Well… that’s it people. I think it’s pretty much case closed now.

Economists, academics, thought leaders, bestselling authors… it seems just about everyone has weighed in on the topic of the new economy and the fact that self-employed professionals are taking center stage.

But this month, freelancing or “working independently” or being a “solopreneur” (no one has quite settled on the catch-all phrase to describe us yet) was officially ordained as the way of the future by the mainest of mainstream media…

It’s right there in black and white, on page 42 of the July issue of O Magazine…

“Stop looking for a staff position…” “…package yourself as an independent contractor for hire on a project by project basis.” – Suze Orman O Magazine, July 2010

O My!
Let’s just pause for a second and appreciate the gravity of this… here you have Suze Orman, perhaps the most recognized personal finance expert in America, in one of the nation’s leading magazines, telling millions of readers to eschew the traditional J-O-B and go solo.

Um. That’s HUGE.

You can read the full article online for the proper context, but basically Orman’s advice came in response to a reader (someone with a master’s in HR) who was frustrated with job hunting after 40 applications turned up crickets .

With her advice to look for project-based contract work, Orman adds her voice to the chorus of people like Seth Godin, Dan Pink and countless others who’ve been telling us for years (many years, in Pink’s case) that freelancing, or whatever you want to call it, is increasingly how we roll in North America now. (Seth Godin even refers to himself a freelancer, in this recent video interview.)

Seeing advice like this in the pages of O, from a mega-high profile author like Orman will be a wake-up call for a lot of people. If you thought “going solo” was just a trend, watch what happens now, and in the next few years to come.

Who stands to profit from this? YOU!
If you’re reading this blog, odds are you’re already an indpendent professional, consultant, freelancer, solopreneur, whatever-you-call-yourself or you’re working toward that vision. So… if you’ve been hesitantly dipping your toe in the warm waters of freelancing, now is the time to take the plunge. FULLY. Get ahead of the wave, go all out, and build your solo business. NOW is the time.

*
Pete Savage is co-author of The Wealthy Freelancer and doesn’t quite know how to answer, “Why were you reading Oprah Magazine, anyway?” so don’t ask.

[Note from Ed Gandia: Today’s blog post comes from Jill Konrath, author of Selling to Big Companies and SNAP Selling, which was just published last week. If you’re a freelancer, consultant or solo professional selling high-priced or complex services to crazy-busy prospects, SNAP Selling is a must read. I’ll be posting a full review very soon. But in the meantime, grab a copy and begin applying the ideas right away! As a 12-year sales veteran and student of the craft, I can honestly say this is one of the top 3 sales books I’ve ever read (and I’ve read a lot of them!). Better yet, it’s the most applicable, useful and practical sales guide I’ve come across for succeeding in today’s unforgiving environment.]

Courtesy of Racchio on Flickr

I dream of hot prospects who call me up and say, “We’ve heard good things about you. We want to make a decision quickly. We’re hoping you can help us out.”

Occasionally my sales fantasies turn into realities. When it happens, it’s so easy to be seduced by this low-handing fruit. Outwardly, I try to appear calm, cool and collected — a true professional. But inside, every inch of my body wants to scream out, “Take me! Take me!”

Okay. I’m being a bit dramatic here, but I really want to make my point.

It’s so easy to be tempted by these opportunities. And when you yield to this temptation, you make fatal mistakes — ones that can totally derail your sales efforts and cause you to lose the business.

True, But Embarrassing Story

Let me give you a personal example, to show you how easy it is to get caught up in this seduction.

A few years ago, my primary business focus was working with large corporations in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area when they were launching new products. My expertise? Helping them shorten time to revenue on new product introductions.

I’d also just launched SellingtoBigCompanies.com, a website to help small businesses gain access to my expertise. It was my new baby. I’d invested tons of time and lots of love to get it up and running.

When the phone rang that day, I answered absentmindedly. But when the caller announced that he was from Southwest Airlines, I snapped to attention. He’d been all over my new Web site, was very impressed, and also very interested in my training programs.

The airline was going to be putting its salespeople through training in the not-too-distant future and was evaluating its options. When I asked who else he was looking at, I was delighted to be included with the industry biggies.

Mr. Southwest had dozens of questions about my content, delivery models, remote training options, learning reinforcement and more. I answered every single one of them in glorious detail.

