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Get Inside Their Heads
Today, learn why the vast majority of freelancers DESERVE to fail — and then how you can be in the rare 1% who earns $1,000+
You’ll learn:
1. How to crush the “No” instinct of your customers
2. Why getting to “Yes, I’ll pay you” happens far before you ever ask
3. How to get deeply in your customers’ heads
4. How I charge a consulting fee of $1,200/hour
I know you’ve been thinking about the different skills you have that you might be able to turn into income. Take a second and think about your potential offering: You want to be a freelance project manager? Or a graphic designer. Maybe you’re good at communications or soft skills? Even engineering.
Now that you’ve got that in your head, let’s tackle today’s lesson on why most freelancers keep hearing “No, I wouldn’t pay for that” over and over…and how you can find customers who will help you earn your first $1,000.
* * *
Do you notice a problem with these freelance ideas?
A short while ago, I asked readers to do the following quick exercise on the IWillTeach blog:
What will it take you to get your first 3 freelance customers?
1. My specific customer is someone with this problem: _________.
2. My prospective customer spends time researching the problem / solutions in these 3 places:
1)
2)
3)
3. One way I can break in to one of the places above: _________.
4. My opening line in an email to them: __________.
People spent a lot of time writing detailed responses on the type of freelance businesses they were going to try to do.
There was just one problem.
Nobody wants your services!!!
“But Ramit,” you might say, “I swear — there are people who want to take dance lessons / hire a freelance tech person / get social media marketing help for their small business!”
True. They might accept your dance lesson, or tech help, or marketing advice, if you offer it as a volunteer service. For free.
But are they willing to pay?
You know that uncomfortable feeling you’re getting right now? Where you have an idea of what you want to offer, but aren’t really clear on how to get clients to:
- Pay you a competitive rate (over $25/hour MINIMUM, and in some cases well over $100/hour)
- Pay you consistently (so you’re not just doing one-off projects and constantly looking for clients)
- Refer you to other customers who will pay
You’re going to learn how to do exactly this.
How to overcome the automatic “no”
When people get approached as customers, their default response is “no.” “NO, I don’t want it.” “NO, I don’t want to pay for it.” “NO, I don’t want to pay that amount for it.”
Think about it. What if someone pitched you on paying them to be your personal trainer ($75/session), personal chef ($800/month), or project manager ($900/month). What would you say?
The default answer is no — even if you really WANT a personal trainer!
But there’s something even worse about the responses on my blog post.
They made the mistake of thinking about themselves first, and their customer last.
Today we’re going to go over how you can get around “no” by truly understanding supply and demand, and using it to turn your freelance service into a freelance business.
Many times, you can get around “no.” Every successful freelancer has to figure this out, otherwise their business would be a charity.
But it would be easier to fight an entirely different battle altogether…one where people actually want to say “yes” to you.
Rapid case studies: Avoiding the cardinal sin of freelancing
The first step to getting around “no” is to get inside your customers’ heads — not just people’s heads, but potential customers who are willing and able to pay you. This will help you understand the supply-demand relationship between what you can offer (supply) and what the market really wants (demand).
Supply = what you offer. Most people can write up a fairly standard page on what they offer.
Demand = what people want and are willing to pay for. Nearly 50% of the freelance ideas I’ve seen completely neglect this.
It’s natural, after all…you’re so busy thinking about your own features and offerings that you forget about the one person you’re really trying to serve: your client. What do they want? Why? What are they afraid of? How will they find you? What have they already tried?
Example:
IDEA: “Promotional video commercials for local nonprofits.” On first thought, it seems like an OK idea, right? Non-profits can probably use all the help they can get!
Why nobody wants this service: Local nonprofits are not a target customer for high-budget, resource-intensive creative video work. They may accept it gladly as a gift, but don’t EVER EVER think that this will become a business that will get you to your first $1K. No matter how good you are at commercials, no matter how easy it is for you, you’ll never make $1,000 doing this.
BETTER IDEA: “Promotional video commercials for engaged couples to ‘Save the Date’ for their wedding.
Why somebody wants this service: Think about a newly engaged couple. SIT DOWN AND THINK ABOUT THEM. Really! They’re in love…they want to enjoy their engagement and tell all their friends about it.
She wants to show off her ring! He wants to get dressed up, but not do something too girly. And they’re willing to spend money — it’s their special time, after all. In fact, they’re ACTIVELY LOOKING FOR WAYS TO SPEND MONEY to show how special their engagement is. Since their wedding will be many tens of thousands of dollars, a $500 or $1,000 project is nothing. My friend Chris has actually implemented this idea, and he’s well on his way to $1K+ because of it.
Do you see the difference?
The engaged couple actually wants what you’re offering. Instead of trying to convince them to do it at all, you can spend time helping them pick the best video options. Compare this to the non-profit (or many other freelance ideas), where you’ll offer something they don’t want and waste 6 months trying to convince them to pay you. Not gonna happen.
Now let’s tackle another one.
REALLY BAD IDEA: “My specific customer is someone with this problem: A low-to-mid income parent looking for ways to supplement his/her interested child’s visual arts education (”My kid really seems to like art, but I’m no good at it” or “Have no time for it.” mentality).”
Why nobody wants this service: Do you see it already? The answer is right there in the description of this idea.
This “customer” will never, ever pay for this service because (1) they don’t even know they have a problem, (2) they’re not aware of any paid solutions. There’s also another thing…OH YEAH, they are low-to-middle income. Even if they wanted to use this service, they can’t afford it!
If you’re thinking, “Well Ramit, that’s really harsh…how do you know?” then you have to put yourself in your customers’ head.
Think about a low-income mother or father. Of all the challenges in their day, do you think they’re thinking of a way to “supplement” (??) their child’s visual arts education? How much would they pay for this?
