The Beauty of Freelancing: Breaking Away from the Hourly Mindset and Unlocking Higher Profits

As a software developer, working as a freelancer can be an attractive option for those who value flexibility and autonomy. But how can freelancers break away from the traditional hourly mindset and unlock higher profits? The answer lies in treating oneself as a business, focusing on delivering results, and framing services in a way that resonates with clients.

When you start your freelance career, it's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that you're just a one-trick pony - someone who can do a specific skill or service, but not much more. But this mindset is limiting, both for yourself and your potential clients. By recognizing that every client is a business, you can start to see opportunities to provide value beyond just hourly services.

For example, let's say you're a Python developer who offers custom solutions to companies. Instead of just building websites or applications, you could help them earn more business by providing actionable data analytics. This might involve helping clients understand their traffic and conversion rates, identifying areas for improvement, and suggesting targeted strategies to increase growth. By delivering results like this, you can charge higher fees - not just $100 an hour, but potentially $5,000 or more for a single project.

This mindset shift is key to unlocking higher profits as a freelancer. When you focus on delivering results rather than just hours worked, you open yourself up to new opportunities and revenue streams. And by framing your services in a way that resonates with clients - emphasizing the value you can bring to their business - you're more likely to attract high-paying clients who are willing to pay top dollar for expert solutions.

So how do you get started? The first step is to identify areas where you can deliver real results for clients. This might involve analyzing your own workflow and identifying inefficiencies or bottlenecks that you can streamline. It might also involve seeking out new skills or training to improve your expertise and competitiveness in the market. Whatever it is, make sure it's something that will give you a tangible advantage when pitching services to potential clients.

Another important factor is treating college as one resource - but not the only one. While formal education can be invaluable for learning new skills and gaining knowledge, it's just one tool among many available. Don't be afraid to seek out online courses, tutorials, and other resources to learn new skills or stay up-to-date with industry trends.

Finally, don't underestimate the power of networking and self-promotion. As a freelancer, you're not just competing against other developers - you're also competing for clients' attention in a crowded market. By building relationships with potential clients, showcasing your expertise on social media or through personal websites, and offering value-added services like workshops or consulting sessions, you can start to build a reputation as a trusted expert in your field.

So what does this look like in practice? Let's say you're a Python developer who wants to break away from the hourly mindset. You might decide to offer customized solutions to companies, focusing on delivering actionable data analytics and strategic recommendations that drive real growth. To get started, you might invest time in learning new skills or seeking out training - perhaps even taking online courses or attending workshops to improve your expertise.

You might also start building a personal brand, showcasing your work on social media or through a professional website. This could involve sharing case studies of successful projects, offering testimonials from satisfied clients, and providing tips or advice for other developers looking to break into the freelance market.

