How You Can Make More Money by Seeking Long-Term Clients
Follow my process and understand the difference between money and time
Sites like Upwork are overrated.
I said it so you don’t have to. I even have an Upwork profile, but I've never used it because the fees make me feel queasy. If you make $500 with a client, Upwork takes 20% of it.
In other words, they get $100 for your hard work.
Don’t forget you have to pay taxes too. You could spend ten hours working for $25 an hour, and you’ll only make $20 an hour before taxes. That doesn’t seem like a fair deal to me. That’s why I avoid job boards for the most part.
Even worse, most Upwork gigs are short-sighted. They are one-and-done jobs that get you nowhere. The client pays, they leave, and you’re left with nothing but a portion of your rent for the month.
What if I told you there’s another way to look at client work, one that is more fulfilling for both parties. Long-term clients aren’t impossible to find, and you have to squint your eyes and look in the right places.
Here’s how and why you should seek out long-term partnerships.
The difference between time and money
Short-term goals give you money for now. Longer-term goals allow you to shape the future you want.
Ask yourself if you want to work in an office for the rest of your life or not. Bosses love to make the excuse that the office is the most productive workspace, when in fact, we’re 13% more productive from home.
Remote work is here to stay, and you can join the stay-at-home revolution if you want. I mean, you don’t have to. My parents are more suited for working in person. They’ve told me themselves. They are happier at the office than at home. Trust me, and I spent many months with them during the pandemic.
That’s the older generation, though. The 9–5 work-life is meant to obtain short and long-term goals at the same time. It’s a good deal, but there is a price to pay: you trade time for money.
The millennial mindset is to value time over money and physical investments. We’d instead work for many people to establish multiple safety nets instead of putting our hard-earned cash into a bank that doesn't give us reasonable interest rates.
Money can buy assets that lead to financial freedom. It’s simple. You can go on your phone, download Robinhood, and invest in Ethereum and the S&P 500 right now.
You can buy back your time with your thumbs. That’s powerful.
It’s just a matter of doing it. it’s hard to think about the future when life is hard enough now. Put in the work while you’re a young, hip, and cool millennial. Create habits that stick so you can make the world a better place.
Money buys time.
Your work doesn’t determine your worth
Clients don’t hire you just becasue you’re a good freelancer.
You could be a great photographer, graphic designer, or content writer, and even charges reasonable prices. What matters most is this: your ability to be a human. That’s one thing you need to understand about high-ticket clientele.
Put yourself in the client's shoes. If you needed someone to ramp up your business, who would you want to work with? You want someone you can talk to face to face. You want someone who cares about your business as much as you do. You want a communicator who is a master of the lost art of asking questions.
Chris Burkard is the perfect example of a down-to-earth human who happens to be really good at what he does: photography. I follow him because of his pure, adventurous spirit, and his attitude toward life enhances his photos.
Being a human means treating yourself with respect too. Your rate shouldn't just be based on your work. If that's the case, you’re short-selling yourself. When you’re human, you’re worth 20% more than you think.
Upwork wants to take 20% of your worth from you. Imagine doing the same gig without a middleman, and you can make 40% more money.
Be a human, and money will flow to you.
Longevity means consistency with less stress
Low-stress jobs don’t usually result in high payouts.
My friend was a janitor in college to make some extra money between classes. He says it was the most stress-free job he’s ever had. The pay wasn’t great, but he listened to podcasts and enjoyed the monotony.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, when I watch a day in the life of a billionaire video, my brain feels like it’s running a half-marathon backward. There’s no time for yourself or family and friends. They're constantly on call or in meetings with one of their investors.
The middle ground is freelancing
Juggling clients isn’t always pretty. I mean, there’s no way around it. If you’re busy, you might be a little stressed.
But the thing is, if you’re doing something you love to do, you’ve made it. I was telling my best friend who’s looking for a new job that there’s no such thing as a perfect job unless you create it for yourself.
That’s why it's essential to work on an after-hours side hustle. Not only is it a safety net against the unknown, but it’s time spent working on your future.
Freelancing and side hustling don’t sound the same on paper, but when you think about it, freelancing gives you more opportunities to grow. Freelancing for clients is a way to develop a specific skillset on your terms in a way a full-time job cant.
Instead of bouncing around different clients, it’s better for you mentally and for your future to seek clients who want to keep you around.
Here’s the blueprint
Don’t apply to jobs on Upwork.
Use Upwork to find the companies you want to work for and contact them yourself. It depends on what type of work you’re looking for, of course.
The other way is to seek companies with a significant need. This is the lesser-known way of finding clients. They go to job boards becasue they have a searing pain. Be the person to find the holes in their boat for them.
As we approach Web3, every brand needs a social presence to survive. This means you can find any brand via Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, to even BitClout.
Get creative. When I see Instagram ads for snack brands, I look up their account. Some have great photos; others could use work. As a photographer, I’ll seek out a companies marketing manager and offer to shoot their products. Here’s the big question I ask them after I tell them my rates:
“How much are you willing to pay now for future financial success?”
Think about that in your own life too. Investing is scary in the present because you don’t know what will happen, but after 20 years go by and the stock market keeps trucking like it always has, what will you say then?
Invest in yourself now, even while you work a full-time job, so you can quit one day and build the future you want for yourself.
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Stay safe and have a great weekend! -Ryan