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Do freelancers need insurance?

I had never even thought of this. Why would a freelance web developer need insurance? But, my older brother became an insurance agent and, during his initial training and certification, was taking classes on business insurance. That got him curious and he started asking me about it. I hadn’t realize how at-risk I actually was. So, I started doing some research on it and this is what I found. Do freelancers need insurance? Yes. In fact, depending on your situation, you may want to get up to three different types of insurance to cover your freelance business: General Liability Insurance,

John Morris July 23, 2019

How much freelance web developers make

Easily the most common question I get from aspiring freelance web developers is “how much can I expect to make if I go freelance?” I could tell you what I made or give you stories from other freelance developers, but I wanted to start with some hard numbers and realistic expectations. So, that said, how much can you make as a freelance web developer? $21 – $49 per hour. Which, if you work an average of 40 hours per week, is $43,680 – $101,920 per year. Now, let me show you where those numbers come from and some things you

John Morris July 18, 2019

3 Examples of How to Get a Freelance Job With No Experience You Can Do Today

Experience is a tricky word. What actually is experience? Working a job for 20 years, but being terrible at what you do… is technically experience, but is it valuable? Maybe I haven’t got my first client, yet… but I’ve built hundreds of websites on my own. Is that experience? I’d say so. So, it’s tricky… but, bottom line, how can you get a freelance job with no experience? You create experience. Don’t wait around for it to be handed to you. Create it. How Do You Create Experience? Let’s say you want to freelance as a developer. There are tons

John Morris July 17, 2019

What programming language is best for freelancing?

So, you decided you want to freelance as a web developer. Maybe as your main thing or even just a side gig. And, what you might be finding is the languages and frameworks you were told to learn to get hired at a company (Node.js, Python, etc)… Don’t seem to have near as many freelance projects as you might’ve thought. So, what is the best language to learn for freelancing? It’s a toss-up between Javascript and PHP. And, if you’re willing to look beyond languages… it’s WordPress. That’s the short answer. Now, let me give you the longer, data-backed answer.

John Morris July 16, 2019

What Keywords Should Freelancers Try to Rank For?

Every single day, potential clients go online and search for freelancers to hire. Doesn’t matter what service you provide, what industry you’re in. Your clients are online and searching for someone who does what you do. So, how to do you show up in those searches? Can you imagine how your freelance business might change if you ranked #1 for a search that got 5,000 hits per month? Or 10,000? How many freelance jobs could you get just by ranking for a single high-traffic keyword? Well, it all starts with keyword research. Figuring out what words those potential clients actually

John Morris July 15, 2019

The Biggest Mistake Freelancers Make When Creating Content

Content is one of my “Big 3” for getting new freelance clients. It’s also my preferred method because it can scale infinitely and it gives even brand new freelancers a shot at getting clients (one great piece of content can be all you need to get started). The problem is a lot of freelancers focus on the wrong things when creating content. They start to think of themselves as a blogger or a YouTuber or a podcaster. And, they start looking at what other bloggers, podcasters and YouTubers are doing and try to emulate that. The problem with that is

John Morris July 12, 2019

The Freelance Services Clients Actually Want

Freelance clients don’t think in terms of services. They think in terms of end results. Objects. Things. So, they don’t want graphic design, they want a logo. Or, a website. A mobile app, etc. Turning your services into products is called “productizing”. And, it’s the very first thing you need to do when you decide to become a freelancer. Of course, the question, then, is… WHAT “things”? Fortunately, most of that work has already been done for you. Fiverr pushes its freelancers to turn their services into tangible products. And, you can figure out what are the most popular products

John Morris July 11, 2019

Start Freelancing: The Very First Thing You Need to Do

The very first thing you need to do to start freelancing is figure out what services you’re going to offer. And, not just: “Oh, I wanna be a graphic designer”. That’s not good enough and getting freelance jobs will always be harder if you only go this far. That’s because most clients don’t want a service. They want a logo. Or a website. Or a 1,000 word article. Clients think in end results. Objects. Tangible “things” they’re going to get from the service. So, when you position your services that way from the start, they make more sense to potential

John Morris July 11, 2019

Find the Most Popular Freelance Jobs on Any Freelance Site

What if you could just know what the most popular jobs on any given freelance site were, so you knew what to do to get started freelancing? Well you can. And, in this post, I’m going to show you how to do it. What we need is a tool called Ubersuggest. It’s from a guy named Neil Patel. He’s a “website traffic” guy and it’s free to use. So, click on over there. In the big search bar you see there, type the URL of the freelance site you want to check. We’ll start with Upwork: When the results load,

John Morris July 4, 2019

How do I get a steady flow of new freelance clients?

