When Tess Wittler launched her freelance writing business in 2007, she felt good about selecting the home construction industry as her target market. After all, that’s where most of her expertise and experience lay.

But then the housing market crashed in 2008 and her business took a major hit.

The timing couldn’t have been worse. Her husband had recently left the military to attend school fulltime. They’d just sold their home and moved across the country.

This left Tess as the family’s sole breadwinner. “We did have some retirement savings, but any other income had to come from me and my business,” she says. “It was pretty daunting.”

Cash Flow Issues 

Her biggest challenge was cash flow. Every month, she struggled to pay their bills.

These cash flow issues were largely driven by Tessa’s low paying clients. “I was attracting low-end clients who honestly couldn’t afford professional services,” she says.

Compounding the problem was the sporadic nature of the projects. “I did have a couple of consistent clients,” she says. “But mostly, the work was very unpredictable.”

And even when work was promised, clients didn’t always follow through. “One firm told me they wanted a newsletter every other month, which was great,” she says. “But they didn’t end up holding to that schedule! It created a lot of stress, and I was concerned about our finances.”

An Investment That Would Pay for Itself 

Fortunately, Tess already had an idea about where to turn. She had followed Ed Gandia for years, taken some of his courses and attended some of his webinars. She also subscribed to his High-Income Business Writing podcast.

As soon as Tess and her family had settled into their new home, she signed up for Ed’s The 2X Project coaching program (now the Elevate program). “As soon as I saw that the class was opening again, I jumped all over it,” she says.

Even though the program was a bit pricey, Tess was convinced it would be a good investment. “I knew I needed personal coaching to get myself over this hump,” she says. “I believed 100% that if I invested in it, I would make the money back.”

Tess was also motivated to enroll because she hadn’t been able to make these changes on her own. “I was reading books and attending webinars, but nothing I learned was connecting for me,” she says. “I knew that working with Ed and the group would get me past this hump. That’s why I invested.”

Cash Flow Issues No More 

Just as she’d hoped, Tess got amazing results from the program. For example, she no longer struggles to pay her bills every month. “It’s been tremendous. Cash flow is no longer a concern,” she says.

The program has also helped relieve some of the constant stress she’d been experiencing. “About two months into The 2X Project program, I started getting more money in the door,” she says. “If someone didn’t pay me on time, I wasn’t worried that I wouldn’t be able to pay myself or my bills. That’s been huge!”

A Big Shot of Confidence 

Tess eventually came to realize that part of her struggles came from a lack of confidence. She’d never really believed in the value she delivered to her clients. But now that has changed. “I believe that I am a good choice for these builders and remodelers,” she says. “I believe that now.”

In turn, this boost in confidence has also helped her land better quality, higher paying clients. “I’m no longer attracting people that want to get something for nothing,” she says. “Today, I’m attracting clients that are able to pay professional level fees.”

Pricing That Reflects the True Value of Her Services 

With her newfound confidence, Tess started to reevaluate her pricing. “I quickly realized that my prices were way too low,” she says.

She soon realized that issues related to her confidence, cash flow and pricing were intertwined. With the help of the program, she was able to untangle them and move forward.

“Once I started charging higher prices to new clients, that helped with my cash flow,” she says. “That led me to feel more confident. I started to feel that, yes, I really did offer value to this industry.”

With all of these changes, she was able to construct a “new normal.” “Pricing and confidence build on each other,” she explains. “You get higher prices and that raises your confidence. It creates a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

Attracting Qualified Clients 

The next step was to edit her website copy so that it reflected this “new normal.” Today, prospective clients self-qualify themselves before contacting her.

“People could now look at my website and decide whether or not I was the right writer for them,” she says. “This meant that by the time a prospect reached out to me, they’re already pretty much sold. All we had to do was hammer out an agreement.”

With this change, Tess was able to close more deals in less time with less effort. “With this approach, pricing wasn’t usually an issue,” she says. “I could close more of these deals and have them move forward quickly. I wouldn’t invest days or weeks into a potential prospect only to have things fall through.”

The Right Target Market

Another important benefit of the program was that it confirmed Tess’ choice of target market. With the collapse of the housing market, she had wondered if she should change her focus. But the program confirmed to her that opportunities were there.

“I wasn’t attracting clients that understood the value of professional services. So I wondered if I’d made a mistake in focusing on residential construction as a target market,” she says. “But now I can see that there really is a market in this industry that will pay for what I offer and what I can do.”

She discovered that the challenges she was facing had little to do with the residential construction market. “The issue wasn’t with my choice of target market at all. The issues were more related to pricing and confidence,” she says.

A Way to Get Unstuck 

When asked what advice she would give to prospect students, Tess didn’t hesitate: Don’t wait.

She explains: “If you stick with the program, it works. The investment was hard to swallow at the time. But it has already paid for itself, hands down.”

She sees the program as a way to get unstuck. “If you’re feeling stuck and questioning whether you should continue with freelance work, then this program is completely worth the investment.”