Part 1: No More Wingin’ It - The Essentials for Launching Your Freelance Business

As we stared at the blinking cursor on our blank google doc trying to figure out the direction of this podcast and contemplated life, a ‘don’t reinvent the wheel’ of an idea came pouring in: why not begin at well, the beginning? And just like that, our Three Part Series on ‘How to get started as a Freelancer’ was born.

In this episode, we give you the inside scoop on getting your biz setup, stop quitting on yourself, to getting paid the right way + on YOUR terms. Cuz mama’s gotta get paid!

TLDR:
☕ Why it’s time to stop holding yourself back and just F*cking start the thing
☕ The reason top notch client communication will be your biggest game changer
☕ What to do when you do not have a portfolio and how to start one
☕ This is the best business to create with zero start up costs and why flexibility is key
☕ Why waiting for the perfect Instagram office will get you nowhere in life
☕ Marketing yourself - where to find clients so you’re not scrolling your day away

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Transcript

[00:00:00] LaTara Dunn: Welcome back to another Real Talk episode of the Burnt Out Freelancer podcast with your hosts, myself, LaTara, and the fabulous Molly. In this series, we're keeping it extra real for newbie freelancers on starting 

[00:00:13] Molly Block: out strong. we'll share how we built mock portfolios. Leverage our strengths confidently despite imposter syndrome and took small steps to build skills and momentum.

[00:00:24] Molly Block: where to market yourself, what you need to start, and what you don't need to start. 

[00:00:29] Molly Block: and separate what social media thinks you need versus the steps you actually need to take when it comes to getting clients 

[00:00:36] LaTara Dunn: Alright, let's get into the show.

[00:00:38] 

[00:00:38] Molly Block: I think some of the things that you might think you need, you really don't, you know?

[00:00:45] Molly Block: 

[00:00:45] LaTara Dunn: That's right. when we were talking about, you know, where do we start with this podcast, what do we talk about, and we're like, let's just start from the very beginning, how we started, we dove into that in the first episode, so feel free to go back and check that out if you want [00:01:00] where we talked about our stories, but we really want to start the foundation of this is, keep it simplified, and the Basic steps 

[00:01:10] LaTara Dunn: So, Molly, what is step one? 

[00:01:14] Molly Block: Okay. 

[00:01:14] Molly Block: We've re recorded this part a few times because, in all transparency, I think a lot of people from what I see in different Facebook groups, what I hear from friends, everyone overthinks it, and my personal story, which you can hear more in episode one, I just... Took the leap. I just tried it. I just started.

[00:01:42] Molly Block: And a lot of times people, think that they need this detailed resume, and they need all of this knowledge and background in graphics or websites or social media to begin and they, turn themselves off [00:02:00] before they even give themselves A chance to try it. when I started I literally 

[00:02:05] Molly Block: just began.

[00:02:06] Molly Block: again as I mentioned episode one kind of dabbled with one of my friends in the virtual assistant world And I did have a background in customer service. So my personal journey is I gravitated more to that when I began, because I already felt confident in that area of the, freelancer world.

[00:02:28] Molly Block: I think a lot of times people assume you have to have a resume, and you have to have a website, and you have to have all these different things, and in reality, you don't. Everyone's journey's different, so, you know, we're not deterring you from having a website or portfolio, but resume really isn't needed.

[00:02:49] Molly Block: depending on the type of work you're going to be offering. Resume is going to have your past job history. And if, you've again done a complete career change. [00:03:00] Your new client, it's really not going to resonate with them because it's a whole different scope and scale of work. 

[00:03:07] LaTara Dunn: Right. And let me add this too, real quick, but the resume is, they don't give a shit what you do.

[00:03:14] LaTara Dunn: They don't care. They don't care about your education. They don't care about where you volunteered. They don't care about the last three jobs. The end. The reason they don't, it's not that they don't care about who you are and what you aspire to do, and if you're a good human or not, it's because they don't have the time.

[00:03:34] Molly Block: Exactly. Ding, ding, ding. 

[00:03:37] LaTara Dunn: They don't have the time. They are hiring a VA because they want problems solved, like, yesterday. Their calendars are very busy. They don't want to be emailing you back and forth. Your resume is not going to show them whether you're qualified or not to do what they need, right?

[00:03:58] LaTara Dunn: So, therefore, don't [00:04:00] even stress out about that. what Molly's, getting at here is that we see all these Facebook groups where people are like, Okay, guys, I just updated my resume, blah, blah, blah. Cause you're thinking of yourself as being an employee. And that's the whole point of what we're trying to get across.

[00:04:13] LaTara Dunn: You're not an employee, And so we want you to know that, yes, you can keep that for yourself as a reference, as a reminder of, like, where you do have skills, what you're good at. So, use it as a place to brainstorm, right?

[00:04:30] LaTara Dunn: Use your resume, and be like, hey, what am I good at? Because if someone says to you, okay, here you are, you get to start fresh right now. You get to go have a job, right? You get to go pick whatever it's going to be. and then you're like, okay, great. Well, what the hell can I do? I don't even know what I can do.

[00:04:49] LaTara Dunn: Pull out that old dusty ass resume and look at it and be like, Oh yeah, I'm actually really good at it. So use it for you, not for the person you want to get a job [00:05:00] from. Okay, so we're saying chuck them. 

[00:05:02] Molly Block: Exactly. Yeah, I think that is so important. Yeah. And I didn't really look at it like that until you, you rephrased it that way.

