ITT 073: How to Grow a Successful Business on the Side with Brennan Dunn

2015-12-07

Brennan Dunn is the author of “Double Your Freelancing Rate.” He’s a freelancer, author, blogger, podcaster and software developer. He’s been in and around the world of freelancing for around 7 years, starting with a side business and growing it into a successful agency. In this broadcast, Brennan Dunn and I talk about: How he was able to build a successful high-revenue agency How he would do things differently now if he were to build an agency including: Moving away from a one-and-out project model toward a recurring...

In this broadcast, Brennan Dunn and I talk about:

How he was able to build a successful high-revenue agency
How he would do things differently now if he were to build an agency including:
1. Moving away from a one-and-out project model toward a recurring projectized model
2. Streamlining products and projects
3. Not trying to build a brick and mortar company
Brennan explains how high end freelance work can be projectized when you have multiple clients who need the same service (revenues can be gained through licensing and offering clients on-going value)
We discuss some of Brennan s tips for pricing and contract creation, such as:
1. Remembering that clients spend money on solutions not your technical functions
2. They are not paying you for what you do, rather they are paying you for what you do for them
3. Helping clients find solutions to their actual problems helps you become a partner with them (and allows you to build a platform to sell high-end solutions)
Brennan gives us his insights on how and why we should work on generating leads with people who may not actually be our clients by:
1. Increasing the number of people who receive value from us
2. Keeping those people close
3. Asking for introductions and consistently following-up
4. Continuing to add value to those people who are likely to give a referral
We hear Brennan s tips for growing an agency team including:
1. Don t hire around big projects, rather hire based on the companies profitability
2. Start by working with subcontractors
3. Hiring should always be strategic