Just landed a new client to help activate a workflow on n8n. But instead of being a simple job of activating a template he found on n8n… It turned out to be, “hey can we change this and add this?” So in the end, we went from “just activate this workflow” to “I need to build out extra workflows and create new logic for things to work.” Here’s the thing: I know the deal is dead. Because if I don’t 100% satisfy him, I’ll get a 1–4 star rating, and anything besides 5 stars is bad on Upwork. I don’t want to risk my score, so instead of continuing, I dropped the project and handed over the work I already did so he can keep at it. But the lesson I’ve learned is this: it’s so important to have repeat customers and 5-star ratings. If it’s not possible, it’s best to drop out right away. Because one-off customers or constantly getting new customers is not a great place to be. The goal should be to have people return. Which is why when one of my earlier clients came back and said, “hey I have another project,” I knew I did a good job. Because I didn’t need to sell him on working with me, he simply asked for help. So for me, the goal is: how many people can return for a second round or even more after the first project? Because at that point, it’s easy money.

Hey everyone I was enjoying this community and started building my business but I keep thinking that I am doing way too much too soon and I want to get on a call with someone that is actually making money with this to basically share my thoughts and see if they hold water, I have a background in sales so I am happy to help anyone if you have any questions towards the sales side of businesses. If anyone would be down to do this shoot me a message 😁

Some lessons I’ve learned this week: - When it comes to automating, a huge chunk of it is about bringing people back to reality about what’s possible and what’s not. - There is always some edge case. Even when a job sounds easy on paper, there’s always a curveball. - The more work I have, the less time I have to get more jobs. - Know your inputs for how to get jobs. If you don’t know these, it will never work.

So I just got my second 5-star rating on Upwork, which I believe will help me get clients even easier moving forward. I also just quoted another person $495. I honestly only quoted that because the task isn’t very sensible in terms of success rate. But he said yes and seems ready to move forward. Before accepting the price, he asked me twice if it was based on the number of workflows or the hours I work. I said no. You want X, and I’ll deliver X for $495. This is the thing with pricing that I’ve come to terms with. I can’t price my work based on hours. Nobody will pay that, and at that point people will want to track your screen at all times. I also can’t price the work based on the number of workflows, because then why not make 100 workflows and get paid more. And the same goes for nodes. If that was the case, I’d just make 200 nodes and get paid more. So what I’ve realized is that pricing my solution based on how much time I save them in a month or how much money I make them is the only approach that makes sense. Once I know that number, I know which package fits. And that’s my simple tier list between $95 and $495.

first client: quoted $800 for invoice automation actual build time: 6 hours my math: $133/hour sounds good then spent: - 4 hours fixing edge cases - 3 hours client training - 2 hours documentation - ongoing tweaks every week real hourly rate: maybe $40 switched to value pricing for client 2: "this saves you 15 hours monthly at $25/hour = $375 value monthly" "setup: $1200, maintenance: $200/month" they signed same day. stop charging for YOUR time. charge for THEIR time saved. whats your pricing strategy?