Free Money

Nine Counterintuitive Moves for Life-Changing Freelance Income

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This could have been a pamphlet. The author is proud of his advanced degree in poetry, but this reads like two bros sitting around a firepit talking over beers, much like Building a Storybrand. Is that the voice that appeals to the most people?

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I’m the last person who should tell you, “Focus! Finish! Be ruthless and ignore everything else!” That would be, uh, disingenuous because I’ve always got multiple irons in the fire, and if you told me to pick just one, I’d say, “Thanks, Dad, but that ain’t happenin.’”

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The first 20% of this is good. It gives the reader actual formulas to use to find their Survival Number (the minimum one needs to make to pay the bills, the overhead and the tax man) and their Survival Rate (the minimum hourly rate).

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From there, we work with a different formula to find our’s Dream Number and Dream Rate. These are related to the amount we’d like to make yearly and hourly to thrive, save, do things that greatly increase the quality of life.

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Freelance pricing is like bowling with bumpers. Each project is a bowling ball, and your two rates, Survival and Dream, are the bumpers that form a barrier between the lane and the gutter on each side. If you price a project too low and make less than your Survival Rate, you end up in the gutter with debt, back taxes, or both.

I’ve learned this lesson the hard way—cough—more than once. And if you go way too high and too fast with your prices, you’re likely to get so many nos that you struggle to win any projects. Now you’re in the other gutter.

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The thing I liked best about this is that he turns inward to find these numbers. He doesn’t ask "What is the rate other people in my field are charging?” or “What do people expect to pay for my type of services?” Instead he starts with “What do I need to make to pay the rent and support my family?” and moves to “How much do I want to make to uplift others and create a great life for my family?” It’s really the only way to do it.

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One must be able to deliver quality work, have excellent communication skills, and be super professional, of course. But that’s only one side of the equation.

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Your job is to charge what you consider fair prices and then deliver commensurate value. Your job isn’t to mollycoddle your clients and manage what they feel. Their budget isn’t your problem to solve.

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I also liked that he spoke about the need to examine our beliefs. Did your parents speak negatively about neighbors who were more well-off than your family? Did your friend group rail on about how rich people are assholes? When we’re young we tend to unconsciously absorb the thoughts and beliefs of people around us that we admire.

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It’s only when we’re older and unable to reach our goals that, in exhausted exasperation, we finally go inside and ask if there are any negative beliefs that are keeping us in place. The part of the book that deals with negative beliefs is very short, but I was glad to see it. I think it’s important.

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Overall, this could have been a much shorter book. It has valuable information in it but there is an excess of filler material.

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