On charging five figures $$, the power of labels and quality time
Edition #050
Hey friends, happy Sunday!
This is my last week in the UK for a few months and I have a bunch of updates to share with you.
First, I launched my new site after managing to finally get a hold of stephenwise.com That site is no longer just a personal site it's also where I'm starting my next venture... WiseLabs.
The mission behind WiseLabs is to teach people strategies, tools and ideas to help build independent income and live better lives.
I have a bunch of projects lined up from courses and community, to tools and templates. The very first step is to focus on creating the best videos I possibly can, which leads me onto my next point.
I'm excited to start making videos again. Initially, I struggled to create videos consistently because I didn't want to create subpar content, but I realised the thing actually stopping me was not having a why for creating those videos.
Now I'm clear on my why, I'm excited to teach useful skills for leveraging the internet, share ideas and document my journey from freelancer to solopreneur.
Finally, if anyone has spent time in Porto, Portugal I would love to hear your recommendations (just reply to this email).
Here are this weeks finds:
I.
🏷 On the power of labels
(Article)
📖 How you define what you do is important, especially when you're self-employed.
Most of us get into entrepreneurship because we want to freedom, but the labels we assign to ourselves determine who we are, meaning they determine who we become.
In this article Tom Critchlow says the labels you assign yourself don't just put you on the map with a direction to head, those labels actually construct the map itself.
Something that seems like a simple exercise in positioning may actually determine our whole trajectory.
II.
💰 On how to charge five figures as a freelancer
(Video)
📌 I've always been fascinated by how some freelancers barely make enough to scrape by whilst others can charge tens of thousands.
The first freelance project I ever landed was for $150, which included web design, branding, and development. At the time I knew I was massively undercharging for what I offered but I needed to gain experience and I didn't know how to charge more.
The largest project I've ever worked on paid over 100× that first project. The thing that helped me land that large project wasn't that it was 100× more work (if anything it was barely 2× more work), instead it came down to 3 simple things
- Positioning - who I worked with and how I aligned my service to them
- Value - how much what I was offering was worth to that client
- Quality - the level of work I was producing
I stumbled on these two videos over the last few weeks and they are masterclasses in charging more as a freelancer/agency, I highly recommend checking them out.
Check out Video 1 → | Video 2 →
p.s let me know if you'd be interested in a detailed breakdown of how I went from charging hundreds of dollars to tens of thousands as a freelancer.
III.
⏰ On no such thing as quality time
(Article)
🐌 The idea of 'quality time' is a myth. Often the best moments are the ones in-between other things.
This post from Ryan Holiday takes an interesting perspective on spending quality time with loved ones, he argues that 'Quality Time' doesn't actually exist.
"All time with your kids — all time with anyone you love — is created equal. What you do with it is what makes it special. Not where. Or for how long. Or at what cost.
This is worth remembering in all facets of life: You can be a family without getting dressed and leaving the house. You can be in love in the McDonald’s drive-through. You can be romantic near the eggs at the grocery store. You can be a writer as you ride the elevator down to take out the trash. You can be a good person in how you answer the phone or how you send emails."
One interesting idea
"Inaction breeds fear and doubt. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy." — Dale Carnegie
End note
If you enjoyed this edition of the Sunday Filter then I’d love it if you could share it with a few friends. You can send them over here to sign up or share it on Twitter.
Have a great week!
- Stephen