[00:05:11] Molly Block: And it's so true. Yeah. I think my first client, I might have had a resume because I didn't really know better and they didn't 

[00:05:21] LaTara Dunn: look it over. They didn't care. No. They literally, 

[00:05:24] Molly Block: like what LaTara said, they just started throwing things at me like, okay, what do you know how to do? This is what I need done.

[00:05:32] Molly Block: A, B, and C, when can it be done? I mean, they didn't look that over. I sent it to one person in the beginning and then I was like, oh, all right. 

[00:05:42] LaTara Dunn: Especially with the way that the world is advancing, like, okay, as you guys know, back in episode one, I talked about my past life that I used to do for work and I was in hospitality management.

[00:05:57] LaTara Dunn: You have no idea [00:06:00] how many resumes I have looked at. No idea. You wouldn't even be able to guess the number of resumes that I've looked at in 15 years. It's absurd, okay? Especially during summer hiring season. Absurd. And, even then, there were so many I would look at for 2 seconds and then pass aside. And be like, yep, this one, I already know within 2 seconds I'm not hiring this person.

[00:06:25] LaTara Dunn: I already know. And now... Nobody's reading those tiny little bullet points anyways, so it's completely useless. So... Now, you're like, okay, well great, that was the only thing I had, what do I do now, because you just told me to throw that in the trash. So, obviously, we have, an answer, and we have a solution, or a different outlook for you, maybe you think resumes, it's just, the only time resume is a solution, in my mind, for being, Someone in the, as a service [00:07:00] provider, is you legit teach people how to build resumes to go out into the corporate world.

[00:07:05] LaTara Dunn: If that's not what you want to do, then you have no need for it. So, 

[00:07:08] Molly Block: I totally 

[00:07:09] LaTara Dunn: agree with that. Yeah, totally. And so, no one's reading it anymore. No one is. So, what do you want to do instead? So, Molly, what should we be showing for these potential people that we want to hold pitch ourselves to them, why they should hire us.

[00:07:27] LaTara Dunn: We want to provide something to them. We want to be honest, like, Hey, I'm just starting out. I really think you would be a great person to work off from and how to teach me. so what should we have to show them? So for me 

[00:07:43] Molly Block: personally I had a very And when I say very, I mean severely basic website.

[00:07:52] Molly Block: You do not need to start with a website. I do want to say that. I had one because I also sell art, [00:08:00] so I had my art on there. But I literally, like LaTara said, with, my resume, I looked at my resume, saw the common denominator was You know, customer service or management and I built a very, very simple with like stock images because I did not have a portfolio.

[00:08:21] Molly Block: I did not have examples of my work yet because I just was starting out, you know, I literally just put my, what I focused on previously, those skills, put them on a basic website and went into a Facebook group. I'm And self promoted and got two emails right away. I had no examples to show them. And I was also very transparent.

[00:08:52] Molly Block: When I started with these clients, which I do think communication is key. I told them I'm just [00:09:00] starting out. I, this is my area of expertise. And I just offered, and as we mentioned in episode one, what most VA's start off as, I offer calendar management and email management because that is what I already knew.

[00:09:18] Molly Block: And I actually got two clients from my self promotion in this group. And again, the other people that are promoting have portfolios and these long bios and You know, bullet points, I had none of that. I just went in with transparency, honesty, and being eager to learn. And I found these two clients, and ironically, the work they needed was not anything I knew.

[00:09:54] Molly Block: It was social media, it was... WordPress, it [00:10:00] was a little bit of email management, but it was stuff that I didn't know, but because I was honest in our initial call, they took the chance with me and they helped teach me their platforms. And I also did my own research, once I them and seeing what my clients needed.

[00:10:22] Molly Block: I started doing my own research. YouTube and Google, best friends. Still my best friend. I've been here almost four years now. It is, I mean, you can't know everything, no matter what type of job you're doing, you can't know it all, and I felt like my transparency was more received, because I was honest and didn't go in saying, Oh yeah, I can do this, and then learning the back end with basically putting my foot in my mouth, and then, Right.

[00:10:57] Molly Block: I think that's a mistake a lot of people [00:11:00] may make. I've seen it over the four years that I have been in this business. People that I've worked alongside with clients or friends, putting their foot in their mouth, like offering too much. Yeah. With, without having that expertise. Right. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:11:20] LaTara Dunn: We can go, we definitely could do a whole episode just on that. Saying yes to everything when really you don't know what the fuck you're gonna do, right? After you get off the call, you're like, What did I just say I would offer? I 

[00:11:33] Molly Block: don't even know what that is! Yeah,

[00:11:40] LaTara Dunn: I love that. and where I started out, It was crazy. The first two jobs that I did I landed them in two completely different ways. as you listen more to this podcast, or if you know me personally, or, maybe you work with me someday, I don't know, maybe you're a past client, and I said it before in the first episode, I [00:12:00] am not in the box, follow the rules kind of person.

[00:12:07] LaTara Dunn: And, like, I never have been, and I used to fight it a lot. I used to be like, okay, I have to do everything perfectly, I have to follow the rules, people are gonna get mad at me if I don't, and I was so miserable during those times in my life, like, I dropped out of college, not once, not twice, three fucking times.

[00:12:26] LaTara Dunn: I dropped out of colle Oh my god. Quiet times, okay? Because I just kept trying to follow the rules, and be like, oh, this is what society wants of me, I need to finish this, I need to do this. Until I finally was like, oh my god, LaTara, college is literally not for me. And then I finally stopped trying to do that and then I got my first GM job at a bar,and so the way that I started as a VA, I obviously told you the whole journey in the first episode, but the way I landed, I kind of touched on how I started, I said I just started offering [00:13:00] free services along the lines of like graphics and people were really liking the graphics that I was creating and they wanted more of that.