If your target buyer is a ‘low-to-mid income parent’ and you are selling something that is not part of what most people consider to be absolutely core childraising activities, then seriously consider offering it as a charity and forget about getting to your first $1K.
Honestly, it’s a noble idea. But it’s simply what someone thought about off the top of their head (supply). There is no demand, and if your immediate goal is to earn $1,000+, you should steer clear of this and focus on another idea. Later, you can donate part to charity or expand for community service.
A better idea: This person would be better off targeting higher income parents who have both capacity AND willingness to pay. Think like a parent. Are most parents concerned only with their children’s unfufilled interest in visual arts? Maybe some are. A very few. But for most, it’s not a core concern, and they’re concerned about a lot more things. (By the way, parents are willing to pay a lot for their kids’ well-being. Just not for this.)
Get inside your customers’ heads. What do they care enough about to pay money for it?
How I got inside my customers’ heads
This one is counter-intuitive.
When I first started I Will Teach You To Be Rich, I could have started writing about all financial topics under the sun. There are literally hundreds of thousands of topics, and millions of people that I could try to cater to. I didn’t do it that way.
Instead, I intentionally excluded certain groups of people because I knew that I didn’t want to write for a mom with 2 kids looking to save money on coupons. It’s fine to be a mom with kids, but I don’t understand them very well (I’m not a mom), nor are they my target, nor does my writing style really appeal to them.
It takes guts to decide who you’re NOT going to serve. But picking the right customers will help your income skyrocket
A lot of people emailed me saying they wanted to offer computer services as their freelance idea. This is a great area. But who are you targeting, specifically? Are you just selling blindly to “everyone?” Or, have you determined a specific niche? Who will you intentionally exclude?
If the answer is no one, then you’re in grave danger.
The secret to commanding rates as high as mine is in defining a highly specific niche, and intentionally excluding everyone else.
Cater to the lowest common denominator, and you’ll have to price your services that way too. Cater to your niche, and your service becomes not only unique but scarce as well. Uniqueness and scarcity work hand-in-hand to drive up your rates.
How I charge $1,200/hour
I’ve never revealed my consulting rate publicly, and I rarely take on consulting clients. But I want to share the number with you to illustrate how it can be done.
I currently charge clients $1,200/hour for highly targeted consulting services to grow their business.
Part 2 of a consulting contract I recently did
They see these fees as an investment in solving their business problems, and they’re willing to pay an extraordinary fee to get there. I require them to sign multi-month agreements (because you can’t get much done in a month). I require that they meet me in person (and charge them).
And they eagerly pay.
Again, the key here is that I only target a very specific type of customer who knows they have a problem, and have a willingness to pay to solve that problem. I don’t consult for everybody, and I turn down 99% of requests, even when people are willing to pay tens of thousands of dollars.
The takeaway here is that nobody starts out earning 4-figure hourly rates, but getting there starts with finding people who know they have a problem, and have the willingness to pay.
Business is about finding people who KNOW THEY HAVE A PROBLEM and HAVE THE WILLINGNESS TO PAY.
REPEAT: Business is about finding people who KNOW THEY HAVE A PROBLEM and HAVE THE WILLINGNESS TO PAY.
Does your freelance idea have potential customers who recognize they have a problem?
If you asked them, would they say, “Yeah! That’s been bugging me for MONTHS! I would do ANYTHING to get rid of that (or “fix that” or “get MORE of that”)?
If you asked them about their willingness to pay, would they say “yes!” in so many words? Will they have tried to solve their problem by buying other services/products that just didn’t work? Will they have a dollar value in mind — even if it’s low — suggesting that they know they’ll have to pay?
Or will they look at you blankly because they’d never, ever pay for the service you’re mentioning?
What you’ve learned today: Supply + [ the missing piece ]
Supply and demand.
Everyone has tons of ideas (supply) — but ideas don’t sell
- I want to teach people how to do online marketing.
- I can teach artists how to market their art.
- I will help small businesses start their own blogs.
But what about demand? Where’s your paying customer?
- Who needs online marketing, and who’s willing to pay for it? Do most people even know what “online marketing” is? Or are they mostly mom-and-pops who think “this should be free”?
- Does that artist have any extra money to pay you? How many other artists are out there who are willing and able to pay for your services?
- Does that small business really need a blog? Why? Where exactly are you going to find this business? And how are you going to find more businesses like that?
After reading this, you can do 1 of 2 things:
- Skim this, say, “that was interesting,” and not adjust your own freelance idea
- Sit down and carefully re-adjust your ideas to earn more so you’re targeting customers who know they have a problem, and have a willingness to pay
Here’s what a couple of our Earn 1K alumni had to say:
“I’m now being paid $1000/month for about 5 hours+ work a month. My next goal is to make this client very happy with my work and get an awesome referral (with my help) from him.”
–Justin Lam, Earn1k alum
“It isn’t just throw something in the air and see what happens, it’s weeks of building things and trying things… that totally changed my view. Everything is a test. Just because a pitch didn’t go through doesn’t mean I suck — emphasizing that system made it doable for me, and that’s what I got out of Earn 1K.”
–April Dykman, Earn 1K alum
* * *
To-Dos
Earn 1K is all about taking action. I don’t want you to just sit back and passively read strategy after strategy. I want to make sure you get something out of this – even in just a few days.
Today, take a few minutes and share your answers to these questions in the Comments:
1. Why do so many people focus on their services (supply)…but neglect the market (demand)? Your three best guesses here.
2. What’s one example of what we talked about today: an entirely me-focused freelance offering?
3. How can you apply the principles of today’s lesson to your own freelance idea? (Get really specific.)
1. Why do so many people focus on their services (supply)…but neglect the market (demand)?
- We are ‘egocentric entities’ that put on first plane the ‘I’ (In other words supply / offer) before anything else and forget what do people needs (Demand).
