Brandon Hale. Coach, freelancer, Masters ticket hopeful.
Fifteen years ago, I was exactly where you are right now.
I had a handful of clients. The work was good — good enough that they kept coming back, good enough that I was proud of most of what I shipped. And I was stuck. Not dramatically, not miserably. Just quietly, steadily stuck at an income that didn't match the quality of what I was doing.
Every time I worked up the nerve to raise my rates, my biggest client would push back. "We can't justify that. Our budget's set." And because they were 60% of my income, I'd back down. I'd tell myself it was fine, that next year would be different. It wasn't. One year became three.
Eventually a friend who'd built a real freelance business basically grabbed me by the shoulders. He walked me through what I was doing wrong — most of it stuff I'd never even thought to question. I rewrote how I positioned my work, who I pitched, and how I talked about money. The first few conversations were terrifying.
Same hours. Honestly, fewer hours. Better clients — clients who valued what I did and didn't flinch at what it cost. That's what good coaching did for me. That's what I've spent the last fifteen years doing for other freelancers: the conversation my friend had with me, over and over, with the sharp edges and the honest feedback and the practical next steps.
You don't need to grind harder. You need a few specific things to click. That's what the masterclass is.