Productivity Strategist + Romance Novelist
“How do I know if an online program is right for me… and worth the investment?” This is a great question to ask before you spend money on online courses. After all, there are a ton of e-courses out there—how do you know which one is the right one for YOU? But I’ve got you covered! Today, I want you to ask yourself these top 10 questions BEFORE paying for an online course.
But first,
I’m excited to share with you TWO freelancer case studies featuring students from my freelancer e-courses today!
The first is a brand-new case study, and the second is following-up on a freelancer case study from last year (you’ll get to see how this student’s business has grown over the six months since her last case study).
I get a LOT of questions from freelancers about how to price freelance services. How much should you charge for your work? What is a fair rate for both the freelancer and the client? Should you charge by the hour or by the project? 
Well, we’re getting to ALL of that today, my friends! Settle in with your favorite beverage and let’s talk about pricing your freelance services.
But before we get started,
Today we’re taking a slight detour from our usual solopreneur-focus to discuss the top 8 things to consider when entering into a business partnership. That’s because, after being a sole business owner for 8 years, I started working with a business partner exactly four weeks ago. 
Want help with business planning? Grab your business goal planning workbook now >>
The project? A new small business podcast!
I’ve been thinking a lot about overcoming fear in business lately—partly because I’m in the midst of relaunching the Goodbye 9 to 5 masterclass (fear is one of the BIGGEST things holding people back from quitting their day jobs!), and partly because I’ve been going through a lot of fear related to business lately, myself. 
It’s been just two weeks since I started a small business podcast with my biz bestie,
Last Monday, I had a plan for my week. I was going to prepare for the upcoming launch of the Goodbye 9 to 5 masterclass, do some client work, write a guest blog post, and prepare daily action items for the April Begin Your Biz Challenge. What I did NOT have planned into my schedule was to start a small business podcast. 
So when my biz bestie Dan messaged me on Monday evening with a new idea he had of co-hosting a podcast together,
You know you want to start a freelance business… but where do you even BEGIN? Today, I’m going to break down for you exactly how to start a freelance business.
Consider this your step-by-step guide to starting a freelance business:
Step #1 for how to start a freelance business: Decide what kind of business you want to have
You need to know what kind of freelance business you want to have before you get started with it.
There just are NOT enough hours in the day. And especially when you’re working full-time and running a small business on the side, it can feel nearly impossible to do anything besides work, work, work! 
Grab your checklist for preparing to work from home full-time >>
Luckily, it IS possible to work full-time at a 9 to 5 job while managing your home-based business on the side.
Today I want to do something a little different than usual. Today I want to walk you through my business—specifically, the processes I use for creating my online small business courses, programs, and free content. 
To begin with, it’s worth mentioning that my business is basically divided into two main components: the freelancing side of things (where I have clients) and the business strategy/coaching side of things (where I have students).
If you want to escape the 9 to 5 life and start your own home-based business, there are two big foundational things you need to do: 
1) Set up the systems and strategies in place so as to ensure a smooth, seamless transition out of the 9 to 5 office life and into working from home full-time (pssst… that’s exactly what I teach in the Goodbye 9 to 5 masterclass!)
2) Get started with your small business NOW (before you quit your 9 to 5 job!)
Grab your checklist for preparing to work from home full-time >>
You know you want to be a solopreneur and work from home full-time… but what you DON’T know is the type of business you want to have! Never fear—in today’s article, we’re going over a handy three-step process you can use for how to discover your perfect, profitable small business idea. 
(Pssst… I strongly recommend you get started with choosing your small business idea and starting to offer services BEFORE you quit your 9 to 5 job.
In the one-on-one coaching industry, it’s pretty common to get a 20-minute free discovery call/clarity call (or whatever you want to refer to it as), in order to get a “taste” for what your coach is like and to determine whether or not you’ll be a good fit, before you commit to that person for small business coaching services. 
I don’t do that—and I don’t believe I ever will.
Today I wanted to talk about why I’ve chosen not to offer free consulting calls for the Biz Bestie Program,
After almost a decade of freelancing, I STILL get butterflies in my stomach when I’m about to submit a completed project to a client. 
What if they don’t like it?
What if they HATE it?
What if my work is actually just garbage?
(It’s actually pretty funny that I still get a little nervous every time I submit a project to a client, because they nearly always come back to let me know that they love the work and it’s exactly what they wanted.
Okay, so you want to grow a successful business… but you don’t have a team. As I mentioned in last week’s article, What is a solopreneur?, you can ABSOLUTELY grow your small business without a team of people to help you out! 
Before we go over how to grow a successful small business without a team, I first want to be very clear:
As a solopreneur,
As I mentioned in last week’s article, I’m focusing my energies on all kinds of solopreneurs now—not just freelancers.
But “solopreneur” might be a term you’re not familiar with… or maybe you’ve heard it before and you’re wondering what a solopreneur is, and whether that’s what YOU are?
What is a solopreneur (and how do I know if I am one)?
A solopreneur is anyone who has a business where they are the only person in the business.