When he requested a proposal, I asked, “How soon?” When he answered that he wanted it in two days, I quickly agreed.

The proposal I sent to him via e-mail covered everything we had talked about in our conversation, plus a full range of pricing options. It was a masterpiece. I had high hopes that this opportunity would take my business to a whole new level.

I never heard from Mr. Southwest again. Even though I contacted him many times, he never called back.

Lesson Learned

It was my own fault. I mistakenly let my own eagerness to land this marquis client outweigh my common sense.

The truth is I really needed the business at that time. After spending many months and lots of money to create SellingtoBigCompanies.com, I was running short on cash. I should have known better, but I was seduced by the opportunity.

In retrospect, I failed to find out if Mr. Southwest was just exploring his options or actually in the final stages of decision making. It’s highly likely he was just doing the former.

Had I known that, I would never have written a detailed proposal. Instead, I would have focused on helping him determine the business value of making a change. I would have used my expertise to help him sell the concept internally and establish decision criteria favorable to my solution.

Over and over again, I see other sellers make similar mistakes when they have a hot prospect on the line. Like me, they expound on their capabilities and benefits. They willingly provide detailed information and do tons of extra work to create proposals or presentations — anything the prospect wants.

While that puts you into the “nice” seller category, it’s not a good business decision to invest tons of time and effort to land a fantasy client. Nor does it help your prospects make the best decision for their organization.

If Mr. Southwest was actually deciding in a couple days, I should have addressed the fact that I was a small boutique firm that didn’t compete head-on with the larger companies he was looking at.

Doing business with me would have been risky. I knew that. But I didn’t want to bring it up; I was hoping he wouldn’t notice!

I was so blinded by the opportunity that I was willing to do anything that he asked. It was delusional on my part. Wishful thinking. Hopeful. When we feel this seduction, we need to remind ourselves that “hope is not a strategy.”

While hot prospects may hold the promise of big paychecks, there’s often much that still needs to be determine if it’s a good fit for your company.

Don’t be overeager. Instead be ruthlessly realistic. Detach from the fantasy and assess your true chances. Bring up the tough questions.

Why? Because it’s the right thing to do for both you and your prospect.

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Want to learn more about the new rules of selling to crazy-busy prospects? To get four FREE sales-accelerating tools and download two chapters of SNAP Selling, Jill’s new book, visit www.snapselling.com or email jill@snapselling.com.

Courtesy KTVee on Flickr

Ever notice how everyone seems to have a different opinion about the best way to get clients? One person says you should go to networking events, another swears by cold calling, someone else tells you social networking is the thing, the next person suggests public speaking, and yet another insists you should be blogging.

All these sound like they could be good ideas, but you need to spend most of your time working on paying projects. How can you possibly market yourself in this many ways at the same time?

The truth is that you can’t. It is literally impossible for a one-person business to be effective at using a dozen different marketing approaches simultaneously.

The real secret to finding clients is to choose a set of simple, effective, things to do, and do them consistently. But how do you choose? Here are three questions you can ask yourself to create a powerful, realistic marketing plan.

1. Where is your marketing stuck?

The typical freelancer is stuck somewhere in his or her marketing. Perhaps your pipeline of prospects isn’t full enough, and you need to focus on making more contacts. Or maybe you have quite a few leads already, but you haven’t been following up on them. Or it could be that you’re following up, but prospects don’t seem to want to talk to you. Or you are having many conversations, but they don’t seem to result in sales.

Make sure whatever marketing activities you choose address your “stuck place.” If you already have leads you aren’t pursuing, just gathering more leads won’t help you. Conversely, if your pipeline is almost empty, then increasing your follow-up efforts isn’t going to do the trick.

2. What marketing activities will allow you to shine?

Freelancers frequently sabotage their own marketing by trying to emulate someone else’s. It may seem like a good idea to copy other people’s successful marketing approaches, but this only makes sense when your skills, talents, and personality match theirs.

If cold calling, meeting strangers at mixers, or public speaking make you sweat and stumble, you aren’t likely to do well using those approaches. Even worse, with no boss looking over your shoulder, you may never do them at all.

People who excel at talking to strangers and speaking in public should absolutely make use of those approaches. But if that’s not you, put your attention elsewhere. Schedule one-on-one meetings instead, or write articles to establish your expertise. When you’re doing what you do best, people will be eager to hire you.

