and today’s episode of FreeMamaTV has the scoop.
I know it’s Halloween, not Valentine’s Day, but I’ve got to ask: what’s your idea of a romantic weekend, mama?
Does it involve racing cars? No? ME NEITHER.
Unfortunately, I married a guy who is OBSESSED with cars. His Instagram handle is @carcrazyj. And for the last few years, I’ve indulged his passion because it happened to work out with two passions of my own: Brittney Spears and Justin Timberlake. Also, our shared passion: free alcohol.
This year, however, when I got the email about the annual Formula 1 thing, I saw that the musical guest was P!nk. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love a good rock song as much as the next girl, but P!nk’s no Brittney.
So I figured we’d just… give it a pass this year. We could hang out with the kids and go trick-or-treating.
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Which worked out totally fine.
Until Justin found out.
You know that thing really young babies do, where their lower lip quivers for a few seconds and your heart just melts? Right before they begin HOWLING? Well, that was Justin.
“I look forward to this all year long,” he sobbed said in a completely rational and calm tone of voice. “This weekend is about my three favorite things: free alcohol, race cars, and time alone with my wife.”
And yes, he ranked them in that order.
You can imagine, then, just how excited I was to rush out and book tickets. But the thing is, I can’t live my best best life unless Justin is also living his. I’m not a marriage counselor, and I’m certainly not going to stand here and pretend that I know all the secrets to happiness in love, but I do know one thing of what makes a marriage work, and it’s that both people have to be happy.
I want Justin to understand how passionate I am about my business, so I brought him with me to Funnel Hacking Live back in February. Justin wants me to understand how passionate he is about race cars, so… we’re heading away for our romantic weekend. Just the two of us and approximately 73 billion race car fans.
I hear from lots of mamas in our community that they feel unsupported. “My husband doesn’t get it.” “My friends don’t understand.” “My parents aren’t supporting my efforts.”
Can I ask you when was the last time you made an effort to get into their world?
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I know, right?
Sometimes, what makes a marriage work and living your best life means making sure the people around you are living theirs. #deepthoughts
Do you need a discovery call agenda? Want to turn more discovery calls into clients and cash? Here’s how!
How excited are you, mama?
After putting in the hard work to connect with a potential client, the discovery call is BOOKED, and you are ready to rock it out!
Except that you just realized that you have NO IDEA what to say or do on this call.
Or you’ve had a handful of discovery calls, but they always end with you feeling even more confused than you were before — and with NO CLUE what to do next.
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No worries, Mama. Today’s episode of FreeMamaTV will break it down for you and give you a perfect discovery call agenda. You’ll learn:
The real goal of a discovery call
Exactly what to say and do on the call
How to address the tricky budget question
What to do at the end of the call
If you’ve been struggling with discovery calls — or putting them off because you’re confused about what to do — then you need to put this episode on your binge-watch list right away.
There’s a theory out there that the universe will keep giving you the lessons you need to learn until you really learn them.
For me, that lesson is TRUST YOUR GUT.
And along the way there were mini-lessons in how to trust your instincts: Speak loudly when necessary. Stop listening to what other people think is best for you if it doesn’t feel right. Be the boss of your business and stop doing things just because someone else did them.
Basically, all these mini-lessons eventually dumped me right back at the big one: TRUST YOUR GUT.
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This has played out in all kinds of ways in my business this year. I network a LOT, which is great, because I have plenty of opportunities to talk about the Matchmaker program and help Free Mamas connect with fabulous clients.
But every so often, someone comes along and pitches an idea or a service or something that sounds exciting… but something feels off.
Each time, I would find myself halfway down a path before I stopped, looked around, realized I wasn’t anywhere near what I wanted, and then I’d have to backtrack to find the way to where I actually wanted to be.
Again. And again. And again. Call me a slow learner.
In hindsight, these situations are so clearly and obviously crying out at me. I should have been suspicious of the “easy win.” I should have stepped up as the CEO and put my foot down. I should have recognized that someone promising overnight success was a dirty, rotten scoundrel — well. I digress. I should have learned the “how to trust your instincts” lesson at those points.
It’s easy to get caught up in the moment when that easy win is being waved right in front of you, because it’s an easy win. We LIKE easy wins. We LOVE the idea of overnight success, because instant gratification is AWESOME.
Unfortunately, it’s not real.
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Overnight success isn’t a thing. Show me ANYONE who got where they are by sitting on a sofa eating bonbons, and I’ll show you a champion bonbon eater who hasn’t accomplished much else.
Success takes work, and a decent amount of it. I know that’s not exciting, but it’s the truth.
But here’s the other side of that coin: when you’re moving in the right direction, things can actually move pretty darn quickly.
Here’s what that looks like in real life. You start getting visible in Facebook groups by listening to the discussion, chiming in with real, genuine questions, providing answers and value when possible, and making real connections with people.
You do this consistently — which means every single day — for several months. It feels like forever, but you keep showing up. And then, on a random Tuesday, you get three messages from people, book two discovery calls, and sign a client within 24 hours.
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You could truly be one conversation away from your next big win — but you’ll never get there if you keep looking for the shortcut and the easy way out.
There isn’t one.
If someone on LinkedIn is promising to pay you $400 a week for 2-3 hours of work, trust your gut, delete and block.
If someone swears they can make you a millionaire by next Friday and all you have to do is sign up, RUN AWAY.
If someone says they can get you access to the secret client nirvana, THEY ARE LYING.
The big secret to success is being willing to show up and do the work. That’s it. That’s the WHOLE secret. And that is how to trust your instincts and know the truth!
