It’s one of the problems with how available info is these days. Any Joe Schmuck can throw up a blog or a YouTube channel and start pontificating about some topic. No experience, no actual results or success — just a fancy camera and some slick editing software and you can be the next big YouTube sensation. Good for them… Bad for the blokes and blokettes using the “anti-advice” they share. That’s why I actually consume way less info these days. I have a few trusted sources that I’ve fully vetted and I stick to what they say. In many cases,

I don’t know… maybe I’m just crazy. But, the answers to these kinds of questions seem so obvious to me. Was watching a Q&A that Jimmy O. Yang did at Google. He’s a comedian… was in a show called “Silicon Valley” and the movie Crazy Rich Asians. He has an interesting story. He immigrated here from Singapore and a lot of his comedy is based around his experience learning American culture and finding his way in this new country he was in. His comedy is hilarious to me… but it’s also informative. Gives you a real glimpse into what it’s

This is something I yappity-yap about in my Premium Pricing for Freelancers course, but let me rap about it here a bit. Little back-story… I’ve been with one of my clients for… well, coming up on 12 years now. And they’re what I’d consider a high-end client. A well-known tech company… Who has 15 or so full-time employees on staff. And pays me a hefty retainer each month. They’ve also been the referral for many (but not all) of my other high-end clients. Inc. Magazine was one. Michael Hyatt another. Having worked with this particular client for so long… all the “trappings”

Started watching this Netflix documentary: “Secrets of the Saqqara Tomb” and it reminded me of one of the more powerful marketing principles I learned as young online business tadpole — and a little twist on it that can help you to command attention in your market and get more clients. It’s really in the first few minutes of the documentary. It starts with two guys in some dusty cave… who make a “startling” discovery. It turns out to be a private tomb for some Egyptian noble — almost fully preserved. They start to explain why this particular tomb was so

I don’t talk politics a lot in here… Not because I’m not political (although, I’m really not anymore) but more because it’s infected virtually every other part of our lives… this is kind of a safe haven from all that noise — for both ME and you… but me, most importantly. 😉 However, business people need to pay attention. Political winds can fill your sails… Or blow your house down. A big one that’s relevant to us freelancers is the labor shortage. If you’ve not heard, here’s some of what’s going on in the labor market: 10.4 million job openings

Quick one for you today… The way the world is, these days, there’s a lot of hoopla and “sizzle” and breathlessly hyping this new technology or trick, this fancy new technique… and this or that. But, the reality is… There’s a few fundamental truths… That account for 90% of the success people have. Often boring, non-secksy-sounding… “yeah, yeah, I know” type stuff that people just simply aren’t willing to do. And, I’ve always found Sundays were a good litmus test. IF… and this is a legit if… IF your life isn’t the way you want it to be. If you’re

Yo muchacho! A little freebie lovin’ for ya. Now, that I’ve hammered you over the head with my latest course promotion, I figure I’ll throw you a bone. Anyway, the latest episode of my podcast is out. In it, I reveal 6 legit ways you can land your first freelance client. As per my style… This ain’t the usual… Upwork, Fiverr, blah, blah, blah. There’s some stuff you’ve probably thought of. And a few I guarantee you haven’t. And a collection plate full of tips for being successful with all six… Gleaned from my 17 years of experience. Probably even

One of my mentors talks about this all the time. One of the simplest things you can do to win in business is simply zig when everybody else is zagging. Matter of fact, he says he generally looks at what everyone else is doing and explicitly tries to do the exact opposite. And he runs a 7-figure *print* newsletter. Right in the middle of a tech boom. Haha. Who am I to argue? Anyway, I’ve noticed this with freelancing, too. Right now, everybody is rushing to the freelance sites, social media, YouTube, etc, etc — meanwhile one of the most

I was talking with my little brother about it the other day. His client list is even more impressive: Google, Amazon, Nike, Office Depot, Circle K and a few dozen other Fortune 500 companies. Two “poor white trash” kids, who grew up in a rat-infested trailer home… Landing these kind of “swanky” clients. Especially when you consider we’re both hermits. He’s a hippy who likes working in his garden and woodworking. I’m a nerd who spends most of my time scouring the interwebs for any half-decent sci-fi flick I haven’t seen, yet (seriously, if you know of any, help a

