Unemployable: Advice For Freelancers And Entrepreneurs

Emily Thompson is no stranger to the independent business life. She started off with an Etsy shop, and soon began helping other indie business people build their own platforms with web design and coaching. Emily is the founder of Indie Shopography, a design and strategy web studio, where she and her team develop websites for... Listen to episode

Back in the early 2000s, social media was a very different thing. The term came out of the Web 2.0 movement, and the primary components were blogs. Around 2005-2006, blogging starting moving to a more commercial bent. And social media expanded to include social news sites like Digg and Delicious. Once Facebook and Twitter showed... Listen to episode

A few weeks back, we looked at a process that you can use to transform your business. The example I gave was for a freelancer to "productize" an aspect of their services into a neatly packaged product with a defined scope and pricing. I also pointed out a benefit that goes beyond escaping the trap... Listen to episode

This week, we're shaking things up a bit. I took to Facebook and Twitter and asked for questions related to running and growing your business — and got a bunch of really good ones. Joining me to answer those questions is Chris Brogan, a New York Times bestselling author, professional speaker, longtime blogger, and CEO... Listen to episode

What comes to mind when you think of an entrepreneur? Maybe it's the gregarious and frenetic hustler, as personified by my friend Gary Vaynerchuk. That's interesting, since the only thing Gary and I have in common is that we're both serial entrepreneurs. Clearly, the types of personalities that support entrepreneurship run along a wide spectrum.... Listen to episode

You might notice from the title of today's episode that I have a thing for alliteration. That's a copywriting technique, which is not what we're talking about today. I say that because I see people confuse the two terms all the time. Just a couple of weeks ago on Facebook, someone asked for copywriting advice,... Listen to episode

Attracting and working with clients can be challenging. Implement the right practices and processes, though, and you can design a stellar small business and lifestyle. That's what Jennifer and Brian Bourn have done with their agency, Bourn Creative. They purposefully keep the operation small, and yet have set things up for both maximum profitability and... Listen to episode

Last week we talked about the power of positioning when it comes to starting a podcast. We also touched on how sponsorships can become just one of the lucrative sources of revenue that comes from growing your audience. But you've still got to create content, right? We may be overrun with interview-based podcasts, but there's... Listen to episode

Work on your business, not in it. You ve heard this advice over and over. It originated with the book The E Myth: Why Most Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It, by Michael Gerber. Seems like smart advice. But it can be hard to execute, especially when you have a demanding client-based business.... Listen to episode

It's been a year-and-a-half since I started Unemployable. And it's just been recently that the show has started to take off. Many assume because the Copyblogger audience is so large that the show would be massively popular from day one. That's not the case though — a different format and a different topic does not... Listen to episode

You've seen Pulp Fiction, right? It's the classic 1994 black comedy crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. The film is highly stylized, presented out of chronological order, and filled with eclectic dialogue that reveals each character's perspectives on various random subjects. And yes, it's profane and violent. Pulp Fiction was nominated for seven... Listen to episode

In the beginning, there was blogging. And for businesses looking to build an audience that helped grow the bottom line, it was good. In fact, many of the leaders in the digital marketing space started as blogs and evolved into multi-million dollar businesses. I personally have immense gratitude for what Rainmaker Digital has been able... Listen to episode

Many freelancers dream of the day that they'll have sources of income other than from client work. Some hope to stop taking clients for good in favor of selling online training instead. Carrie Dils did just that. A long time web developer, Carrie adopted the WordPress platform to do client work as a freelancer. But... Listen to episode

It's been almost two years since I started Further, my curated email newsletter about personal growth. And there's no mistaking that the project was inspired by Dave Pell's NextDraft. Content curation is all about becoming a trusted editorial source that finds the best information within a certain topic from amongst the valueless clickbait and mediocre... Listen to episode

Tim Ferriss broke into popular consciousness nine years ago with the release of The 4-Hour Workweek. He s gone on to create a series of books based on the 4-Hour concept. That s in addition to a wildly popular blog, podcast, and even a TV show. But in economic terms, all of that pales in comparison to... Listen to episode

Back in 2006, Gary Vaynerchuk started a daily video show that turned wine criticism on its head. More importantly, it took his family wine business from $3 million-a-year to a $60 million-a-year ecommerce juggernaut. From there, Gary did something that surprised a lot of people, including me. He started a digital marketing agency called VaynerMedia.... Listen to episode

The other day I was listening to the classic alternative channel on SiriusXM. Message of Love by the Pretenders was on. In the song, Chrissie Hynde sings: We are all of us in the gutter. But some of us are looking at the stars. Wait a minute … didn t Oscar Wilde say that in the... Listen to episode

Many people go out on their own in pursuit of the perfect lifestyle. Of course, "perfect" is entirely subjective. Maybe it s to become a digital nomad and travel the world. For others, it s the freedom to work from home and be closer to family. And still others are chasing audacious goals and world domination. All... Listen to episode

Virtual conferences have been around for years. They provide the education of a live event, without the expense of travel, hotel, and other "real world" costs that live events bring. That's the benefit to attendees. Entrepreneurs can use virtual conferences as a way to build or expand an audience, while also developing a membership product.... Listen to episode

The ancient Greeks — notably Aristotle — used anecdotal observation to nail much of what we know about persuasion. The fundamentals of the art haven t changed much in 2300 years, because human nature hasn t changed, even as the context in which we operate has changed dramatically. In the 20th century, social psychology took the ancient... Listen to episode