3. Where are you most likely to find clients?

This question may seem obvious, but I often see freelancers marketing exclusively online when almost all their business is local and conducted onsite. Or hanging out at Chamber of Commerce mixers filled with small business owners when their clients are primarily corporate.

Get clear about who your best clients are – not just who might hire you, but who you really want to hire you. Then make sure every marketing activity you choose is aimed at putting you in touch with exactly those people.

If you want to get more clients with less effort, start keeping it simple. A one-person business needs to have a marketing plan that one person can do.

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C.J. Hayden is the author of “Get Clients Now! A 28-Day Marketing Program for Professionals, Consultants and Coaches”. For a free copy of “Five Secrets to Finding All the Clients You’ll Ever Need”, visit www.getclientsnow.com

Image by Clevergrrl via Flickr

“I’m so frustrated,” a freelancer complained to me a few weeks ago. “I just can’t seem to get any new clients.”

To drum up some business, she was about to sink a lot of money into a direct mail campaign. But she wasn’t sure that was the right move for her.

“Before you make that investment,” I said, “Let’s figure out exactly where your marketing is stuck — and then see if mailing out a bunch of letters is the best way to get un-stuck.”

She was intrigued. Stuck? Un-stuck? She hadn’t looked at her marketing in that way before.

After asking her a few questions, it became clear that her marketing was already generating plenty of leads. (Prospects who have demonstrated at least a modicum of interest in her services.) The problem lay in her difficulty in turning those leads into “opportunities”. (An opportunity to discuss a real project with a client and provide a quotation.)

That’s where she was stuck. Not in generating leads. But in turning those leads into opportunities.

Fortunately, it was a simple fix. I recommended a follow-up strategy she could use with leads and it worked like a charm. A few weeks later she called me to report that not only was she getting more projects to quote on, she had just landed a great new client!

Now, imagine if she went ahead with that expensive direct mail campaign? She would have spent a lot of time and money generating more leads — exactly what she didn’t need — only to end up with the same problem. No opportunities.

So if you want your marketing to get better results for you, first determine where it’s stuck.

Marketing your freelance services works something like this:

• You identify prospects that have a high likelihood of needing our services — and who are a good fit for you.

• You select the right marketing activity (or two) to generate lots of leads from amongst those prospects.

• You follow up with those leads in the most effective ways to convert them into real opportunities.

• You have a good sales conversation and quote effectively so you turn the majority of those opportunities into new paying clients.

Where is YOUR marketing stuck?

Don’t make assumptions. Take a close look at how well you’re doing in each of these four areas.

If you’re not doing a good job turning opportunities into new clients, then you need to brush up on your personal selling skills.

If you can’t identify enough prospects, then you need to work on that area.

If you (like the freelancer I referred to earlier) are not turning enough leads into opportunities, then you have to find out how to follow-up better.

Find out where your marketing is stuck. Then get it un-stuck. All it might take is a simple fix to open the flood gates to more clients.

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Steve Slaunwhite is a marketing coach, co-author of The Wealthy Freelancer, and author of 9 other books. You can find him at www.TheMarketingCoach.com.

When you’re a freelancer or solo professional, the question is not where to find prospects. It’s how to find the ones that have the highest probability of turning into clients.

One of my favorite ways to find these high-probability prospects is to look for “triggering events.” When used correctly, this deceptively simple strategy could help turn around your freelance business very quickly.

It’s that powerful!

In this short educational video, you’ll learn what triggering events are. Why they’re important. And how you can use them to easily uncover some of your hottest prospects ever.

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Ed Gandia is the co-founder of TheWealthyFreelancer.com and co-author of The Wealthy Freelancer: 12 Secrets to a Great Income and an Enviable Lifestyle. To download 3 free chapters of his book, visit www.TheWealthyFreelancer.com.

One of the reasons my co-authors and I included a chapter on pricing in our book was that we were seeing too many talented freelancers losing too many ideal projects due to simple mistakes in the pricing process.

For example, a few months ago, I received a call from Mike W. (not his real name) asking for my advice. “Steve, could you help me? I have received a request for a quotation from a travel company here in town. They want a price on writing a new brochure.”

“Glad to help, Mike,” I said. “But isn’t it five o’clock in your time zone right now? What time did you say you’ll get back to them?”

“Ah,” Mike began, sounding sheepish. “Well, the request came in last week. I’m just getting around to quoting them now.”

