Let me make sure my tin foil hat is on tight. Haha.
Seriously, though, it’s a wild time we live in. Sometimes, I feel like I live in an alternate reality from some people. We see the exact same things and have two very different interpretations.
Take Gina Carano, for example.
You probably saw she got fired from Disney for a supposedly “anti-Semitic” tweet she sent out. Have you read it? If not, you should. I have a hard time understanding how that can be considered anti-Semitic.
Wrong.
A stretch comparing it to today’s political environment.
Conspiratorial?
I can see all those things. But, anit-Semitic?
Oozing with hate?
“Abhorrent” as Disney said.
I don’t know.
To me, it’s just another example of how the commies are winning here in America. They control the narratives and set the standards the rest of us are expected to abide by. Don’t believe me?
Go on whatever social media you use most…
And post something outside the mainstream.
Watch what happens.
It could be 100% true. It could be a valid point or criticism. It could lead to deeper thinking on an important subject. Won’t matter… if it doesn’t conform to the mainstream narrative, it won’t be long before you’re shouted down…
And maybe even suspended or banned from the site.
Hell, just thinking about it probably makes you nervous.
That’s how you know.
Call me a conspiracy theorist all you want, but I guarantee you censor yourself on your social media. There’s things you believe, deep down in your soul, that you don’t say because you’re worried what the reaction will be.
Again… that’s how you know.
Anyway, what does all this have to do with your freelance business?
Ha!
Everything.
If you don’t think so, you’re living under a rock.
Have you heard of California Assembly Bill 5?
If not, you should look it up. Now, here’s the thing… I don’t actually have that much of a problem with the bill itself. But, I can see farther than two inches in front of my face. And, know that this is just the first shoe to drop.
You might as well call these laws the “Uber” laws.
It’s obvious this is a reaction to Uber and all the criticism they’ve received over the past few years. A mainstream narrative that Uber and companies like it were “exploiting” their workers.
Workers who, of course, chose to be there…
Did not have to work for Uber, at all, if they didn’t want.
And, who KNEW the terms going in.
But, if you say that… boy, you’re an evil capitalist who just wants to get rich off the backs of these poor, abused workers.
Yeah okay.
But, here’s thing thing to pay attention to…
What was the reaction from businesses?
Well, Vox Media for example, laid off hundreds of freelancers in anticipation of the law. Jessica DeLine was one of those layoffs. She was a site manager at the SB Nation Site, Halo’s Heaven.
She didn’t make a ton, but it was enough to pay her car payment with.
Gone.
Did anyone ask her?
Did the legislators or the do-gooders pushing for the law ask her if she’d prefer to stay on as a contractor — rather than not have the gig at all? Nope. That’s not part of the law. Our way or the highway.
The point I’m making here it this…
You might not *care* about all this.
You might want to hear “John rant about politics”.
You might not want to take sides.
But, it will affect you nonetheless. This is just one law in one state. There’s plenty more to come. And, if you’re not paying attention… it could knock you off your feet when you’re least expecting it.
Vox’s layoffs, for example, came right before Christmas.
So, how to protect yourself?
I’ll tell you what I’ve done:
1. Radically reduce debt.
2. Diversify your income.
3. Invest (stocks, crypto, commodities, etc).
4. Hedge (in case a dollar crisis actually happens).
5. Attach yourself to the winners.
For example…
I sold my overly-lavish and unnecessary 2,000-sqft home, bought 3.5 acres in the Ozarks and built a modest cabin in the woods… that I paid cash for… so, I own my home outright and don’t have a mortgage payment.
I recently paid off the truck I bought just last year to get rid of that payment.
Of course, paid off credit cards and other high-interest debt.
Paid off all but one student loan… which is the last bit of debt I have left.
And, have my hard bills down to under 1,000/month. So, for me, it doesn’t really matter what happens. I could work at McDonald’s and make 1,000/month. My kids will never starve or worry about losing their childhood home, etc.
My tin foil hat motivated me to do all that.
But…
Let me finish up by rapping about the last item on that list. You’ve probably heard it 1,000 times… “in every recession, there’s winners and losers”. People/companies who grow and expand versus people/companies who shrink and die.
That’s the beautiful part of being a freelancer.
It’s YOURS.
You can adapt, change, tweak… and, put yourself in the right position to get through. Instead of hoping and wishing your boss wasn’t an idiot leading up to the recession. To me, being in control… is the only true job security.
It’s also what I despise about laws that take away that control…
No matter how “well-intended”.
But, I digress…
Finding and getting hired by the winners, that always exist in any economic recession, is the easiest way I know to both commie and future-proof your life and your business. And the more of them you have in your “little black book”…
The better.
That’s why I believe the #1 skill any freelancer can learn…
Is how to land *high-end*, premium clients.
Like some of the ones I’ve worked with over the years… Lewis Howes, Michael Hyatt, Inc. Magazine, Ben Settle, WishList Products, Stu McLaren, Tim Ferriss, Jefferson Bethke, Troy Broussard… and on and on.
How am I able to consistently land these cream of the crop clients?
How do I find them?
What do I say?
How do I make them love me and want to hire me again and again?
That’s what I teach you in my Premium Pricing For Freelancers course. Here’s some of the things you’ll learn inside the course:
The “Microsoft Method” for finding premium clients. You can go on Google right now and find a nearly endless list of premium clients with this method — and yet, almost no one does it. I’ll show you how.
If you’re a web developer, a red-hot service you can start offering now and immediately start charging premium prices for.
A clever way to use your competitors testimonials to sell YOUR services.
The “non-sensical” reason premium clients *want* to pay more for your services and how to package and present yours to attract these kinds of clients.
The marquee difference between a regular, ho-hum service and a premium service — this one simple criteria can turn almost any deliverable into a high-end service.
Three questions you must be able to answer in order to charge premium prices
The old-school automation software that can help you zero in on the premium clients desperate for good freelancers… that are all around you.
If you’re a writer, I’ll show you a service one of my clients recently paid $15,000 for (zero promises that you can charge the same, but it’s a great example of how to take a regular service and turn it into a premium one).
The ugly, 90s-era website where you can find a nearly endless supply of premium clients.
A simple packaging mistake that makes clients immediately overlook your services and how to re-configure what you offer to stand out and make clients pay attention to you.
You can get access to the course (including a free option) here:
https://johnmorrisonline.com/course/the-5-figure-formula-premium-pricing-for-freelancers/
Later,
John
