Get Inside Their Heads

2011:
year HUSTLE
YOUR WAY
of
TO THE TOP
Get Inside Their Heads:
How To Avoid “No” and Score Big Wins
the
By Deeply Understanding Your Prospect
BY RAMIT SETHI
hustle
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GET INSIDE THEIR HEADS
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MOST PEOPLE DESERVE TO FAIL

Today, learn why the vast majority of freelancers DESERVE to fail — and then how you
can be in the rare 1% who earns $1,000+.
You’ll learn:
1. How to crush the “No” instinct of your customers

2. Why getting to “Yes, I’ll pay you” happens far before you ever ask
3. How to get deeply in your customers’ heads
4. How I charge a consulting fee of $1,200/hour
I know you’ve been thinking about the different skills you have that you might be able to
turn into income. Take a second and think about your potential offering: You want to be
a freelance project manager? Or a graphic designer. Maybe you’re good at communica-
tions or soft skills? Even engineering.
Now that you’ve got that in your head, let’s tackle today’s lesson on why most freelanc-
ers keep hearing “No, I wouldn’t pay for that” over and over…and how you can find cus-
tomers who will help you earn your first $1,000.
DO YOU NOTICE A PROBLEM WITH THESE IDEAS?

A short while ago, I asked readers to do the following quick exercise on the IWillTeach
blog:
www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com
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WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO GET YOUR FIRST 3 FREELANCE CUSTOMERS?
1. My specific customer is someone with this problem: _________.
2. My prospective customer spends time researching the problem /

solutions in these 3 places:
1.
2.
3.
3. One way I can break in to one of the places above: _________.
4. My opening line in an email to them: __________.
People spent a lot of time writing detailed responses on the type of freelance business-
es they were going to try to do.
There was just one problem:
Nobody wants your services!!!
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“But Ramit,” you might say, “I swear — there are people who want to take dance lessons
/ hire a freelance tech person / get social media marketing help for their small business!”
True. They might accept your dance lesson, or tech help, or marketing advice, if you of-
fer it as a volunteer service. For free.
But are they willing to pay?
You know that uncomfortable feeling you’re getting right now? Where you have an idea
of what you want to offer, but aren’t really clear on how to get clients to:
• Pay you a competitive rate (over $25/hour MINIMUM, and in some

cases well over $100/hour)
• Pay you consistently (so you’re not just doing one-off projects and con-
stantly looking for clients)
• Refer you to other customers who will pay
You’re going to learn how to do exactly this.
HOW TO OVERCOME THE AUTOMATIC “NO”

When people get approached as customers, their default response is “no.” “NO, I don’t
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want it.” “NO, I don’t want to pay for it.” “NO, I don’t want to pay that amount for it.”
Think about it. What if someone pitched you on paying them to be your personal trainer
($75/session), personal chef ($800/month), or project manager ($900/month). What
would you say?
The default answer is no — even if you really WANT a personal trainer!
But there’s something even worse about the responses on my blog post:
They made the mistake of thinking about themselves first, and their
customer last.
Today we’re going to go over how you can get around “no” by truly understanding sup-
ply and demand, and using it to turn your freelance service into a freelance business.
Many times, you can get around “no.” Every successful freelancer has to figure this out,
otherwise their business would be a charity.
But it would be easier to fight an entirely different battle altogether… one where people
actually want to say “yes” to you.
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RAPID CASE STUDIES: AVOIDING THE

CARDINAL SIN OF FREELANCING
The first step to getting around “no” is to get inside your customers’ heads — not just
people’s heads, but potential customers who are willing and able to pay you. This will
help you understand the supply-demand relationship between what you can offer (sup-
ply) and what the market really wants (demand).
Supply = what you offer. Most people can write up a fairly standard page on what they
offer.
Demand = what people want and are willing to pay for. Nearly 50% of the freelance
ideas I’ve seen completely neglect this.
It’s natural, after all…you’re so busy thinking about your own features and offerings that
you forget about the one person you’re really trying to serve: your client. What do they
want? Why? What are they afraid of? How will they find you? What have they already
tried?
HERE’S A CONCRETE EXAMPLE:
IDEA: “Promotional video commercials for local nonprofits.” On first

thought, it seems like an OK idea, right? Non-profits can probably use all
the help they can get!
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WHY THIS IS TERRIBLE: Local nonprofits are not a target customer for
high-budget, resource-intensive creative video work. They may accept it
gladly as a gift, but don’t EVER EVER think that this will become a business
that will get you to your first $1K. No matter how good you are at commer-
cials, no matter how easy it is for you, you’ll never make $1,000 doing this.
BETTER IDEA: “Promotional video commercials for engaged couples to