Stack the deck. Let me tell you my up and down story with this. I’m an extremist. When I have a new idea, I latch onto it, go all-in on it until I get bored and then I move onto the next thing. And, when I first got online 15 years ago, there was a lot to learn. So, I just ran from thing to thing. First, it was hard-core, direct response web pages to sell my services. Then, Google Adwords, then blogging, “viral marketing”, MySpace, YouTube, content marketing, social media.. on and on and on. What I’ve learned through

John Morris July 2, 2019

What to do when freelance work dries up

In 15 years of freelancing, I’ve had more than my fair share of dry spells. They can be nerve-wracking and get you questioning yourself. But, through all that, here I am all these years later still freelancing full-time from home. So, what do I do when works dries up? 1. Don’t Panic Let’s be honest… this is the hardest part. No matter how confident you are in your skills or your client-getting process, when the works slows, we all begin to question ourselves. That ball in the pit of your stomach. “Is this the end?” “Am I headed back to

John Morris July 1, 2019

5 Steps to Become a Freelance Web Developer

I’ve been a freelance web developer for just over 15 years. I’ve also taught over 11,000 students about freelancing and web development. In this post, I’m going to share with what I’ve learned through all the about becoming a freelance web developer. Here’s what we’ll be covering: Is freelancing right for you? Figure out your service offerings 3 ways to get clients Deliver your services like a pro Scale your freelance business Let’s jump in: Step #1: Is freelancing right for you? Yes. This is a step. Freelancing has become one of “those things” now. Like college and technology, it’s

John Morris July 1, 2019

Apart from Upwork, where would you look for freelance or remote jobs?

Freelancer.com, Fiverr, LinkedIn, TopTal, Guru, PeoplePerHour, Indeed for remote jobs (have to set location to remote): Google can be a good place to look, as well: Look for industry-specific job boards. For example, Dribbble is a website dedicated to graphic designers and they have their own job board with listings for remote jobs: And then, let me give you one last one (more for getting freelance work)… local business meetup groups. These can be crazy effective. I was in two for almost two years until I moved to a really small town. Each one met once a month. And, every

John Morris June 28, 2019

Where can I promote my Fiverr gigs so that I can get more projects?

Everywhere. There’s no one place that’s going to be a magic bullet. The trick is promoting your stuff on a bunch of different places and that adding up to something significant. Blogging, YouTube, podcasting, Quora, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram… You get the point. Of course, just blasting out a link to your Fiverr gigs isn’t going to get much attention and will likely get you banned or blocked in a lot of places. So, what you need is what’s called “2-step marketing”. This comes from direct mail advertising. Instead of sending a long-form sales letter to a bunch of people via

John Morris June 27, 2019

GIVEAWAY: 1-Year Free Skillshare Membership

Hey everyone! To celebrate the launch of my new course(content2clients.com), Skillshare has given me a free 1-year membership to their site (normally $99) that I can give away to ONE of you. So, I’m running a contest over on Instagram.⠀ If you’re not familiar with Skillshare, they’re an online learning platform similar to Udemy or Lynda. But, with Skillshare, you pay a monthly fee and get access to all of their courses. It’s like the “Netflix for learning”.⠀⠀Anyway, if you win this contest, you’ll get a full year of membership which gives you access to all the courses on the platform

John Morris June 25, 2019

NEW COURSE: Turn Content Into Clients – Content Marketing For Freelancers

My latest course, Turn Content Into Clients, is now live. Here’s the details on what’s in it: When I first started freelancing, I had no idea how to get clients. No plan for how to grow my business. I didn’t know what worked and what didn’t. I took any client I could get, worked on projects I had no passion for, worked with clients I couldn’t stand and was terrified month to month: “Where will the clients come from?” “Will I make enough to pay my bills?” “Will it always be this stressful?” And then, I discovered content marketing. And,

John Morris June 24, 2019

How and where to start freelancing as a full stack web developer?

