Table of Contents
To my dad, a successfully self-employed professional
for more than 40 years.Steve
To my wife Maggie, who always believed.
She just always believed.Pete
To my son Andrew, whose love, kindness, enthusiasm,
and vivid imagination inspire me every day. I love you!Ed
Introduction
Work, as weve come to understand it, is morphing before our very eyes. As we write this, the global economy is struggling to recover from the worst financial downturn in a generation. Layoffs are mounting at a rapid pace. And after cutting staff to the bone, businesses everywhere are scrambling to source talent for critical projects. Rather than reverting to the typical hire and fire cycle, many of these businesses are turning to freelance professionals.
The reason is simple: the freelance model works. Companies like it because it allows them to get work done without the salary, training, and benefits expenses that come with hiring. And it provides the flexibility to source specific talent for any project quickly, on an as-needed basis.
Meanwhile, as companies change their hiring strategies, employees attitudes toward their careers are changing, too. Theres a kind of widespread awakening afoot (maybe youre experiencing it yourself) as more and more people begin to question the meaning of work, its role in our lives, and whether or not the corporate grind is really worth it. Millions of professionalswhether theyve been ousted from their jobs or finally grown tired of long commutes, 60-hour workweeks, childish office politics, and rationed vacation timeare scratching their heads and thinking, There has got to be a better way! In their quest for answers, thousands are discovering freelancing as a breath of fresh air and the beginning of a new, better way to make a living.
Not surprisingly, mainstream media is quickly catching on. Once a somewhat obscure career path, freelancing is now getting regular attention in or on The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, BusinessWeek, CNN, Fox News, and many other media outlets.
As we enter what the three of us believe is a true renaissance in self-employment, whats missing is a practical guide for creating a freelance business that delivers a great income and a flexible, balanced, and fulfilling lifestyle. Lots of information already exists on the mechanics of launching a solo career, and plenty has been written about how to run the day-to-day aspects of a freelance business. But much of that advice follows a starving-artist mindset, with running themes of scarcity and day-to-day survival rather than positive expectations, continuous improvement in every area of your freelance business, and outright embracing of the possibilities that lie ahead.
Thats where this book comes in.
If youve been freelancing a while and doing just okay, the ideas we share with you in the following pages show you how to take things to the next levelfor goodand create the kind of success youve only dreamt about. Or if you havent yet launched your freelance business, this book helps you set out on the right path. Either way, youre about to discover dozens of proven ideas that can dramatically accelerate your progress and keep you from making costly mistakes.
Heres what you wont find in this book: hype. You wont find promises of afternoons spent napping on tropical beaches, working on the occasional project, and raking in enough dough each day to keep the margaritas coming endlessly. Achieving and sustaining freelance success, like any worthwhile endeavor, requires solid, honest effort. At times, its hard work. But it doesnt have to be grueling work. And with this book as your guide, it wont be.
Each of us has built our own successful freelance business, completely from scratch. But we are not superheroes. Were people just like you. We each had a dream of creating a freelance business that would enable us to have the clients, projects, income, and lifestyle we wanted. Over time, we figured out how to make that happen, and now were sharing our secrets.
As you read, keep an open mind. Many of the concepts you come across will be new to you. Resolve to take action on the tips, strategies, and ideas in this book. If you do, you will create the wealthy life you are striving for.
And when youre ready for more, join the exciting conversation already going on at TheWealthyFreelancer.com.
Steve Slaunwhite
Pete Savage
Ed Gandia
August 2009
Acknowledgments
No one ever writes a book like this without the support of many people. We owe a big thank you to our agent, Bob Diforio, and also to Mike Sanders, Randy Ladenheim-Gil, Christy Wagner, and the entire team at Alpha Books for working so hard to help make this book a winner.
To our families, for their loving support and encouragement as we embarked on yet another time-intensive (yet exciting!) project.
A special thanks to our coaching clients, seminar attendees, readers, listeners, viewers, and others in the freelancing community who follow us. (We have a confession to make: we often learn more from you guys than you do from us!) Thanks for all your support.
Finally, we owe a debt of gratitude to the many freelance professionals who share their stories in these pages. Your successes prove that being a wealthy freelancer isnt just a lofty dream. Its an imminently achievable goal.
What Being a Wealthy FreelancerReallyMeans
Steve Slaunwhite, Ed Gandia, and Pete Savage
In the movie Jerry Maguire, Tom Cruise plays a recently fired, now-freelance sports agent whose success mantra becomes Show me the money! As an audience, we watch in hopeful expectation as Toms character struggles to rebuild his client base and his life while ever-so-slowly realizing that money isnt everything. He discovers there are other ingredients to successrelationships, lifestyle, familythat are just as important and, in some cases, fundamentally more so. As a result, and in a bold move, Toms character revaluates his once hard-driving approach to his career. The final scene where he is walking through the park hand in hand with his new wife and her son on a sunny weekday afternoon says it all. Being wealthy isnt just about the dollars you earn; its about the life you buildand the kind of person you become in the process.
Think of the dreams you had when you first became a freelance professional. Or the dreams you have now if youre just starting out in this special type of self-employment. Chances are, that vivid image of your ideal life includes a lot more than just money.
For example, you may be
A stay-at-home mom who wants a successful freelance business that provides a good income and the flexibility to spend all the quality time you want with your kids.
A burnt-out corporate manager who wants to break free from the cubicle and work at home doing something thats just as financially rewarding and more enjoyable.
A long-time freelancer who is stuck in the cycle of low-paying projects and clients and wants to finally break free and take her business to a higher and wealthier level of success.
An ambitious professional who wants his freelance practice to generate an executive-class income so he can provide his family the lifestyle they deserve.
