With us this week is Michelle Nickolaisen of Bombchelle.com, freelancer, creative and woman-about-the-internet.
- 0:30 Michelle’s favorite nerdy thing: D&D live play podcasts. The Adventure Zone, Friends at the Table, Godsfall for the diversity and the writing/creative skill involved.
- 5:00 The comparisons between indie creatives and freelancers or microbusinesses
- 7:15 How Buffer is a great example of an indie business that stole a market from its juggernaut competitor and went on to not only dominate but change the business landscape.
- 9:15 By 2025, freelancers are going to be 50% of the workforce
- 9:45 Marina tells the story of a short-lived mentor who could not grasp the personality of (Michelle’s) digital business.
- 14:00 Michelle discusses how a counter-culture personality makes her own place in business
- 20:00 The major turning point for Michelle, when she realized that she could get paid only to write, not as a part of a bundle of services.
- 23:00 The ‘secret’ that everybody KNOWS but nobody DOES (except Michelle)
- 27:00 How “just be yourself” turns into “how to be a quirky charicature of yourself” and not the authenticity we’re looking for.
- 30:00 Michelle’s template and tools for filling your client funnel
- 34:00 A handful of handy rules of business thumb
- 38:30 Michelle’s system for gathering the data to manage her business direction (Streak, Evernote, Google Analytics, Mixmax)
- 42:30 Why when you get into a given app, you should have a specific use case in mind for it. Ex: Evernote and its competitors Bear, Write!
Michelle’s Links:
- Bomchelle.com (freelancer advice and tools)
- Chelleshock.me (portfolio site)
- ChelleshockStudios.com (creative projects)
- Her non-fiction book on systems for small business Rock The System
- Her fiction novel
- Freelancer Planner and the Dry-Erase Calendar to go with