[00:13:08] LaTara Dunn: but that was all just like talk, I'm like, okay, maybe I should turn this into something, right? Is what I was thinking at that time. And so I did two different things and both worked. 

[00:13:18] LaTara Dunn: So remember I told you guys I was in the direct sales space for a little while. And I don't think I went into too much detail about it because I wanted to make sure that maybe there's someone that's listening to this that's like, Ugh, screw the direct sales world. it's so shady and scammy and it's a pyramid scheme.

[00:13:39] LaTara Dunn: And no, actually corporate is also a pyramid scheme, so calm the F down. And I think there's a lot of great benefits into it when you want to learn how to market for free and you want to learn the things that like, You want to be able to give yourself some experience in the social media world because these companies that you work for don't teach you any marketing, [00:14:00] but it also opens up the world to learning why the virtual space is limitless when it comes to your education.

[00:14:09] LaTara Dunn: And so. I had a bunch of Facebook groups that I was the admin of and people from all these teams were joining my groups and they wereseeing all the things that I was doing and they're like, whoa, this chick's events are so much more successful because the business model of the company I worked for was to haveParties via Facebook, right, which I quickly realized is not, sustainable and not fun and not for me.

[00:14:35] LaTara Dunn: But I got really good at it. And there was a time where I was the number one sales consultant in my state for 12 months in a row. Yeah. So I got really good at it and I was the number one recruiter in my state. for 10 months in a row. So, people were noticing me, they were hearing my name a lot, because I kept popping up [00:15:00] everywhere.

[00:15:01] LaTara Dunn: And people on the west coast were getting to know me. And so they're like, what is she doing? She's this girl in Maine. clearly she's doing something that we're not doing. And they started paying attention to the way that I was marketing the product.

[00:15:15] LaTara Dunn: And I was making my own graphics. I wasn't... Using the pre made, copy paste crap that the company provided because that doesn't work, okay? Right, it doesn't. It doesn't. You have to do some work on your end for something to be successful. And again, this is me not following the rules, not doing what everybody else is doing.

[00:15:41] LaTara Dunn: I knew there had to be a better way and I wasn't willing. to just follow them. And so, I started using, the product in real, well, I always used the product in real life, but I wasn't like, showcasing me using it in real life, right? So, I was back in my [00:16:00] groups, and then it was way more successful to sell.

[00:16:03] LaTara Dunn: I used to do a bunch of live events, where I would be, talking on camera live, in my private space, so I wasn't, Going live on my personal Facebook, because that, I think, is super slimy. And so, I was in my private group, so my people were there, they actually wanted to hear what I was talking about, and learn about the product.

[00:16:22] LaTara Dunn: And, I was real on camera when we were live. I was super real, right. And that caught a lot of people and I was being myself. I wasn't afraid to mess up. I wasn't afraid to be silly. Like I was truly being who I was.But I also still had this edge on top of everybody else because I took time to make sure that my environment wasn't distracting, it was cleaned up, and then I really put a lot of effort into the messaging.

[00:16:53] LaTara Dunn: So the words that I was using were, really important. because of that, that led into these two things that helped [00:17:00] me that were such a crazy way to start my job. So one, like I said, all these people that were in the company that were trying to learn from me were in there and were seeing stuff and liked what I was doing.

[00:17:11] LaTara Dunn: And some girl kept messaging me and asking me all these questions and tips. And I'm always sharing information, I'm not into gatekeeping and so she's like, I really would love you do some work for me. And I was like, really?

[00:17:26] LaTara Dunn: And she's like, yeah. I'm like, well, that would be great. And she's like, you just seem to know what you're doing. So instead of us continuously DMing back and forth, I said, why don't you put this on your calendar? I'm going to give you a call. Tomorrow, at this time, when my kids aren't running wild, and I'll be able to, focus on you, and we can, see if this could be a legitimate thing.

[00:17:48] LaTara Dunn: So I put myself out there and I set up a time to book a sales call. Did I know what it was called back then? Hell no. I thought I was just having a coffee break. [00:18:00] I was legitimately having a sales call. I just didn't know it then. And so we set up a time, we talked on the phone, and we went over what would happen.

[00:18:07] LaTara Dunn: We came up with this verbal contract, becauseI didn't have a contract then, which we're going to talk about. Later in this series, why contracts are important. And she was going to pay me 15 an hour and I was going to make her graphics for her and then she was going to use them for whatever it is that she wanted.

[00:18:26] LaTara Dunn: But I was just going to, create an X amount of graphics for her per month. And it was great. It was great. And I set up,a little Trello board, and that's where I stored everything, and she could just grab it from there and use it, and she could edit if she needed to inside Canva. We'll talk about Trello and Canva and all that in a little bit, too.

[00:18:46] LaTara Dunn: And so that was the first way. The second way is which, this takes a little bit more time and effort, but it actually Led me to realizing how much I love building funnels and I just again didn't really know [00:19:00] it then what I was doing but I legitimately was working through a funnel I Started a Facebook group and I don't think that everybody needs to go out there and start a Facebook group because they're a lot Of commitment and again Facebook groups were really big back then and that's where people wanted to be So times have changed now.

[00:19:21] LaTara Dunn: It's Instagram Or TikTok. It's just that. Remember, like, when Molly and I are talking about this, we're talking about where technology was a few years ago. I would not say start a Facebook group now. I would say start sharing on your Instagram.

