Contractors & Freelancers

Defining your customers can be a challenge. Start with your strengths and evaluate where you might have the most significant impact, both in the market and with your business. The result should place your business somewhere along the spectrum of a broad and shallow generalist or narrow and deep specialist within the industries you serve.

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Once you've considered your one-time project sales that generate cash flow it's time to think about recurring services that stabilize revenue and compound your earnings. While not appropriate for all services, most can be structured thoughtfully into a subscription model that benefits both parties.

Developing pricing is one of the most critical proficiencies you'll need to get right as a contractor. Understand the market value for your services before structuring your production. Take particular note that it's easy to eat into project margins for many reasons: review and approval phases seem never-ending; projects don't close with clean breaks; customers keep demanding more (scope creep). Additionally, there is often much more time spent outside of executing the work task itself (onboarding, collecting and curating assets, client communication, etc.). Project management can address much of this, but it has little use if the prices are not correct in the first place.

As a Contractor, few things are more important than maintaining a healthy pipeline of work. A steady flow of new or returning customers means you don't have to hunt for your next project - which often leads to you driving your prices lower, cutting into your margins, and ultimately impacting your bottom line. By carefully, systematically, and methodically orchestrating work production and calibrating production pipelines you'll move in and out of projects seamlessly while gaining accurate visibility into revenue forecasts for your business.

Relationships are everything when you're an Independent Contractor. Your business can succeed or fail based on how well you maintain and grow healthy relationships with your customers, partners, and community. Stay organized and keep your network primed with a capable Client Relationship Management (CRM) platform that will help you leverage these critical relationships. There are many CRMs to choose from, so choose wisely based on your use-case requirements, but choose nonetheless.

Starting your own Contracting business means it's time to get serious about the systems you are using as the foundation for your business operations. Consider what you'll need to generate and track invoices, manage your books, store your clients and partner contacts, manage your projects, send and receive domain-based business emails, set up appointment bookings, and more. And, how will these systems integrate and talk to each other?

Project Management is much more than staying organized and making sure work gets done. Bringing solid project management principles to your work helps you to manage your clients' expectations, limit your risks, and ensure that completed work delights your customers without sacrificing your profitability. Protect your time against scope creep and projects without clean breaks to stay out of the red on your work.

Whether looking for a pipeline of work or keeping up with your existing customers' demands, your network is the most powerful resource you'll have as a Solopreneur. Make sure your network understands the type of work and customers you seek. Once your plate is full, you might need to refer work back out through that same network, form partnerships, or white-label through your connections. Mastering your network is the most effective means of growing your business.