Freelance Coaching
Freelance Success Digital Course
Ready to take your freelancing business to the next level, get new clients, and be your own boss? I've designed this freelance course with over 10,000 hours on Upwork and over 30,000 hours of freelance business in the past twenty years. Take a deep dive into the in-demand skills to supercharge your freelance success.
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The only freelance course you need to go from your first freelance project to full-time freelancing.
Your step-by-step guide to success as a freelancer.
Twenty years of freelance business as a graphic designer, illustrator, website developer, copywriter, and marketer has taught me every lesson needed to be a 6-7 figure freelancer. I'm an expert in getting new clients and increasing the lifetime value of existing clients.
Let me teach you how!
Most freelancer courses out there focus on vague topics such as "hustle harder" to help your freelance career. My 10 freelancing courses take you through each step one by one with actionable steps and assignments to build your freelancing business.
Whether you want to earn money freelancing as an independent or want to scale into an agency eventually, my online courses are geared towards building a successful freelance business in any freelance service sector you decide.
Invest in your future with paid freelancing courses vs. a LinkedIn learning free course that barely scratch the surface of success.
Regardless of your stage in your freelancing journey, you can go at your own pace and be your own boss in no time, whether you are a freelance writer, designer, developer, or virtual assistant.
You will spend a ton of time potentially learning the wrong things with free courses available on YouTube and LinkedIn Learning. Paid freelancing courses, such as my Freelance Shortcut to Success Course, give you the perfect step-by-step process for creating your freelance future. You get lifetime access and all of the assignments you need for a successful freelance future.
This Freelance Shortcut to Success Course helps you whether you are a software development beginner or an expert in computer science deep into tech or expanding your left brain with strictly creative freelance businesses. Whether you are a freelancer writer, diving into graphic design, or a computer science student, this course is perfect for all freelancers.
You get lifetime access, so you can refer back to any section to help you succeed at your own pace.
This digital course is perfect for:
- Copywriting Freelancers
- Digital Marketing Freelancers
- Virtual Assistant Freelancers
- Graphic Design Freelancers
- Website Development Freelancers
- Professional Development Freelancers
- Software Development Freelancers
- Web Development Freelancers
- Content Marketing Freelancers
- Computer Science Freelancers
- Social Media Freelancers
- Coaching Freelancers
- Financial Freelancers
- Freelance Writers
I've created this course with the gig economy in mind to help freelancers achieve their goals and get the jobs they want. Talent can be learned throughout your never-ending journey as a freelancer, so don't worry if you're not confident in your skills. These will develop over time.
You get unlimited access to this course, giving you the freelancing foundation to build an amazing online career. Whether you work in a creative capacity, a technical one, or support businesses around the world.
You can continually evolve and level up your services company and continually increase the number of jobs you receive.
Eventually, I expect you to have more work than you can handle and slowly transition into an agency model if you want to. Although, as an independent freelancer myself, I thoroughly enjoy doing the production work, whether the task is a website, logo, copywriting, or any other creative and technical work my clients want. I still very much enjoy production work twenty years later.
I'm Scott Luscombe, and I'll be your freelance success guide.
Two decades ago, I was finishing up at art school, wondering how in the world I would make a living being an artist. I've always loved art and never thought of doing anything else as my career, so I was fully committed to making myself a success.
Way back then, before Facebook, Upwork, and LinkedIn were even ideas, getting freelance jobs was difficult. Every year since, there have been more and more opportunities to build a business as a freelancer.
I started with the job board in my 3rd year Illustration class at Sheridan College, it was a Post-it board with random Graphic Design and Illustration jobs that paid little to nothing. But the experience was essential to my growth.
Sheridan College taught me the technical ability and work ethic to succeed but nothing about running a business, finding clients, negotiating, or even delivering final work.
I quickly learned that I wasn't a freelance Designer and Illustrator. I was a salesperson. This is the first and toughest lesson because it forced me to learn an entirely new set of skills to make myself a success.
What you will learn from this freelance course:
I created this course unlike most success courses. I created it with practical lessons with a focus on concepts that actually work "Do this, and get this" instead of the all too common success courses that say arbitrary catchphrases like "Work hard, hustle hard."
My goal is to give you a guide that you can refer to and build all of the pieces you need to be a successful freelancer, and choose your own path, whether that is 9-5 or part-time, to supplement your income.
Step 1: Path
How to build your daily system
The first step in this freelance success guide is all about designing a daily system that helps you develop everything from new jobs to new business, showing off your talent, and developing the marketing materials you need for success as a freelancer.
What you will learn in Step 1:
- Why do I need a daily system?
- How do I structure my daily system?
- What is the best format for my daily system?
- Daily system template
- Assignment: Create your daily system
Step 2: Profiles
How to build your freelance profiles
The second step is bringing clients to you by writing effective profiles that can be used on all of the various freelance platforms for developing new business. Although my lessons in this guide are focussed on LinkedIn and Upwork, these strategies have worked over the past two decades in the ever-changing freelance marketplace.
