Hey — It’s Temidayo.
To be very honest, the past week has been a bit rough for me. But, I’m glad that I no longer have to be part of a certain commitment that has been taking up a lot of my time since last year.
I can now say that I’m fully back in the game. So, you get to see more of my stuff on Twitter and Instagram. And I get to resume shooting shots properly.
Anyways, let’s talk about something that’s been on my mind a lot lately when it comes to looking for gigs to work on.
✱ – The Hard Shit vs The Expensive Shit
There’s a big difference between problems that are challenging to solve, versus those that are worth paying premiums for.
As freelancers, it’s very very easy to get caught up in chasing the gigs that require so much labor from us because they look difficult and require more effort. But the truth is – just because a problem is hard, doesn’t mean it’s actually valuable or worth your time.
I’ve learned from my experience and that of top freelancers out there that the real money is in doing the expensive shit. The problems that cause your clients the biggest headaches and keep them up at night. You might think they’re not really difficult to solve, but they are the shit that clients will gladly pay a premium to solve.
Look at it this way:
- Would you rather slave away for weeks writing a 50,000-word ebook for $250, or get hired to write a solid 1,000-word article that boosts a client’s brand awareness for $500?
- Would you rather slave away for weeks building an irrelevant website feature that’s nice to have, or get hired to lead a major website rebrand that transforms a client’s entire brand presence and brings in tons of new revenue?
I’m sure we chose the same options, the latter.
You see, it all comes down to focusing on costly problems that have a real impact on businesses. Regardless of what it is, it just has to be stuff that has a measurable, significant impact.
Don’t get me wrong, flexing your skills is important. But successful freelancers know when to stop flexing skills and start hunting bigger games.
So the next time you’re trying to send a pitch or proposal to a potential client, calm down and ask yourself – is this gig hard or expensive?
That will be all for today.
I’ll text you again, next Monday.