-Now at days so many people are PhD’s in Nanotechnology, Rocket scientists, PHP or SAP gurus or MBA’s, e-marketers or simply Masters of blogging. This creates a high specialization but at the same time a narrowing of vision, we just think about that we are great on such a specific theme and we can SUPLY the best product, service knowledge database for such a topic. Then we get an extreme harsh time trying to come back to reality and see that normal people have different DEMANDS.
-Wimpy arguments such as: Lack of ……..( your best shot: Time, interest, resources, imagination)
Q1.
1. Pride in their idea
2. Desire to make a profit
3. Cost control of their idea
Q3.
Understand my target customer and turn away from customers that do not meet the criteria
Q1. Why do so many people focus on their services (supply)…but neglect the market (demand)?
1.)They only see dollar signs and pay little or no attention to the demand.
2.)They think the demand will automatically be there when the supply is created.
3.)They don’t understand how supply and demand actually works.
Q2. What’s one example of what we talked about today: an entirely me-focused freelance offering?
That would be the idea of offering art education to a low-middle income family.
Q3. How can you apply the principles of today’s lesson to your own freelance idea?(Get really specific.)
I’ll have to take a look at my skills and interests and figure out where there might be a demand that will fit my supply.
Q1:
1)we get caught up in what we want to do
2) Because we tend to only focus on all the possible things we could do
3)Many never move past this “what do i want” stage
Q2:
Renaissance Art lessons for low income children
Q3:
Go down the list of freelancing ideas and see who the target market is and if i could change that to people who actually CAN and WANT to pay.
Q1. Why do so many people focus on their services (supply)…but neglect the market (demand)? Your three best guesses here.
My guesses are these, and they are all about myself:
1. since we are the service providers, in most cases we don’t need the service we perform, so we can’t see it from the customer’s perspective;
2. since we don’t need the service, we have no clue how the competitors approach the customer;
3. from my own experience, my customers have completely different profiles, I can’t see a pattern.
2. What’s one example of what we talked about today: an entirely me-focused freelance offering?
My own freelance work… I get a small but steady amount of work from one single customer, I can’t figure out how to break through and get more customers. Currently I’m tied to the short time I have available, apart from my regular job, and I try to improve my skills. I’m stuck.
3. How can you apply the principles of today’s lesson to your own freelance idea? (Get really specific.)
Make a website (not a blog) targetting big companies, not individuals.
Well, I was fairly interested in your site, and your newsletter, was just about to add you to my feed notifier, until you sent me the link to this post, and what do I see but:
“It’s fine to be a mom with kids, but I don’t understand them very well (I’m not a mom), nor are they my target, nor does my writing style really appeal to them.”
Interesting that someone who seems to think of themselves as quite forward thinking would be so limited in their thinking (read: narrow minded).
As an entrepreneurial mother with kids, who thought she liked your writing style, I was very disappointed to see that in print.
Just saying.
1. Why do so many people focus on their services (supply)…but neglect the market (demand)?
i. Self-centered assumptions: – I am good at something. I like this something, therefore other people will too. How could they not, my idea is great
ii.Fear of failure: – It is easier to live life convinced that you possess a wellspring of untapped potential than it is to actually find out. “I could have been a contender” is easier to live with than “I was knocked out in the first round”. There was an interesting New York Times article about this recently.
iii. Misdirected Self-confidence: – People with the self-confidence necessary for entrepreneurship are just that… self confident. Believing that the world needs your product/service because you thought it up is par for the course.
2. What’s one example of what we talked about today: an entirely me-focused freelance offering?
Companies who advertise their web/application design services by discussing their development methodology (agile vs. scrum vs. traditional etc) and/or their development tools (we are a Ruby on Rails shop/We are hand coders/We make *** templates with *** content management system). Most clients neither know what the design co. is talking about, neither do they care. It is as black box process as far as most of them are concerned. An idea goes in. A finished product comes out the other the end.
3. How can you apply the principles of today’s lesson to your own freelance idea?
i. I must accept that the people who can afford my services expect an approach radically different from the one I am providing.
ii. I have to stop chasing the small businesses who haggle over every line item
iii. I basically have to completely change the way I look at what I do
Q1:
1. The undeveloped skill of listening. I’ve learned this the hard way!
All I have to do is stopping talking (selling) and start listening (problem solving) to my clients–they tell me everything they need, want and will pay for.
Q2:
Consultant says: Developing a strategic online marketing plan that includes, keyword research, SEO, SEM, Social Media marketing and monthly, detailed Google Analytic reporting.
Q3:
Small Business Owners say: How I can my restaurant become the “Big Fish,in the local pond? How can I get more customers on the week nights? What are the most cost effective ways to build my brand and get free advertising? What do I have to do generate more walk in traffic?
That my USP!
I need to ask the right questions, stop talking, listen more and then ask more questions.
Thanks Ramit
Nanette
1. Why do so many people focus on their services (supply)…but neglect the market (demand)? Your three best guesses here.
It is easy to come up with a valuable idea and expect others to perceive it the same.
2. What’s one example of what we talked about today: an entirely me-focused freelance offering?
Providing data mining, predictive analytics, and machine learning services to medium-to-large size companies with lots of data.
3. How can you apply the principles of today’s lesson to your own freelance idea? (Get really specific.)
Often larger websites need to know which of their content draws the most unique visitors. Moreover, which content leads a user to click on more of their content. I have these skills: to tell a company, you need to quit focusing on X and start focusing on Y more. Your users don’t care about X as much as you think, but they really want to hear more about Y!
In fact, this exercise has gotten me to think about my target market a little more. Many companies collect a lot of information about their users through profiles but not enough. Encouraging relationships with their users through Facebook, Twitter, etc allows the company to collect more information.
