Don’t sell services; sell solutions

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In this episode of the Sound Design Live podcast, I talk with Brennan Dunn from The Business of Freelancing and Double Your Freelancing. Dunn tells the story of how he went from making $50/hour to $20,000/week by solving business problems for his clients instead of delivering services.

Download the Audio Contractor to Consultant workbook

Major points covered in this episode:

• To be a successful freelancer, you have to understand both the business that your client is in and how they make money.
• Stop thinking about yourself as merely a skilled artist and craftsman, and start also thinking of yourself as a consultant.
• Being a consultant allows you to make more money and have more creative freedom.
• How to use Socratic questioning to discover your client’s underlying business problem.
• How to gather the information you need to package your services as a solution.
• Strategies to build confidence and deal with imposter syndrome.
• The importance of using case studies to show credibility.
• How to start a conversation about your clients about RoI.
• Make sure you only work with clients who respect and trust you.
• Best habits for growing your business.
• The biggest benefit of joining mastermind groups.

No one pays money for audio engineering. They pay money for the outcome they get.

Show notes:

1. All music in this episode by Dynamo Team
2. Charge what you’re worth
3. Socratic Questioning Script
4. Podcast motor
5. Quotes
   1. If you are selling your technical services, you are selling a commodity. To the buyer, all commodities are equal.
   2. I started shifting toward the questions, what underlying business problem are they willing to spend money on and how does that need to be solved? When I started doing that, everything shifted.
   3. What is the number one problem behind the project and how does that affect you financially?
   4. If this project gets done, paint me a picture of what your business should look like tomorrow.
   5. No one pays money for audio engineering. They pay money for the outcome they get.
   6. If the client wants a solution and you are giving them technical information, then the client is responsile for translating that into the solution they are looking for.
   7. When you engage with a new lead, try to understand the problem they need to solve.
   8. Consulting is an equal exchange of value.
   9. Businesses pay money to either make more money or loose less money.
   10. The word client comes from the ancient French, to protect. So when you have a client, you are offering them protection.
   11. The way to [not be a commodity] is to not sell audio engineering.
   12. The one thing that we have that is limited is our availability. It’s a non-renewable resource. So you want to make sure that you kinds of projects that you work on are the kind that move you and your business forward.
   13. If you don’t have any data on how your business is doing, then it can be easy to second guess yourself.