The Freelancers' Show

Hosts

Layne Moseley

Petra Manos

Charles Max Wood

Joel Schaubert

Brooks Forsyth

Reuven Lerner

Erik Dietrich

Jonathan Stark

Jeremy Green

Kai Davis

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Episodes

Aug 27, 2019

TFS 340: Content Marketing for Freelancers in 2019

Erik Dietrich does a solo episode sharing his content marketing expertise. Erik runs a content marketing agency, Hit Subscribe, he starts by sharing his background and how he got to this point. He defines marketing as a strategy to show your goods to your customer, content marketing is doing this with content. He explains that by offering free content you build trust with your audience. Listing the various types of content, blogs, video, podcasting, email and more, Erik ranks them on their effectiveness and gives his recommendations.

Hosts:
Erik Dietrich
Aug 06, 2019

TFS 339: The Dark Side of Freelancing

Jeremy Green and Erik Dietrich discuss the unforeseen pain points of becoming a freelancer and share solutions that they have used in their lives and businesses to address these pain points. They considered pipeline management, not having enough work, having too much work and having ill-fitting work.

Hosts:
Erik Dietrich
Jul 23, 2019

TFS 338: The Devchat.tv Mission and Journey with Charles Max Wood

Charles talks about his journey as a podcaster and his mission with Devchat.tv. Devchat.tv  is designed to home podcasts that speak to all developer communities.

Jul 16, 2019

TFS 337: Breaking the Cycle of Indefinite Engagements

Erik and Rueven define indefinite engagements, warning against staff augmentation type of consulting and contracting gigs. They explain how this is not a good business strategy. Thinking of yourself as a business is the first step to breaking out of these types of engagements.

Jun 25, 2019

TFS 336: Personal Finance for Freelancers

The panel shares experiences and advice for managing finances as a small business owner. They discuss the differences in personal finance as a salaried employee and consultant. The panel explains unexpected expenses when becoming a freelancer such as health insurance, taxes and gives advice on how to handle them. The importance of savings and retirement are considered. The panel advises keeping personal funds and business funds separate and consider what you can expense to your business for tax right offs.

Jun 18, 2019

TFS 335: Financial Models

The panel discusses different billing models and their experiences with each. They start by sharing their current billing model, upfront payment. Net +30 and Net +60 are discussed; the panel advises freelancers to get used to waiting for payment. The upsides and downsides of hourly billing, fixed rates, value pricing, and retainers are considered. The panel explains how to choose a billing model, how to evolve to other models and how to raise your rates.

Jun 10, 2019

TFS 334: Working Across Borders

The panel discusses working across borders, sharing examples and advice. They discuss the best ways to receive payment. Currency exchange rates are considered. The panel discusses paying taxes and the different types of taxes in different countries. They share how they communicate with clients and how they manage contracts. They advise getting the correct work visas and professional insurance.

Jun 04, 2019

TFS 333- Conference Booths

The panel discusses the advantages of having a booth at a conference. Having a booth at a conference is a great way to learn about how conference advertising and finance works. It is also a great way to network and collect leads.

May 28, 2019

TFS 332: When to Offer Discounts

The panel goes into detail on the most common reasons to give a discount, sharing experiences and whether or not it's a good idea to give these types of discounts. They generally agree that a "friends and family discount" is never a good idea and discuss the long term problems it can cause both in relationships and your business. The panel discusses offering a discount to get your foot in the door and to better your portfolio. Supporting non-profits and making sure you receive the proper credit for your work is discussed.

Hosts:
Erik Dietrich
May 14, 2019

TFS 331: Using a CRM

In this episode of the Freelancers' Show, the panel talks about advantages of using a CRM software in their freelance business. They share their own experiences of how their business improved when they started using it and why they needed one in the first place.

May 07, 2019

TFS 330: Job Interviews for Freelancers

In this episode of the Freelancers' Show, the panel talks about how to handle “stump the chump” interviews. These are type of interviews where tech companies ask developers whiteboard questions or algorithm questions.

Hosts:
Erik Dietrich
Apr 23, 2019

TFS 329: Career Development

The panel starts by discussing why career development as a freelancer is important and what skills to work on for career development. They share mistakes and use examples from their own businesses. The panel gives career tips for those just starting out as well as freelancers who are advanced. Networking and masterminds are considered; the panel advises developers on how to choose a mastermind to join. The episode ends with a discussion on improving technical skills.

