Redefining Independence: Changing the Game for Freelancers with Rachel Renock

0:01Light that spark fire nation JLD here and welcome to entrepreneurs on fire brought to you by the HubSpot podcast network, the audio destination for business professionals with great shows like Success Story Podcast. Today, we'll be breaking down how to redefine independence, changing the game for freelancers. To drop these value bombs, I brought Rachel Renok into EO Fire Studios. Rachel is a co-founder and CEO of Weethos, a platform that helps freelancers make more money by leveraging proprietary data to guide users on successfully pricing, executing, and billing their projects. Wethos currently serves over 80 ,000 freelance businesses, and Rachel has raised over$14 million in VC funding for the company.

0:42And today, Fire Nation, we'll talk about the origins of entrepreneurship. We'll talk about redefining independence, changing the game for freelancers, advice for aspiring freelancers, and so much more. And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Rachel and our sponsors. Business Made Simple, hosted by Donald Miller, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. Business Made Simple takes the mystery out of growing your business. Join my friend, Donna Miller, each week as he shares value bombs on topics like the secret to making better marketing decisions.

1:15Listen to Business Made Simple wherever you get your podcasts. Many EO Fire listeners have launched non-food franchises and Fran Bridge Consulting has guided them. Fran Bridge's founder and frequent EO Fire guest, John Ostenson has done more placements than any other in the country and his service is free. Sign up for a consultation with John or get a free copy of his book, Non-Food Franchising at FranBridgeConsulting.com. Rachel, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with. I think that you have to be willing to embarrass yourself, which is sounds like a weird thing.

1:57But I think at the end of the day, the path to becoming successful is filled with a lot of mistakes and a lot of announcing something that maybe doesn't come to fruition or talking about things that maybe you're not a full expert on yet. And I think that the willingness to, I don't know, make mistakes in public, you know, is a really important part to just working through all those different phases of the of the business on the path towards, you know, becoming successful. And I don't really think that that ever goes away. See, I love this topic, because in my opinion, you have to be really bad at something to eventually become really good at something.

2:34I mean, why are we expected to be good at something the minute we start at the minute we do it for the first time? And if you're willing to be embarrassed about it, especially when you first start and you're really bad at that thing, then it's going to allow you to keep doing that thing, putting in the reps to get to a place where you are providing value in this world. And that's kind of the topic we're talking about today, which is about redefining independence. We're going to talk, Fire Nation, about changing the game for freelancers. And I want to talk about your origin story, how you built Weethos.

3:06Rachel, take it away. How the heck did I get here? Honestly, my parents are still confused. So I think the, basically, I went to art school and right out of art school, I went into advertising. So I used to be an art director. I worked on a bunch of big accounts like CoverGirl and Hershey's. And I met my co-founder, Claire, at a big ad agency in New York. And she was more on the account side of the business. So she was doing a lot of like the budgeting, the client management, scoping, seeing how much we were charging people and how much we were all getting paid. And a couple of years ago, we left to start our own freelance studio.

3:40And we left and that business grew like really fast, faster than we anticipated. We did about 1.4 million in revenue in about 18 months. And that is when Claire and I found out how hard it is to scale a service-based business. And so with all the challenges that we were experiencing ourselves, we ended up building out our own internal operating system, which is what became what is today Weethos, which is a software platform that provides tools and resources and services to about 80 ,000 freelance businesses. And so really, I guess by experiencing the pain myself, I know my customer because I am my customer.

4:17That's really what led to the platform that exists today. And I think that's really what does make our product unlike any other. Well, I want to keep diving into this whole conversation about redefining independence for entrepreneurs, for human beings, and how we can change the game for freelancers. So about this redefining independence, you really do have this unique perspective on how freelancing is actually reshaping traditional employment. Tell us more on this topic. This has been a trend that's been happening over the last decade, but I think in the last few years of the pandemic, the great resignation, there's just a lot of people choosing an independent path.

4:56And I think as people are continuing to do that, what we're also seeing is that there's a large influx of more senior and experienced people entering the space that are newer to being a business owner and newer to being freelance. And for me, when you're a freelancer, you are an entrepreneur. You're a founder. You're really trying to build a business. And I think today there's a misconception culturally that freelancers are like employees and they're more similar to an employee than they are to an entrepreneur or a business owner. But in reality, the people who are doing this type of work, they look a lot like the folks who run Shopify stores.

5:34They look like merchants. They look like people in small towns just running their businesses from their couch. And so I think for me and for the cultural movement, a big part of this is helping other people really see themselves differently and really get empowered to build a business and to think about it that way and approach it that way rather than sort of being in a scarcity mindset and just trying to look for the next project or the next employer. It does seem like a lot of people live in this scarcity mindset. And Fire Nation, if you're going about this the right way, the abundance, it's out there.