I remember this feeling. Early on in my freelancing career (way back in 20–… well, I won’t say how long ago that was :D) with no idea how to do any of this. The anxious feeling in my gut. The thoughts of failure and embarrassment swirling in my head. And, I ended up just guessing. And, I paid for it. So, let me save you from that. You start with research… When freelancing… And, I want to highlight that, because it’s different than when applying for a job at a company. So, when freelancing, you start by doing research. It’s

John Morris June 23, 2019

How long does it take to start making money on Upwork as a new freelancer?

You could get a client today. Some people go on there and never get work. It’s really not about time, it’s about what you do. The freelancers who do the right things and put in the effort tend to get work. And those who go in feeling like Upwork owes them something and expect work to just fall in their lap… don’t. And, they rave about how Upwork is a “scam” or a “huge waste of time”. When I first started on Upwork, I made every mistake I rant about, today. I blasted out a bunch of bids, didn’t spend

John Morris June 21, 2019

How do I know my skills are good enough to work as a freelance web developer?

This is kind of like those jokes: “Question What’s 2+3?” “Answer: Purple.” The real answer to this question is: Specialize. I know. “Huh?” My assumption, from the question, is that you’re thinking when you freelance you’ll just put yourself out there as a “freelance web developer” and be taking on any number of different projects. It’s really NOT the way to go. You want to specialize in something. Maybe, it’s building Joomla websites for non-profits. Or, landing pages in WordPress for online businesses. Or, custom coding plugins. Or membership sites from scratch. Clients think in “end results”. They don’t want

John Morris June 21, 2019

Top 5 Mistakes All Freelancers Should Avoid

In my 15 years as a freelancer, I’ve made my share of mistakes. And, no doubt, you will, too. That’s just a part of playing the game. But, some mistakes are more harmful than others. And, while I know I can’t (and shouldn’t) keep you from making any mistakes. These ones, in particular, are ones you can skip learning “the hard way”. So, let my stumbles and setbacks be your lesson. These are, in my opinion, the top 5 mistakes freelancers should avoid. 1. Undervaluing and Undercharging for Your Work I did this a lot when I started. It was

John Morris June 17, 2019

The simple secret to high-paying freelance clients?

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Jim DeJonge

John has a relaxed and engaging manner. His advice is solid and the explanations are well thought out.

Lori Grant

John did an outstanding job on my project. I highly recommend him and look forward to working with him on future projects.

Aaron Gott

John has a particular knack for the development and training of others.

Xan Barksdale

Very professional worker who is extremely knowledgable in WordPress and Wishlist Member. I would definitely hire again.

Erika Swafford

John really delivers!

Bobbi Raffin

John is top-notch and a great guy to work with.

Bradley Smith

John and I have worked together on numerous projects. John is very quick and efficient and was a pleasure to work with.

Andrew Malone

John Morris is exceptional in his ability to give focused insight into Freelancing and starting one’s business. His direct methods inspire confidence in his honesty.

Bob Patterson

Not only is John a very talented programmer and developer, he is also an excellent communicator. He has a talent for taking complex subjects and communicating them in terms that anyone can understand. This is a rare combination. This ability has enabled me to take my skills and knowledge to the next level. Thank you John for for all that you do.

Fionn Ross

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Thabo Motsoahae

John is one of the best instructors I have come across, I learned a lot from his online tutorials.

Oliver Wainwright

I’m a fan. I have completed several of John’s courses. I find him very knowledgeable and he has a great delivery.

Sukh Plaha

John is a fantastic and patient tutor, who is not just able to share knowledge and communicate it very effectively – but able to support one in applying it. However, I believe that John has a very rare ability to go further than just imparting knowledge and showing one how to apply it. He is able to innately provoke one’s curiosity when explaining and demonstrating concepts, to the extent that one can explore and unravel their own learning journey. Thanks very much John!

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Ray Edwards

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How to Find the Hidden "10K Clients" In Your Freelance Market and Get Them to Hire YOU