Freelancelift - A Blueprint for Your Next Big Move

by Liam Veitch

About the authorMy content is all-action but easy to digest enabling you to leverage compound moves to think big, banish excuses and go way beyond most other freelancer advice youll read.

This way we can really unleash whats possible, allowing you to finally

get the upper hand in your market.

It took me one failure at the freelance game and 2 years inside a cor-

porate to figure it out, now I want to give you the benefit of my expe-

rience as well as inviting you into the world of the people who have

been there and broken the freelance boundaries themselves.

Nice freelancers finish last 1


One of the biggest and most impactful moves you can make in business (especially as a freelancer) is to develop a vision statement.

Your core reason for being.

I advocate a lean approach to business, specializing down on a specific

customer, mapping out an overview set of assumptions and making

some short, sharp tests to validate those assumptions.

You might think that youre the proverbial waiter (serve anyone with

money) but if you really make efforts to be specific about your customer

and identify your core strengths youll find it easier to shape your

message and attract the right kind of customers.

In this book Ill walk you through some key exercises for developing

your vision, the blueprint for your next big move.

Armed with that paragraph you can set about validating your

assumptions and really carving out your space.


This was a common thought path in my first time around freelancing. Although things were sometimes good, for the most part Id be struggling from project to project barely making ends meet.

This would keep me awake at night, thinking the night away.

Is this really right, I love it when its good but its just not stable, Im

earning less than minimum wage on average

What about getting a mortgage in the future? Without wageslips or a

steady income how could I?

If only I could make some other money on the side itd all be alright

Of course the money on the side never came even though I tried. It

only served to take away time from the things I should have been doing

to turn it around. During the low points the hunger for a steady income

burns deep inside like a furnace, I would resort to taking to employment

sites to see what was available, again taking me from actually fixing my

business and leaving me in no-mans-land.


My lack of a core vision contributed to a downward spiral which

eventually forced my hand, I had gotten behind on some payments and

was greeted with a rap at the door from a bailiff. He was here to take

what possessions I had, a real low point. Something had to give and I

temporarily threw in the freelance towel.

Had I not had the inner entrepreneur resolve to have a second try

with my new found epiphany I may not have made it back out of the

corporate cubicle.

2 years ago I figured something out which gave me the ability to try

again, and I want to share it with you.

This core mindset fix helped me develop the techniques that have

grown my businesses to such a level they no longer require my day-to-

day input.


I threw in the towel, but this painful moment does carry a silver lining.

Being wrapped in the corporate machine (Id been forced to take up a

design position in a 400 person corporation) gave me an insight into

big business thinking Id not been exposed to previously.

This really started to fall into place for me when I really nerded out on

the corporate mission statement. Something most employees didnt

know existed let alone know what the contents were.

I found it fascinating how the machine chugged into action and I

began to apply that same level of structure and strategy to my own

sideline freelancing work.

From accounting to customer service, from marketing to hiring & firing I

ran my part-time just me design business with the strategic precision

of a publicly traded company.

What followed was quite staggering, I mashed the under the hood

corporate structure and muscle with the flair, enthusiasm and care of a

one-person business and the thing just exploded.


I finally had the missing link from the last time around freelancing, the

absent piece of the jigsaw that had sent me into the employed world in

the first place I finally had a vision, and a strategy to execute it.

After quitting my job I promptly set about growing my newly found big-

small business and just 2 years later I stood at the head of a company

generating almost $1m in lifetime revenue.

This size of team, while on the surface may seem large is just the right

size to allow me to only apply my craft (design & marketing) when

I want to, not because I have to. I primarily guide the vision of the

business rather than being actively within the day-to-day production.

This outcome might not be for you, but I guess I tell you this to give

you an indication of where my path has taken me.

Indeed, your vision would lead where you want to end up. I personally

am happy to have the business not reliant on my being involved in

order that I can spread my message and help other freelancers along

their way.


By not having a dependable vision, youll find it very difficult to think through problems strategically. Youll constantly look to address the issues in front of your eyes without understanding the deeper problem.

If youre familiar with what I do youll know I rarely teach the basics.

You are great at your craft, be that writing, designing, developing,

administrating in a freelance capacity its just that youre thinking like a

freelancer, not like a megacorp.

I mentioned earlier that there are things big business sucks at which

you are great at, so attention to detail, care, love of what you do,

personality as well as agility and the ability to move quickly and get

ideas to fruition.

So you are not the problem here, you just need to address that one

thing that small business traditionally struggle at which big business has

nailed; strategy, market domination and scalability.

It is possible to be ruthless without being evil, if youre ruthless in

sticking to your vision to be a better freelancer youll find clients you

love, money you can only dream of and more free time to do what

matters.

[companyname] [standfor]. We help [customer] by [theframe] with [primary] and [secondary]

[customer] Narrowing and defining market

[primary, secondary] Defining and documenting primary and secondary product set

> Primary service (i.e. web design)

> Secondary service (i.e. hosting, support, plugins)

[standfor] Picking your end of the market and defining what you stand for

[theframe] Whats the frame for your product/service?