This is great, Ramit. Thanks.
1. Why do so many people focus on their services (supply)…but neglect the market (demand)? Your three best guesses here.
For me, it’s really a matter of finally being rid of the dread I face getting up every morning to go to sit in a cube all day. I focus so much on pleasing my bosses that I can’t do anything but think of myself the rest of the time. When I get home from work, I do anything to keep my mind off of that dreadful place.
So naturally, with respect to freelancing, I’m subconsciously looking to offer my customers something that will serve ME better, not anyone else. Taking a step back, of course, it makes no sense to be so selfish. The selfishness clouds out the only way to get away from it: to provide sincere value for others in what they demand. It’s a huge hurdle someone like me needs to jump before getting anywhere.
Other guesses: Worrying about the next big thing and only focusing on moving your client in the direction that everyone else is going, rather than taking a step back and thinking about what clients actually want.
Narrowing ourselves down to focus on one thing (target audience, demographic, etc…) is freaking scary… we perceive it to be a limit to what we’re capable of, but it’ll really just make it easier for us.
2. What’s one example of what we talked about today: an entirely me-focused freelance offering?
I want to make instrumental music for people, stuff that they’d love to listen to in the car, working out, or studying. Music that would serve different purposes – from chilling out to party music to introspective (“me time”) music. I want to make music that I, and the customers, can love.
I’d also love to make music for short films and video games.
3. How can you apply the principles of today’s lesson to your own freelance idea? (Get really specific.)
First, with respect to the listening side of my music making business, I’d need to settle on a genre or two. Right now, I’d categorize my music as indie/experimental jazz peppered with electronica. I’d want to obviously gain some ground with listeners of that genre, which contain people sick of the garbage recycled over and over on the radio and tv. So right there, I know that my demographic will not be suited by people 35 and up (who are likely not very musically exploratory), nor are they likely younger than 18 – all they can probably listen to is the radio and watch tv.
I don’t care for the classic – make music, play, get noticed, hope to god I get signed, then repeatedly get fucked by a record label. Though it would be awesome for my ego, and I’m sure it’s difficult, it’s not the path for me. I’d like to self promote, network with other DIY musicians, perhaps learn how to play live.
The customer would already be spending his money on music. He’s a true music fan – not a casual listener. He’s most likely always on the search for new and exciting music. I want to tell my listeners a story. I want to take them on a journey, similar to that of reading a book or watching a movie. Someone who will take time out of his day to sit down and enjoy music, whether it be in the car, at the computer or in bed, not just put it on as a stimulus (white noise) to get through the day (as many people use radio for). The customer will appreciate music for more than just the music, for the experience. He’s someone who lets the music take him over, makes him forget, if just for a moment, all of his problems.
My melodic music is intricate, very heavy on details and never boring. On the other end, it never reaches a point of being so “out there” that it loses people. I want to wow listeners with a new brand of music, but not alienate them.
I want my customers to feel free to share my music with each other – a core belief that I will always hold. I think that the so-called “Radiohead” model is a genius idea, though I will likely alter it a bit. I want people to pay for my music, otherwise, I obviously wouldn’t make any money. Bandcamp is still the way I’d like to distribute it, allowing for full, high quality track trials, and then setting a base price for the downloads and letting people pay what they want, devoid of DRM. My customer is smart, he is well aware of the problems currently plaguing the music industry.
Can I get a link to where I can buy your music? It sounds exactly like what I’ve been looking for.
1. I think most people just keep contemplating on the services and skills we can provide. We think it is value added to the client. We focus on adding features or changes that WE think would be good for them and the customer may not care what you think. Lastly we are lazy by creating a service and wait for the money to come in versus trying to find paying clients.
2. Taking on ANY program management consulting work.
3. Offer customers to breakdown their big ideas into manageable work packages. My specific customer are startups who have grand ideas but sometimes can’t manage the work load.
Most people don’t think in terms of customer demand because:
a) self-focused
b) it’s easier to think of their skills rather than put themselves in someone else’s heads
c) no one taught them to do so
A totally self-focused idea? I’ll teach people how to write the first draft of a book in a week with an online writing class.
Problem with that? It worked for a while but it’s not always clear to potential customers why it’s a valuable tool and even if they do see the value, there are (now) too many online writing classes being offered for very little money or for free.
Customer focused idea: Teach gifted students in private high schools how to write essays that will get them high grades in school and increase the odds of getting accepted at their dream college. (Parents are desperate to get kids into good colleges and the more affluent the more it matters to them.)
1.
We grew up to not care. If not we than I, I know I never gave a of what the teacher taught. Thought.
I had other guesses, and they all came back to the absurd overfocus on input instead of output.
2.
I’ll say this: Grant to Hollywood the right to show me.
3.
Focus on the acknowledgeable and buying crowd…Beginning by the end. Imagining the succesfull sells, observe and restructuring my sales pitch around it.
Hey Ramit,
Where is the how? Great information but how do I find out what my target customer wants? I’m developing an android app for smart phones and while I think its a cool idea that 18-30 year old people will pay for, how do I find out if that’s what they want and will pay for? It doesn’t solve a “real” problem however its an app that stimulates social interaction.
Why do so many people focus on their services (supply)…but neglect the market (demand)? Your three best guesses here.
I think because most people never learned to do this- certainly not me. This is an entrepreneurial idea and college teaches us to be employees. I do love this idea.
What’s one example of what we talked about today: an entirely me-focused freelance offering? = well my idea is me focused because I want to help kids overcome math anxiety but I haven’t focused on what the parents and kids might want.
How can you apply the principles of today’s lesson to your own freelance idea? (Get really specific.)