‘Save the Date’ for their wedding.”
WHY THIS IS GREAT: Think about a newly engaged couple. SIT DOWN
AND THINK ABOUT THEM. Really! They’re in love…they want to enjoy their
engagement and tell all their friends about it.
She wants to show off her ring! He wants to get dressed up, but not do
something too girly. And they’re willing to spend money — it’s their special
time, after all. In fact, they’re ACTIVELY LOOKING FOR WAYS TO SPEND
MONEY to show how special their engagement is. Since their wedding will
be many tens of thousands of dollars, a $500 or $1,000 project is nothing.
My friend Chris has actually implemented this idea, and he’s well on his way
to $1K+ because of it.
Do you see the difference?
The engaged couple in the above example actually wants what you’re offering. Instead
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of trying to convince them to do it at all, you can spend time helping them pick the best
video options. Compare this to the non-profit (or many other freelance ideas), where
you’ll offer something they don’t want and waste 6 months trying to convince them to
pay you. Not gonna happen.
NOW LET’S TACKLE ANOTHER ONE:
REALLY BAD IDEA: “My specific customer is someone with this problem:
A low-to-mid income parent looking for ways to supplement his/her inter-
ested child’s visual arts education (”My kid really seems to like art, but I’m
no good at it” or “Have no time for it.” mentality).”
WHY THIS IS TERRIBLE: Do you see it already? The answer is right there in
the description of this idea.
This “customer” will never, ever pay for this service because (1) they don’t
even know they have a problem, (2) they’re not aware of any paid solutions.
There’s also another thing…OH YEAH, they are low-to-middle income. Even
if they wanted to use this service, they can’t afford it!
If you’re thinking, “Well Ramit, that’s really harsh…how do you know?” then
you have to put yourself in your customers’ head.
Think about a low-income mother or father. Of all the challenges in their
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day, do you think they’re thinking of a way to “supplement” (??) their child’s
visual arts education? How much would they pay for this?
If your target buyer is a ‘low-to-mid income parent’ and you are selling
something that is not part of what most people consider to be absolutely
core childraising activities, then seriously consider offering it as a charity
and forget about getting to your first $1K.
Honestly, it’s a noble idea. But it’s simply what someone thought about off
the top of their head (supply). There is no demand, and if your immediate
goal is to earn $1,000+, you should steer clear of this and focus on another
idea. Later, you can donate part to charity or expand for community service.
BETTER IDEA: This person would be better off targeting higher income
parents who have both capacity AND willingness to pay. Think like a parent.
Are most parents concerned only with their children’s unfufilled interest in
visual arts? Maybe some are. A very few. But for most, it’s not a core con-
cern, and they’re concerned about a lot more things. (By the way, parents
are willing to pay a lot for their kids’ well-being. Just not for this.)
Get inside your customers’ heads: What do they care enough about to pay money for?
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HOW I GOT INSIDE MY CUSTOMERS’ HEADS

This one is counter-intuitive...
When I first started I Will Teach You To Be Rich, I could have started writing about all
financial topics under the sun. There are literally hundreds of thousands of topics, and
millions of people that I could try to cater to. I didn’t do it that way.
Instead, I intentionally excluded certain groups of people because I knew that I didn’t
want to write for a mom with 2 kids looking to save money on coupons. It’s fine to be a
mom with kids, but I don’t understand them very well (I’m not a mom), nor are they my
target, nor does my writing style really appeal to them.
It takes guts to decide who you’re NOT going to serve. But picking the right customers
will help your income skyrocket
A lot of people emailed me saying they wanted to offer computer services as their free-
lance idea. This is a great area. But who are you targeting, specifically? Are you just
selling blindly to “everyone?” Or, have you determined a specific niche? Who will you
intentionally exclude?
If the answer is no one, then you’re in grave danger.
The secret to commanding rates as high as mine is in defining a highly specific niche,
and intentionally excluding everyone else.
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Cater to the lowest common denominator, and you’ll have to price your services that
way too. Cater to your niche, and your service becomes not only unique but scarce as
well. Uniqueness and scarcity work hand-in-hand to drive up your rates.
HOW I CHARGE $1,200/HOUR

How I charge $1,200/hour
I’ve never revealed my consulting rate publicly, and I rarely take on consulting clients.
But I want to share the number with you to illustrate how it can be done.
I currently charge clients $1,200/hour for highly targeted consulting services to grow
their business.
They see these fees as an investment in solving their business problems, and they’re
willing to pay an extraordinary fee to get there. I require them to sign multi-month agree-
ments (because you can’t get much done in a month). I require that they meet me in
person (and charge them).
And they eagerly pay.
Again, the key here is that I only target a very specific type of customer who knows they
have a problem, and have a willingness to pay to solve that problem. I don’t consult for
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everybody, and I turn down 99% of requests, even when people are willing to pay tens
of thousands of dollars.
The takeaway here is that nobody starts out earning 4-figure hourly rates, but getting
there starts with finding people who know they have a problem, and have the willing-
ness to pay.
Business is about finding people who:
1. KNOW THEY HAVE A PROBLEM
AND
2. HAVE THE WILLINGNESS TO PAY.
REPEAT: Business is about finding people who:
1. KNOW THEY HAVE A PROBLEM
AND
2. HAVE THE WILLINGNESS TO PAY.
Does your freelance idea have potential customers who recognize they have a prob-
lem?
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If you asked them, would they say, “Yeah! That’s been bugging me for MONTHS! I would
do ANYTHING to get rid of that (or “fix that” or “get MORE of that”)?
If you asked them about their willingness to pay, would they say “yes!” in so many
words? Will they have tried to solve their problem by buying other services/products that
just didn’t work? Will they have a dollar value in mind — even if it’s low — suggesting
that they know they’ll have to pay?
Or will they look at you blankly because they’d never, ever pay for the service you’re
mentioning?
WHAT YOU’VE LEARNED TODAY:

SUPPLY + [THE MISSING PIECE]
Supply and demand.
Everyone has tons of ideas (supply) — but ideas don’t sell
I want to teach people how to do online marketing.

I can teach artists how to market their art.
I will help small businesses start their own blogs.
But what about demand? Where’s your paying customer?
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Who needs online marketing, and who’s willing to pay for it? Do most people even know
what “online marketing” is? Or are they mostly mom-and-pops who think “this should be
free”?
Does that artist have any extra money to pay you? How many other artists are out there
who are willing and able to pay for your services?
Does that small business really need a blog? Why? Where exactly are you going to find
this business? And how are you going to find more businesses like that?
AFTER READING THIS, YOU CAN DO 1 OF 2 THINGS:
1. Skim this, say, “that was interesting,” and not adjust your own freelance idea
2. Sit down and carefully re-adjust your ideas to earn more so you’re targeting
customers who know they have a problem, and have a willingness to pay
Here’s what a couple of our Earn 1K alumni had to say:
“I’m now being paid $1000/month for about 5 hours+ work a month. My next
goal is to make this client very happy with my work and get an awesome re-
ferral (with my help) from him.”
–Justin Lam, Earn1k alum
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“It isn’t just throw something in the air and see what happens, it’s weeks of
building things and trying things… that totally changed my view. Everything is
a test. Just because a pitch didn’t go through doesn’t mean I suck — empha-
sizing that system made it doable for me, and that’s what I got out of Earn 1K.”
–April Dykman, Earn 1k alum
A HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT
This course is all about taking action. I don’t want you to just sit back and passively read
strategy after strategy. I want to make sure you get something out of this – even in just a
few days.
Today, take a few minutes and email me your answers to these questions:
1. Why do so many people focus on their services (supply)…but neglect the

market (demand)? Your three best guesses here.
2. What’s one example of what we talked about today: an entirely me-fo-

cused freelance offering?
3. How can you apply the principles of today’s lesson to your own freelance
idea? (Get really specific.)

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2011:

MOST PEOPLE DESERVE TO FAIL

1. How to crush the “No” instinct of your customers

DO YOU NOTICE A PROBLEM WITH THESE IDEAS?

WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO GET YOUR FIRST 3 FREELANCE CUSTOMERS?

1. My specific customer is someone with this problem: _________.

2. My prospective customer spends time researching the problem /

3. One way I can break in to one of the places above: _________.

4. My opening line in an email to them: __________.

There was just one problem:

Nobody wants your services!!!

But are they willing to pay?

• Pay you a competitive rate (over $25/hour MINIMUM, and in some

• Refer you to other customers who will pay

You’re going to learn how to do exactly this.

HOW TO OVERCOME THE AUTOMATIC “NO”

The default answer is no — even if you really WANT a personal trainer!

RAPID CASE STUDIES: AVOIDING THE

HERE’S A CONCRETE EXAMPLE:

IDEA: “Promotional video commercials for local nonprofits.” On first

BETTER IDEA: “Promotional video commercials for engaged couples to

Do you see the difference?

NOW LET’S TACKLE ANOTHER ONE:

Think about a low-income mother or father. Of all the challenges in their

HOW I GOT INSIDE MY CUSTOMERS’ HEADS

If the answer is no one, then you’re in grave danger.

HOW I CHARGE $1,200/HOUR

And they eagerly pay.

Business is about finding people who:

1. KNOW THEY HAVE A PROBLEM

2. HAVE THE WILLINGNESS TO PAY.

REPEAT: Business is about finding people who:

1. KNOW THEY HAVE A PROBLEM

2. HAVE THE WILLINGNESS TO PAY.

WHAT YOU’VE LEARNED TODAY:

Everyone has tons of ideas (supply) — but ideas don’t sell

I want to teach people how to do online marketing.

But what about demand? Where’s your paying customer?

AFTER READING THIS, YOU CAN DO 1 OF 2 THINGS:

Here’s what a couple of our Earn 1K alumni had to say:

1. Why do so many people focus on their services (supply)…but neglect the

2. What’s one example of what we talked about today: an entirely me-fo-

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