[00:19:36] LaTara Dunn: I have this Facebook group and I have all these people in it that were on my team and others that weren't on my team. And I did not work for anybody who was on my team. Because that would have been morally wrong because I'm already making a percentage off from their sales. I wasn't also going to have them pay me.

[00:19:54] LaTara Dunn: So, I was on my [00:20:00] team, got all of my graphics for free and they could make them their own. But anybody that wasn't on my team, I hired. And so, I did this cool three day challenge. And it was about learning how to... Go live inside your own Facebook group to be more real, but be more polished and have higher sales so you can grow your own business if that's what you want to do.

[00:20:28] LaTara Dunn: And it was very successful. It was a fun challenge and a lot of people were in it. And at the end of the challenge to keep people going, they all knew what the end result was. I was going to select a person. That I was going to work with, for free, I was going to build out their Facebook group that they started on their own, and I was going to create all the graphics and run the whole event for them.

[00:20:55] LaTara Dunn: But it was going to be their face on everything, so it looked like it was them. [00:21:00] So basically I was creating a template for them. I was building it live in time, so I wasn't wasting months making something and then marketing it. I did all this live in time, 

[00:21:11] LaTara Dunn: Went along not knowing what the hell I was doing, but I just said screw it, I'm just gonna do it. And the person that ended up winning was really involved during this whole experience. Her and I ended up having a really great relationship. She looked up to me a lot. And I ended up selecting her as the winner.

[00:21:29] LaTara Dunn: And we worked together and Her event was super successful. And She Took the whole marketing plan that I set up for her and she applied it and she was very successful, had a lot of sales. And in the end of her event, she said, LaTara, I could have never have done this without you.

[00:21:50] LaTara Dunn: you are the reason that this was successful. I would have never have been able to do all this on my own, still be with my family, still do all of the other things that I had to do [00:22:00] for my business and whatnot. So I want to hire you. And I was like, Really? 

[00:22:08] Molly Block: I mean Oh my god, I fucking love that story.

[00:22:11] Molly Block: Yeah! I love it. Yeah! 

[00:22:13] LaTara Dunn: And she was like, yes, I want to hire you. So we agreed on hourly I was still kind of figuring out retainers. And, which I am pro retainer, and pro pay up front. But at that point, I was still figuring it out, so we agreed on an hourly rate. She was 18 an hour, so I bumped it up remember the first person I said was 15.

[00:22:34] LaTara Dunn: I've now way more experience. I just built this whole challenge for her, and she's gonna be using it from here on out. The platform, which, to this day, She still uses the system that I created for her in all of her events because I see it on her social media. 

[00:22:52] Molly Block: Holy 

[00:22:52] LaTara Dunn: fucking shit. I love that. Yeah, it's so cool.

[00:22:55] LaTara Dunn: And She actually saw that I was hiring for a VA for [00:23:00] myself a while ago. And she sent me a message and asked me if I would hire her. 

[00:23:06] Molly Block: Oh my god, are you kidding me? What a wild story. I mean, 

[00:23:16] LaTara Dunn: I know. And I felt so badsaying like, I'm not sure if it would be the right fit.

[00:23:20] LaTara Dunn: and I would love to hire her. I would love to. She is the sweetest woman in the world. but the only reason I had to say no, which she ultimately said no is because. of the line of work that you and I do in regards to the clients that we work with. Why? Is a strong woman of faith.

[00:23:39] LaTara Dunn: And I know that the topics that you and I talk about with our clients she wouldn't be uncomfortable. You know what I'm saying? Right. Right. Exactly. Yeah. Being, asking, like, The lines along of her religious beliefs in her faith of with God, and I just couldn't put her in [00:24:00] that situation, so I said that, and it meant the world to her.

[00:24:03] LaTara Dunn: She's like, Oh my God, LaTara, I love you even more. The fact that you know how important this is to me. You were up front with me and you were honest with me and you told me that it would cross the line in my faith and she was so grateful and then she told me reason I have a funnel now and an email marketing and all this is because of what you taught me.

[00:24:24] LaTara Dunn: And it was really cool to just, you know, to hear all that and made me feel really good. And so that's how I got my second client andand her and I worked together for. Probably a good six months. It was a really good time together, and I learned a lot. And I just grew more beyond what her needs were.

[00:24:45] LaTara Dunn: So then, we knew that it was time to part ways because I wanted to get outside of direct sales world, I wanted to work with women who owned their own businesses, just 

[00:24:58] Molly Block: like me. [00:25:00] Right? Yeah. And I just, I love that story. It's so inspiring. And I think the common theme between ours is, Being authentic, being real, being honest, you know?

[00:25:11] Molly Block: Yeah. And I want to piggyback a little bit on what you said about the free graphics. I think that's also a great starting point for people is I did the same thing. Again, as I've mentioned, I started dabbling in the freelance world. For one of my friends who had an online business and she would, I would just do some small stuff for her and I did it for free because I was also receiving knowledge from her.

[00:25:40] Molly Block: Like I was learning what I was supposed to be doing and it really helped me see what to do, what not to do, little tips and tricks and. Then she referred me to one of her friends, and I did, some stuff for her, some for free, some [00:26:00] paid after I felt a little more confident, but offering those free services really, it really helped boost my confidence when I actually did get into a Facebook group, Promote myself and hop on that call.

[00:26:16] Molly Block: Because I wasn't just going in blind, not to say that everyone has to offer something for free, but it's a great way to learn. And 

[00:26:25] LaTara Dunn: exactly. And Be careful, let's just pause for a quick second, Molly, and only offer free services to people you have or already have relationships with.