6:11It's waiting for you to take control of your destiny. And that's really kind of bringing us to the conversation about changing the game for freelancers. And I want to ask you this question. Can freelancers understand their profitability instead of just focusing on productivity? Is there a world that that happens? I hope to make one. I think it's really challenging as a service-based business. It's uniquely challenging because when you're selling services, you're selling something that hasn't happened yet. So you are, by the nature of it, making an estimate. You're making a guess about what you think is going to happen and how much it should cost.

6:48And then when you bill your clients, you are billing them looking back on what has already happened, sending an invoice based on things that have already gone down. And now I don't really know if I'm making or losing money until it's too late to do anything about it. And so the lack of a feedback loop between those two sort of systems, the bookings and the billings, is really a huge challenge. And it's forcing a lot of people to make decisions about their business using guesswork. Like they're just guessing in the dark, basically. And so I think that what we have to do is take a step back and we have to realize that the way you operate a service-based business is very closely tied to your ability to be profitable and to manage your money and your budget, your resources.

7:30And I think today, a lot of those tools or resources or things that people use are just separate from one another. And I think that if we can really hone in on making sure that we understand, like, am I pricing correctly? Am I billing my clients accurately? Is there a margin on these projects? I think that is going to really help people better understand their business health versus what a lot of people tend to ask for, which is more like productivity tools like project management and things like that. But we're really focused more on that money side of things. And I think that if freelancers are willing to really open up, adopt a new system, and to really think about how to optimize for money versus time, that can really, really change the game for them and their business.

8:18That's what we've seen. Fire Nation, I can see a lot of you right now figuratively nodding your heads, especially if you're freelancers. This is the way you should be thinking about things if you are a freelancer. We have a lot more to talk about on this topic, including the future of freelancing, when we get back from thanking our sponsors. Fire Nation, the holidays are near, and I know you're rocking your year-end goals. It's crunch time. And if you're ready to hit your revenue targets and finish the year strong, then I've got the perfect tool to help you fill your pipeline, nurture prospects, and close deals.

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11:23John has served as an Inc. 500 franchisor and is a multi-brand franchisee himself, and he does more placements than any other in the country. Sign up for a free consultation call with John today or get a free copy of his book, Non-Food Franchising, at FranBridgeConsulting.com. That's FranBridgeConsulting.com. Rachel, we're back and I did leave a little teaser that we're going to talk about the future of freelancing. So what are your predictions on the future of this amazing opportunity in the world called freelancing? Yeah, I think the biggest and most exciting opportunity that I'm seeing is that freelance doesn't necessarily mean you're alone.

12:06And I think that this idea of like a one person shop or a one person business is sort of the myth that we're hopefully helping to dispel. So what I mean by that is, I believe the future of freelancing is collaborative. And I think that if we can enable people to harness their networks to drive business growth, that's going to be a huge game changer for this entire like freelance economy. Today, there are 70 million Americans that freelance. 95 % of them are not breaking six figures. And six figures does not mean what it used to mean. It doesn't go nearly as far as it used to go. And so really the challenge here is that we want to help people build really viable and lucrative careers and businesses out of this.

12:45And I think one of the big keys to unlocking that is giving them the tools to better team up with other people, win bigger projects, and really take home bigger paychecks in that regard. So I really see the future of freelancing as this big sort of collaborative effort where these businesses are sort of powered by their own shared networks. And then as a result of that, they're able to drive more business growth for themselves and then frankly compete with the large agencies that I used to work at to take home those bigger projects and to get more meaningful opportunities without having to go a traditional path.

13:16Those are some crazy numbers, Fire Nation. 70 million Americans working as freelancers, 95 % of them not breaking$100 ,000 a year. So there's a lot of opportunity for people that are doing it right. So let's share some advice for these aspiring entrepreneurs or maybe current freelancers who are in that 95 percentile that are not breaking$100 ,000 a year and want to get there. What are some of the key skills and the key attitudes that you believe are necessary for freelancers to succeed in this world? Well, I will start by just saying that if you're in that 95%, you don't have to feel ashamed about that.

13:58Because like I said, 5 % of folks who are in your shoes are struggling with the same challenges. And frankly, I don't think that the six-figure ceiling, as I call it, is necessarily just their fault, like just on their shoulders. I think what's holding people back generally is raising their rates so people are not charging enough. And what I mean by that is both because they're giving away too much free work. So if you are, for instance, doing weekly calls with your client, or maybe you are auditing an existing file of content that they have or anything of that nature, and you're not billing for those activities, you should and you can bill for those activities.

14:39You come from a traditional agency, you don't necessarily know that. And so I think in order to get people over that hump, we really have to create a layer of transparency in the space so that people are no longer shooting in the dark of how much should I charge for these services. And then I think on the other side of things, the skills and sort of like attitudes that I would love to see in terms of like what should shift in the market is this idea of collaboration over competition. I think a lot of the marketplaces that exist today for freelancers create this false competition, when in reality, the natural behavior for this community is to collaborate, share resources and help each other out.