Apr 11, 2019

TFS 328: Things Not To Do (even if others are doing them)

The panel discusses various “things not to do” that they have seen others do. First, they advise not sticking with a single client in a pseudo employment situation. The panel also warns against biting off more than you can chew. Erik brings up not relying on global freelancing platforms like upwork.com, while Rueven cautions against saying yes to all business. The panel considers overworking and hourly rates. They also debate when to get a virtual assistant and communication tools. The panel ends with consideration on what technologies to use and warns against chasing new and shiny technologies. The episode ends with an invitation to the listeners to share their own “things not to do”.

Apr 04, 2019

TFS 327: Making Sure You're Paid

In this episode of the Freelancers' Show, the panel talks to Steve Pomerantz, Founder and CEO at Freelance Collection. Steve has worked on projects as a freelancer where he has not been paid and he noticed that there aren't that many resources to help guide freelancers that are in this position. He founded Freelance Collection to help others who are unable to collect payment from their clients.

Mar 21, 2019

TFS 326: Creating Leverage with Systems

In this episode of the Freelancers' Show, the panel talks about how to put systems in place to thrive as a freelancer. Especially for recurring tasks, creating a procedure enables quality, consistency and sustainability. The panel advises taking the decision making part out of the process as much as possible so there is as little stress as possible when executing that particular task each time. Having set procedures in place also helps handing these tasks off to other employees easier and cuts down on the learning curve.

Hosts:
Erik Dietrich
Mar 14, 2019

TFS 325: Getting Overpricing Nervousness

In this episode of the Freelancers' Show, the panel talks about being nervous about pricing the services offered when freelancing. They mention that most of the time, freelancers tend to price their services on the low side due to lack of self confidence.

Mar 07, 2019

TFS 324: Client Schedules and Communication

In this episode of the Freelancers' Show, the panel shares client communication best practices when freelancing. They give tips on how to word binding proposals to help clarify expectations on both sides and how to make and track project schedules.

Hosts:
Reuven Lerner
Feb 28, 2019

TFS 323: Getting started in your 40s

In this episode of the Freelancers' Show, the panel talks about starting freelancing later in life. They share their own freelancing/consulting journeys as well as tips for a smooth transition.

Feb 14, 2019

FS 322: Raising Prices Without Raising Eyebrows

In this episode of the Freelancers' Show, the panel talks about how/when to raise prices when freelancing. The panel advises reviewing services offered quarterly and adjusting prices accordingly.

Feb 07, 2019

TFS 321: Planning for 2019

In this episode of the Freelancers' Show, the panel talks about their plans for 2019. They describe their processes for planning for the new year and reviewing the past year. They reveal what projects they want to do more of in 2019 and what projects they want to transition out of. The panel advises that in freelance work, declining projects that are not a good fit frees up time for projects that are a good fit.They also recommend quantifying measurements in goals set for the new year.

Jan 31, 2019

FS 320: Timeless Sales Strategies

n this episode of the Freelancers' Show, the panel talks to Liston Witherill, sales consultant and founder of Liston Witherill Consulting. Liston specializes in working with AMs, CSMs, and consultants to provide opportunities for client improvement. Liston shares tips on how to approach a sales process and a lists a set of questions that need to be answered about the service offered and its value proposition to the target audience in order for it to be successful.

Jan 24, 2019

FS 319: Building Your Better Freelance Business in 2019

In this episode of the Freelancers' Show, the panel talks about good practices and habits to build in freelance business in the year 2019. The panel gives examples of what they focused on while building their own freelance business and share how they approached areas such as self-care, financial planning and client acquisition goals in their business.

Hosts:
Erik Dietrich
Dec 20, 2018

FS 318: Dealing with Contracts

In this episode of the Freelancer’s Show Reuven, Erik, and Jeremy discuss “Dealing with Contracts.” The Freelancers cover a number of important topics that involve contracts, trust agreements, as well as how to read a Master Services Agreement (MSA). This is a great episode to learn more about ways to take control of your contract documents and MASs.

Dec 14, 2018

FS 317: Working on Your Business

In this episode of the Freelancer’s Show Reuven and Jeremy discuss “Working on Your Business.” The discussion covers several topics on how you as a freelancer can carve out time to work on your business. Both Reuven and Jeremy mention how you can learn to start building and maintenance your business for events like retirement and longevity. This is a great episode on learning how to continually stop and take control of tasks your business needs to grow.

Hosts:
Reuven Lerner
Dec 06, 2018

FS 316: How to Target Management or the C-Suite as a Freelancer

In this episode of the Freelancer’s Show Erik, discuss “How to Target Management or the C-Suite as a Freelancer.” The discussion covers how to develop an offer or pitch, and understanding the pain points for leadership roles, and offering value to help them in their business and getting hired. Erik provides several great tactics to warm-up the C-Suite to get a job.

Hosts:
Erik Dietrich