90 Days to Consistent Clients Masterclass

Hosted by:
Cheryl Woodhouse, Founder, Tactile Design Co. & Creator of Solo School
How to get clients that
don’t suck and build a
consistent income from
your freelance business
90 Days to
Consistent Clients

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MOST FREELANCERS
Before I ﬁgured this out, I was
constantly obsessed with where my
next client or project would come
from, building my list and my
following, and taking on things I
didn’t want to do in order to pay the
bills - when I was actually able to
pay the bills, that is.
SUCCESSFUL FREELANCERS
Now I work with a handful of “anchor
clients” who together pay me a really
good income. We love working
together, and I always know what’s
coming in terms of workload and
ﬁnances - next week, next month, next
quarter.

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Stick around if . . .
• You’re tired of the income rollercoaster and want more consistency from your
freelance or service based business
• You’re stuck working with clients you don’t like
• You’re really good at what you do, and seek to serve your clients at the highest
level possible
• You dislike the “sales” part of running your freelance business and would
rather just do your “thing”
• You’re tired of trying to beat an algorithm or send a cold email that works just
to eat this month

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But! You’re probably better to tune out if:
• You’d rather be famous than busy
• You’re not going to take action on what you learn today
• You want to make a million dollars this week
• You enjoy tinkering with your website and IG instead of actually serving clients
• You’re distracted right now and watching this on one screen while working or
playing a game on the other
• You’ll get mad when I give you the playbook for free that kept me fed, fulltime,
for the past 9 years as a freelancer and then invite you to work with me at the
end.

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Stay until the end for Q&A and an exclusive chance to implement this
system in a massively supportive community of your peers.

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Who am I, and why am I qualified to teach you this?
I first started freelancing at just 16 years old, building
websites.
By 18 I was writing copy, and by 23, I was perfectly
content writing articles on Upwork (then oDesk) for
vacation money and planning to stay home with my
first child.
Until...

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One month to the day after she was born, my partner lost his job in the
aftermath of the still lingering 2008 recession.
My freelance business went from vacation money to all our money really f*cking
fast.
And I managed to scrape along for 18 months before it all came crashing down,
and we lost our house while 6 months pregnant with our second child.

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I put everything into ﬁguring out how to build a consistent income so I
would never be homeless again.
From my inlaws spare bedroom, I read every book, poured over every course,
every webinar, and every resource, until something ﬁnally clicked.
I can remember standing on that cold sidewalk to take the client’s call in the
middle of a family gathering (remember when we could have those?) at 9pm on
a rainy October night, telling her I wanted $5k/month to do the work.

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I remember the tears I cried when she said okay.
We moved within a month, and 9 years later with my third child starting
kindergarten I grew it into an agency.
My team and I now serve a handful of clients WE love (while I travel and work
from anywhere when it’s, ahem, allowed due to travel restrictions…) and it’s time
for me to share what saved my family with you.
It’s the very same thing I’ve done for the past 8 years every time I needed to
grow my business, and it works.

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I’ve now generated $750,000 in the past 9 years, and we’re on track to break
$250k this year.
I’m not saying this to brag. I’m not another “build a six-ﬁgure business in your
underwear” weirdo. I’m telling you this because that’s an average of $83k/year.
It’s an income.
It allowed me to be home full time with my children, to travel with our RV for
months on end, to live life on my terms, and to grow it when I was ready to.
Though of course, I’m still using the same system - I just have more help :)

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Before we dig into the training, I have to tell you something.
As I took this journey, I had a lot of bad clients.

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Every freelancer has had a bad client.
The client isn’t a bad person, they’re just not an optimal working relationship.

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Maybe they don’t pay on time, or they second-guess everything, or they
micromanage your work, or they don’t respect time boundaries.

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Maybe the scope creep is real, or you’re not delivering something you’re proud
of.

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Maybe their expectations are completely unrealistic.

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Maybe they keep ﬁring you because they’re quitting smoking and are super
agitated. (#truestory)
Whatever it is that makes them challenging to work with, I promise you - you’re
not alone.
Every freelancer has had clients like this.

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But I’m going to point something out that was an absolute game-changer
realization for me:
You feel stuck working for toxic clients because you don't have enough
better clients to replace them.
And you don't have enough clients to replace them because the leads you ARE
getting can't afford you, so your proposals keep ﬂopping.