1. Target private schools in the area where parents already willingly spend money to get their kids good education
2. Let parents know how this will help their kids improve test scores and improve ability to get to college of choice.
3. Let parent’s know that the confidence building I employ will translate to all areas of a child’s life including sports, public speaking, test taking and social abilities.
1. Why do so many people focus on their services (supply)…but neglect the market (demand)? Your three best guesses here.
Don’t know about others, but my focus when I started consulting, was to focus on what I had to offer the world
the skills I had, which I thought i could make money off. (It’s obviously wrong, since I have only one paying client!)
2. What’s one example of what we talked about today: an entirely me-focused freelance offering?
My very own consultancy! IT Support for small to medium businesses!
3. How can you apply the principles of today’s lesson to your own freelance idea? (Get really specific.)
Err… figure out clients who can actually need & Afford my services?
1.
a. It’s easier to think about what we have under eyes instead of brainstorming about client needs.
b. the fear of the “no” response even if our service seems useful for us.
c. we prefer to be asked to feel useful.
2. Spending time designing a product/service catalog and features in.
3. Call some of customer list and ask them what 1 or 2 current IT problem(s) or need they’d like to solve.
1. Why do so many people focus on their services (supply)…but neglect the market (demand)? Your three best guesses here.
A) People do not know how to accurately gauge demand for their services;
B) People believe that if they only market their product/service, the demand will magically come; and
C) Belief that demand is not the means to the end of creating a profitable freelance business.
2. What’s one example of what we talked about today: an entirely me-focused freelance offering?
A) I want to feed people healthy, specialty deserts from the southwestern U.S.
3. How can you apply the principles of today’s lesson to your own freelance idea? (Get really specific.)
A) Gauge the demand of consumers outside the southwestern part of the U.S. for healthy, specialty deserts;
B) Understand whether this is a problem (i.e., making specialty deserts at home); and
C) Are willing to pay for those deserts to be hand made and delivered.
A part of me was tempted to skip this…
1) Focusing on supply instead of demand is easier to most people because it only requires someone to reflect on themselves instead of trying to make judgement calls about others and being challenged about them. We fear rejection (i.e.: of our ideas) and see them as obstacles instead of learning opportunities. There’s a lot of power in someone’s funny look when we present our ideas. By focusing on demand, we are essentially putting our idea “to the test,” and most of us do not have thick enough skin to see our baby get trampled.
2) My friend and I began a project to cash in on the lucrative iPhone App market by making a game. The game was being developed based on our abilities as programmers, not based on what our target audience liked.
3) I would determine a specific target audience and be able to identify the tons of people I will not be catering to. Then setup a meeting with a potential client in a casual setting (like lunch) to share current life experiences and challenges. If you can get them to admit a challenge that you provide the service for, ask them how important is it that the problem be solved: enough to pay someone to solve it for them?
Ramit, thanks for the post. I am a university instructor, and teach my students that no matter how important, wonderful, full-of features, unique the product is, if noone wants it or is able to pay for it, noone will buy it. I can tutor on management/marketing related subjects and do consulting on the side. The problem in this emerging economy is finding medium-size companies (large customer are all serviced by the Big 4 and such!) and small businesses (I am not saying micro businesses) who want to pay. In 2007 I had a gig that paid $1000 per day, and the glorious arrangement lasted 14 days. Needless to say, I am very eager to repeat the past success. Many companies want the service, but I had very few offers in the past 3 years. As far as tutoring is concerned, I adjusted my rate to $50 (because everyone seems to do so), and had a trickle of supplemental income, nothing to really get excited about. My idea is to go to my kid’s school (she is in the first grade, but I want to target middle and high-schoolers) with a series of pro-bono seminars of business’ world and management functions. This is a private school with tuition of $5000 annually. I am hoping to make it fun for the kids AND teachers, so that they will talk about “Natalie’s Mom, a consultant” at dinner with their families. I already got the principal’s OK on it. Thank you for your posts, I love reading them and applying the advice in my work.
HeyY!!!
Right now I am a little bit muddled up with what m gonna do…but I do bieleve myself and Ramit bhayYa…so wilL test myself.
1.a. We all think we are the center of the universe. What I want to do must obviously seem wonderful to anyone else out there.
b. It takes effort to get inside another person’s thinking, and even more to get to know what someone NEEDS and WILL pay for.
c. Familiarity of old thought processes.
2. What I have been doing: designing websites for churches (for free) so that I can have “a portfolio of sites I’ve done.”
3. I think I will have to get back on that one. I have to go so far back to the beginning that I don’t know if I will get back here today.
1. Why do so many people focus on their services (supply)…but neglect the market (demand)? Your three best guesses here.
a.People want to focus on what they know
b.It’s easier to determine supply than demand
c.Who knew demand was even part of the equation?
2. What’s one example of what we talked about today: an entirely me-focused freelance offering?
I can teach you how to lose weight and keep it off with a vegan diet.
3. How can you apply the principles of today’s lesson to your own freelance idea? (Get really specific.)
a.Survey who is interested in their health enough to try a vegan diet
b.Determine who of those can afford my freelance fees – test the offer
c. Are there enough qualified people to justify the offer?
No webcast right now…but I’ll email you about an upcoming one. Don’t worry — I won’t let you miss anything.
1. Why do so many people focus on their services (supply)…but neglect the market (demand)? Your three best guesses here.
a) Coming out of the factory/school model and the factory/business model, many of us are used to being told what to do, not selling our services into the marketplace.
b) It’s easier and feels less risky to put our skills out there and wait for someone to want us, rather than trying to find a good match for ourselves. (Like dating!)
c) Some of us grew up feeling that work should be a calling and a duty, but not a “money grubbing” sales-and-barter situation.
d) (A 4th because I thought it was interesting): When we don’t have income coming in yet, it feels really scary to rule any possible client out by narrowing down the focus of my business!
