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Freelance Cake

Freelance Cake

Von: Austin L. Church
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This podcast helps ambitious freelancers get better results with less effort. We reveal the specific beliefs, principles, and practices that give you better leverage. Every episode contains no-hype, non-expiring ideas that you can use right away to make the freelance game more profitable and enjoyable.© 2022 Freelance Cake Management & Leadership Ökonomie
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  • How To Hire Without Killing Your Reputation (or Your Profits) with Michal Eisik

    How To Hire Without Killing Your Reputation (or Your Profits) with Michal Eisik
    Jul 17 2026
    At some point in your freelance career, you start wondering whether the next level requires another person.Maybe you’re booked out. Maybe too much of your week disappears into work that drains you. Or maybe you’re tired of being the person who must write, review, approve, fix, and send everything.Hiring sounds like the obvious solution.Unfortunately, a rushed hire can take a manageable problem and give it access to your clients, your calendar, and your bank account.In this episode, I talk with Michal Eisik, an agency founder and the creator of ScaleTribe, about how advanced freelancers can hire without creating a fresh layer of chaos. Michal has grown her own agency from a solo operation into a global five-person team. She has also mentored more than 600 freelancers through CopyTribe, Profitable Freelancer, and ScaleTribe.She knows firsthand that most hiring mistakes happen before the job is posted. People get overwhelmed. They need help yesterday. Then they hire the first available person who seems smart, pleasant, and reasonably competent.That person may be excellent. They may also be excellent at the wrong things.Michal explains why you should first get clear on your motivation. Are you trying to break through a revenue ceiling? Buy back time? Escape draining work? Move from execution into strategy and leadership?Your answer changes the role you should create and the person you should look for.We also discuss Michal’s “zone of drag”: the work that drains your energy, slows you down, or prevents you from focusing on more valuable activities. Your zone of drag can show you where to start, but “I hate this task” isn’t always a good enough reason to throw it at someone else.You still need enough familiarity with the work to define success, create a useful brief, and recognize quality when you see it. Otherwise, you’re left with blind trust or micromanagement.Neither one buys back much time.Michal shares a practical process for lowering the risk:Define the responsibilities, outcomes, skills, and personal qualities the role requires.Ask candidates for three relevant samples, not a giant portfolio scavenger hunt.Start with a small, paid test project before handing over a major deadline.Create a clear brief so the person doesn’t need telepathy to succeed.Review larger projects at the 30%, 60%, and 90% stages.Give direct feedback while also pointing out what the person should continue doing well.We also talk about the replacement ladder and why administrative work is often a sensible place to start. Often—not always.Michal recommends tracking your time and looking at your actual business instead of blindly following an online formula. If admin takes two hours a week while delivery consumes thirty, a junior practitioner may buy back more meaningful time than a VA.Then there is the management part.Hiring someone does not automatically remove you as the bottleneck. You can build a team and still become the “approver of everything,” where every email, decision, and deliverable waits for your blessing.To move beyond that role, you have to let capable people make decisions. You have to accept that most mistakes are not fatal. And you have to build a culture where people communicate problems quickly, own the outcome, and learn from what happened.Finally, Michal gets candid about the numbers.Hiring is not a productivity trick. It is an investment. You need predictable revenue, healthy margins, pricing that can support good talent, and enough room in your calendar to train the person. Michal says the first month is usually training-heavy, the second still contains plenty of questions, and meaningful return on the hire often begins around month three.You cannot hire someone on Monday and disappear until the gorgeous finished work arrives.Rude, but useful.If you’re considering a VA, subcontractor, junior practitioner, project manager, or your first full-time team member, this conversation will help you replace guessing with a more thoughtful plan.Key PointsStart with your motivation: The right hire depends on whether you want more revenue, more time, relief from draining tasks, or a move into strategy and leadership.Audit your zone of drag: Identify the recurring work that drains you, slows you down, or keeps you away from higher-value responsibilities.Define the role before finding the person: Clarify the work they will own, the outcomes they will produce, and the skills and qualities they need.Do not panic-hire: Availability and general competence do not guarantee fit for the specific role your business requires.Vet with relevant evidence: Ask for three relevant samples and an explanation of why each one applies to your project.Use paid test projects: Start small, contained, and low-stakes before trusting someone with important client work.Create useful feedback loops: Review work at the 30%, 60%, and 90% stages so the person can course-correct before the end.Avoid becoming the approver of...
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    59 Min.
  • Add $100K in Freelance Profit Through Podcast Guesting with Dustin Riechmann

