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Hey there, John here...
Let me tell you a story about a chef named, Davide Cerretini. Like any good restaurateur… All he wanted was to provide great food, great service, and build up his restaurant client base. Until Yelp reps tried to get him to buy ads. (If you have no idea what Yelp is, it’s a business directory service and a forum where people can find and review a business that is listed) Business was going strong so he respectfully turned them down. Di naman niya kelangan eh. Then he noticed something strange. Suddenly, his 5-star reviews on Yelp were nowhere to be found and was replaced by 1-star reviews which he didn’t have before. Turns out, Yelp was manipulating the reviews hoping he’d give in to their demands. And after tons of back and forth with the platform which went nowhere, he made a very slick marketing move. Instead of getting 5-star ratings, he did the opposite… "Give us a one star review on Yelp and get 25% off any pizza! Hate us on Yelp..." That’s when his business boomed. People had so much fun posting weird, outrageous, 1-star reviews on Yelp that the old 1-star reviews didn’t matter no more. So much so that many refused the discount. David became a mini-celebrity too as a result. In fact, there was so much business that people were willing to join David’s cooking events for $3,000 and above. So what’s the lesson in today’s story? Well, there are many, like zigging when others zag and not giving up in the face of adversity. But while it was a happy ending, the real lesson here is… Never build your house on someone else’s lot. David did that, built his business on Yelp and he nearly paid for it dearly. Same thing if you’re freelancing business is reliant on a single platform like Upwork, Onlinejobs, Facebook, Linkedin or any platform to get clients for that matter… It’s like living on borrowed land. Anytime pwede ka paalisin. Take a second to ask yourself these two questions… Where do you currently get clients? What if you wake up tomorrow and it’s gone? Would you still have a way to get clients? Chances are, you won’t like the answer. And that’s the thing about owning a freelancing business or any business for that matter… You should be the one that has ultimate control. For me, and our Tribe members, we take control back by building our own email lists and creating our own world with our own raving fans. And if you’re wondering what having an email list looks like, you’re looking at it right now. I ask ideal clients to subscribe on my newsletter… Then 3 times a week, I send them value-infused emails (just like what you’re reading now) giving them email marketing lessons and insights. Nothing to sell, just pure value. Kinda like the same emails you’re getting from me only about email marketing instead of freelancing. Now, if I want to get a client, all I have to do is send one email out inviting them to work with me. Just one email which takes me around 10 minutes to write… But enough to get prospects to book a call with me in droves. Just like what Errol has been doing this past month… Sharing a WIN! Nung pumunta kami ng Manila last June (2019). Nagmeet-up kami nila Al, Shoden, Charles, Ehms, at Tin. Tapos naalala ko kuwento ni Coach Shoden about importance of list building. Then timing din na nag LIVE siya (inside the Tribe) about list building so mas na-trigger nanaman ako. Dati di ko to ma-gets eh. Like kung may client ka na, bat ka pa gagawa ng list? Well, para sakin, dahil sa building of list, mas naging confident ako. Mas nakita ko worth ng work and process ko kasi I'm not desperate anymore (to get clients) and nawala inferiority complex ko. Mas na-gets ko na din bakit confident palagi si Coach bro John and palagi niya sinasabi na kung mawala man lahat ng assets niya (bahay, lupa, kotse, pera)… Okay lang basta di lang ang (prospect) email list niya. Mas nag make-sense. JOHN’S NOTE: Why would you be afraid to charge higher fees, lose clients, turn clients down, or lose money when all you have to do to get it back is send one simple email? Anyways, tama na sa drama and mahabang intro. For the past few weeks, I've been building my list (Outbound and Inbound) and here's my result. 10 Discovery Calls last week. 3 became clients and consulting lang. Nagbibigay lang ako ng direction sa kanila ano pwede gawin nila. 5 Discovery Calls for this week.  Actually, my results isn't important. What's important are the possibilities. Di na mag-woworry na baka mag let-go si client Di na maghahanap ng pera for monthly expenses And kung ayaw niyo ng racist and lowballers, you can just disqualify them since not all clients are created equal. Kung altruistic ako, sasabihin ko na mas madami ako matutulungan na tao dahil nagsubscribe sila sakin. Kung sa ulterior motive lang, I know my worth. Law of supply and demand. The lower the supply the higher the money you get. Different kind of freelancing indeed. Hopefully mag-build din kayo ng list. For people who're asking me if I'm optimizing my process… YES but ON THE JOB. Walang silbi mag aral ng skills kung di ko naman maa-apply agad. And wala akong maa-applyan ng skills ko kung wala ako client(s). Isn’t it amazing what a prospect list can do? It’s what I’ve been doing for years and the same thing we’re teaching folks inside the Tribe so they too would have a worry-free freelance business. And if you think your freelance business is one Google slap, one Facebook ban or just one Upwork update away from catastrophe… You may want to start building your list now. Rooting for you, John "kunin mo na ang lahat sa akin" Pagulayan P.S. Speaking of ‘control’ are you also in control of how many clients you want to work with? If not, you may want to check out tomorrow’s LIVE call, Thursday, 9PM, with April Abion and Jaime De Los Reyes… Two of the Tribe’s best when it comes to generating qualified leads and getting prospect on calls. And yes, it’s free. But here’s the catch… We only have a 500 seat limit and right now, we already have over 473 registrants on the first day alone so you better hurry. Click here to register before all the slots are taken. |