So sayeth Max in response to my earlier email about A-aron: === Lol! Your snark alone is worth the subscription! Little did he know he was getting a free course about how to sell courses like hotcakes. Keep at it and don’t change a thing! === Effusive praise of yours truly aside… Max makes a valid point One even those of you who despise my self-aggrandizing personality should pay attention to. Nothing has done more for my business than these two things: 1. Near-daily email 2. Deadlines Gnash your teeth all you like… Those two simple things have made a

Got this verbal dart from A-aron: === Hey John. I understand why you are doing this but to be honest it’s not awesome. I bought a one year membership of Skillshare specifically for your courses. 🙁 I get it though, you make fore sure way more money selling the courses piecemeal on your website so I can’t fault you for that but it still isn’t great from our perspective. === Actually A-train… I’d say you don’t understand why I do it. I mean look… I’m not an Iowan– uh, idiot. I know I’m going to piss a few people off

Easily one of the questions I get asked most often: “John… everything you’re saying about freelancing sounds awesome. I want to start, but I don’t have any experience or anything to put in a portfolio… how can I get hired when I don’t have anything to show clients?” My usual answer is… “Get stuff.” Meaning, you don’t have to do projects for clients to put them in your portfolio. In fact, one of the most famous painters of all time, Leonardo Da Vinci, did this all the time. One of his most famous “works”, the Vitruvian man (Google it)… Wasn’t

That no Insta-yuppie even knows about It’s one of the things I despise about the incestuous nature of the freelance “guru” space — and YouTube for that matter. Everybody just reads everybody else’s s*** and regurgitates it in a new package to their audience. There’s rarely any new ideas. It’s one of the things I noticed coming up the way I did. There was no social media. YouTube didn’t even exist, yet. Haha, imagine that. Could you imagine trying to learn anything, today, without YouTube? That’s how it was, Punky. Anyway, you had to — heaven forbid — come up

Including 2 nobody else on the planet teaches I just uploaded Part 2 of my Freelance Feast course to Skillshare. In that part of the course, I show you 8 completely unique ways to get clients. Not the lame Upwork is 1, Fiverr is 2, etc. No, 8 completely different and unique methods — including 2 that I’m pretty confident nobody else on the planet teaches. One of which has been the most effective method for me. Several of my celebrity clients were landed this way, in fact. And a good 60-70% of my client work has come from this

Good ol’ “ASAP Charlie”. He was Tim Ferriss’ assistant at the time — and he was the final straw. By this point, I’d already worked with Lewis Howes and Michael Hyatt and Inc. Magazine. So, I’d gotten used to the “awe” of it all. And was starting to see a pattern. Then, Tim Ferriss’ 4-Hour Body project came calling. They wanted a forum built with WordPress… Locked down for only people who’d purchased his book. Anyway, when you work with these clients, the day-to-day isn’t actually with them. It’s with their “entourage”. And the groupies tend to be way more

Got this YouTube comment from Kodbazis: === Hi John. I follow you since 2016. You motivated me right from the start, to pursue a carreer in web development. Now, after years of working in the field, I started to sell my online courses. 🙂 === I’m going to jam about this a lot more in my June 2021 course called, “The Ascension Matrix”, but it’s a relevant point: Freelancing is *not* the destination. It’s a stepping stone down the path of what I call a “Knowledge Vendor” — someone who makes their living primarily based on what they *know* NOT

The first time I heard the phrase “marketing” funnel… not gonna lie… I snickered a bit. Guy was talking about it like it was some new, genius idea he’d thought up. But, “funnels” have been around since Jesus first roamed the internet. They just weren’t called that. Matter of fact… Clear back in 2004-2005, I had a MySpace marketing “funnel” I used to siphon eyeballs off MySpace and into my offers. And, I was pulling in a few thousand a month with it. Of course, I was basically showing people how to spam on MySpace… And, I started feeling dirty

This girl I know. Me and here got it– oh wait, that’s and Adam Sandler movie… haha. Anyway, I once knew this local photographer. Smart, smart, smart. I used to marvel at how well she understood business for someone who looked like your regular Jane down the street. Hmph. Faaaar from it. She was a shark business-wise. She, of course, had a photography business. But, she also owned a daycare and a kid’s clothing store. And she ran it all “synergistically” — to use an overused buzzword. But, she did it — as well as I’ve seen even from the

I used to have this client. His name was Stu McLaren. He’s gone on to become one of those “evangelical” business celebrities doing massive multi-million dollar product launches and such. But, at that time, he was a niche membership site guy. But, he *knew* membership sites. He had these massive mindmaps. Creating content, member retention, outsourcing… every minute detail of building and running a membership site… he had multiple tips, techniques, processes, etc. Anyway, one of the most effective is what I’ve come to all: “Object-oriented marketing.” Every month, we’d create a new WordPress plugin that was *only* available if