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And the leads you're getting can't afford you and your proposals are failing
because your marketing systems aren't working.

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AND - the real reason your marketing and client attraction systems aren't
working is because you don't know how to research, develop, position, and sell
your offer so you can earn consistent income from clients you LOVE.

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I know it is possible, because I have done it!

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I now work exclusively with clients who value my expertise, follow my creative
direction, respect and request and ACTIVELY SEEK OUT my advice, respect my
boundaries, and stay within scope.

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I love them so much, they easily COULD take advantage, and they don't!
I'm so grateful to have these amazing clients because of the systems I've put in
place to keep them that way.

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So. Let's talk about how I do that.

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I call it the POUR method.
P ositioning
O utreach
U psell
R inse and repeat, plus referrals
That’s the path to success as a service-based
solo entrepreneur.

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Phase 1: Positioning

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Research.
In order to position yourself as an expert problem solver (instead of a deliverable
service provider) you need to truly understand who your clients are and what
makes them tick.
Make a list of all of your past clients and people you want to work with, and
interview them.
Learn about their needs BEYOND what you do - whole business stuff. Goals,
challenges, obstacles, what else they've tried, everything.
1

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Take the time to understand their goals, their challenges, everything they’ve
already tried. Do not focus on what you do - focus on them.
You’ll use this information to help you understand the problems your clients
desperately need solved, so you no longer have to compete with other service
providers who offer the same solutions.
Ask for more recommendations on people you can talk to.
Remember, many of these people know you and want to help you.
1

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Develop a year-long project you would like to tackle for your favourite 10-15 of
these clients based on the problems you now know they have.
If you had one year to solve the biggest, hairiest problem for your clients, how
would you do it? Where would you start? What would your dream client want
you to do for them? How would you work together?
Draft out what problem you'll solve for them, and how you'll do it.
Bullet points are ﬁne. This document is only for YOU.
2

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Phase 2: Outreach
aka Get Paid to Build Your Proposal

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Now dream up the FIRST STEP to that offer.
3

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Ideally, you’re selling them a strategy - a plan to achieve their goal.
This could be a marketing plan, content plan, website plan, brand strategy or
rebrand plan, maybe even an assessment.
3

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The goal is to create something that will lead the client to trust you on the
bigger piece - you’re going to tell them exactly what they have to do over the
next 6-12 months to achieve their goal, and give it to them.
3

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Price it at approximately 80% of the monthly rate you want to charge for the
year-long project.
3

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4
Return to those 10-15 favourite potential and past clients from your research
phase, and let them know that you’ve ﬁnished your research and think you’ve
found a solution.
Ask to get on a Zoom with them because you want to tell them about it and see
if it is a ﬁt for their goals.
5-10 will likely respond and book a time with you. The more people who respond
to you here, the stronger your relationships are.

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A handful will take you up on this.
Your job on this call is to talk again about their problems and their goals.
When you’re clear on their problems and goals, tell them you think you have
something that can help.
5

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Ask permission to tell them about your new offer.
Consent is essential in sales.
The more you can have a client make small commitments, the more they will
trust you in the long run.
5

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Explain what you found in your research - that the problems a lot of clients are
facing are similar to the problems THEY are facing.
Tell them that you built a brand new way of working that will help them create a
plan to achieve their goals using (__your expertise__).
Let them know that once they have this plan, they can take it and implement it
in any way they please. It’s a low-risk way to get access to your expertise,
customized to their speciﬁc needs.
5

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Keep going and talking to more and more past clients and potential clients.
Email everyone from your initial research phase, and everyone else you know
who may be interested in what you’ve created.
You can even revisit people who didn’t have time to help with your research, and
offer to share the research results with them.
Your goal is to enrol 3-5 of your absolute best ﬁt clients into this short term
project.
6

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In most cases, you’ve earned $5-$15k just from this step alone.
6

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Now over-deliver.
Put everything you’ve got into making this project amazing and blowing them
away with the results.
I know you’re amazing at what you do. The client needs to see you excel. They
need to see you dig deep, really understand their situation, and bring everything
to the table. Don’t leave anything out that could help them.
7

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Phase 3: Upsell clients into a long term offer