    Add $100K in Freelance Profit Through Podcast Guesting with Dustin Riechmann
    Jul 10 2026
    Dustin Riechmann went from traffic engineer to marketing consultant to meat stick entrepreneur to founder of 7-Figure Leap.Yes, meat sticks.After COVID wiped out many of his local consulting clients and stopped the in-person trade show strategy that had been growing his e-commerce brand, Dustin got on a podcast. That one move helped him grow the meat stick company to seven figures, get into Walmart, and eventually build a coaching business around strategic podcast guesting.This conversation is not about “getting your name out there,” which is one of those phrases that sounds useful until you try to pay your mortgage with exposure.Dustin makes a much more precise claim: podcast guesting can become a real revenue channel for freelancers, consultants, coaches, and agency owners who treat it with consistency and intention.His basic math is simple: If the right podcast interview produces an average of $2,000 in sales, and you do one good interview a week for 50 weeks, that’s $100,000.But the more interesting part is what happens after the interview.You build relationships with hosts.You get introduced to other guests.You create repurposable content.You sharpen your stories.You become easier to trust.That’s the flywheel.Dustin also breaks down his five-part framework: purpose, plan, pitch, perform, and profit. We spend time on why “purpose” comes before choosing shows, how to write a pitch that doesn’t smell like AI-generated oatmeal, why smaller podcasts can be wildly profitable, and which three stories freelancers should prepare before showing up as a guest.If you want a more predictable way to build authority, start better relationships, and generate opportunities without relying entirely on referrals or social media, this episode will give you a practical place to start.Key PointsPodcast guesting is not just exposure: Dustin argues that strategic guesting can become a measurable business development channel when freelancers treat it like a system.The $100K math is simple, but not magic: One relevant interview per week, multiplied by an average of $2,000 in sales per interview, creates the basic path to $100,000.Consistency beats dabbling: Showing up on one or two podcasts and hoping for fireworks is not a strategy. The results come from repeated reps, better stories, and compounding relationships.Smaller niche podcasts can outperform bigger shows: Dustin explains why a small, trusted, highly relevant audience can be more valuable than a massive but less targeted one.Podcast interviews compress trust: The long-form, conversational format helps listeners get to know you faster, especially because the host has already earned their trust.Purpose comes before the podcast list: Before pitching shows, Dustin recommends getting clear on the transformation you provide and who you provide it for.Your pitch needs a relational anchor: A good pitch is not a spray-and-pray email. It should show real familiarity with the host, explain what’s in it for the audience, and make a clear ask.Great guests prepare three stories: Dustin recommends having an origin story, an authority story, and an “average Jane” story that proves the method can work for regular people too.A clear CTA matters: Freelancers with custom offers do not need to sell everything from the interview. Dustin recommends one clear next step, such as a playbook, quiz, assessment, or other opt-in that can help sort people after they raise their hand.Relationships create the real upside: The direct leads matter, but the host relationships, guest networks, partnerships, referrals, and repurposed content can become even more valuable over time.Notable Quotes“If you're viewing this as, ‘I might do this once, maybe twice, I’ll take it as it comes,’ you're not going to make a hundred thousand dollars. The way the hundred-thousand-dollar math works on podcast guesting is you have to do it consistently and you have to do it intentionally… On average, we see when people get on the right podcast with the right story, with the right call to action as a guest expert, we see an average of $2,000 in sales as a result of that.”“The types of opportunities we’re looking for are interviews with established hosts. Those hosts have already done all the work to build an audience and, more importantly, a trusting audience. So you as the guest get to borrow a large portion of that trust. The moment you open your mouth on the podcast, people already kind of believe you.”“One of the key questions you need to be able to answer is: what is the transformation you provide, and who do you provide it to? Maybe you’re like, ‘Duh, I’m selling stuff. Surely I have this figured out.’ You probably don’t. I think a lot of us, especially as freelancers, shortchange or overlook the fact that we actually provide transformation to people’s lives. If anyone’s ever paid you money, it’s because you gave them a transformation.”“Every podcast ...
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    1 Std.
  • Creating MRR with High-Ticket Freelance Clients with Amanda Northcutt

    Creating MRR with High-Ticket Freelance Clients with Amanda Northcutt
    Jun 26 2026

    What does it actually take to create monthly recurring revenue with high-ticket freelance clients?

    In this episode, Austin talks with Amanda Northcutt about the shift from project-based freelancing to premium retainers, advisory work, and long-term client engagements. Amanda explains why doing great work is not enough, why generalists struggle to command premium fees, and why high-ticket MRR starts with positioning, proof, methodology, voice-of-customer research, and offers that are built around outcomes instead of hours.

    Listen to the full conversation.

    Key Points

    • MRR requires more than a retainer label: Monthly recurring revenue works when the client understands the ongoing value, not when you simply repackage random tasks into a monthly fee.
    • High-ticket clients pay for outcomes: Amanda emphasizes pricing based on transformation, value, and expertise rather than effort or hours.
    • The expert’s dilemma causes undercharging: Freelancers often undervalue work that feels easy because they forget clients are paying for years of judgment and pattern recognition.
    • Generalists have a harder time selling premium retainers: If you are for everyone, you become easier to compare, replace, and negotiate down.
    • Five things need to be true: Amanda names positioning, ideal clients, methodology, product ladder, and client acquisition as essential ingredients for a stronger recurring revenue business.
    • Your methodology is the linchpin: A clear method helps clients understand what you do, why it works, and why the engagement should continue.
    • Voice-of-customer research sharpens the offer: Amanda recommends talking to best-fit prospects to learn how they describe their problems, what those problems cost, and what language will make your offer feel relevant.
    • Brain work beats endless hands work: Advisory, coaching, consulting, and fractional support can create higher leverage than retainers stuffed with time-consuming deliverables.
    • Good fences prevent scope creep goblins: Long-term engagements need clear containers, outcomes, boundaries, and expectations.
    • The best MRR offers create stickiness: Quarterly priorities, access, accountability, relationships, measurable results, and strategic guidance make you harder to replace.

    Notable Quotes

    • “You should be pricing your services based on the value and outcomes and transformation that you’re providing to your client, not the inputs that you put in.”
    • “If you are the freelancer that is for all people at all times that will solve any problems because you’re this amazing generalist, you are a commodity... If you’re for everybody, you’re actually for nobody.”
    • “Your highest leverage and what you will get paid the most for, counterintuitively, is brain work.”
    • “We always want to decouple our time inputs from our money outputs.”
    • “The purpose [of longer consulting engagements] is to create predictable recurring revenue over a long period of months and also to protect yourself and prevent scope creep.”


    Resources Mentioned

    • Amanda Northcutt on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/northcuttamanda/
    • Amanda’s newsletter, Get the Level: https://welevelupcreators.com/
    • Amanda’s email: amanda@welevelupcreators.com
    • Freelance Cake Community: https://freelancecake.com/community
    • Nir Eyal’s book, Beyond Belief: https://www.nirandfar.com/beyond-belief/
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    55 Min.
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