The Freelancer Manifesto
The Freelancer Manifesto
Learn how to build a profitable freelance business completely from scratch and gain the tools needed to succeed.
About the Book
Are you ready to launch your own freelance development business but don’t know where to start? I used to be the same way and I spent years refining my system in order to run a successful freelance business. In addition to being an instructor I also have a freelance development business that generated over $295,000 last year alone. In fact, in one month I made over $43,000 in freelance work. And in this book I walk through the exact process I used to build my freelance service so that you can learn from it and launch your own business.
I have spent the last year putting together this book based on my own real world experiences with clients. This includes discussing the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to becoming a freelancer. Many other freelancing courses are filled with 1-2 hours worth of theoretical concepts. I took a different approach and focus 100% on practical real life experiences so that you can truly use this book to launch a freelance business. The result is that this course gives you 2 to 3 times more material than most other freelancing systems.
I’ve organized the course into practical sections so that you can follow along, this includes:
Preparing for the launch of your business. Including how to schedule your launch, how to create a portfolio that actually gets clients, how to craft a list of template proposals, and every other component you’ll need in order to start your business.
Next we’ll move onto the top challenge freelancers come across: how to get clients! This was the most difficult obstacle for me to overcome when I started my freelance business and I walk you through my marketing system that generated so many clients that I had to hire additional freelancers to help take on all of the new clients that were signing up.
As important as getting clients is when it comes to launching a freelance business I don’t end the book there. I dedicate sections to the topics of managing projects, testing for code quality, working with legacy applications, and how to manage client communication to ensure that your clients become your biggest fans.
If the idea of hard work doesn’t scare you off and if the concept of making your own schedule and being able to work from anywhere in the world is appealing, then this is the book for you.
Since these concepts are part of my life’s work, I didn’t simply write this book. I also filmed video lessons published on Udemy with a video guide associated with each chapter of the book. If you are interested in going through the video course you can access it at this link, along with all of my development courses.
I look forward to going through the book with you and I wish you the best of luck on your freelance journey!
Table of Contents
- Introduction
-
Benefits to Freelancing
- Freedom
- Income Source Flexibility
- Revenue
-
Challenges for Freelancing
- List of Freelance Challenges
- Getting clients
- Managing multiple projects
- Managing paperwork and legal documents
- Responding to Angry Clients
-
Scheduling Your Launch
- Writing Down Your Freelance Business Goals
- Decide on your long term goals
- Decide on a timeline for launch
-
Creating a Portfolio
- Examples of Freelance Portfolios
-
Building a Service List
- Example List of Services
-
Creating a Website for a Freelance Business
- Describe what makes you unique
- List your services
- Projects or Companies You’ve Worked With in the Past
- Your portfolio
- Testimonials
- Contact methods
- Building the site
-
Creating Freelance Marketing Websites for Specific Client Categories
- A/B Testing
- Other Examples
- Why create multiple marketing sites?
-
Creating a Targeted Set of Sales Proposals
- Components of Successful Sales Proposals
- Gain the Potential Client’s Trust
- Clear and Concise Communication
- Public Profiles
- Online Skill Tests and Certifications
- Showcase Your Skills
- Hand Pick Portfolio Items
- Prove that You’re a Fit for a Client’s Project
-
Freelance Proposal Templates
- Standard Proposal
- Informed Proposal
- Formal Proposal
- Resources
-
Freelance Bookkeeping Options to Manage Your Business
- Freshbooks
- Quickbooks
- Netsuite
-
Three Ways to Get New Clients
- Freelancing Services
- Online Networking Services
- Referrals
-
The Secret for Getting New Clients as a Freelancer
- Where to Find New Clients
- Challenge in Getting New Clients with Outsourcing Services
- Getting New Clients as a Freelancer
- The Result
-
Freelancer Soft Skills
- Soft Skill Overview
- Writing
- Conversational Skills
- Management
- Design
- Public Speaking
- The Importance Soft Skills
-
Organically Growing Your Freelance Business
- Referral Requests
- Blogging
- Open Source Contribution
- Social Media Marketing
- How to Create Accurate Bids as a Freelancer
-
Building Requirements Documentation
- A Real Life Case Study
-
Project Management Tools
- Basecamp
- Trello
- LeanKit
- ProWorkflow
- Wrike
- GitHub
-
Version Control Crash Course for Freelancers
- A World Without Version Control
- Surfing and Version Control
- Terms to Know
- How to Use GitHub
- Remote Version Control Options
-
Automating Client Updates as a Freelancer
- Importance of Daily Updates
- Example Client Update
- Automating Client Updates
- Version Control to the Rescue
-
How to Remotely Demo Work for Freelance Clients
- Why Proper Demonstrations are Important
- Screencasts
- Live Screensharing Demos
- Slide Deck Options
-
Freelance Guide to Managing Advanced Features
- The Talent Pool
- The Process
- Kanban
- A Caveat
-
Defining Project Success as a Freelancer
- A Clear End
- What is scope creep?
- When scope creep isn’t scope creep
- When scope creep goes badly
- Based on Requirements
- Based on a Story
- The Sign Off
- System for Managing Outsource Web Developers
-
Dodging Silver Bullets for Scalable Freelance Projects
- The Problem with Silver Bullets
- Become a Sharp Shooter with Code Libraries
-
Freelancer Prototyping Tools
- InVision
- Lay Out It
- Explain Everything iPad App
- PowerPoint/Keynote
- Marvel
- A Word of Warning for Prototypes
-
Should You Use TDD on Freelance Projects?
- Quality vs Speed
- TDD on Freelance Projects
- Making the Decision
-
How to Demonstrate Code Quality for Freelance Clients
- How to Test for Code Quality
- Tools for Testing Code Quality
-
Taking Over a Legacy Application
- Creating a Test Suite
- Adding New Features via TDD
- Break Out Specific Features into Microservices
- DRYing up the Codebase
- Freelancer Interview: Practical Tips for Taking Over a Legacy Application
-
Starting Over vs Refactoring
- The Legacy Scenario
- Removing the Fear Factor
- The 80/20 Principle
- Automated Bug List
- Becoming the Client
- When Should You Start Over?
-
Client Communication Best Practices
- System for Maintaining Proper Client Communication
-
Managing Client Conflicts as a Freelancer
- Strategies for Managing Client Conflicts
-
Knowing When to Fire a Client
- My Urgent Client
- System for Knowing when to Fire a Client
- The Joy of Firing a Client
-
Top Books for Freelance Developers
- Book Yourself Solid
- Rework
- Grit
- What You Need to Know About: Project Management
- The Phoenix Project
-
SEO for Freelancers
- Quality Content
- XML Sitemaps
- Media
- Site Speed
- Site Responsiveness
- Backlinks
- Focused Content
- SEO Resources
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