2. What’s one example of what we talked about today: an entirely me-focused freelance offering?
I write, I code, I test. I prefer to work part-time with a flexible schedule. Me, me, me.
3. How can you apply the principles of today’s lesson to your own freelance idea? (Get really specific.)
I provide software-project services to small software company or IT department with a limited budget for a single person who can fill multiple roles: technical writing, programming, and system testing. (This rules out big companies who want to pidgeon-hole me into one role.)
I provide technical writing services for any company needing to communicate with a very technical IT and programming audience. (I don’t do admin, I don’t do marcom, and I don’t happily write for people who don’t touch computers often.)
(Not yet, but a stretch goal:) I provide usability input into software and web-based projects that interact with human beings.
Jennifer – thanks for putting into words the willingness to take any business (1d). I do taxes and accounting and to build up clientele initially i took all sorts of people. The point Ramit made about intentionally excluding everyone was something my girlfriend and others kept saying but i felt in a catch-22: how can i build my reputation/business without providing services to people?
As most have said, (1) people focus on supply because it is less of a leap. (2) They neglect demand because they haven’t taken the time to really do their research (see Ramit’s post on why you need to get a client right away just for the feedback, i think he has how to get one in there too). (3) Just as some people do not know they have a problem, we don’t know we have a problem.
Me-focused freelance offering:
I can do your taxes/do accounting for your business.
Application
I can take all your spreadsheets, statements & receipts lying around and I can assist you with building and/or maintaining your records. A day before you need to file your return.
Kris – hit me up about the vegan diet. If you can provide an alternative to cheese/help me get over it (i don’t think i can give up pizza) i would give it a try.
1. My guess would be that they neglect the market/demand, because they don’t have any idea what is in demand, because they are all a little self important and want to do what they want to do in stead of wanting to do what earns money, and because they don’t think they’ll actually make any money freelancing anyway.
2. Helping laid off workers looking for work write their resumes. They are out of work, thus they can not afford to pay good money for resume help.
3. I need to take the skills I have and find out where a demand exists for these skills.
People operate in their comfort zones of what they know and they know themselves more than potential customers. It is 1) intimidating 2)requires the willingness to fail and try repeatedly, and takes flat out more time to find out about customers you don’t know.
Saw an ad for “Looking for affordable decorating help?” for your home. Right off the bat, the word affordable brings to mind two things: 1-Affordable sounds like they are amateur because decorators usually charge a ton of money because their clients have money TO DECORATE 2-Anyone that feels they can’t afford home decorating isn’t going to pay you to come decorate or will try to get you for less than you charge, even if it is “affordable”.
For my own freelance: I have a lot to do.
Need to look at
- The changing demand side of my current service of writing/producing corporate video.
- WHAT other writing products would clients need and gladly pay for because they don’t have time or hate doing it themselves.
Thanks Ramit-your stuff gets me thinking about the right angle.
Veronica
OK, Here are my responses. I’m probably going to spend the next few days working on #3.
1.a) They’re self-centered and want to feel good about what an awesome freelancer they are.
b) They have more information about themselves and what they can offer, while it takes more effort to find out about other people and what they want.
c) If the market seems to say “We don’t want your service,” that can be a blow to one’s ego or self-esteem. Much safer to just not think about the market.
2. I’ve been looking through the ’services’ section of craigslist. One post is titled “[Local college] Student Web Developer for Hire.” He gives his name and then says he’s looking for short term projects. Then he talks about his past college coursework.
A better post is titled “5 Page Website for $199 – Call ###-####”. The first thing this post does is link to a past client website. If I were a small business owner looking to get set up online, I would be much more likely to respond to the second ad.
3. I’m not sure if this would be profitable, but I could post flyers on local bulletin boards (outside of grocery stores, community centers, etc.) that say “I will drive to your house and set up your wireless network.” And then list all the things I can set up for them along with my phone number and the fact that I can probably be there by the end of the day. I’m not sure where I would be most likely to find people who would pay for this, but I’m thinking craigslist services section wouldn’t be the best place. Anyone technical enough to know about craigslist probably already has a working wireless network. The grocery store in a high-priced suburb seems like a good starting point.
Either way, I should probably spend a few days talking to older, non-technical people, and ask if this is something they’d like. Actually, to back up a step, I should start by asking what frustrates them most about setting up new computer stuff.
Not sure what skills I can market. So how can i go about finding that. so I can find the correct market for them.
1. a. They’ve never taken an economics course
b. They assume at least FEW people would want this product, without knowing how to find them.
c. It’s easy to say you’ll buy something that you never actually do.
2. Trying to sell an American product in a foreign market; ‘we like it, shouldn’t everyone?’.
3. Marketing durable, lightweight and portable solar panels to hikers, campers, or day-packers who need or want to charge phones/use laptops/use medical equipment. I know it sounds weird to sell electronics to hikers, but in this day and age, I believe there are many people who still have the addiction. An alternative would be a very small one only for emergency or cellular purposes.
Unless it’s been done.
Ramit, I think before addressing the question of demand for one’s product, you should help people know what their product is. I have absolutely no clue what I would offer as a freelancing service. My only skill that I know of, is some basic hydraulic engineering knowledge, but I only have 2 years of experience; i.e., not enough experience to be licensed as a Professional Engineer (PE), and thus not legally allowed to practice outside of the supervision of a PE. What sort of freelancing can I even do?
I do that in the full Earn1k course. Stay tuned for more info as the week goes on.
Ramit – I know this course is targeted at service oriented freelancing but how if possible could I use these tactics for a product oriented idea?
great post. i have to narrow down my positioning. i knew it but was not sure how. now have an idea.