[00:26:37] LaTara Dunn: Exactly. You don't want to be, you don't want to join all these VA Facebook groups, which is where a lot of people join and they try, because that's where they promote that they're looking to hire. Yes. A lot of people will say. Hey, looking for some interns, or looking for some people to try some stuff for free in return for a testimonial and stuff like that.

[00:26:55] LaTara Dunn: Some of them are real, yes, but some of them are not. Some of them are scammy, [00:27:00] and we'll talk more about the scams in a minute, but please be careful. So, Molly and I, we are the same. We both did free work for people that we knew or were referrals from people that we knew. So, we knew we weren't being...

[00:27:12] LaTara Dunn: Scanned and therefore our work wasn't a waste of time. everything was ethical. Exactly. 

[00:27:22] Molly Block: And I'm glad you said that because yes, you do not want to be posting in Facebook groups or again, as LaTara mentioned on Instagram saying, I'll offer free services in X, Y, Z, you don't want to do that.

[00:27:36] Molly Block: We only did it for people that we personally either knew or were referrals. To get our foot in the door, but yeah, don't just be offering free services in these promotional groups that we're mentioning. Right, 

[00:27:51] LaTara Dunn: exactly. And what's great about, This work is, one, it's you forcing yourself to improve your skills and [00:28:00] gain experience, and then the person you're doing it for will be more likely to turn around and give you a referral and a testimonial.

[00:28:11] LaTara Dunn: Yes. Because testimonials are super important, and so referrals are definitely how Molly and I both have built our businesses is definitely The majority of our clients are from referrals, and that's what's great about when you find a space of work that you enjoy doing.

[00:28:29] LaTara Dunn: That person that you are working for, she has friends that do the same thing as her, right? Because when people have a job that's virtual, in this world, you need to have other friends. Because your family at home, doesn't even remotely understand what it is that you do.

[00:28:51] LaTara Dunn: They don't.

[00:28:56] LaTara Dunn: And so, they're and they're gonna tell their friends about [00:29:00] you, right? And they're gonna show their friends, they're gonna be like, Oh my god, look at this new social media grid my VA helped me set up. I literally could have never done it without her because she just saved me so much time and she knew how to put my words into pictures.

[00:29:13] LaTara Dunn: Like, and their friends gonna be like, Oh my god, it's really good. I never get to do my social media because I'm so stressed out. Maybe I should talk to her, and then she'll be like, Yeah, let me give her your number, you know? Or not your number, but your email or whatever. 

[00:29:28] LaTara Dunn: so the reason we're sharing all of this with you is because once you have those graphics that you've made and those testimonials that you've made, now you can start to put together a portfolio. 

[00:29:43] Molly Block: Yes. Yes. You'll have something that you can actually show the clients that you're trying to target.

[00:29:51] Molly Block: To get those higher level clients to expand your reach in the freelance world. whether [00:30:00] you do it on a website or Canva or however you do your portfolio, you have those testimonials from real life people. You have examples to show your client. And it's a wonderful foundation and it also helps.

[00:30:16] Molly Block: You, again I've said it a few times, it helps you feel more confident on that call because you've already had some practice in the work that you do want to offer at the time. And one thing I want to say, piggyback on the conversation we just had is try stuff out. You are going to go through this journey and you're going to try things.

[00:30:43] Molly Block: And I'm going to tell you, you're going to hate some of it, and that's okay, that is okay, there's endless opportunities, I mean there truly is, I can't tell you how many things, I'm like, yeah, this sounds okay, and I've tried it, and I'm like, oh. [00:31:00] I don't really, I don't really like this or I'm maybe not great at this part or whatever the case is, but don't sell yourself short.

[00:31:10] Molly Block: Try it. Yeah. you can always change. You can always have that honest conversation. I'm telling you clients. are super open to receiving that. Now, are you gonna run across clients that might not be? Sure, that's how it is just in any business. But, try it. Give it a chance. I think a lot of times people get intimidated and they're like, I wouldn't be good at that, or, I don't think I would like that.

[00:31:36] Molly Block: I see that all the time and hear it from people. Oh, yeah. It might be the thing that, it might be your niche. It might be what you're, you want to gravitate to, it might be actually what, the best part of this job is for you, you might be really great at it, so always, always 

[00:31:55] LaTara Dunn: keep yourself in check.

[00:31:56] LaTara Dunn: You might be really great at it. I had [00:32:00] this realization a few weeks ago, Molly and I were in our, were, Molly, how old are you again? You're younger than me, I think. You're, yep, I just turned 34. Yeah, Molly just turned 34. In October, I turned 35. And so, we are, in our mid 30s. And so, we're millennials, but we're also, like, we love things about the 80s, right?

[00:32:21] LaTara Dunn: And so, and we're really down to earth. Chicks and we're on our, we're really about, we love the earth. We love being outside, but there's stuff that comes with that. We're also very sensitive children. And we also have a lot of trauma that we have worked through. And are still working through, and what comes with that is low self confidence.

[00:32:46] LaTara Dunn: Yes. And we are reminding ourselves, we can fucking do this, okay? We really can do this. Now, I had this realization a few weeks ago, along my VA journey, as you guys now know, it [00:33:00] started out with graphics, and now, I love working with Kajabi and I'm a website designer and I build funnels for selling like a product or selling a service or whatever for my clients.