15:17And so I think like, the number one thing that I tell people is like, lean on peers, lean on people in your community. And the more vulnerable you're willing to be about your challenges, the more likely it is that other people are going to open up. And I can just say as somebody who talks to freelancers every day, you're all experiencing the same challenges, and everybody feels like they're doing it wrong. So I think like a big thing in terms of skills, even just from like a, not like a pure practical level of like learn design, I think is about more shifting your attitude and also just creating a skill set in which you are able to build your network and collaborate with other people and be vulnerable with those people and your challenges.

15:55And that's going to help you just leap ahead in your business because people have likely learned things in, you know, the years they've been in business that could save you a lot of pain and time. Now, I do believe that one of the reasons that a lot of people get into freelancing is to be independent, is to have freedom. So let's talk a little deeper about balancing this independence with this collaboration idea that you've shared a couple times here. What are your thoughts on how to do this? So to me, when I think of independence, I think of freedom. The freedom to choose what you work on, who you work with.

16:32And I think that when you're in a big institution like an agency or like a big law firm or any of those things, that freedom is sort of taken away because you're sort of at the whim of that large institution and what they want. As an independent, even if you are teaming up and collaborating with other people, you do have that freedom and you do have that autonomy. And I think that that is a really important piece to acknowledge because with that freedom and autonomy comes like the need to acknowledge decisions you're making or mistakes you're making and sort of take responsibility for those things.

17:03There's no safety net and there's nobody else to quote unquote blame. So for me, like there, there's a little bit of tension there, but at the same time, when you go off and you start your own business, you are effectively like creating your own rules and that can both be really empowering. It can also be pretty scary and pretty daunting. So again, I think like going back to just leaning on community and understanding that even though you're running your business. You don't have to do it alone. And there are a ton of people out there who are running into the same things. And that I think if there was more community around this, they would be able to unblock each other a lot faster.

17:41And not to mention, of course, again, like driving that business growth. The bigger and better your network is, the more opportunities are likely to come across your desk. So the ROI on that, like the return on investment when it comes to network building should be quite high. It's just sort of hard sometimes for people to see that in the short term. Fire Nation, we've talked about a lot of things today. Redefining independence, changing the game for freelancers, the future of freelancing, advice for some aspiring freelancers, balancing this independence and collaboration. What is the one thing, Rachel, you really want Fire Nation to get from our conversation today?

18:18Just get started. and I guess that what I mean by that is I see a lot of people who want to go freelance want to take the leap or want to try but they're paralyzed either because they're in sort of analysis paralysis they don't know where to start or because they are being too much of a perfectionist kind of going back to my first thing about being willing to be embarrassed I think the one piece of advice I have for folks who are thinking about freelance or looking to take the leap is like, just get started today. Send one email out to someone you know in your network and tell them you're available to do freelance.

18:52You don't need a whole website. You don't need a whole deck, a pitch deck, a whole process. You don't really need anything to just get started. All you need is your first project. So that's my big piece of advice to folks, which is don't get caught up in, I need to make sure I have all my ducks in a row before I go do this thing. Just get it going. Just send a few emails out tomorrow and you'll see from there that where your priorities should be will sort of show themselves as the business continues to grow. If Fire Nation wanted to learn more about you, about Wethos, what is your call to action for our listeners today?

19:28Yeah, so you can check us out at wethos.co. I'm going to provide a link also so that you can get access to Wethos Pro for 30 days free if you sign up to that link. And yeah, check us out, browse the templates. A big thing that we do that people love is the pricing and the pricing recommendations and seeing what other people are charging for things. So I highly encourage you, if anything, to just kind of discover, browse those templates and get inspired. And I would love to hear from you if you do. Fire Nation, you are the average. Of the five people you spend the most time with, you've been hanging out with RR and JLD today.

20:03So keep up that heat. For links to everything we talked about, visit eofire.com. Type Rachel in the search bar. The show notes page will pop up with, again, links to everything. Rachel, thank you for sharing your truth, knowledge, value with Fire Nation. For that, we salute you, and we'll catch you on the flip side. Awesome. Thanks for having me. Hey, Fire Nation, a huge thank you to our sponsors and Rachel for sponsoring today's episode. And Fire Nation, what can 3 ,000 of the world's most successful entrepreneurs teach you? How about how to achieve financial freedom and fulfillment? My first traditionally published book, The Common Path to Uncommon Success, is a revolutionary 17-step roadmap that will lead you to the lifestyle you've been dreaming about.

20:45This book took me 10 years of accumulating the genius of the world's top entrepreneurs, and you can get it all in one place when you visit UncommonSuccessBook.com. I'll catch you there or on the flip side. business made simple hosted by donald miller is brought to you by the hubspot podcast network the audio destination for business professionals business made simple takes the mystery out of growing your business join my friend donald miller each week as he shares value bombs on topics like the secret to making better marketing decisions listen to business made simple wherever you get your podcasts many eofire listeners have launched non-food franchises and franbridge consulting has guided them.

21:27Fran Bridges founder and frequent EO Fire guest, John Ostenson, has done more placements than any other in the country and his service is free. Sign up for a consultation with John or get a free copy of his book, Non-Food Franchising, at FranBridgeConsulting.com.