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1. [RESOURCE] How to say NO to clients

I’ve been talking a lot about value and time cost recently.

For anyone that missed it:

TIME COST = the amount of time you’re spending on something that could be spent on something else. If the reward doesn’t match the time, it’s wasted time & potential. You HAVE to evaluate your time critically & see what can be delegated, automated, or cut completely. 

It’s SO important to know & understand your value. Which is exactly how we come to the topic of how to say NO to clients – Chris Do did a great post on this which I’ll be referencing.

Chris talks about the FIVE main ways to say no when they ask for unreasonable action or simply overstep…

Looking behind the client questions & responses, here are some key takeaways:

1. Ask for a deposit before doing ANY work
2. Don’t adjust your rate, ask them for their budget & suggest what you could complete within that
3. Don’t fall for the “this will be good for your portfolio so please do it pro bono” 
4. There is no such thing as a ‘quick’ adjustment as they will keep happening – state that there will be a charge for additional work
5. No unlimited changes! Add a set number of revisions to your offering & say that any additional changes above that will be charged at an hourly rate

You don’t work for free & both your time & expertise carry VALUE! Don’t undermine your abilities by letting clients walk all over you – there will ALWAYS be other clients, it’s okay to say no. 

2. [TOOL] Descript

Descript has to be one of my favorite tools ever. It makes my life SO much easier! 

A quick explanation: Descript has the power to take a recording and transcribe it almost immediately – you can then:

• Remove filler words like ‘umm’ ‘uhh’ ‘yeah’ with the click of a button
• Add auto-captions & edit words if necessary – it can mishear here and there
• Add in B-roll, emojis, text, designs etc
• Edit the video 
• Duplicate it & make various versions of the same thing or split it down into shorter videos
• Publish straight to YouTube from the platform
• Put the video into different formats – vertical, horizontal etc.

It’s super user-friendly & simple to understand, any time a new member of my team has tried it they’ve got it within a day or two. Genuinely one of my most used tools too. 

3. [RESOURCE] & [SHOUTOUT]

I received an email recently about ‘Niching down’ by Dan Koe, which I thought was super valuable. It’s too long to include here but I want to give you a summary of what he said in it so you can get a little insight into the topic. 

So, essentially, he said:

Often we think if we have a certain skill, people would automatically hire us for it because they needed it. But once you start working & putting feelers out, you quickly realize that there are tons of other people out there offering the same skill, and the online freelancing market was getting pretty crowded. Which is exactly where the idea of finding a niche comes in – a niche being a specific group of people with a particular need, that you then tailor your services to.

Now, niching down can be a bit overwhelming for beginners. They worry that if they don’t pick the perfect niche right from the start, they’ll fail miserably. So, they end up jumping from one niche to another, constantly learning new things, and not making much money in the process. 

But here’s the thing: you don’t have to limit yourself to just one narrow niche. 

Many successful creators actually cover a broader range of topics and appeal to a wider audience. They understand that having multiple interests and reaching out to diverse groups of people can actually be beneficial.

The business world has changed a lot with the rise of social media. The old way of cold calling and reaching out to potential customers has been replaced by building an audience online. But here’s the problem: a lot of the advice out there is outdated and doesn’t really apply to the current online landscape. In this letter, we’re going to talk about a different approach. 

Instead of strictly niching down, think of treating your brand as a hierarchy of growth. 

In a nutshell, finding a niche is important, but it’s not the only path to success. You can cover multiple interests $ appeal to a wider audience. 

QUDOZE TO: @petehuang on TikTok for his amazing Ai tools!

Have a look at his channel if you’re feeling overwhelmed & unsure about what tools are available & which ones are worth the hype!

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