Good luck, I remember thinking. Unfortunately, the chances of Mike getting the job were very slim. At this point, the client had probably assumed he was not interested in doing the work and had likely found another writer.

The opportunity was gone.

When should you send a price quotation after you’ve received a request to do so from a potential client?

I strongly suggest you prepare and send the quotation the SAME DAY. You want to take advantage of the momentum and the client’s desire to get the job done.

But what if you’re crazy busy with other projects and can’t get the quotation done that day?

I recommend you do it anyway.

Get that quotation to the client the same day — even if it’s already late in the afternoon — even if the client says it’s okay to send it to him tomorrow — even if your computer crashes and you have to write the darn thing out by hand — send the client your quote the same day. Your chances of getting the job go up dramatically when you do.

Of course, sending the quotation is only half the battle. You still have to land the project.

Assuming the client doesn’t contact you right away, how long should you wait before you pick up the phone to follow-up on the quotation you sent? The next day? Later in the week? Never?

My answer may surprise you.

You should follow up on a quotation the same day as well.

That’s right. You want to take full advantage of the momentum. Your potential new client is already in motion to hire a freelance professional; otherwise he wouldn’t have discussed the project with you in the first place. So make sure you keep the ball rolling – rolling toward the client saying yes to your quotation.

When quoting and following-up, timing is everything. The next day is usually a day too late.

Image courtesy: Damon Duncan on Flickr

**

Steve Slaunwhite is the co-founder of TheWealthyFreelancer.com and co-author of The Wealthy Freelancer: 12 Secrets to a Great Income and an Enviable Lifestyle.

If you follow the advice in this blog and our upcoming book, and if you craft and consistently execute a smart marketing plan, it won’t be long before you have more work than you can handle.

I realize this may sound like a pipe dream. It seemed like an impossible goal when I was starting out and was desperately looking for work. And a couple of times since then, when I lost big clients, I wondered if I’d ever be super-busy again.

But I’ve seen too many freelancers turn their businesses completely around in a matter of weeks to know that being booked solid is very achievable. And I’ve done it myself more than once.

So the issue is NOT whether or not it’s possible. The issue is what the heck you’re going to do once you have more work than you can take on.

Here are some ideas on how you can do that effectively.

1. See if client can wait. Sounds obvious, but sometimes we’re afraid to ask. You don’t want to upset the client, especially if you have a great relationship with them. However, it’s surprising how many clients will be OK with waiting a few weeks for the needed deliverables. They understand that most of us are a company of one, and if you’re good and they really like you, many will be willing to wait a bit.

 

2. Take it on…and just figure it out. If you’re starting out and maybe even moonlighting as a freelancer, your schedule is already going to be pretty tight. But when you’re trying to build a business, you’re going to have to make some sacrifices and say “yes,” even if it means pulling in a couple of late nights or working through the weekend. Just make sure you’re doing it for the right reasons and for the right clients.

 

3. Outsource some of the mechanics. Can you outsource certain elements of the project? For instance, if you’re a writer, you can often hire someone to help you with research, editing and proofreading for a reasonable fee. Don’t get hung up on the costs. If it means the difference between bringing on a great new client and passing on the opportunity, it may be well worth it.

 

4. Outsource some of your administrative duties. Can you find someone to do your billing and/or bookkeeping? Trips to the post office or office-supply store? Lawn maintenance or housecleaning? I know, I know. Some of you find enjoyment in these activities. If you do, fine. But if you hate them—and if you can find a pro who can do them faster and better (and help free up some of your time)…well, you know my answer.

 

5. Find and train a potential partner. Consider partnering up with a junior-level practitioner in your field. Someone you can train in your processes, systems, approaches, formulas. This takes time, energy and patience. But in the long-run, you may be able to scale your business and add to your income by marking-up someone else’s efforts. And when you want to go on vacation, this individual can help keep your business humming.

 

6. Refer the business to a trusted colleague. Why not create a network of trusted colleagues whom you can send work to? You can either form a reciprocal arrangement (where they in turn send work your way when they’re slammed). Or you can agree on a finder’s fee to be paid out upon final payment.

 

7. Form a small freelancer group. I’ve talked with freelancers who have successfully created small, informal groups of pros with complementary skills. The idea is to work as a team on projects for a select group of clients. Each member of the team takes on a different part of the project. Or in some cases, only one or two of the team members work on the entire project (depending on the availability of the team members). If structured properly, such an arrangement can give your business a little more diversity. And it can help you channel work to others that you can’t take on by yourself.