[00:33:13] LaTara Dunn: And a lot is involved with building funnels like marketing and messaging and copywriting, all that jazz. and I fucking love it. I truly love my job. I get super excited about it. And within the past, six months or so, have also found out that I actually am really interested in learning, and I have been teaching myself how to be a coder, and I love it, and it sounds so dorky to say, like, oh yeah, I love coding, right?

[00:33:44] LaTara Dunn: And we are also in a transition in a world where all the platforms that are now, the reason why Kadrabi is awesome and super user friendly is because you don't actually need to know Code to know how to use it and a lot of platforms that are coming out these days [00:34:00] are called no code And it's like no with a dash like code in it.

[00:34:04] LaTara Dunn: And what it means is it's like Drag and drop style so you can build things without having a note code, right? 

[00:34:12] Molly Block: Right, exactly, 

[00:34:12] LaTara Dunn: but you have some limitations Because you either have to buy a template to make it look good you have to make sure you can tweak the branding and you know how to move things over Or you have to use the templates that those platforms provide for you.

[00:34:29] LaTara Dunn: But if you know how to code, then you can create a more customized feel on all of these no code platforms, right? You can still code inside these no code platforms. You just don't have to know how to do it, right? And so having a no code platform is incredible for someone just starting out because a lot of people don't do website design because they're like, Oh, I don't know how to code.

[00:34:56] LaTara Dunn: I don't know what that is, And that stopped me for so long, so when [00:35:00] I was a kid, I have this memory, being in high school, okay, and remember, I've never followed the rules, but I tried really hard for a long time to follow the rules, and I hated school.

[00:35:12] LaTara Dunn: I almost didn't even make it to graduation because I skipped so much my senior year. I literally was never there. My mom had to drag me into the principal's office and the principal sat me down and was like, For the next 14 days straight, you have to show up, or you're not walking with your friends, and probably, they still would have let me walk, looking back, but when I was a, when I was a teenager, I believed them.

[00:35:37] Molly Block: Oh my god, I guess, I was like, oh 

[00:35:39] LaTara Dunn: shit, oh shit, I had better

[00:35:50] LaTara Dunn: things to do. I wanted to hang out with my... Boyfriend who wasn't in school anymore because he already graduated, you know, all that stuff, but what I did do when I was there [00:36:00] I was like, okay, everyone says I'm smart. I'm really good at science. I'm really good at math. Okay, great. Maybe I should do something with business when I grow up.

[00:36:10] LaTara Dunn: because in high school, they're always like, what are you going to be when you grow up? Like, that's the number one question. That 

[00:36:15] Molly Block: in our head. Just so 

[00:36:17] LaTara Dunn: annoying because you know, just let them enjoy the childhood, right? But whatever. So anyways I'm like, okay, well, maybe I wanted to be in business.

[00:36:25] LaTara Dunn: In my school, where we live. We live in an industry where having a trade skill is super important. We have a lot of trade like businesses, so you gotta know how to do something with your hands, okay? I didn't wanna be a firefighter. So I'm like, okay, I'll take the accounting class and I'll learn how to be an accountant, right?

[00:36:46] LaTara Dunn: So I took the accountant class. Next door to the accountant class was this computer class. And These kids in high school were learning how to code and be actual [00:37:00] programmers and holy shit. That's awesome. I know. And I always would like peek in the room and I'd be like, oh my God, that looks so cool.

[00:37:08] LaTara Dunn: I wish I could do that. And I'd be like, I can't. I can't do that. I can't do that. I'm not cool enough to be able to do that. where I live, we don't even have the internet. 

[00:37:17] LaTara Dunn: If anybody is, younger than us, when we were young, we didn't have dial ups. for a really long time. it wasn't even an option, okay? And so then when it became an option to have dial up, it was a big deal, and, you weren't allowed to do it for that long because, someone needed to make a phone call or whatever, right?

[00:37:39] LaTara Dunn: Oh my god, I got in trouble all the time. Yeah, so then you'd be, sneaking up late at night, and it was so loud when it would connect, and you're like, God, don't hear me connecting to the internet right now? 

[00:37:50] Molly Block: Like I'd want to cover the speaker so they didn't know I'm sneaking out of bed to get on aim or whatever the hell I was doing.

[00:37:56] Molly Block: Yes, yes, 

[00:37:57] LaTara Dunn: in those creepy chat [00:38:00] rooms. Like what were we doing? Well, I so anyway, so I'm like, I can't be a programmer. I don't know what I'm doing. I can't build a website. So the other day I'm building a website and I'm coding. I literally wanted to do this when I was in high school, but I was too afraid to take the chance 

[00:38:22] Molly Block: More importantly to give yourself a chance you were already closing that door for yourself I can't do that. I can't do that and I've done the same thing I think we mentioned in episode one, but I've always worked with Wix or Word. Right. And anytime I tell Lat LaTara, she's like, I hate WordPress.

[00:38:42] Molly Block: I really good at 

[00:38:44] LaTara Dunn: Kajabi, which WordPress 

[00:38:45] Molly Block: I ask her all the questions and I always thought, I would help lat LaTara with like minimal things in Kajabi, and I'm like, No I can't do that. I'm going to stick with what I know, my comfort [00:39:00] zone was WordPress, even though it drives me up the fucking wall and is, oh, but that's what I knew.

[00:39:06] Molly Block: Right. And recently I had the opportunity to make a landing page, a full landing page for one of my clients. And I had an epiphany. I'm like, I literally text LaTarra and I'm like, I hate WordPress. I love Kajabi. And she's like, I've been telling you, but I didn't give myself the opportunity to even see if I would be good at it or really like it, because I was afraid.

