Actually I'm an independent software consultant my clients are IT department of large organisations in my area. They add me as a team member to help them with their delivery as a new " resource ". Basically , I'm working in the business most of the time as I'm executing the work, now I would like to work on the business and grow it. How could I possible get more clients, hire people and delegate the workload.
I'm reading a book called, "Disciplined Entrepreneurship: 24 Steps to a Successful Startup" written by Bill Aulet.
The 24 steps are broken down into six categories:
1: Who is your customer?
2: What can you do for your customer?
3: How does your customer acquire your product?
4: How do you make money off your product?
5: How do you design and build your product?
6: How do you scale your business
Your technically asking a good number of questions and I'm thinking this book might be a good starting point for you.
I worked as a solopreneur for 2 years alongwith my MBA in Marketing, then a year in IT Software Testing,Sales before getting into teaching Marketing. I would advise you to delegate your work on Freelancer.com and hire VA's. Talking about getting more work, it's simple ask for referrals. I could get same clients give me more clients, as them, try email marketing to your old clients, it works, also if they are on social media, connect with them, they would surely give you more clients. Next approach would be having a website of your own, where people could see your previous work. My website generated more than 75% of my total revenue.If you need a step by step plan as a proposal, let me know, we could discuss on the call. I had been into freelance since long!
Thanks,
Abhilekh
Hi, how are you? First let me tell you that I totally understand what you want to accomplish.. When I started my first company I started by helping business owners fix some IT issues they had and I ended being most of the time with their team and I was doing all the work and leaving no time to grow the business.
So don't get me wrong the first thing that might be happening to you is that you haven't setup boundaries as to what you should do and what not, (it happened to me, that's why I had no time for planning).
If this is not happening to you then the next step, which is a little bit hard to do is that you are going to have to "split your profits", and what I mean with this is that since you have no time to get more clients because you are full with work, you need to hire someone else and train him/her, take him/her with you and show what he/she has to do, do it first hand so that he learns not only the technical details but how you treat the customer. Also very important doing so will also allow your client accept the new change because at this moment your client is hiring you because of you, not because of your company.
Now like I mentioned before paying your new worker will mean less money in your pocket (don't worry this is just at the beginning), the sooner you finish the basic training you will be able to move forward and start planning to acquire new clients.
I hope this answer was of some assistance, if you need further advice shoot me a message and I'll send you my VIP link so we can talk more, no charge :)
If you like my advice I appreciate if you can "upvote" my answer too...
Have a great day!
Figure out why your existing clients pay you. This will help you figure out what you do well that other people value. If someone will pay you to do work, they believe the work they’re paying you to do is valuable and that you’ll do it well.
Figuring out what you do well and is valuable to others will be the key to your success as a freelancer. More and more skills are becoming commoditized. Commodity skills are moving higher up the value chain.
Doing an easily repeated task well will not differentiate you. You want to differentiate yourself in a market that gets more crowded every day.
It’s hard to look at yourself and figure out what differentiates you. It’s easier to learn what makes you stand out from the crowd, by listening to what are other people are telling you.
I’m not suggesting you should let other peoples’ perspectives define you. I’m suggesting you listen to what other people tell you they value in your work.
The easiest way to hear what they’re trying to to tell you is to see what they will pay you to do. You can then grow your business by finding other clients who value your work.
You need to figure out what work that is first, before trying to grow your freelancing business. A key question to ask is whether you can find and/or train others to do what clients pay you to do, as well as you can do it.
My experience consulting for 20+ years has been that most people starting consulting businesses begin by saying they don't want to be a "body shop". This means they want to start a business with differentiated value.
The story changes when clients start offering to pay for bodies that do commoditized work. Keep an eye on this tendency as take on more work to grow the business.
Also, I'd suggest you read Rework, by Jason Fried. The book provides a compelling counter-perspective to the goals it sounds like you have for your business. If nothing else, it will help you reflect on why you want to grow and hire people.
I'd be happy to continue this discussion on a call. Best of luck to you either way!
Get partners and leverage on their network to grow your business - they could be an active member CIO network. When it comes to hiring people, embrace diversity of strength. try not to hire the same "type" of people to work in your business. this can be done by asking the right set of questions during interview.
I'd start by really pin-pointing your MVA's (Most Valuable Activities) or as I like to call them, your DRPA's (Direct Result Producing Activities).
As a business owner, you need to make more money, so focus on doing just that. Think "what is the best role for me to take on, where I can influence the business, but it's not dependent on me for operation & revenue?"
While I won't second others' suggestions to go to Freelancer or hire VA's - I want you to first understand, what exactly it is that you need outsourced. How much will it all cost? Are you willing to take a lower margin, but take the gruntwork off your shoulders?
My policy is: if you're doing something that doesnt equate to more $ for your business, at the end of the chain...you souldn't be the one doing it.
Before you ask "how do I get more clients?" Look at your current revenue model, can you shift it a bit, and up your engagement with existing clients along with their value in revenue.
Crunch the numbers, see what works and what doesn't. If you need an expert eye, I'd love to get on a call with you to discuss your business model and show you a few things that you can do to make the shift.
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