Walmart and the most important freelancing skill you can learn

Sam Walton started in the first Walmart in Rogers, Arkansas.

If you look, today, the population is about 66,000… but back then it was just 5,700. And, he did this despite the prevailing wisdom at the time that a mass retailer needed to be started in a big city, otherwise it would fail.

But, Walton actually listened to his customers.

He knew that consumers in rural areas often bought in larger quantities because they had larger families and took fewer trips to the store. The result is, of course, the largest retailer on the planet, today.

Listening to your customers/clients is important.

But, that’s often not the road-block.

Let me give you another example.

Back in the early 2000s, about 3-4 years before Groupon launched, I was just getting into web development, but still working my old job at a local pizza chain in Iowa. And, I had this idea.

I noticed how effective coupons were at getting customers in the door.

And, I’d built a coupon membership site for the company I worked at. We advertised in on the local radio and built up a membership of about 500 people. Which, for that town, was about 5% of the population.

And, once a week or so, we’d send out a new coupon.

And, it’d bring people just flooding in.

It was kinda crazy how well it worked.

Anyway, after a few times of doing this, I thought “I could do this for all the local businesses around here.” And, I started building a whole new website that I’d planned on pitching to those companies.

I never finished it.

Doubt started to creep in.

There were a few technical problems I had to figure out.

And, eventually, I just gave up on it.

Imagine my horror a few years later when Groupon blew up. I thought of that first! But, they executed on it. And, that’s the lesson, today. Ideas are a dime a dozen. Listening to your clients is great.

Coming up with new insights and ideas… awesome.

But, it’s doing it that actually matters.

And, quite often, that comes down to trusting your gut.

Imagine if Sam Walton, knowing everything he knew about rural America’s buying behavior, had decided to ignore his gut and just go with the prevailing wisdom. Would Walmart even exist, today?

We’ll never know.

Because he did and it does.

Anyway, this is the most important thing you can learn how to do as a freelancer… hone your instincts and learn to trust them. And, you do that by getting out of your head, trying new ideas and letting the chips fall where they may.

Not being afraid to fail. Not substituting other people’s thinking for your own. Sure, learn from others. But, always, trust your thinking over theirs until you’re proven wrong by your own action. Then, adjust.

Do that… and eventually, you’ll figure one thing out.

Then another.

And another.

And, before you know it, you’ll have a whole system for getting clients, delivering, repeat business, referrals, all of it. That’s what I did starting 15 years ago… and what’s lead me to where I am, today.

Having worked on projects for people like Tim Ferriss…

And, Inc. Magazine.

And, dozens of others.

In any case, if you want a jump-start and want to fast-track that learning curve by learning what I picked up over all those years and experiences, check out my Beginner’s Guide to Freelance course.

All the details on the course and how to get free access are here: https://johnmorrisonline.com/freelance

Later,

John

Join 7,700 Other Freelancers Who've Built Thriving Freelance Businesses

Over 7,700 other freelancers have started thriving freelance businesses using the information on this blog. Are you next? Subscribe below to get notified whenever a new article is posted and create your own success story:

You might also like

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit
Pinterest
John Morris

JOHN MORRIS

I’m a 15-year veteran of freelance web development. I’ve worked with bestselling authors and average Joe’s next door. These days, I focus on helping other freelancers build their freelance business and their lifestyles.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Join 7,700 Other Freelancers Who've Built Thriving Freelance Businesses

Over 7,700 other freelancers have started thriving freelance businesses using the information on this blog. Are you next? Subscribe below to get notified whenever a new article is posted and create your own success story:

Success Stories

Ready to add your name here?

Tim Covello

Tim Covello

75 SEO and website clients now. My income went from sub zero to over 6K just last month. Tracking 10K for next month. Seriously, you changed my life.

Michael Phoenix

Michael Phoenix

By the way, just hit 95K for the year. I can’t thank you enough for everything you’ve taught me. You’ve changed my life. Thank you!

Stephanie Korski

Stephanie Korski

I started this 3 days ago, following John’s suggestions, and I gained the Upwork Rising Talent badge in less than 2 days. I have a call with my first potential client tomorrow. Thanks, John!

Jithin Veedu

Jithin Veedu

John is the man! I followed his steps and I am flooded with interviews in a week. I got into two Talent clouds. The very next day, I got an invitation from the talent specialists from Upwork and a lot more. I wanna shout out, he is the best in this. Thanks John for helping me out!

Divyendra Singh Jadoun

Divyendra Singh Jadoun

After viewing John’s course, I made an Upwork account and it got approved the same day. Amazingly, I got my first job the very same day, I couldn’t believe it, I thought maybe I got it by coincidence. Anyways I completed the job and received my first earnings. Then, after two days, I got another job and within a week I got 3 jobs and completed them successfully. All the things he says seem to be minute but have a very great impact on your freelancing career.

Sarah Mui

Sarah Mui

I’ve been in an existential crisis for the last week about what the heck I’m doing as a business owner. Even though I’ve been a business for about a year, I’m constantly trying to think of how to prune and refine services. This was very personable and enjoyable to watch. Usually, business courses like this are dry and hard to get through…. repeating the same things over and over again. This was a breath of fresh air. THANK YOU.

Waqas Abdul Majeed

Waqas Abdul Majeed

I’ve definitely learnt so much in 2.5 hours than I’d learn watching different videos online on Youtube and reading tons of articles on the web. John has a natural way of teaching, where he is passionately diving in the topics and he makes it very easy to grasp — someone who wants you to really start running your business well by learning about the right tools and implement them in your online business. I will definitely share with many of the people I know who have been struggling for so long, I did find my answers and I’m sure will do too.

Scott Plude

Scott Plude

I have been following John Morris for several years now. His instruction ranges from beginner to advanced, to CEO-level guidance. I have referred friends and clients to John, and have encouraged my own daughter to pay attention to what he says. All of his teachings create wealth for me (and happiness for my clients!) I can’t speak highly enough about John, his name is well known in my home.

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!

Mohamed Misrab

Misrab Mohamed

John has been the most important person in my freelance career ever since I started. Without him, I would have taken 10 or 20 years more to reach the position I am at now (Level 2 seller on Fiverr and Top Rated on Upwork).

Join 7,700 Other Freelancers Who've Built Thriving Freelance Businesses

Over 7,700 other freelancers have started thriving freelance businesses using the information on this blog. Are you next? Subscribe below to get notified whenever a new article is posted and create your own success story: