- Image by Getty Images via @daylife
Here’s an income-boosting strategy my dentist taught me.
When I visit his office for my twice-yearly appointment, his dental assistant typically spends about a half-hour scraping and cleaning my teeth. Lots of fun! Then my dentist comes in and does the checkup, which takes about 10 minutes.
After one of these appointments, while signing the insurance form at the front desk, I noticed how the fees were broken down:
$45 for the half-hour cleaning. $105 for the 10-minute checkup.
My dentist obviously knew where he added the most value and made the most money. He focused on the checkups and hired other people to do the rest.
As a freelance professional, you need to think the same way.
Figure out where you add the most value on the project work you do and then hire a virtual assistant or even another freelancer to handle the other aspects of the job. If you do, your income per hour will go up.
Now, I admit, for years I was resistant to bringing in others to help with client projects. Like most freelancers, I did – and in some ways felt I should do – all the work myself.
Then one day, I got a job to write a massive travel website. The deadline was crazy. So I decided, somewhat reluctantly, to hire another freelancer — an experienced travel writer — to help. She wrote all the “travelogue” stuff — “On day 2, you’ll enjoy a delicious breakfast against the breathtaking backdrop of the Kilimanjaro mountains . . .” — and I wrote the sales-oriented messages — “Book today and get 15% off . . .”
I also supervised and edited her work to ensure the overall quality of the website copy was up to my standards.
I got that job done a lot faster, had more fun, and made more money for the time I put in. (Even after factoring in what I paid the travel writer.)
Did the client mind me working with someone else? Not at all. As long as I was directing the overall website copywriting, he was fine with it.
So ask yourself if there are aspects of the project work you do for clients that could be done faster, better, and perhaps more inexpensively by someone else.
If you’re a PR consultant, perhaps a good virtual assistant could make those follow-up calls to trade editors?
If you’re a white paper writer, wouldn’t it make sense to get a freelance editor to proofread your documents rather than you spending hours each month on that tedious chore?
The idea is to focus on your “sweet spots” – those activities clients are really hiring you to do and you do very well — and get others to take care of the rest.
It’s okay to get help with a client project. It really is!
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Steve Slaunwhite is the author or co-author of several books including The Wealthy Freelancer. His place on the web is www.SteveSlaunwhite.com.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I have done a lot of outsourcing, and it’s always been a wise decision. It really does free up my time for the higher-level tasks that bring in more per hour than the task I’m outsourcing. When I write magalogs, I almost always hire a researcher to chase down the supporting facts I need. In some cases, if the client doesn’t have a quality control team in their office, I’ll hire a proofreader, too. When I’m really slammed, I’ll outsource first drafts of articles. And earlier this year, I had to write web copy for a government contractor – not my cup of tea. I hired a subcontract writer to give me first drafts on that, which I then polished up. In most cases, the client doesn’t even know I’ve subbed stuff out. A couple years ago, I hired my college-aged niece – who ran the whole fundraising department at her college and had excellent phone skills – to call 200 companies in my niche and get the names of marketing directors. I’ve occasionally hired an acquaintance from church to sit with me in my office and help me get everything filed and organized. And several years ago, I finally had enough sense to hire a tax accountant to do my taxes. It may not make sense to outsource when you’re first starting out and have more time than cash, but once you get the cash flow rolling, it’s smart business.
It’s all about doing those 1-2 things that you and only you are good at. We can’t be experts at everything and the more that you cna get off your plate and hand to the other experts, the more time you have to focus and hone those few skills where you are a true master.
…just like you said, focus on the sweet spots, otherwise you spend all of your time running around like a chicken with your head cut off.
-Joshua Black
The Underdog Millionaire
It is amazing how some posts arrive just in time for what you are dealing with. My coach just made this suggestion to me a couple of days ago:
“If you like doing all of the top level, organization, vision work, and you like finding projects then start finding other people to do the rest. There are tons of people out there who want to avoid the stuff you love like the plague and would be happy to work with you”
Well, huge resistance filled my mind immediately:
“Well, then I make less money if I am paying someone else.”
“How do I know their work will support my personal expectations and quality levels?”
“How do I find these people?”
“How do I properly hire them, organize them, and pay them?”
My business is just starting out so adding more people to the mix, this early, is a bit overwhelming. But, I have a lot of business at the moment so I know the sooner I get used to doing this the better.
Any suggestions on where to find resources on how to do all the steps necessary to start finding freelancers for my freelance business?
Thanks for the well time article (I know you wrote it just for me!)
Jeremie