If you’re lucky, your clients understand about 10% of what you do. Most of them probably only understand about 5% of what you do. 

The things I’ve failed at in the past are better indicators of a future path than new things. If I’ve failed at them before, that means I’ve already gotten far enough to fail. 

Building a business takes time. Not because it takes a lot of time to create all the things that a business needs to run, (like a product or a service or a website or a marketing campaign) but because every business is built on trust, and you can’t rush trust. 

Sure, on paper, you could make an argument that your assets are a better value, or higher quality than your competition. But if the experience of service is not up to the client’s expectations, it doesn’t matter. 

We never feel like we have enough time. We watch the months and years go by, seeing our dreams get smaller and smaller in the rearview, never finding a moment to make them happen. 

If you’ve ever wondered how these advertising agencies and production companies get away with charging more than $100,000 for a 30-second Instagram video shot on an iPhone, I’m about to tell you. 

Every aspect of Martha Stewart’s life came together to make her empire possible: gardening, hosting, modeling, Wall Street, publishing.

If you don’t keep your finances organized, freelancing will challenge that. If you aren’t comfortable networking, pitching, or negotiating, freelancing will force you into uncomfortable situations.

Friction can be a good thing in sales, assuming you have a good product, because it forces the customer to think about you and to make a decision.

When you find yourself in a moment of stress, there are two prevailing pieces of advice. Some people will say, “just be present.” Other people will say, “this isn’t going to matter in five years, so stop worrying about it.” Neither one feels particularly helpful when you’re in a moment of stress.

When I started my career, I didn’t even know the rules. I made simple mistakes, stepped on toes, and missed easy opportunities. This was just the path I had to take to learn the “rules.”

We try to focus on everything: making good work, and making a lot of money, and treating our clients well, and finding work-life balance, and having a good brand. When we focus on all of it, we aren’t really swinging that hard at any of it.

Trust takes time to build with clients, especially as a freelancer. Early in your career, people hire you as a band-aid; someone to “patch up a hole in the business real quick.” Clients look for someone who seems like they can fix their problem, and who doesn’t cost too much, and they hire them. 

They were both selling their paintings for thousands and thousands of dollars. They both had commissions from wealthy buyers, and were working hard to keep up with demand. Every artist’s dream. So what changed?

To be in business is to take a risk. In a capitalistic society, success is not guaranteed, or even likely. 

#4. Set up a one-day sprint work session. I’ve seen photographers do this. They’ll rent a studio for the day, and then sell 30-minute portrait sessions to their friends, family, and audience.

"...once you start making things, once you take that leap, you have the same status as any other artist."

Little things can add up over the course of a year. Especially if they’re mostly automated. 

“What we know is that if you A-B test a website enough times, it will turn into a porn site."

I mean it.