[00:39:33] Molly Block: I was scared, and when I finally did it, I'm like, I'm taking WordPress off my offer, and I'm gonna now do Kajabi, and it's amazing, and it just was to show, You just have to try things. You just have to try things. Even if it's completely out of the scope of what you think you want to do. Just get some knowledge under your belt.

[00:39:55] Molly Block: Get some practice under your belt. And try it. Because [00:40:00] it might surprise you. The thing that you might think is the scariest or, Oh, that's too hard. you might be really fucking good at it. And It might be your niche and in a few years, you'll be an expert at it.

[00:40:12] LaTara Dunn: never sell yourself short. Right, exactly. Never sell yourself short like I did for so fucking long. Even though I'm a rule breaker and I totally think outside the box, I still personally talked myself down to so many opportunities that were literally right in front of my face this whole time, right?

[00:40:30] LaTara Dunn: Exactly. Yeah. And so keep going. Don't give up after your first job. you're going to have clients that are going to be like, Wow, I don't like the way that this looks 

[00:40:40] Molly Block: at all. 

[00:40:41] LaTara Dunn: I've created a project. I'm like, I love this.

[00:40:43] LaTara Dunn: And the client is like, no, I don't like this And usually what it comes down to, honestly, to be able to improve that with your deliverables to the client, it really comes down to communication with the client. Yes, 

[00:40:57] Molly Block: communication is, [00:41:00] I think, the most important out of any skill that you think you have or you want to achieve, 

[00:41:07] LaTara Dunn: seriously, it's communication.

[00:41:09] LaTara Dunn: Yeah, communication for sure. And let's talk about communication when we get to the onboarding call step, because If you don't talk about communication on your onboarding call, That's going to decide how the rest of the project is going to go, or the rest of the time you're working with a client.

[00:41:24] LaTara Dunn: So, okay, let's recap real quick. we've talked about how to start, literally just fucking start somewhere, right? We talked about, how we threw ourselves out there. how we were able to get referrals, why referrals have helped our business be so successful. We've discussed, the importance of getting testimonials from the very beginning.

[00:41:44] LaTara Dunn: You don't need a website, you can just create a portfolio. And if you're like this person's telling me I need a portfolio. Make a mock portfolio, just make one up, you making that mock portfolio, it's not [00:42:00] being dishonest, because you actually are showing your skills in that portfolio, okay?

[00:42:07] LaTara Dunn: In 

[00:42:07] Molly Block: making the portfolio, like I said, with 

[00:42:09] LaTara Dunn: my simple 

[00:42:11] Molly Block: website age, it didn't have much on it, Because until I actually got those referrals and were able to use the graphics I made and display those, I used stock photos. Right. And, you know, just put 

[00:42:24] LaTara Dunn: it together. Just together.

[00:42:27] LaTara Dunn: Just put it together. So, in this series, like we said, we're talking about, the beginning stages of being a freelancer and, or being a VA, whatever you want to coin yourself as. And how to start And these things that we're talking about don't cost any money.

[00:42:45] LaTara Dunn: So this is the best thing about being a VA. You can start this while you are at your other job, and you can complete these tasks for these clients that you do get at night time, during nap time, [00:43:00] whatever time you're willing to give a couple hours a day into creating this business. You don't have to be.

[00:43:07] LaTara Dunn: Right out of the floodgates full time VA, right? And so Canva is free. You can use the free version and still do a decent amount of stuff on the free version, right? I recommend that when you get your first client, I recommend upgrading.

[00:43:26] LaTara Dunn: But, here's the cool part. When you have clients, you're not building stuff for them on your Canva. You're building stuff for them inside their Canva. 

[00:43:38] Molly Block: Exactly. You're using their platform that they paid for, or the free version. And you don't have to 

[00:43:46] LaTara Dunn: use your stuff. Right. You don't. You use their stuff.

[00:43:48] LaTara Dunn: Because, most likely, whatever you create is gonna be theirs in the end anyways. And they're gonna be able to make edits to it, so they need it. So, you don't need Google Workspace. [00:44:00] You're in their workspace. you don't need all this crazy stuff. 

[00:44:02] LaTara Dunn: You don't need a crazy office. You don't need crazy software You don't need any of those things When I first started, my direct sales business, I started from my phone.

[00:44:13] LaTara Dunn: And then I got really big where I was like, okay, I think I need something. I went out and bought a 200 shitty ass laptop, okay? Actually, the first laptop I had was my husband's old free laptop that he got from his mother that she got for free So I had like a 10 year old Apple Stop 

[00:44:32] LaTara Dunn: passed down and passed down. Yeah, right? Right? So I had zero money invested. And then I was like, Okay, I think I need my own reliable laptop, because the computer would only work if you had the charger plugged in As soon as you took the charger off, the computer would die.

[00:44:48] LaTara Dunn: And so... Okay. But then the charger wouldn't stay in that well. So I had to hold the charger with one hand. While you're like trying to work. While I'm trying to work with the [00:45:00] other hand, right? So I'm typing with one hand moving. My little mouse pad with one hand, and I have children running around everywhere.

[00:45:08] LaTara Dunn: Because I don't have an office. 

[00:45:12] Molly Block: Whoa, oh my god. Yeah I just love that. cause I'm like trying to redo one of the rooms in my house. I literally work from our dining room table. I have, Two computers set up. I've acquired two over time. I only started with a, like LaTara said, I had a really shitty laptop.

[00:45:29] Molly Block: I think it was like a hundred bucks on Amazon. It was slow. It didn't charge well. it sucked. Yeah. But I sat there. I have multiple animals. The animals are running around. I got a stepdaughter. She's running around. And I literally just sat in the middle of our dining room. And that's still how I work, and I'm upgrading now, but I could work worldwide.

