More clients and higher fees. That sounds like the brass ring of freelancing, doesn’t it? Well guess what: It is possible for freelancers to achieve that. I’m going to tell you how I strive to do that on an ongoing basis.

I used to charge for my work and work hard and wish I could charge more. I worked hard to attract clients and I would sometimes acquire new clients and often I wouldn’t. I spent more time marketing and less time doing the freelance work that I do.

And then it all changed for me when I started to study people who had become successful freelancers. This was where the shift occurred for me: As I read, I kept discovering the same theme over and over: Become an expert; be the expert for your customers.

I keep a notebook while I read these kinds of book so that I can jot down any ideas I have and I wrote down an idea that came to me after reading this concept for the umpteenth time: “List all of the things an expert would do in your niche and then do those things.”

It seemed like a strange concept but it also made perfect sense at the same time! So I thought about what it meant for me. This is my list:
• I needed a better website than I had
• I needed to write a book
• I needed to amp up the quality (not necessarily the quantity) of my marketing
• I needed to raise my prices to “expert” level
• I needed to network with other experts who delivered other kinds of services to the same niche
• I needed to stay current in the industry I served
• I needed to proactively make recommendations rather than respond to reactive requests
• I needed to teach others
• I needed to lead
• I needed to be a thought leader (which meant spending time trying to innovate new ideas related to my effort in the industry)

I won’t lie to you: It was a lot of work. There is a mental, physical, emotional, and self-awareness difference between being a regular provider and an industry expert. The latter is a demanding position to transfer into (although I’ve since discovered that once you’re here, it’s easy to maintain). Yes, it was a lot of work, but it was worth it: The money, the respect, the attraction of clients, the reward I feel at the end of the day – it’s all worth it.

You need to think about what would make you an industry expert in your field. Perhaps it’s a similar list to mine. Perhaps there are some elements that are the same and a few that are different. Very likely, you’ll want to dig deep to find what is truly missing in the industry and fill that role with expert knowledge.

It’s an investment of time and money that you will need to do now and it could take weeks or even months before it starts to pay off, but it is the right choice for freelancers who want to attract more clients and charge higher fees.