If You Want To Make Six-Figures As A Solopreneur, Stop Calling Yourself A Freelancer.
Do this instead.
I’ll never call myself a freelancer.
Even if I’m doing what a freelancer does, I’ve removed that word from my vocabulary. I’ll correct anyone who labels me as a freelancer. I’m extreme when it comes to my branding and positioning.
Here’s why never to call yourself a freelancer.
Whenever I hear the word freelancer,
I immediately think:
Hourly rate.
Commodity.
Single skill set.
It even has the word ‘free’ in it.
Words are important.
Labels create emotions.
People assign a value based on how you speak about yourself.
Describing yourself as a freelancer makes you disposable.
Many of the freelancers I know are glorified employees without any security. Or benefits. They work for a slightly above market rate. But are used and abused by their ‘employer’.
When you factor in the lack of benefits, are the higher rates worth it?
What do you call yourself instead?
Answer: A solopreneur with a one-person business.
A business owner occupies a different mind space.
(Even if it is only run by one person).
When I hear business, I think of:
Scalable systems.
Pricing is based on outcome.
Proven value delivery mechanism.
So, for the love of god,
Stop. Calling. Yourself. A. Freelancer.
Freelancers have no leverage.
I know a freelancer in her 40s.
She’s been charging herself out at an hourly rate for almost a decade.
She uses the same skillset without changing her offer or the problem she is solving.
Freelancers sell their time and skill.
One-person business owners sell access to their system.
Freelancers sell direct access to them
One-person business owners build a team of contractors.
Freelancers have no leverage.
Imagine almost middle age and still charging out per hour.
That reality terrifies me.
A one-person business has leverage and scale.
A proprietary system builds leverage over time.
Freelancers stay stuck on the hamster wheel.
When the market moves, they are lost.
The divide is not between illiterate and literate.
The gap is between the leveraged and unleveraged.
The freelancer mindset
I’ve met over 10+ freelancers in Bali.
Almost every second person is either building an app or working as a marketer and writer.
I’ve connected closely with one writer.
He works closely in the marketing of consumer apps. He spends the 90% of his time prospecting. Jumping on calls. Connecting with people on LinkedIn. Building his network.
I don’t disagree with an outbound strategy.
I’m actually looking to increase my organic outbound strategy.
But he hasn’t spent time building leverage.
He doesn’t have:
A personal brand.
Email list or weekly newsletter.
Any form of attraction-type content.
Digital products that can be sold passively.
He is on the prospecting hamster wheel.
While he might make more money per customer than me, he is trapped selling his time.
Over time, I’ll work less and less.
Why? Leverage. I’ll get more output for every unit of input.
The other day I asked him, “what will you do if the work dries up?”
His response: “I’ll just go do something else.”
I respect the positivity. But pivoting can take months. Sometimes years.
It took me a solid 8 months to pivot my first one-person business.
Want to be wealthy? Ditch the freelancer mindset.
I’m on a mission.
I want to impact over 1,000,000+ solopreneurs.
That’s my life’s mission. I firmly believe we will all work for ourselves.
It’s a question of when not if.
As Naval Ravikant once said,
“There are almost 7B people on this planet. Someday, I hope, there will be almost 7B companies..”
To get started on this revolution,
Stop calling yourself a freelancer.
Build digital leverage or die trying.
Escape the freelancer mindset by becoming an owner.
👉 I’ve previously sold a one-person business and I’m in the process of scaling another one to $20k per month. If you want my one-person business growth system, I’ve created a FREE email course for you to get started.
This was good. Very well written with perfect flow. Just the right amount of personal experience and argumentation. Well done
This was an awesome read Michael! You’re right, our words have power! I never thought about the word “free” being in freelancers but it does make sense. I feel like freelancer is played out to be honest. It’s basically another word for a single, hourly rate, employee that makes pennies on the dollar from their house instead of a facility. Saying I’m a business owner increases my leverage substantially and it builds confidence showing that you aren’t going to move off that specific price. Plus, it allows you to make better and more unique offers. That’s something I realized quickly as a ghostwriter. Thank you so much for sharing this! Your newsletter is awesome by the way! Just subscribed! ❤️💪