#394: How to Increase Referrals by Fixing These 7 Referral Killers

It’s January. You know what that means? Well, it might be “panic about how slow the holidays were” time. But for smart freelancers? It’s the start of our favorite season: cheap AF ads. The holidays are insanely expensive and competitive for paid ads. Black Friday, Christmas, end of year deals - it’s a marketing free-for-all that drives up costs and makes it nearly impossible to be heard. The beginning of the year is the complete opposite. The noise has died down and in its place is a golden opportunity for freelancers. With fewer businesses competing for attention, the cost to reach your ideal clients plummets, making it easier than ever to generate leads and clients for your business. You know this, but in the back of your head you have this fear…. “If I run ads, won’t it cheapen my image or damage my brand?” This is one of the top toxic beliefs that freelancers have, and today I want to call it out and address it. Here’s why… We just brought a new client into our coaching program and he’s making half a million dollars a year as a freelancer. He still has capacity for clients - but this was one of the hardest closes I’ve ever had. Not because he didn’t trust us. Not because he couldn’t afford it. But because he was concerned that paid ads would damage his brand. Reality check: Ads do not hurt strong brands. Bad messaging hurts brands. This episode takes a deep dive into How to Promote Yourself Without Destroying Your Premium Brand. Because if: Rolex can spend $100 million per year advertising their watches… Birkin bags sell for $300,000 and have a six-year wait list but Hermès still runs paid ads… What makes YOUR freelance business so special? The answer: it’s not. And you can absolutely run paid ads in a way that actually grows your brand reputation. There’s a specific reason I’m bringing this up now… Next week, we’re offering something special to a handful of freelancers. And it MIGHT have something to do with us giving you $500 to spend on ads, so you can test completely risk free and find a profitable strategy without spending a dime of your own money on ads. You’ll get more info about that soon, but for now listen to this episode. For full show notes, visit https://6figurecreative.com/396

Pop quiz: What do freelancers fear MORE than death, public speaking, and spiders? Answer: Potentially, maybe, somewhat looking desperate when it comes to getting clients. It’s not your fault…back in school most of us were taught to stay quiet, not stand out from the crowd. That being “pushy” and asking for what you want is bad. You're taught that if you stay invisible, you'll never face rejection. And while that kinda sorta works in high school… In the business world, it means you never **post about your work on social media. You never go all in with content marketing. And you’re afraid to actively make offers to potential clients (if I’m good, they’ll just come to me, right?) But marketing isn’t desperation…it’s just marketing. The stuff that you're avoiding doing because of the fear of looking desperate? Exactly the same stuff that successful business owners do (without any hesitation whatsoever). One of our clients is a brand designer who had this exact fear. And when she finally overcame it, she had some of her best months EVER. If you secretly fear “looking desperate” (or you actually ARE desperate), this one’s for you. For full show notes, visit https://6figurecreative.com/395

Two freelancers. Both relying on referrals to bring in clients. One is fully booked solid with a 3-month waiting list. The other is barely scraping by. What makes the difference? These 7 “Referral Killers.” Get them wrong, and you’ll struggle for clients. Fix even just one of them, and you’ll get more leads and higher-quality projects. In this episode, we cover: How to give yourself a “referrability score” The secret force multiplier that makes all the difference How one freelancer spent $927 to land over $32,000 in projects (plus repeat projects and referrals) How to determine your #1 referral killer and fix it FAST For full show notes, visit https://6figurecreative.com/394

Pure creatives are selfish. They create art for themselves. And your potential clients don’t care about your personal creativity. They care about what's in it for them. So as a creative, we can't just be selfishly isolated in our little rooms creating art for art's sake because it fulfills us. When it comes to actually being a business owner, we have to create real value for other people, which means we can't be selfish when it comes to our creativity. We have to share it with others. As it says on the wall behind me in my office, “It takes more than passion.” If you’re running a freelance business, don’t forget - you’re running a business. And that takes entrepreneurial skills that may not come naturally for many creatives. This week’s episode is about finding the sweet spot between creativity and entrepreneurship. Both the creative and the entrepreneur are essential elements of your freelance business… And there are good parts and bad parts of both. In this episode you’ll discover: Balancing the creative and entrepreneurial sides of your brain What entrepreneurs understand that creatives don't Using people, processes, and systems, to create value Keeping your creative spark alive Scheduling time for creative and entrepreneurial tasks Expanding your horizons by joining communities and finding mentors For full show notes, visit ⁠https://6figurecreative.com/393⁠

You know what's wild? I had three of my coaches (Richie, Dennis, and Rob) on the podcast this week to settle the organic vs. paid ads debate once and for all. Combined, they've spent tens of millions on paid ads and generated hundreds of millions in revenue for clients. And here's what they said: If you're doing organic without paid ads, you're playing marketing on hard mode. Organic takes 90-100+ videos before you hit an inflection point. Each piece takes 3+ hours. And you're competing against dopamine-engineered content designed to keep people scrolling. Meanwhile, our clients spend $5-10/day on ads and get 5+ booked calls. But the weirdest part? The #1 objection we hear from freelancers about running ads is: "I'll look desperate." Especially music producers. They think if people see them running ads, everyone will assume they're struggling for work. Which is... completely backwards. We break down why in this week’s podcast episode. We also cover: When organic actually makes sense (and when it's a waste of time) Why choose YouTube over Instagram when creating organic content The real reason ads + organic work like rocket fuel together How one client spent $900 and brought in $40K For full show notes, visit https://6figurecreative.com/392