I used to work with this client. He ran a tech company whose flagship product was a mobile app service. And just being straight up… dude was kind of a prick. The type whose always right, his ideas are always “genius”, won’t listen to anybody… Thought of himself as the “next Steve jobs” (like they all do). And, if things don’t go exactly his way… comes stomping in yelling at everyone else — even if he’s completely wrong. And will NEVER admit when he IS wrong. A real douche-canoe. Buuuuut… Despite all that, this company was doing well — very

Stop acting like your client’s servant — like you’re there to kowtow to their every whim and wish and you’re lucky they’ve graced you with their business. It’s not just about having a little self-respect… it’s bad business. Was reading a Ben Settle email… He was talking about “History’s greatest ad man’s advice for dealing with clients”. He was talking about David Ogilvy… who is arguably history’s greatest ad man… and his “rules for respect in business” and Ogilvy said this: === In meeting with clients, do not assume the posture of servants… They need you as much as you

One of the reasons why I’ve all but tried to kill my YouTube channel. It’s become a cesspool off “broooo’s” flashing their rented Lambo’s outside their 20-room house (just for them) — and other various dumb s*** they do with their moolah. It’s like watching a Real Housewives episode. They just rounded up all the idiots… And pointed a camera at them. And people eat it up because it’s “entertaining”. Particularly egregious in the freelance/side hustle/online business space. There are always exceptions, but you check the trending… complete garbage for the most part. But, here’s the insidious part. Because of

I’d just gotten back from Basic Training for the Army. It was a weird time in my life. Just six months previous, I was a regular ol’ college student. Was playing football at the University of Nebraska, partying too much and doing as little school work as possible. In the interim… I’d joined the Army. I’d gotten married. My wife got pregnant. 9/11 happened and I shipped off to Basic. The possibility of deploying to Iraq hung over my head — and I returned home not sure what the hell I was going to do. I joined the Army Reserves…

Saw this scrub on Twitter post this namby-pamby bullshizen: === I will NEVER be impressed by your money, car, looks, social status or job title. I’m impressed by the way you treat me and other people. === Uuuuuuugh! Clearly, she ain’t seen my Ford Focus with its after market fenders. The glass packs and carbon fiber spoiler. Got 2 18-inch subwoofers in the trunk. Pfft. Whenever I drive by the little league games at the park… All the soccer moms give me that eye. You know. I’m basically a chick magnet. Hahahaha. Obviously, I’m kidding… but you know what “chicks”

Was reading this article in the New York Times. It was about a study, just published in the academic journal, Med, where Japaneses researchers tested delivering oxygen-filled enemas to severely oxygen-deprived mice and pigs (yes, this is real, haha). And it worked. The animals had been laying down because they were too oxygen-deprived to move. The skin of the pigs had become discolored. But, a few minutes after the enema, the color returned in the pigs. The mice got up and start walking around. And they went back to “normal” for the most part. They were basically able to bypass

A few years back, my wife and I uprooted our entire lives and sold our 2,000-sqft home in Omaha to move to “hillbilly heaven” in southern Missouri and build our version of a “tiny house”. A small-ish, 800-sqft home on 3.5 acres. Backed up to a lake deep in the Ozark Mountains. And when I say “we built”… I mean WE built it. My little brother and I did almost everything… from digging the trenches for the water and electrical to building the custom, gabled roof, running the electrical — all of it except for the siding. That’s the one

Ready to get REAL wacky? Haha. Seriously, though, in my early 20s I came across this collection of books. It was from an obscure writer and publishing company — who only sold their books via direct mail and only to a highly curated list of people. Somehow I ended up on that list. Who the hell knows how that happened… Because these books were expensive. But, as it turned out… it was the best money I ever spent. Those books dragged me, kicking and screaming, out of feeling sorry for myself and a deep pit of internal dishonesty and rationalizations.

Been reading this book… “Fingerprints of the Gods” by Graham Hancock. It’s this interesting look at human history and his argument that there used to be a super-advanced civilization on Earth that created all the big wonders of the world. And are the source of “God” in all the ancient myths and religions. I have to admit… it’s pretty fascinating. Even if, I don’t really buy his theory. Tracing back through history and all the ancient ruins, taking a second look… with the dramatic twist… “Could this be a sign of a super-advanced civilization?” Definitely satisfies my sci-fi nerd-iosity. Anyway,