Freelancing Series - 4 - The New Normal

Will McLellarn -

Picking right up again, I was just laying out my current mix of freelancing opportunities, and I think I left one out.

SO, since I’d been dropped by the MMA company, I just couldn’t give up on them. I’m too big a fan to not help, pay or no pay. So I’ve reinvigorated that opportunity, and it should be real again within 1-2 weeks.

So let’s revisit the mix, or portfolio (shoutout to Elizabeth) if you will:

  1. Cardinal Designs – Shopify Web Dev
  2. Crypto Company – Strategy & Product Management Consulting
  3. ex-Sumo Project – Paid search and related marketing work
  4. MMA company – Paid search & email marketing, but probably unpaid

To categorize these – Cardinal & Crypto are my cash cows, they’re pretty stable income, not amazing work, but something has to keep the lights on.

3 &4 are my marketing work where I’m either sharpening the axe (getting better) or trying things. The companies for #3 might leave something to be desired, but that’s ok. This is version 1.0.0.0

I probably have freelance ADD at this point, but I’ll also add in a little project that I’m working on with a friend in SF, that’s centered around providing better mobility resources for guys and/or combat athletes. Not to get off to far on a tangent, but I really think guys hip and shoulder mobility is terrible, there aren’t any places or people really serving them, and someone needs to. So I’m trying 🙂

If I was to squeeeeze one more thing in (I know, I know), it would be the Team Health hat company. I’ve had this idea for a while, just haven’t made it reality. Pretty simple, I wanted to make dri-fit material hats exactly like Nike, only have them say Team Health across the front. I think it’s pretty funny and I wear hats all the time. After doing some market research, turns out that athletic material hats are really rare because of the patents on the material. I went to the garment district in LA and no dice. Dad hats are an option, but then I’m just not as excited anymore…blah. Not sure what the move is here. If have ideas –> comment below!

Here are the questions in my head right now:

  • Should I just try to work with these existing projects and get the billable hours up?
  • Is THIS i.e. blogging part of the work stack?
  • How much of my stack should have me as leader/CEO?
  • Can I timeline for optimizing the workload toward Human Development?
  • Am I asking too many questions lol

Yeah, I probably am. For now, I think I just need to settle in, and get 2 weeks of solid work in. Bill good hours for the crypto guys, do good work for my ex-sumo mentor, and hit our monthly goals for Cardinal. The MMA company will come back, in due time.

Plus, if all goes as predicted this month, I’ll finally be building a cash reserve for leaving Portland and go out on my own again. That’s a nice thought for sure.