I need to tell you something you probably don't want to hear. You don't have a marketing problem. You have a leads problem. Let me prove it to you: You're generating less than 5 new leads per month Some months you get 10 leads, some months you get 1 That's a 1000% variance from your best month to your worst Meanwhile, my business generates 1,974 leads per month on average Our variance from lowest to highest month? Only 30% See the difference? When you only have 1-10 leads coming in, you're basically starving. You take whatever clients you can get. You can't be picky. You can't raise your rates. And you're one bad month away from panic mode. The answer? Uncomfortably simple: You need more at-bats. More opportunities. More people in your pipeline who could potentially become clients. And the best way to fix that? Paid ads. In this week's episode, you'll learn: The real root cause of feast or famine for 95% of freelancers (and how to fix it for good) What a niche photography studio doing $50M/year knows that you don't The exact number of ad variations you should be testing (hint: it's 100X more than you think) Most freelancers aren’t “bad at sales” - they just don’t have enough leads coming in to make their business model work. Let’s fix that. For full show notes, visit https://6figurecreative.com/391

Just because you're making money doesn't mean you're thriving as a freelancer. And if you're NOT making money? You're definitely not thriving. Here's what a thriving freelance business actually looks like: stable income, financial runway so you can take a hit without panicking, no constant fires to put out, and you actually enjoy what you do. Sound like your business right now? Yeah. Didn't think so. The second you started taking money for your skills, 12 critical roles appeared out of thin air in your business: Fulfillment, sales, marketing, operations, accounting, project management, IT/tech, legal, client relationships, creative direction, management... and CEO. In a big corporation, each of those has a department head, managers, and entire teams. As a freelancer? That's all you, baby. And if your business isn't where you want it to be, you're failing at exercising one (or more) of these muscles. So how do you fix this? That’s what this episode is all about. You’ll discover: The "treat it like the gym" framework for consistently working on the hard stuff you've been avoiding for months (or years) How to identify which muscle is your biggest bottleneck right now and start strengthening it one hour at a time Why emotions make you a great creative but a terrible business owner (and what to do about it)… Can you make this work? Wrong question. The right question is: How can I make this work? "Can I" is for dabblers. "How can I" is for people who actually succeed. So pick your mountain. Set your gym time. And start climbing one hour at a time. For full show notes, visit https://6figurecreative.com/390

You know that massive to-do list in your head? All those things you're "supposed" to do as a freelancer? New website. Social media content calendar. Cold outreach. Warm outreach. Lead magnets. Funnels. Pricing revamp. Recurring revenue package. Portfolio update. It's overwhelming as hell. And oh by the way, 99% of that list doesn't matter right now. Because your income isn't capped by all those things. It's capped by ONE thing. One bottleneck. This is something called the Theory of Constraints, and it's the simplest framework I've ever seen for giving yourself a raise as a freelancer. Your business has exactly ONE constraint holding you back right now. Maybe it's time (you're booked solid but can't take on more clients). Maybe it's lead generation (nobody knows you exist). Maybe it's sales (you get inquiries but can't close them). Maybe it's your average client value (everyone's worth $1,000 when they should be worth $5,000). Maybe it's fulfillment (clients leave unhappy and never refer you). Once you identify that ONE constraint and fix it, you get a raise. Sometimes a massive one, like 20%, 30%, even 50%+ in a year. Then a new constraint pops up. You fix that one. Yay, you just got another raise! It's literally whack-a-mole with your income, except every time you whack one you make more money. In this episode, I walk you through: The exact framework for identifying YOUR constraint The five core functions every freelancer needs to master (in order) The most common bottleneck for six-figure earners The "Hormozi Holy Trio" that holds most freelancers back How fixing one simple number can give yourself a 4x raise This is one of those episodes where if you actually apply what's in it, you'll look back in 6-12 months and realize it changed everything. For full show notes, visit https://6figurecreative.com/389

You can spend years building a wildly successful six-figure (or multi-six-figure) freelance business... Only to watch it crumble to dust. Not because you sucked at your craft. Not because you weren't talented enough. But because you didn't defend yourself properly against a handful of silent killers. One of these silent killers once cost me five weeks of work I had to make up for free. (Could've been prevented. Wasn't. Sucked.) So in this week's episode, I'm breaking down the five hidden dangers that can wipe out a six-figure freelance business (and more importantly, exactly how to defend yourself against each one). Here's what we're tackling: How to prevent burnout (you know, when you basically hate your clients and want to burn down your entire business) and recognize the warning signs before that happens. The “give-a-mouse-a-cookie” problem that sucks away your profit (and one simple phrase that stops it). The simple systems that keep you safe from the tax man (no, you can’t outsmart the system. Don’t try). Legal essentials that protect your business (rare, but when they strike, they can wipe you out completely. Here’s how to stay out of the danger zone). And the #1 completely preventable “silent killer” - payment issues. You've worked too hard to build your business to let it get taken down by something completely avoidable. Let's make sure that doesn't happen. For full show notes, visit https://6figurecreative.com/388

Most freelancers think: "The more work I show, the more clients I'll attract." But if you have a level 10 skillset working with level 5 clients… Your portfolio is gonna look level 6 at best. And it’s hard to level up your clients if your portfolio doesn’t match. Is your portfolio all over the place? Not showcasing work at the level you want to attract clients? This week’s podcast episode will fix that. You’ll learn: How to beef up your portfolio if it’s still light or you’re just starting out How to curate and uplevel your current portfolio to attract higher level clients The secret ingredient that instantly makes your work look 10x more impressive For full show notes, visit https://6figurecreative.com/387