 

8. Revisit your “ideal client” description. I’ve written before about the importance of having a detailed description of your “ideal client.” Such a description allows you to make better decisions—especially when you have too much work. If you find yourself in this situation, make sure to revisit your ideal client profile. And when an opportunity comes up, ask yourself, “How closely does this client and project match my ideal profile?” The answer to that question will very likely help you make the right decision.

—————–
Ed Gandia is the co-founder of TheWealthyFreelancer.com and co-creator of The “Launch Email” Technique: The Fastest Way to Attract Good-Paying Clients as a New Freelancer.

Photo, Squirrel Heaven,  courtesy Dawn on Flickr

As you stumble into the hospital emergency room, you try your best not to panic. At the check-in, the nurse notices you and asks, “What’s the problem?”

You reply, “Business is slow. My bank account is dropping faster than a thermometer in Kapuskasing. I need more clients and projects. And I need them now!”

The nurse responds sympathetically, “I’ll have a doctor see you as soon as possible.”

Fortunately, you don’t have to wait long. Within a few minutes you are guided to the physician’s cubicle where she examines your situation and then, finally, writes you a prescription. “Get this filled right away,” she says reassuringly as she hands you the piece of paper. “Follow the instructions and your business will start improving soon.”

What did the good doctor write on that prescription form? Let’s take a look:

1. Contact your past clients.

Phone, mail a letter or send an email to every client you’ve ever worked with, even if that was several years ago.

Say hello. Update them on any additional qualifications and project expertise you’ve acquired. Let them know that, schedule permitting, you’d be delighted to work with them again.

(A friend of mine did this last year and filled her schedule in just two weeks.)

2. Contact your past leads.

Dig into your email inbox or contact management system. Pull out every “lead” that didn’t go anywhere — quotes you didn’t win, projects that didn’t materialize, etc.

Although these prospects never did give you any paying work they did, at the very least, have a modicum of interest in your services. Contact them again. Situations change and a dead-end lead from last year could very well become a new client for you today.

3. Contact your referral sources.

Contact everyone who has ever sent potential work your way. Those “referral sources” could include consultants, suppliers, virtual assistants or even other freelancers.

Phone or email and say hello. Thank them for their support in the past and let them know that you’re available should they know anyone else who needs the type of service you provide.

Compared to any other type of lead, a referral has the highest chance of becoming a new client.

4. Do what you did before.

The biggest mistake that freelance professionals make when business is slow is to try something new. “Direct mail letters worked for me before but I want to give Google advertising a try now.”

Huh? If business is slow you can’t afford to experiment. Do something you already know works for you, whether that’s letters, calls, networking or some other marketing action.

Even in a down economy the above strategies are the quickest ways to generate new business. So if things are slow for you, try the above four-step prescription for fast relief from a dearth of good-paying projects. Doctor’s orders!

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Steve Slaunwhite is the co-founder of this blog and author of Pricing Your Writing Services.

You may know I’m a proponent of direct mail as a great business-building strategy for us solo professionals. I’ve had great success with it, but earlier in my freelance career I had two direct mail flops. Today I’ll tell you about the most elaborate, expensive and disappointing one.

They say hindsight is 20/20 but unfortunately that’s not true in marketing. So while I may never know with absolutely certainty why this particular self-promotion effort flopped like a carp in the hull of a fishing boat, I can make some educated guesses, as I’ve done here, for your amusement, at my expense. Quite literally…

Highlights of My Direct Mail Disaster: Why Did it Flop?

• I rented a list. I paid hundreds of dollars to rent a list of 800 names of marketing people from a source that seemed to be good. When I got the list though, I went through it and realized many of the companies on there were unlikely to hire me for my copywriting services. (What on earth would I write for Kellogg’s, for example? Cereal boxes?) So I basically had a list of mediocre, off-target contacts in the wrong industries… but I had EIGHT HUNDRED mediocre, off-target contacts in the wrong industries! How could this fail!?

• My letter made a “buy now” offer. Maybe my offer was weak, maybe not. It was basically a price discount on my copywriting services “if you act now.” Ok, it was weak.