Would building a self-initiated portfolio, as say, a software programmer, by creating interesting and useful software that you wish existed, be focusing too much on your supply and not thinking of demand first? Or would you effectively be testing yourself as your first customer with this approach?
Good stuff!
Now to apply it to my immediate environment; a less-than-emerging market; Nigeria!
However, there are some products/services that people didn’t know they needed, but as soon it was launched, it went viral; achieved cult status, etc… Even just a better way of doing things can get you there fast…
Couldn’t make the ‘cast as I’m 15 hours ahead of your zone. I hope you will post a recording!
I am a mom with two kids
But with 9 hours difference between you and me, can’t get up early enough to see the video 
Hope you have recorded it ?
I am wondering if your premium course is going to cover more than just freelancing? Will you have material on developing an actual business? Freelancing, while it has its perks, is working for another boss/more bosses.
The most obvious answer for this topic is to ask them. Don’t try and second guess your potential market.
The challenge for me is: what do I have to initially offer these customers, so that I can uncover their unsolved needs. (do my homework to refine my business)
When you are new, reputation will not get you in the door.
JT, take it step by step. This is just the TIP OF THE ICEBERG of what we cover in the Earn1k course.
Here’s the truth: Most people’s first, second, and even third ideas about what will be profitable are wrong. Mine have been wrong dozens of times!
In the full course, you’ll get EXTREMELY DETAILED step-by-step instructions on finding (and rapidly testing) ideas for earning $1k on the side.
See you on the webcast!
excuse me, when is this webcast? I only see mention of it in passing in the comments.
so, i have NO idea what i can do to freelance. i can’t even fill in the blanks above. so i feel like i’m already failing the course and i haven’t even officially signed up! if we could have a session on analyzing our skills and determining what to do (and please don’t say tech IT stuff, tutoring, making cookies or wedding invites, data entry-all stuff i can and have done, but would rather shoot myself than do for $1k. am i just not ready to take this course?
I agree with Joel’s request of taking some examples all the way through the process. Or going into more detail of your own example.
Thanks Ramit, solid tactics on how to get into the customers’ heads.
I’ve been building my blog around young people who are into personal development and financial education, and I will still need to work more on EXCLUDING people that I don’t want to serve.
Also, I’ve been offering free blog setup service but I haven’t put my fingers on what my focus is in terms of my freelancing biz so this will be a good place for me to start.
See you guys in 30 mins!
I didn’t think about my customers (students and their paying-parents) not know they needed it. Even if they had the cash to spare, how do I get them to know they need what’s being supplied? Maybe we can cover this … in a recorded webcast so I can watch it at a normal time of the day instead of 3am?
This is good stuff. I’ve been trying to get into earning some income on the side – sort of as a way to build up a base so I can quit my job.
It’s not happening at the moment – I go through the agencies and they (a few of them) don’t seem to need the skills I’m offering (I’m a language teacher willing to tutor). Thing is, in the classroom, I know the kids I teach NEED more personal coaching attention… but they don’t know it and their parents don’t know it.
I’m with David McCleve – how do you find out what their known problems are? I know what *my* problems are, what *I’d* pay for, and what services *I* can offer (hence everyone having a supply side summary made up), but how do I find out what *other people* consider problems they’re willing to pay for?
Also, I agree with Joel and Jason about wanting more specific detailed descriptions than “freelancing” to help jog thought processes relative to our own specific skills.
For instance…. I was hired to “fix” a computer network that was a DISASTER. And I did – in record time and under budget. Trained whole staff. Secretaries loved me because their work was so much easier/better. Saved them more money than I spent.
But my SUCCESSOR spent a FORTUNE creating “the bridge of the Starship Enterprise.” The owner had no idea what all the blinking lights did. But he LOVED it! Respected the guy and paid the guy MUCH more than he ever did me.
Loving all this info!!
I do hope the podcast is recorded, or else is long enough for me to catch some of it after I get home from work.
My issue has always been figuring out WHAT I’ve got that people will pay me for. I have one idea that seems like a good one, but I need to test my market first to see if it’s valid. (Read: People will pay for the service.)
Great tips. I think these are things we know deep down, but are often unwilling to admit. I’ve been struggling with identifying a niche for some time. I’ve worked in many industries (gov’t, non-profit, healthcare, etc.), so it’s hard to determine which matches my skills best. I would love to know more about how to do some market research to determine a niche. The other challenge for me is how to get “out there” without jeopardizing my day job. Thoughts on this? Looking forward to the webcast!
I have made this cardinal-sin mistake at LEAST 100 times. What I do best is what most projects and orgs need, but they don’t KNOW they need it – so I get jobs based on some other “skill” and throw my REAL value in for “free.” Thus never get paid what it’s worth.
Managers who have worked with me know they want ME … but it rarely leads to new clients.
I can see what they need… but not “get inside their heads.”
Ramit,
I will sign-up even if the price exceeds what most people would be willing to pay. My question is, will you provide a money back guarantee if I fail to make $1k. I am willing to work my ass off and document and video tape what I do to prove that I am working my ass off. Many people would consider me “coachable” as I have played in many sports and have improved through hard work and listening to coaching advice.
Mike
Hey a live javascript clock with the Pacific time will be nice X_X I am GMT-6 but I really don’t know what is the Pacific time (yes I’ve already googled it and I have no luck finding the right time)
Now I know that my niche has a problem spreading the word about their businesses/blogs and building a reputable brand that even non-plus size markets would take seriously, but I haven’t quite gauged if they’re willing to pay. I was able to get 3 people to pay for my $97 virtual workshop in September and I’m probably getting in my own way because I haven’t tried to sell anything again. This has got me thinking…hope to get more insight tonight.