What you will learn in Step 2:
- Why do I need a personal profile?
- How do I write my profile?
- How do I find keywords?
- Profile template
- Assignment: Write your profile
Step 3: Pitch
How to sell your services
The third step helps you build a highly converting pitch, demonstrating you know what you are doing and giving the client the confidence that they can choose you as their freelancer.
What you will learn in Step 3:
- Why do I need a pitch?
- How do I write my pitch?
- What is the best pitch format?
- Pitch template
- Assignment: Write your pitch
Step 4: Personas
How to find clients ready to hire
In this fourth step, I teach you how to write compelling copy to attract clients, as well as identify who will hire you and what to say to demonstrate that you understand the client's problem on an emotional level, where the sale is made.
What you will learn in Step 4:
- Why do I need personas?
- What is a client persona?
- How do I write client personas?
- Persona Template
- Assignment: Write 3 client personas
Step 5: Presentation
How to demonstrate your services
During the fifth step, I walk you through what to send to each of your prospective clients with real-world examples and a template structure so you can build your personal brand's marketing presentation and get your next project.
What you will learn in Step 5:
- Why do I need a presentation?
- What makes a great presentation?
- What do I add to my presentation?
- Presentation template
- Assignment: Write and Design your presentation
Step 6: Pricing
How to determine your price list
In this sixth step, I show you my pricing structure and how to develop your pricing list even for complex projects. This allows you to quickly qualify for jobs that will fit within your preferred payment structure and will increase your conversion rate significantly.
What you will learn in Step 6:
- Why do I need a service price list?
- What is the best way to write a service price list?
- How do I write my services price list?
- Price list template
- Assignment: Make your services pricing menu
Step 7: Process
How to keep projects on track
This step shows you the system that I use to keep multiple projects and clients moving forward. I manage about 180 clients and roughly 50 projects open projects per day while retaining 5-star feedback and a 100% job success score.
What you will learn in Step 7:
- Why do I need a process?
- What is the best way to write my process?
- How do I write my process?
- Process template
- Assignment: Write your process
Step 8: Problems
How to negotiate
In the eighth step, I teach you common negotiation strategies I use to halt objections before they happen and recover projects that happen, as every client is different. This step will help you keep your reputation intact even in difficult situations.
What you will learn in Step 8:
- Why do I need to focus on problems?
- How do I solve problems?
- How do I negotiate?
- Common freelancing problems and how to solve them
- Assignment: Write problems clients are having and how you solve them
Step 9: Promotion
How to get freelance jobs consistently
In the ninth step, I show you how to keep your sales pipeline full of incoming jobs, get invited to new projects often, upsell new tasks, and become necessary to the companies you want to work for. Many freelancers get focused on one project at a time with a lot of downtime in between. This step solves that problem for good.
What you will learn in Step 9:
- Why do I need to promote my services?
- How do I demonstrate my talent?
- How do I find work?
- Promotion guide to finding freelance clients
- Assignment: Design your promotion strategy
Step 10: Portfolio
How to build, maintain, and present your work
In the final step, I teach you to build a portfolio that will capture your prospective client's attention and make their choice of working with you easily. By building a professional freelance portfolio, you dramatically increase your chances of being hired regardless of what freelance industry you are in.
What you will learn in Step 10:
- Why do I need a portfolio?
- What do I add to my portfolio?
- How do I make portfolio pieces?
- Portfolio Template
- Assignment: Create your portfolio
Who is this freelance course for?
Freelancers of all shapes and sizes
Although I have focused my career on freelance work as a Graphic Designer, Website Developer, Copywriter, and Illustrator, these lessons will work for all freelancers, regardless of the industry you choose. Whether you are into web development, design, writing, or virtual assistance, this freelancing course will level you up!
The skills taught in this online course will take you from just getting odd jobs to becoming a full-time freelancer and accelerating your freelancing significantly. I truly believe you will skip a decade ahead of what this course contains.
Skip common problems
Get the right results in your freelance search
There is no fluff in this digital course which is all too common in most courses online, I explain in detail the systems I use to generate a significant income on various freelance platforms, how to keep freelancing tasks rolling in, and specific assignments so you can build your own marketing materials based on proven templates that work for me.
LinkedIn learning can only take you so far, and often these free courses don't dive deep enough to make a real difference to your freelance career.
Read reviews from my numerous students who have become their own boss after using my one on one freelancing coaching, freelance shortcut book, and this course.
Stopping the search
When clients come to you
Your goal as a freelancer is to get the job you want, and the best way to do that is to stop the search and have clients come directly to you for your personalized talent. When you search, you use a vast amount of time. The goal here is to build marketing content that makes the job come to you.
Writing content is just one of the keys to getting a job as a freelancing professional. Copywriting is an amazing skill to have in the online job market. With effective writing, you will develop the talent necessary to create your own company on the web.