• I had no bulky item. I didn’t have a bulky item to make the envelope bulge and arouse the recipient’s curiosity, so I relied on a normal #10 envelope. But I did have a fancy design on the outer envelope. Get a load of this…

• I did have an outrageous response incentive. I had what I thought to be a tremendous response incentive. (I can’t believe I’m telling you this.) I bought two tickets to a Rolling Stones concert at SkyDome in Toronto. Section A seats, on the floor, 14th row or something. They cost $350… EACH! And so the offer was, if you respond to the mailing you get entered to win these tickets. On the outer envelope, I had some teaser copy about the Rolling Stones tickets. You know… enter to win, look inside, etc.

Despite all of this, the mailing did actually get a response.

A response. One.

By some stroke of luck and timing, one person needed copywriting, so he gave me a decent-size copywriting project. Enough to just about cover the expenses of the mailout and  the tickets. Which he won, by the way, having been the only person in the “draw”.

Well, that’s not all bad, you say. At least I got a new client I could nurture for repeat business.

Nope. Never got a single job from him again.

Must have been a lousy concert.

*  Pete Savage is co-founder of this blog and did a lot of things wrong back then, but found it effortless. At the centre of all that wrongness was that damn list he rented. Definitely. But he’s learned a lot about list building since then, including these 12 Kick-Butt Strategies for Assembling Your Best Prospect List Ever.

photo courtesy of rising70

A few weeks ago, my friend and colleague, Dianna Huff, wrote a comment in response to my blog post about doing away with the starving artist mentality.

I’m not sure if Dianna realized it at the time, but the idea she communicated in her message is so powerful and relevant to freelancers today, I felt compelled to write a post to elaborate on it.

Essentially, Dianna suggested that if you want to truly succeed as a freelancer—if you want to consistently have the clients, projects, income and lifestyle you want (which is essentially how we define “wealthy freelancing”), you need to reach outside of your freelancer circles.

Here’s what she suggested:

“If you want to be successful, meaning you make more than enough money to meet your financial obligations, take a few weeks off every year, save money, etc etc., then you need to hang out with other successful people OUTSIDE OF YOUR INDUSTRY.

“This means that if you’re a writer, don’t hang out with writers. Hang out with complementary professionals — i.e. hugely successful Web marketers or bookkeepers or designers or business owners. You’ll not only get some really good ideas, you’ll see how and why others have become successful. You’ll learn to think the way they do. Even better, these people, who aren’t your competitors, will refer work to you.”

Why do I think this idea is so powerful? Because most of the best ideas in ANY business don’t come from watching competitors. They don’t come from incremental improvements in an existing process or technique within your business.

Massive, quantum leaps in performance almost always come from adapting ideas other businesses outside of your own industry are using successfully.

It’s taking an idea you learned from your local grocery store and applying a modified version of that to your own freelance business. Or one you picked up while reading about a regional toy retailer in Entrepreneur magazine.

In fact, if you go back in history to some of the greatest scientific achievements, you’ll find that they were inspired by an event or observation outside of the lab, out there in the real world.

For us freelancers, the key is to keep and open mind. And when we see a successful strategy in another business, ask ourselves, “How could a similar strategy help me get more clients, land better projects, serve my clients better, have more time off, increase my income, help my spouse quit his/her job, or pursue a long-held passion?”

Just the other night, I had dinner with a client who’s a hugely successful businessman. Fascinating story, this guy. Founder and president of a multi-million-dollar company. Came from very humble beginnings and worked hard to get to where he is today.

I got GREAT value from hearing him tell his story and learning more about how he thinks and how he views the world. Not only because he thinks BIG, but because he provided me with a different perspective on marketing, human nature, business success and injecting passion into what you do every day.

As I drove home and pondered our three-and-a-half-hour discussion over a great dinner, it dawned on me that some of the most impactful conversations I’ve ever had have been with super-successful (in more ways than just material success, by the way) individuals outside of my industry/business.

That’s precisely what we strive for here at The Wealthy Freelancer — to provide you with great ideas, strategies and insights from both inside AND outside the freelance world. We hope we’re living up to that ideal.

What about you? What great ideas, tips or strategies have you learned from others outside of your industry? How have they helped your business or personal life?

———————–

Ed Gandia is co-founder of The Wealthy Freelancer and author of the popular e-book Stop Wishing and Start Earning: A Low-Risk Plan to Escape 9-5 and Launch a Profitable Copywriting Business.