Update on My Journey: Getting Paying Clients Without Asking

I have taken a step back from the pluralsight goal.

I realized that I was losing a lot of time that I needed to be investing into generating income.

Yes, I would have gained skills that allowed me to offer additional and different services, BUT I also already have skills and examples of my work. I just need to feel a desire and confidence in what I’m already capable of and offer to do those activities for others.

So let’s discuss (one-sidedly) my new agenda.

Progress Made: 2 New Clients

I’ve gotten 2 freelance clients since I last wrote. I’ll explain how. It happened more incidentally than intentionally. Serendipity in action.

The first client is my mother. Seems like that’s a bit of a hand out, but it was a bit more complicated. Initially, she had asked me to prepare a brochure for her free-of-charge, and I happily accepted the work. I’m always here to help my mom where she needs it.

Then when her university got wind of it, they offered to compensate me for doing that work for the class. So now I am getting paid for it. Woot woot.

My secondly client is someone who checked in with me on an online community to make sure I was doing okay. I’ll back up a bit to explain the story.

I joined Being Boss, an online community for people (mostly women into woo) trying to grow their careers and businesses, a month before I was laid off. They have a free and paid tier. I had started off as a paying member because of the quality of the content and the knowledge of the governing members.

I lost my job and I made a post about it looking for advice. I was very open whenever it came up in conversation. You won’t get help if people don’t know you need it. So I played the numbers game a bit. I made a post on LinkedIn too.

One of the other members checked in with me after a week to see how I was doing. I told her that I was trying to get more work under my belt, offering services for free, to have more work in my portfolio. Then I offered her my services.

She asked to see some of my work, which took me by surprise and made me nervous. I was expecting it to be a yes without hesitation since the work was free. I lack confidence in the strength of my portfolio (we are all our own worst critics), but I reluctantly sent over what I had (kez.to/ws, kez.to/bh, and kez.to/ig) and let her know that I’m still working on getting more of my unpublished content online.

I was relieved when she said she thought there were items I could help her with. She sent over a list and I was ecstatic. I eagerly jumped into the work. I asked her a bunch of questions about her business to make sure I understand her work and her target market. I mentioned some unsolicited advice about strategies she could use to grow her business. I was nervous about that because not everyone wants others’ opinions, but luckily she was very openminded and really appreciated my thoughts and experience on the matter.

Fast forward a bit, we had met up for lunch about a week later and she insisted on compensating for my work. I hadn’t expected anything. I wholeheartedly was doing the work to grow my portfolio and generate some reviews/shout-outs/referrals. Word-of-mouth marketing is very strong because people know that the review is authentic and coming from someone that they value the opinion of.

Getting back to the story, she gave me money for my work and I was pleasantly surprised. That meant I had two paying clients, without even asking for money yet.

Which I strongly believe is a testament to how good people are and also how hard work pays off. People are grateful when you help them and they want to show that and help you in return.

I’ve heard that generosity flows back to you, but it still took me by surprise.

Now, the money from these two isn’t mind blowing, but it’s something.

Money Matters

So let’s talk about my finances.

I’m going to be radical transparent with you all. It’s kind of my schtick.

I’m not making a lot. So far, the two clients will be paying me $150 total between them. I have $33.50 in change. And I have an Etsy shop on which I sell digital downloads, which has $11.57 is currently bringing in ~$20 per week. This week my payout is $18.70.

I took my strict budget and did 3 tiers of possibilities.

Some background information: I live with my boyfriend of 1 and a half years and he isn’t demanding I pay rent or utilities given the circumstances.

So the first is just the strict budget with everything included that I should/need to pay. That means, essentials + debts. This one is $918.

The second tier was the “irresponsible” tier. This means, it’s the tier where my debts (excluding my car) don’t get paid until I’m making enough. This one is $539.

The third is the “irresponsible with help” tier. This means, it’s the tier where all of my debts aren’t included, meaning I get help from my family (read: mother) to cover my car until I can do so myself. This one is $307.

If we look at what that means for me. I currently have… $213.77? I also have an insignificant amount from a few other bank accounts. So, it looks like I’ll be able to muster up enough to pay another month’s bare minimum. I’m getting pretty close.

My Plan

So now you’ve seen recent events and my finances, how am I using that to guide my decisions.

