“Narrow Niche, More Clients” Brief Interviews — Cory Forsyth

Welcome to Brief Interviews, a series of Periscopes in which we interview freelancers across various disciplines and geographies to find out what makes them tick and what problems are grinding on their business. We’ll Tweet out new Periscopes live from @BriefInc and then publish video and audio files to the blog so you can consume them how you want.

“When we first started out, we weren’t sure what our value proposition was,” remembers Cory Forsyth, co-owner of 201 Created. “We were taking work on all different kinds of tech stacks. But, for the past two years, we’ve only taken Ember.js jobs. The deals close much faster, and we have a lot more work.”

It’s counter-intuitive that if you offer a narrower set of services, you’ll land more work, but Cory explained that as a generic tech shop, no one knew what to ask 201 Created to do. The pitch process involved a lot of time discovering the clients’ problems and explaining the various solutions 201 could bring to bear. Now, Cory and Matt Beale, his partner, rarely talk to companies who don’t know what they need before getting in touch. In other words, 201 has developed a strong brand, and they are reaping the benefits.

To learn more about Cory’s progression from full-time employee to freelance developer to co-owner of a 3 person Ember.js shop, watch or listen to the full video above.

It’s a story about Cory’s search for flexibility, his discovery of its nuances, and his commitment to learning, not to mention a few spot-on practical tips.

Originally published at www.brief.ai.