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Update your year-long project idea based on everything you've learned.
Once you’re done, you want to turn your strategy into a full proposal that shows
the exact difference you could make, if given more time.
Break down exactly how you would implement the strategy you’ve given them.
How long it would take. Which pieces would bring the biggest results.
8

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Host your project debrief, and go over the success of the short-term project.
Walk them through every step of the strategy, and really get their buy in.
You want them to understand that your plan is the best way to achieve their
ultimate goals and their business dreams.
9

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When the client is super satisﬁed and happy, tell them you’d like to continue
working with them, and you have an idea that you think can help them achieve
their BIG goal.
9

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Invite them to a follow up call to go over a proposal with them.
Book that follow up meeting DURING your call with the client.
9

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10
In the follow up meeting, pitch the 6-12 month project from step 8.
Calculate how much additional revenue your clients could make from
this project, and share that ﬁgure with them.
Offer to complete the project for an amount equal to 10% of that
increase.
So if you believe you can help a client increase their revenue by
$200,000 over the next 6-12 months, offer to complete the project for
$20,000.

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10
Most clients would be very happy to pay $20,000 to earn $200,000.
This anchoring allows you to charge premium prices, but minimize
their cost when compared to their value.
You’re likely to close 1-2 of these into monthly payment plans on 6-12
month projects.

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10
You’re now making $2-10k/month, depending on what size of a project
you proposed to them.
(And that’s conservative. You could be making $20k+, but I want this to
feel realistic for you!)

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Rinse and repeat as needed to ﬁll gaps in your client roster. Enter a new niche
every time. This model is amazing for multi-passionate people who don’t want
to choose their niche and narrow down too far.
You want to keep 3-5 long-term projects going at any given time, generating
$6-10k/month in revenue at a minimum.
And yes, you can build an agency this way.
You’re likely to get referrals from your clients as you go, which will mean you
need help if you say “yes” to everyone who wants to work with you :)

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I follow these exact steps every time I want to break into a new market and
get new clients.
I did it with the craft spirits market, education, tourism, online course creators,
social media marketing, mompreneurship, design for CPG brands, PR for
inﬂuencers…

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I’ve done this so many times in the past 9 years, I’ve completely lost count.
You could go ahead and implement this system right now and get clients.
I believe in you!

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But if you want some help I’ve created a way for entrepreneurs like you to get
detailed, step by step information on this process and apply it in a massively
supportive community of their peers.
There is so much more to this process that I could have ﬁlled another 6 webinars
and done another 10 Q&A calls, so that’s what I did.
#

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I’ve created Solo School, and I’m actively recruiting some pilot participants to
help me gather case studies so I can show proven results from this process.
During this pilot, we’ll spend 8 weeks going through the three phases and ten
steps I just shared with you.

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You’re going to learn how to:
• Position yourself as an expert solution provider
• Price your projects based on their value
• Close more clients without being salesy
• Build consistency in your income
• Build client relationships you love
• and a ton more

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All without ever:
• Messing with your website
• Building a list
• Beating the algorithm
• Dropping “engagement posts” in random groups
• Cold emailing randoms
• Crying (hopefully. Maybe a happy cry?)

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Crazy, right?
It’s a total contrast to everything else you’re hearing online right now, and that’s
the point.
I did it the way everyone promotes, with the website and the guest blogs.
I’ve had a podcast (it ﬂopped), I have an IG (no one follows me), I’ve built SO
MANY websites (lost count.)
But every single client I’ve ever had has come to me using these strategies.

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But this is only for people who are committed to taking action.
I’ve told my agency clients before - if I have to pull you in, I’ll have to pull you
along, and I’m not about to do that.
The purpose of this pilot is to get successful case studies.

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So if you’re ready to implement this training and you want to add 1-3 new
anchor clients to your business in the next 90 days, lets talk.
I’m limiting this pilot to 20 people, and even before this webinar started, I’ve
ﬁlled 6 spots.
Apply now:
Calendly.com/cherylwoodhouse/solo-school-intake

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One of my mentors once told me that your actual limits extend far beyond your
mental limits.
You hold yourself back from what you want because you’re too scared to go
after it.
The crazy thing is, once you go after it, it isn’t scary anymore.

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So go after it.
And let me help.
Apply now:
Calendly.com/cherylwoodhouse/solo-school-intake

90 Days to Consistent Clients Masterclass

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