[companyname] [standfor]. We help [customer] by [theframe] with [primary] and [secondary]

In this playbook Im going to walk you through step by step how you can develop your vision statement. So the elements that make it up

along with the order they should appear.

So lets get into it, Im going to walk you through here the development

of your vision statement, something I go into in more detail in my

Handiwork training but essentially this is the cornerstone of your newly

refocused business.

This simple paragraph, with less than 100 words simplifies the central strategy youd develop with me and help you have an anchor

point, a vision and central concept you use as your guide.

Im going to deconstruct the Freelancelift vision statement:

Freelancelift exists to help freelancers grow by leveraging big business thinking and making compound growth moves. We help freelance designers, writers & marketers grow revenues while working less with our no Bullshit business growth ideas, Genius Q&A Calls, Playbooks & Video training


So the first bit is customer, really narrowing and defining your market.

Dude, really? I waited this long for you tell me

I needed to define my customer? Sheesh

Well, bear with me. Theres a secret sauce, its called specificity.

Most freelancers fail at this point. For example for Freelancelift and

Handiwork Im not just targeting small businesses. Im specifically

targeting freelance designers, developers and writers.

Sure, there may be some people who join us for the ride but in order to

support your core messaging you need to be really specific.

Get inside the head of this precise person, where do they hang out

online, how old are they, picture them if you can, give them a name.

If youre doing okay already serving different markets then try analysing

your previous customers, see which were easy to work with, who was

fun, whether there are any common traits between the bad clients.

Its in that place youll find your customer, the real one not just

businesses with a blog

My Customer - Freelancer designers, writers & marketers

Nice freelancers finish last


[primary, secondary] Defining and documenting your primary and secondary product set

> Primary service (i.e. web design)> Secondary service (i.e. hosting, support, plugins)

Okay so your product. Another crucial point, again it all sounds kind of

obvious but it just doesnt happen a lot of the time. So first of all what

is your primary product or service?

Youre a web designer, cool. Most people get that. Now then, what

about a secondary service. This is where you need to really start to

think like a corporate and lose the freelancer blinkers.

You need to have at least 3 secondary services for every 1 primary

service. This will form the basis for your income stability and our plans

to dominate your market and fix your core issues once and for all.

For more on building a secondary product set head to Handiwork.io for full video training and a mindmap.

Primary - No bullshit business growth ideas

Secondary - Genius Q&A Calls, Playbooks & Video training



This section of the vision statement is about succinctly picking your end of the market and defining what you stand for.

Heres where it starts to get outside of your comfort zone. What do you

stand for? How specifically are you going to make a difference?

Think about that one for a second. Are you a boutique service where

quality and attention to detail is paramount? Or are you going for

volume purchases in the lower ranges?

Both have their advantages and disadvantages but you cannot afford

to sit on the fence. If you find yourself with troublesome clients youve

probably got a problem with your positioning, do it right and position

yourself where youre most effective and youll never have that problem

again.

Are you aiming for clients who take it seriously? Or clients just starting

out? Think about it, and get it down as a statement, what type of

people do you want to help and what do you call upon to do that.

For me, I strive to help freelancers grow, in this book particularly by

finding their vision and thinking like corporates.

Stand for I strive to help freelancers grow by leveraging big business thinking and making compound growth moves.



Even with the most simple of freelance output youre still providing a solution to a problem, how does that solution affect the lives of your prospective customer?

If youre finding your services hard to sell youve probably got an issue with framing. A bad pitch or bad client reaction to a proposal is probably directly related to poor framing, not to your abilities as a

freelancer.

So framing, how you explain what you do experientially is really important at this stage. At its binary level a Ferrari is a car, a method of

transport.

What do you think would happen if Mr Ferrari had come up with the

tagline Gets you from A to B? Not a lot, the frame for a Ferrari is a

lifestyle, its the sign of success, its the admiration, its the prestige, its

the experience. Nowhere in the Ferrari frame would it be referred to as

a car.

So think about that. Put into words how you improve the lives of your

clients, try and do it without mentioning your primary or secondary

service.

My frame is that I help freelancers grow revenues while

working less and having more time to do things that matter.


Okay so heres the fun part, the formula. if you pull together answers to those 4 key elements then construct your vision statement like this:

Formula [companyname] [standfor]. We help [customer] by [theframe] with [primary] and [secondary]

Freelancelift vision statementFreelancelift exists to help freelancers grow by leveraging big business thinking and making compound growth moves. We help freelance designers, writers & marketers grow revenues while working less with our no Bullshit business growth

ideas, Genius Q&A Calls, Playbooks & Video training

The key here is to use this powerful statement to your advantage, to place it at the heart of your marketing message and help guide you through decisions that need to be made.

This is the starting point for your propelled growth, something you can put into action right now. Armed with this statement you can make better decisions on marketing, partnerships, branding and more.

This book forms part of my wider resources on one of the five pain points for freelancers. Click the link below for more resources on the topic:

Head to Knowing the steps to growth >

Freelancelift - A Blueprint for Your Next Big Move

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