I can’t quote, so I ‘ll just say that Joe’s comment below is what I’d vote to see in the podcast:
I think it would be really helpful to take a handful of common freelancing ideas(maybe computer support, tutoring, crafting) and walk through this process with each idea, show people how this would apply to a wide range of freelancing options.
I think it is great for people to understand these things before they waste time and money making a business that won’t sell. This will help me with my new business ideas. Thankfully, I think most of my services are things people want, and will pay for.
I’ll try to join the webcast tonight!
-Sue
1 thing I’d love covered?
How to set a target and then limit yourself to that – a reasonable expectation of time investment, and money return. So you can check in 2 months later and see if your project has been a ’success’.
B/ground: Very hesitant to move on first $1k, I know it will spiral out of control quickly % become 3/4/5 clients. A dream for most, but having experienced it before, it became my personal nightmare- deep in too quickly without processes.
Cheers mate.
Lucas
Ramit,
Really enjoyed your post. Prob not new for some people, but once you’ve put your head into working out what skills you have, it can be difficult to remember to come up for air, so to speak, and have another look at the market, now you know what you can offer.
Following your advice I can see a lot less frustrated freelancers with no clients out there, which is fantastic.
Cheers,
Lucas
Er, my comment was too long. The shorter: you bring up an EXCELLENT point about your customers KNOWing they have a problem. That has given me something to act one.
Also, please post a recording–I’m at work at 7PM PST and no streaming video ist erlaubt! Tausendfach nicht!
Ramit! Thank you so much for offering this course for free! My only other hope is that you are able to save these webcasts so I can watch them over and over again. If they are as good as your words, they will be worth saving. Again, Thank you and I look forward to more of your material!
Trying to get to webcast (4PM EST), but can’t access it.
For anyone on the east coast of Australia, Tuesday 7 pm PST turns out to be Wednesday 2 pm AEST. Oh good, I thought I’d missed the webcast.
I’d like to put another vote in for recording though. I’m working from home today, so this is fine, but I’ll be in the office tomorrow and Friday, where streaming video is banned.
Hey Ramit,
I do photography(architecture, weddings, portraits, events) and graphic design. A lot of people tell me to specialize in one specific field, but my “niche” is that I am a one stop shop. For example: I’ll photograph your product, and design the brochure. Or, I’ll design your invitations, and photograph your wedding.
What do you think of my business model? I can already hear you saying “niche it down” but that doesn’t seem appropriate to me right now.
I’m a mom as well and I love your direct (sometimes irreverent) style
. It’s a kick in the pants for me to pursue my dreams and stop playing around.
This post has really started the wheels turning in my head because I am a natural problems solver.
The problem for me is finding the people with the problems and money to pay to solve them. My first instinct is to look at my own problems (past and present) or the things that have been bugging me and work from there.
Of course it’s easy to ignore the “demand” side of the equation, it’s hard enough to figure out what to provide as a freelancer. That’s my issue now. I hope at some point you’ll cover how to discover what services/products/ideas are in demand, if not tonight, in a future post.
I think it would be really helpful to take a handful of common freelancing ideas(maybe computer support, tutoring, crafting) and walk through this process with each idea, show people how this would apply to a wide range of freelancing options.
Thanks everyone.
And this is just the free stuff! The Earn1k course goes way more in-depth.
For today’s webcast, what’s the #1 thing you want me to cover for you? How can I REALLY help you in my hour-long webcast with you?
You make some really good points here Ramit, my own nobility has led me to take on a lot of work that really doesn’t pay, and trying to balance that with the “good” gigs. Your comments today are tying some loose ends together for me, bravo.
I’d appreciate it if you would record the webcast tonight, I don’t know if my opinion matters but your webcasts have always been at a time that I have to be in class. They are hugely informative for me, but it is pretty inconvenient. I really enjoyed the bootcamp because you did record the information I was not able to receive live
I have felt that I was on the right track by trying to just identify what problem people have that I could use my skills to solve. It makes so much more sense that it is not just finding a problem but finding one that people are conscious of and WILLING to pay to have solved.
It makes sense to be intentional about who you will not server too. It takes away the guilt of having to decide in the moment if you have already committed to a goal.
I can’t wait for the webcast tonight.
Thank you for this post and your very specific “better ideas”.
After doing your exercises and reading this article and reviewing the types of business services requests I’ve received this year, my direction has been re-focused in a positive way.
Ok, I’m back to square 1 now, but you’ve just saved me from wasting a lot of time. Looking forward to the web cast tonight.
Good stuff! And I’m proud to say I’m making progress: my last 2 projects have been ebooks for 2 solo-preneurs, both marketing online, AND running every other aspect of their biz that they don’t have the time to sit down/write/organize/edit/revise/proofread, let alone coordinate a designer or choose images. So I am functioning as an editor/project manager, setting deadlines for my clients to review drafts so that we meet THEIR deadline. Can’t make the webcast — hope you’re able to record!…
Ramit,
This is perhaps the best material you’ve written. I think anyone that has read anything about business has heard this said before, but I really like the way you present this as a sobering filter for renegade “visioning” of shitty ideas that won’t make you any money in reality. Bravo.
Hey, I’m a mom and I like your writing style.
What is the best way to get out and identify your customers problems?
This looks great. I am now going to review my approach to how I sell my projects. Currently I am trying to get a big software company CEO to help me to develop a 3D animation training “bootcamp”. At the moment I’m being ignored…but I these tips will surely help change my approach. Thanks!
See you at 7
Gabriel
I can’t wait for you to rip my idea to shreds.
Hey Ramit –
I will re-examine my supply/demand proposition. I know that affluent Seniors would pay for my services, but they are part of the ‘ideal target market’
I would market my services to my own demographic (double income, multiple kids, NO TIME), but that would expand my market too fast.
After I put the kids to bed in Needham, MA, I will try to log on.
Thanks,
Steve