If I was super responsible and couldn’t handle a bit of a bad reputation, then I’d get a job and make sure my debts were paid every month. But the truth is, I’ve had to file for bankruptcy before. I’ve lived through that shame and I’ve seen my credit score make a full recovery. I’m also overweight and have no college degree. So I’ve been forced to stop caring what other people think. (This is prompting me to think I should reflect more on that and write about it. People who go through hardship tend to come out stronger. So it makes sense that it would apply for different kinds of hardship and that having every reason to be self conscious would eventually force you to stop caring what others think about you).

Anyhow, back to the point, I’m okay with a few overdue bills. I know how to prioritize. Shit happens. It’s not that I’m okay with not paying. It’s that I’m okay with postponing because of my circumstances.

I am no longer willing to sacrifice my own happiness just to pay bills on time when I can live without that. I will not force myself into a position of misery for a vanity metric. In terms of success: Credit scores are a vanity metric. Grades are a vanity metric. Does either one tell you how happy a person is with their life? No. Therefore, neither is an indication of success. Success is contextual. It is based on a person’s goals.

My goal is to be free. I crave flexibility above all else. I don’t want to fly first class in my own jet. I actually find that distasteful. I don’t want 15 houses or cars. That’s a lot of maintenance. Even if I have people to do it for me, that’s more management and coaching, which means more maintenance.

I’m getting off topic. My whole point is that my goal is to have a job I love.

I LOVE growing small businesses. I have found that it doesn’t have to be my own business either, although I do love having my own thing too.

And the thing is, if I’m speaking to what I believe, I’m really good at it. There’s room for growth, sure, but I’ve learned a lot so far in my life. I’ve been starting businesses since… elementary school. I set up the jewelry version of a lemonade stand when I was at my grandma’s for summers. I was a babysitter until I could legally have a job. I’ve been setting up Etsy shops and websites. I’ve used nearly every platform and even experimented with having my own dedicated server. I’ve used SO many different vendors now, that I know who is good for what. I’ve done so much experimenting. I’ve sold print on demand products, digital products, physical products, and now I’m getting into services for the first time. I’ve sold on marketplaces, in craft fairs, on my own site, and I’ve gotten my products into other stores.

I love growing small businesses, but I don’t do well under the pressure of a boss/manager, so working for a startup is great for me but not perfect. I do better as my own boss. Yes, I still have to “answer to” my clients, but that feels different to me. I want to do right by them just as I would with a boss, but I’m not worried about the minutia. My clients don’t care about how and when I do the work, so long as it is well done and timely. I don’t have to go to meetings that I didn’t set. I don’t have to work on specific days.

So my goal is to keep doing what I’m doing.

Specifically, I’m going to invest time into freelancing and into my Etsy shop. I know how I can grow both and I’m not far from meeting my bare minimum.

Even more specifically:

• I have some products that I haven’t listed on my Etsy shop that I’m going to list.
• I have more examples of my work to put on my portfolio.
• I need to copy these articles over to the “writings” section of my website.
• I need to create gigs on Fiverr for the skills I already have.
• I need to continue learning on Pluralsight, LinkedIn Learning, and Shortform.
• I’m going to offer my services to Etsy sellers on a pay what you wish scale.

I have two focuses: my business and my freelancing, so I’ll split my week accordingly. Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday will be for my business. Monday, Wednesday, Friday will be for freelancing. Saturday is my day off.

SMART goals have due dates, so let’s get down to it.

• DAILY: I will get in 1 hour of training (about UX design first since I’ve taken that skill assessment and want to improve it and it is a great segue between my current work and any future coding work). I’ll limit it to one hour so that I don’t feel like I’m not making real progress on the work I need to do.
• Today, I will finish the trifold brochure for my mom, and work on the business card and packaging for my Being Boss peer today.
• Tomorrow (Tuesday), I will list my unpublished products on Etsy.
• Wednesday, I’ll load more of my content on my portfolio (minimum of 7 projects), copy the articles over, and I’ll finish the business card and packaging concepts.
• Thursday, I will optimize my listings.
• Friday, I will create the gigs on Fiverr and reach out to Etsy sellers.

I’ll let y’all know how this all goes.

FYI. I have considered taking previous posts down and I have refrained from doing so. I am really trying to maintain the IDGAF attitude about others’ opinions and how an article could negatively affect a client’s opinion of me. If they don’t like me as I am with my full transparency about how I’m a human and change my mind, then they aren’t a good fit. I have a huge heart and do great work, but I’m human not perfect. Yes, it takes me time to figure things out. I’m often confused trying to determine what is the right course of action. Sometimes my emotions cloud my ability to figure that out. But eventually I do.

Anywho.

Keep it sunny,

Kass