How to Become a Rainmaker

What Hacker News says

1. VirgilSheltonJan 2019
   Yes.

   What you're missing is three fold...

   1: Where do people hire freelancers.

   2: Sales skills.

   3: An alternative to worrying about 1 and 2.

   1. Create a profile and Upwork. While everything you'll read about Upwork will be negative you need leads. Upwork gets them for you and yes you can create your own website and start there but Upwork already spends a ton of money on ads / SEO and content marketing to keep generating leads. Take advantage of it.

   2. Learing how to sale is critical for everyone, especially web designers and developers. Go down the YouTube rabbit hole and got to Amazon and search for sales books. There are a million ways to sale things so read the first chapter of each book and read reviews until you find something that sounds like you can feel comfortable using with clients.

   I recommend Jonathanstark.com, Doubleyourfreelancing.com and read How to Become a Rainmaker: The Rules for Getting and Keeping Customers and Clients

   3. Alternatively you can skip the above and do one of the following. Subcontract with a marketing agency that needs to hire a developer. Find them using Google and could email them. Tell them you will lower your rate since they're getting the clients and that you don't like sales.

   Finally you can hire a sales person on 100% commission to find clients in need of web development and if they ever find a client that doesn't match your skill set outsource the work using your same Upwork account. Upwork allows you to not only freelance but to hire as well.

   The sales person should get 50% of the project costs upfront to start and upon delivery the client would pay 50% when completely satisfied.

   Pay the sales person 20% to 30% of the project or agree on a fixed fee. They don't get paid if they don't find a project for you so make sure and hire many salespeople.

   Finally if you're smart (which you seem to be) don't worry about knowing everything before you jump in. I've been freelancing since 2004 and run into new technology I have zero clue about. Howler I simply read the documentation or watch videos and boom new knowledge.

   Start now and be confident in yourself!

   Show morethread
2. VirgilSheltonJan 2019
   If you want to make $100,000 from anywhere you need one skill, sales. Learn how to sell. Read and watch everything you can on selling.

   I recommend you start with "How to Become a Rainmaker: The Rules for Getting and Keeping Customers and Clients" by Jerrfey J. Fox.

   Also learn how to stop charging hourly for your services and see https://jonathanstark.com/

   thread
3. rpedenOct 2018
   I agree with your suggestions, and I found "How to Become a Rainmaker" quite helpful as well.

   Granted, the title is pretty cheesy. And some of the content is, too. And yet I found it super actionable and straightforward. You can usually find used copies on Amazon for a couple of dollars.

   thread
4. VirgilSheltonOct 2016
   If you want to ask companies about problems they're facing you'll need to learn sales. I've been a freelancer for 12 years and these books changed my life...

   * How to Become a Rainmaker: The Rules for Getting and Keeping Customers and Clients by Jeffrey J. Fox

   * The Dollarization Discipline: How Smart Companies Create Customer Value...and Profit from It by Jeffrey J. Fox

   * The Brain Audit: Why Customers Buy (And Why They Don't) by Sean D'Souza

   * The Ultimate Sales Letter: Attract New Customers. Boost your Sales by Dan S. Kennedy

   * The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation by Mathew Dixon and Brent Adamson

   Also watch a few Gary Vaynerchuck Keynotes and you'll get ideas on how to add value first, specifically read this blog post https://www.garyvaynerchuk.com/working-for-free-the-debate/

   Show morethread
5. tsatterstenSep 2015
   Our selections from The 100 Best Business Books of All Time were:

   -Selling The Invisible by Harry Beckwith (great look at selling services) -Secrets of Closing The Sale by Zig Ziglar (gets you prepared for objections) -How to Become A Rainmaker by Jeffrey Fox (shortcuts to better sales techniques) -The Little Red Book of Selling by Jeffrey Gitomer (best first book for first time salespeople)

   As mentioned in other posts, I would also add SPIN Selling, Mastering the Complex Sale and The Referral Engine.

   "Smart" books in the sales space include Influence, Made To Stick, To Sell Is Human.

   For motivation, read more Zig, Tony Robbins, and Dale Carnegie.

   Show morethread