[00:45:53] Molly Block: I could go to a coffee shop and work. There's no limit 

[00:45:55] LaTara Dunn: to what I can do. Exactly. And so that's the other thing that we want to talk about, when it comes to [00:46:00] starting out, everyone's like, Instagram tells me I need this super awesome desk with all these pretty lights and all these cute little Cdells everywhere.

[00:46:08] LaTara Dunn: You don't need any of those things. You don't need that. 

[00:46:12] LaTara Dunn: Ifyou don't have to be home with your children and you need a quiet space, or you need a creative space that's not at home, so you're not distracted by the mess in your home.

[00:46:21] LaTara Dunn: You can go to a coffee shop, you can use their wifi. You put your headphones in so you're not distracted by the sound and you just work That's all you do. You don't use that time to scroll on social media. You put your notifications on, do not disturb, and you just work.

[00:46:38] LaTara Dunn: Then you go home, and that's where you can tend to notifications, right? When you don't need to be focusing in work mode. And So I would work with the chaos.

[00:46:46] LaTara Dunn: So, I put a baby gate in between the kitchen and the living room. We had, a doorway. we don't anymore because we've been demoing our house for a really long time, but at this point we hadn't started the demoing process.[00:47:00] 

[00:47:00] LaTara Dunn: They would play in the living room and I would sit on the other side of the baby gate in a chair with my shitty laptop on my lap So my children physically could see me legitimately on the other side of the gate, so they couldn't reach my laptop. And I would work while they would be destroying the living room right next to me.

[00:47:21] LaTara Dunn: Oh my god. 

[00:47:24] Molly Block: That is hilarious. Oh my god. And I'm sure so many people can relate. They're like, now I hear your story. I have the same scenario going on in my home, so I guess I 

[00:47:35] LaTara Dunn: can work too. You can. and this is like, I've got maybe one or two clients, right? So my work isn't that extensive.

[00:47:41] LaTara Dunn: So then as I was growing and getting bigger, then I was like, Okay, I need to actually remove myself. I need to be in a different room because I can no longer focus and do good work because so many people are coming at me at the same time. So then I started working in my bedroom and my husband would then be home.

[00:47:57] LaTara Dunn: He'd be tending to the children. I'd be in my [00:48:00] bedroom. I'd be getting worked on or I would stay up really late. There were some late nights where I wouldn't start working until eight o'clock at night. And then I would work until two in the morning. Right. And that's what I did for a really long time.

[00:48:12] LaTara Dunn: Do I recommend it? No way. I don't. But that's what I had to do at that time. I didn't, right. Yeah, right. I couldn't afford daycare yet And I also never had the luxury of having an office. I have a small home It just wasn't a room in our house all of the spare space has been turned into bedrooms.

[00:48:32] LaTara Dunn: So an office is just not an option for me. And then we finally started getting enough money where we actually had a nanny come to my house and watch my kids while I would work 

[00:48:42] LaTara Dunn: And when she would leave after four hours, then I would be done working. So I worked for four hours. And then it just got bigger, and I was like, okay, we need to do something else. So my husband built me an office and now my kids go to daycare five days a week and I have a really [00:49:00] cool setup.

[00:49:00] Molly Block: I love that. You know, we all have to start somewhere. And even if you don't have the space, you can start. this work is just, it's so flexible. Yeah. It is, and we'll go more, we'll go more into that. But it's so flexible. The time, how you work. Where you work, all of that can really be determined by you.

[00:49:23] Molly Block: And again, we just, we all start somewhere. So. Right. 

[00:49:26] LaTara Dunn: Okay, so what are we going to talk about in this next episode? So the next episode, we want to tell you more about... Whether you should be doing hourly or retainers, what our thoughts are on that. So whether it's a project or it's an hourly job or it should be a retainer, what does a retainer mean?

[00:49:42] LaTara Dunn: And then we want to talk about how you get contracts, how you're going to collect your payments. Because this is the stuff that people really stress out about. You know, whether you should be an LLC or not and then, should you have a different bank account for your business, all that kind of stuff.

[00:49:58] LaTara Dunn: And then we'll talk about that [00:50:00] first onboarding call, how you're going to go ahead, you're going to get the client has paid you, client has signed a contract. Now you need to get that onboarding call and what you're going to do on that and why it is so important for kicking off the journey with your new client.

[00:50:18] LaTara Dunn: And then we'll also talk about. Offboarding a client. What happens when you get done working with a client? What do you do next? And while all of that's going on, how do you market yourself so you can make sure that you have another way to gain more clients? So when you get done with a client, what are you going to do next?

[00:50:38] LaTara Dunn: Because freelancers are constantly stressing about it's either one or the other. I don't have enough work, or I have too much work. 

[00:50:46] Molly Block: Yeah, that is the Oh my God. the big . 

[00:50:52] LaTara Dunn: Exactly, exactly. So, yeah. 

[00:50:55] Molly Block: I just, I'm so excited to dive into it next week and to share it with all of [00:51:00] you. And, just want to thank you for following us along on our journey and we really hope that you're gaining insight, knowledge, and feel supported by the information that we're offering, and if you have any comments or questions, you can always reach out to us, we'll have our information in the show notes, I'm so excited that we Started off from the beginning and excited to see our discussion 

[00:51:25] LaTara Dunn: next week.

[00:51:25] LaTara Dunn: Yep. Alright, bye! Bye!