The Best Internet SELLER THE NORTHERN PEARL www.thenorthernpearl.com

Lesson 1 Assess Your Skills Assess Your Market Assess Your Competitors Assess Costs 

Assess Your Skills  Don’t discount this one because if you miss this step you’ll never be successful. Consider these three qualifiers and write down your answers so that you can review them in the future and re-assess your skills as they evolve. Common mistakes are selling a product that is too vague or undefined, selling a skill that you actually don’t have (major red flag!), or trying to sell a skill that can’t actually be bought or transferred. ☞ What is my talent or skill? (ex/ writing)  ☞ What is my niche? (ex/ technical writing)  ☞ How can this transfer to a customer’s needs? (ex/ instructional or how-to writing) 

Assess Your Market  Is your product innovative or old news? In order to break into a market you have to offer something fresh, unique, and valuable to your clients. Jumping into a popular market proves that customers are buying the products and have a need for that niche but you also have to consider the market saturation and intensity of competition. On the other hand, creating a completely new, innovative service offers unlimited potential to define a market and create interest in a unique set of services but you also run the risk of building up a product that doesn’t have a need. There is no formula for the perfect balance here. Do your research, watch the trends, and throw your darts for the perfect middle ground that gives you a balance for success.

Assess Your Competitors Once you have a core list of talents that you’re confident you can thrive with, you have to assess your competitors and decide how you can measure up to the existing competition. Sort through the listings and look for these key components for each of your possible niche offerings: ☞ Who is succeeding and who is failing – why? Target ten sellers in each category. You can learn just as much from the failures as the top rated sellers, if not more. Look for red flags that tick off buyers or drive traffic away and you’ll know what to avoid yourself. ☞ Analyze their business structure - price, amount, delivery time, response time, niche extras, policies, work samples, presentation, etc. ☞ Analyze their customer response – positive and negative reviews, consistency of ratings, etc.

Assess Costs  Knowing the market trends, set your limits on prices based on your assumed expenses and, above all, consider how valuable your time is. As a freelancer, you’re most likely working with minimal work expenses and instead will find yourself calculating your time. Before you start, you need to be realistic about what the job is going to cost you, not just what you’re going to get from it. I work hard every single day to deliver orders and get a new blog post published on top of everything else and, I’ll be honest, I miss out on some things when the delivery timers start ticking. Once you get started you will have the flexibility and power to adjust your prices and offerings to more accurately match what your time is worth but you’ll always need to respect yourself and your limits. If you’re paying taxes on your freelance income, as you’re legally obligated to do, it’s good to invest in your business, not only for the quality of work that you can produce but also for tax write-offs. I personally invested in a 4G work tablet so that I can write on the go and was pleased to take the investment off of my taxable income. Be realistic about your needs and resources but also remember that you deserve to have the proper equipment and you should enjoy the process.