Ultimately, breaking away from the hourly mindset as a freelancer requires a willingness to think differently about your business and the value you offer to clients. By focusing on delivering results, framing services in a way that resonates with potential clients, and building a personal brand - all while staying flexible, adaptable, and committed to lifelong learning - you can unlock higher profits and build a successful freelance career as a software developer.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- Hey guys!How is it going?This is Qazi from CleverProgrammer.com,and in this video we'regonna talk about how youcan become a freelance software developerand you can start to charge $100 an hourwithout needing a college degree.So without any further ado,let's jump right into it.(dynamic music)So, first of all, let's start offwith one of the really important things,why you actually need a college degree.So, a college degree generally is neededbecause you need to havesomething that you can show,but if you don't have a college degreeyou need to have somethingelse to show in place for it.That's the number one primary reasonwhy most people actually work so hardto pursue that degree and a lot of people,it doesn't matter how old you are,if you're going for that college degree,it's to basically say hey, I don't haveany other experience to show for it,but I'll show you my college degree.Now, there are alternative to this.Meaning that, if you can prove your worthto somebody else, youdon't need to show themyou have a college degree.They frankly don't even care.So, for some companies it's experienceand as a freelance developer,it's not even necessarily experience,it's you being able toprove to somebody elseyou can develop a software for themthat can help them grow their business.So, if it's a startup you're working for,maybe they need an applicationand you're using a frameworklike Django and Pythonto develop a web application.Well, you can simplybuild them an applicationand make sure that it'ssomething that they want,that's something that they can use,and if it's generating them more moneyby you providing your skillset,then they don't care.At Clever Programmer oneof the things that we needis to create a companionapp for all the stuffthat I teach you guys, soI have programming coursesin Python and I want tomake it really easy for you.So I might actually hire out a developerto make an app for me, andif they have any experiencein creating apps and wehave like a live interviewand they can just show methat they can create it,and it's something thatcould actually be scaledto all of the students'cause right now we haveover 10,000 students at Clever Programmer.So, if we can create thatapp and you guys can use it,well, as a business CleverProgrammer will instantlybe making more money, and for me to paythe software developer, it'ssomething that's very easy.So, if the developer charges $100 an hourand he takes five, 10, or 15,or 20 hours to make the thing,which is $2,000, if myreturn on investment on thatis like, let's say $10,000,or even let's say $5,000,I mean do I care payingthe developer $2,000?No.It's a matter of trivialityat that point, right.That's how Ramit Sethi would say,it's somebody I follow,and you can look him up,and he teaches you like lots of waysyou can earn a higher income.So, ultimately the pointis being able to proveyour worth to somebody elsewhether it's through a college degreeor it's through different projects,or you being able toconvince somebody elsethat you can actually helpthem and provide them value.Also by value what I meanis getting them a resultthat they care about and that they want.For most businesses and mostpeople who are hiring you,think it from their perspective.They're not necessarily looking fora beautiful website,most people are looking for, you know,the reason behind why they want a website,which is to generatemore business for them.So, using your programming knowledge,if you can put something together for themthat they can sell, or they can use itto bring in new leads, new customers,leads just means somebodywho, you know, you havetheir contact informationand they are interestedin either your services or your product,and if they can use itto then turn those peopleinto customers, they are happy.For example.Let's say that you want to builda website for a photographer.Well, how would you go about it?Would you just pitch it to them like,hey, I have my collegedegree, you're a freelancerfor photography, just hire me.Well, in that case theymight not even care,they're like hey, yeah, that's coolyou have a college degree and all,but I don't know how that'sreally applicable to me.But now let's say you reframe this,you go up to that samephotographer and you sayhey, so I notice that each personwhose information that youget, out of every 10 peopleone of those people becomes your customer,is that right?And then they're like yeah,that's actually right.How much is that one client,a customer worth to you?And freelance photographermight be like, $2,000.So you're like okay, so oneclient to you is worth $2,000.And they're like yes.So then you're likeokay, so out of 10 peopleif one person gives you $2,000,then what's the averageon those 10 people?Right?So let's, that's simple,let's divide 2000 by 10,and we should get something like 200.So that means that eachnew lead or each new,you know, person who isinterested in that freelanceris essentially worth $200 to them.Right?So now imagine you were a Python developerand you needed to puttogether a website for them.It could be a simple website.So you could even go tothem and just say hey,I'm gonna put a simplewebsite together for you.Now, if you are helping them generatelet's say instead of 10 newleads or potential customers,let's say you're helpingthem get 50 new customers,leads per month, how muchis that worth to them?Out of 50 people, if five people givethat freelancer photographer business,now that freelance photographerinstead of making $2,000,now he has five people per month,he's making $10,000 per month.Right?So, could you safely chargethat freelancer $5,000to put together a websitethat gets business for him?Right?And if you convince thatphotographer of this,or show him this,then he doesn't care, andyou're able to make $5,000,you can frankly name your price.So saying $100 an hour as afreelance software developeris an understatement, butI just have to do thatso when I'm making thisvideo, it doesn't soundlike scammy, right, itdoesn't sound too unrealistic.But this is very possible.So, as a freelancer youneed to think of yourselfas a business and allthe people that you get,think of them as a client.Think of each person not aslike your employer or whatever,they're just, each ofthem are your client.And the beautiful thing here isthat you can fire your clients.You know, a lot of the times firing70% to 80% of your clientsand focusing on onlysome of the premium onesand then giving them more servicescan actually increase your incomeand you don't have todeal with a lot of peoplewho are like nagging at you,right, or you don't like dealing with.So that's another beauty of afreelancer software developerbecause it's not like if you goto that nine to five joband you don't like it,then you're just kind ofstuck there doing one thing.Here you can choose andcreate your own pathand kind of name your price.And the smarter you canthink like a business,then you have infinitegrowth, and the great thing isyou can turn into an agency over time.But in the start, youknow, one step at a time.The first step is getting that one client.So don't just say hey, I just havethis one really coolskill and I can help you,I'm just a cool painter,so I'm just gonna paint,or I'm a cool designer, soI'm just gonna do designing.Think of it how you can helpthem earn more business,and then frame it from that perspective.They're much more likelyto hire you, and honestly,you could even charge waymore than $100 an hour.Because if you candeliver somebody results,you can put together that websitefor that freelance photographer, right,that's not even a business,just that freelance photographer examplethat I was talking about earlier,and that website takes you, let's say,an hour or two hours to puttogether, you can charge $5,000,and it's not tied to your hourly income,it's tied to the resultyou're providing them.Okay, that's how youcan start to break awayfrom that hourly mindset andstart to go into higher profitsbecause you're giving better results,right, you're selling a result.So, with all of that, to summarize,think of yourself as a business.Everybody else is a client.Working as a freelancer is actually saferthan working at a job, becausea job is just one client.Whereas if you have 20 different clientsyou can even choose to firesomeone you don't like to work with.You have flexibility to work remotely.You have flexibility towork with whoever you want,and basically howevermuch income you need.You can increase thenumber of clients you get.And as a bonus tip, if you are in college,or using some form of learning,you know, going to school,that's one resource, right.That's not the only place.Just like when you are at a job, you thinkthe job is the only placeyou can go and get an income.You can go to a job and still havefreelancing gigs on the sideto earn an extra income, just like that.If you're actually learning,like from a college,you can use otherresources to learn as well,and you have to treatcollege just like that,one resource and you can'tlearn from anywhere else.Alright?So, hopefully, this givesyou some perspectiveof how it's actually possibleto generate $100 an houror even more as freelancersoftware developer.I just gave you a very simple exampleand it doesn't even requireall that complicated knowledge.The example I gave youis literally being ableto charge a ton of money just for buildinga website for somebody.Right?But now think of, as a Python developeryou are offering much morecustom solutions to a company,and these custom solutions can be likeproviding them withactionable data analytics,proving to somebody that hey,based on how much trafficyou're getting and howmuch conversion you have,if you change this one thing,it'll improve your growth tremendously.For example, somebody helpedme, a Python developer,they did some data analyticsat Clever Programmerand they were able to tell me that hey,if you focus more on creatingbetter videos for people,or if you focus more on giving peoplean offer that's better for them,it can actually help you in your business,and it has helped me at Clever Programmer,because I'm able to helppeople in a better wayand that data insight that they gave mewas actually super actionable for meand something that I immediatelystarted to get results from.That way for you, as a Python developer,because you're offeringsuch customized solutions,you could charge even higher than that.So, hopefully, this makes sense.Shoot me in comments below.If you guys have any morequestions about this,I'd love to jump in andanswer that for you.For now, this is it guys.Thank you guys so much for watching!And, as always, I love your faces offand I'll see you in the next video!\n"