Freelance Cake

In this episode, Austin L. Church talks to journalist, freelance writer, and coach Wudan Yan about the art of negotiation. The driving force behind The Writers' Co-op, Wudan tells the story of her transition from journalism to freelance narrative writing and sheds light on the two different cultures with their sets of norms.Wudan goes on to share how her upbringing and academic bac

In this continuation of “The 4 Stages of Freelancing,” Austin L. Church explores the last two stages: Lifestyler and Diversifier. After they’ve navigated through the Moonlighter and Hustler phases, freelancers reach a level of maturity where challenges become more complex. Meanwhile, opportunities for growth and personal fulfillment expand.Austin highlights the motivations, c

You’ve surely heard of the corporate ladder, but what are the career progressions for freelancers? Those of us who sell creativity in some form usually freelance part-time at the start, and those who stick with it eventually think, “Hey, why shouldn’t I be one of those people who make money while they sleep?”In this episode of Freelance Cake, Austin L. Church discusses the

In this episode, Austin explores the root problem freelancers face and the constant battle to ignore distractions in the midst of an overwhelming number of to-dos: marketing, client projects, website updates… No wonder many freelancers are burned out!The truth is, we don’t really want to get more done. No, we want to focus on the right things at the right time, and push the uni

What if you could charge four times what you do now by making small changes to your freelance packaging? In episode 010, Austin shares an early coaching case study. Robert is a business consultant who signed up for Business (re)Launch, Austin's freelance coaching program. With Austin's help, he developed a new offer. The offer enabled Robert to charge four times what he had previou

Hourly is by far the most popular freelance pricing model, but time is never what clients want. Our job is to deliver the desired business outcome, not give them our time. Reframe the conversation and start selling outcomes, not hours. In this episode, Austin shares real-life situations of why outcome-based selling makes perfect sense for freelancers, as well as the perfect 9-word

In Episode 008, Austin shares his 7-step freakout protocol – which will come in handy when you’re staring down the end of the month and freaking out a little about your lack of freelance clients. Clients come and go. Meanwhile, bills keep coming; it's no surprise that many freelancers develop money worries! This episode will help you overcome financial anxieties that make it di

In Episode 007, Austin discusses the false dichotomy between art and commerce. He also breaks down the Japanese concept of “ikigai. Finally, he encourages freelancers to overcome self-limiting beliefs about money by viewing it as a tool – rather than a goal – that allows them more creativity, freedom, and generosity. We’re all familiar with the identity of the starving arti

In Episode 006, Austin shares 16 benefits of finding a profitable and sustainable nice niche and explains why so many freelancers still choose not to specialize despite the apparent benefits. He also tackles 4 myths about niching down to encourage more freelancers to take the leap. To survive in the freelance business, we take on a variety of projects in a variety of industries. We

In Episode #5, Austin shares the 20 Stories Exercise that helped him build a predictable flow of freelance income. He also goes over the 6 questions you need to uncover which of your current marketing strategies bring you your best, easiest money. Freelancers have a bad habit of chasing every new marketing strategy on every platform, when we get better results when we do “less bu