Takeaway
- The money you make = the value you deliver.
- People pay you when you solve a problem they have.
- A website is a tool to solve a problem (not enough customers, no booking systems, etc). Understand the problem first, then make the website so that it solves the problem of the owner.
What The 1 Million Web Designer Guide Talks About
The 1 Million Web Designer Guide is a book written by the founder of a web design school. It explains the basics of the freelancer’s mindset. Among the advice given is “focus on problems people will pay you to fix”. The money that you earn does not necessarily depend on how hard the work is. It depends on the value you deliver.
The book was too long and too slow.
Not to brag, but the summary is great and I regularly read it to remind myself of its principles.
Summary of The 1 Million Web Designer Guide by Anthony Rob O’Rourke
If you want to earn a lot of money, you need to get your clients a lot of results. Big results = big paycheck.
Sell a result, not a website
The more problems you solve and the more results you show, the easiest it is to get high-paying web-design work.
When you are selling a website to a business owner, you are not competing against other designers. You are competing against the other options that the business owner has to solve his problem.
When you focus on what business owners need and you can provide it to them, you will quickly stand out.
That means focusing on the top priorities of a business owner and showing him how your website can help him achieve the intended purpose.
Business needs come first. Everything else comes second.
The market pays you for the value you create.
A website is a tool to fix a problem. If the business needs clients, you need a website that attracts clients. If the business has too many people calling, you need a website that answers people’s questions or enables people to send emails.
To make money, you need to solve problems. To solve problems, you need to find problems. To find problems, you need to talk to business owners. To understand their problems, you first need to listen to them. To listen, you need to ask them exactly what is the problem they have.
Don’t solve a problem you weren’t asked to solve, as you appear as a problem maker, not a problem solver. Never tell people what problems you think they have. Listen to them instead, and ask questions.
Start to get customers where your trust is highest -> use your current connections to start right away.
To sell anything to anyone, you must first establish trust.
The best way to get clients now is to start doing projects asap and the best way to do that is to work with people that know you personally. Use your own connections and channels.
Focus on results first. Profits will come later.
Leverage your past results. Show potential new clients HOW the websites you have built in the past helped business owners solve problems.
Focus on solving problems. The purpose of freelancing is to acquire business skills, and these skills are marketing, sales, copy, and problem-solving. The best web designers are no longer web designers. If you can succeed as a web designer, then you can do anything else.
Start small and start now.
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