Stand out in the crowd
The hard truth is there are thousands of other freelancers to compete with
The great news? Most of them have only a few pieces of the puzzle and are easy to leapfrog over to gain your prospective client's attention and get the freelancing jobs you want.
On Upwork, there are often 50-100 proposals in each freelance posting, and your proposal has to cut through the junk that so many other freelancers send with their fingers crossed, desperately hoping to hear from companies.
This course eliminates and helps reduce the anxiety of not achieving the freelance work you want and will fill your pipeline with new jobs daily. I have used this system to great success over the past twenty years and refined it into a hyper-focused system for success in my freelancing career, and will work for yours.
How do you use this course?
Your best chance at a successful freelancing career
Most courses focus on obvious solutions. "Working hard" doesn't help. You already know that "hustle hard every day" doesn't give you the system for freelance success.
With this course, if you want freelance success on a large scale, you must follow the assignments and build professional personal brand marketing communications. Free courses such as LinkedIn Learning really don't help because they don't offer the specific details on what to do and when, with my freelance course I give you my 10 step process that has helped me work over 10,000 hours on Upwork, and over 30,000 hours as a freelancer since 2001.
The one core belief to hold on to is this: "This will never be complete." What do I mean by that? Simple, it means that all of these pieces you will build for yourself during these assignments will be constantly evolved and refined.
My website is now twenty years old, and I work on it weekly. There will never be a time you will have any of these pieces perfected. Your goal is to consistently continue refining and elevating them to refine your marketing voice and add your freelance personality.
What do businesses want?
Knowing who you are as a freelancing professional
Companies want low risk and high reward. It's as simple as that, and by being a flexible freelancer, you can demonstrate the benefits of working with you as a creative person.
Your customer will want you to be able to grow with them, not just do one task, make a little money, and disappear. You will become a successful freelancing professional when you consider lifetime value.
For example, I created a $250 Logo for a brand called Wallet Ninja. Had I stopped there, I would not have earned over $150,000 from this client by consistently adding value to their company. Freelancing is the easiest way to eliminate the need for a "consistent" salary. I expect you will earn a million dollars within your first ten years of adhering to the lessons and assignments. It's much easier than you think.
By giving freelance clients consistent quality and constantly recommending the next steps to your existing clients, you can create a business you can depend on for your whole life and never be stuck with one employer who can dictate your future.
It's your future
Take control of your freelancing career
In this course, I teach you not only how to make a great salary as a freelancing professional online, but I also help you refine your search for clients who want to work with you, build your service list, and build an independent lifestyle you want by displaying your skills.
You will learn to use social media to your advantage and find the elusive contract you want to earn the pay you know you deserve. You will create all of the marketing materials and communications required to support you and your family with consistent employment.
Free course learning on YouTube and LinkedIn Learning are great ways to understand what freelancing is, but eventually you need a specific guide, this course is your step by step guide to success in your freelance business.
A strong independent, web-based business will let you simply survive and help you thrive even when the markets are down. My freelance business has thrived throughout my career, even during wars, recessions, and pandemics. I was always safe with a strong freelance foundation when companies were routinely firing full-time employees. This is the security that I want for you and your family to build the life you want, independent of a full-time salary.
The sky is the limit
Earn the pay that you deserve
Let's face it. We work for money. You don't have to be passionate about every freelance job you receive. Money is used to develop the lifestyle you want. Whether that money is for a shiny new car or to send your kids to school, you can build an amazing career in freelancing with this course.
Freelancing has never been more accessible, and every year it becomes easier to secure the job you want, whether that is in copywriting, design, development, virtual assistance, or accounting.
Every freelancer has an equal opportunity to achieve amazing results, but few freelancers see the whole picture and can't leverage specific items such as searches and websites to find the clients they need for success.
You have the talent already. There is a client out there that needs your help, and demonstrating this talent online and showing the service you can provide is key to finding work immediately.
The world is filled with opportunity, and you can easily support businesses locally and globally by showing the service range you already have and the benefits you provide.
You can go from part-time tasks to full-time work by using the process outlined in this course for businesses around the world.
Ready to create your freelancing future?
How to become a full-time freelancer
Freedom is often associated with being self-employed, and the title of founder and entrepreneur is cool. It's a fun and secure way to financial freedom; you only need a computer, software, and elbow grease to stay consistent.
Hundreds of workers from around the world have asked me to walk them through the journey of becoming a professional gig-economy freelancer. Jump ahead of 99% of freelancers by going beyond free freelancing courses on LinkedIn Learning and YouTube! Forget personalized course recommendations that lead you astray and get right to the point. My content marketing strategy within this course helps you define how often to build content for generating organic, inbound sales.
There are numerous categories of freelancing professionals, and you can become highly successful in anyone you choose with this course. Go at your own pace and be your own boss with my step-by-step course.