You know the difference you can make for someone’s project in a day, or even just a few hours. Yet we have a hard time believing other creatives could do the same for us. This is walking. This is the left foot and the right foot of commanding larger budgets for your projects: invest in quality, then get more money.

There’s a study in which different people were tasked with interpreting an email. Those deemed in “high-power” positions were much worse at understanding the perspective of the email sender than those in “low-power” positions.

You lost it. You worked overtime to put together a last-minute pitch for a client, and then…nothing. You’re not alone. I’ve lost and won hundreds of freelance pitches throughout my career. I’ve taken notes and I’m sharing my top 5 lessons with you.

I had walked too far to turn back but wasn’t sure how much further I had to go. Then, a woman driving a golf cart (decked out with neon lights and a speaker playing house music) rolled up to me. “Want a ride?” She said. “$20.” 

In order to make more money as a freelancer, you have to be willing to leave money on the table. You have to be able to say no to money when it’s offered to you.

I have a friend who is getting into production. He’s gaining the skills to be a good producer. But he hasn’t produced a shoot entirely on his own yet. And therein lies the predicament.

Which came first? The high rate for the quality work?

Want to win a pitch? You’ll need to respond quick. In a world of endless options, we often think that our clients will be combing the market for the very best deal, and the highest quality option. But we fail to consider one thing: people are busy.

The key becomes following up with your network to remind them that you exist. If you’re top of mind for 50-100 people in hiring positions, then you’re bound to get work. Today, I’m going to show you the exact system I use to keep track of, and follow up with my network on a monthly basis.

3. Jump straight into the action. In pitch decks and creative treatments, people feel like they need to ramp up into the action.

1. Pitches have a much higher chance of success when you have a previous relationship with the person you’re pitching to.
2. The person you’re pitching to knows their business front and back, which means they also know when you’re simply pretending to understand theirs.

Don’t let the words of bad clients who said you were “too expensive” reverberate longer than they already have. Drown out these voices, or walk away from them until they fade. Sometimes, the most helpful thing you can do for a pitch is to stop working on it until you feel confident again.

The cursor is blinking. The page is blank. You know you need to email brands to get more work, but you have no idea what to write. Finally, you send out a couple emails. Compulsively, you refresh your inbox again and again, waiting for a response. There has to be a better way, right? There is. It’s called an email template.

Working with new clients is exciting! But don’t get too excited, ok? It can be tempting to jump straight into the work once you get a project approved. But taking a moment to zoom out, and understand what your client really wants is crucial. Here are three questions to ask new clients to make sure you nail your new creative project.

Losing clients is part of the game of freelancing. But losing most of your clients might mean you aren’t very good at the game. Long-lasting client relationships depend on two things: great work and great service. Over the past five years, I’ve developed a few best practices that help me cultivate lasting relationships with great clients. I’ll share them with you below.

Whether this year is exciting or daunting for you, the fact remains: you need to get more clients this month. But there’s a big difference between wishing you had more clients, and actually doing the hard work to get more clients. I’m going to teach you how to do the latter.

Your pitch deck skills suck. That’s why you just googled “how to make clean, simple pitch decks,” or something to that effect. No need to be ashamed! You’ve come to the right place. I’m going to show you four key principles that will have you nailing your deck design every time.

The one who can reach out to one hundred, one thousand, or even ten thousand brands, paying no attention to the overwhelming majority of rejection, is the one who can grow their career at will.

So you got ghosted. You made a connection, you hopped on a call, you sent over a quote–and got no answer. Your potential client vanished into thin air after you did all this work. It’s a bummer. But with the right mindset and the right strategy, ghosting can happen with less frequently and bother you less each time.

Clarity is so important in pitches, because your service is uncharted territory for the client. The reason they would hire someone like you is so you can bring new expertise that they don’t have. So when your pitch is unclear, it makes a foggy experience even more difficult to comprehend for your client.