803 - Day Rates, Attracting the Right Clients, and Building a Business Around Your Life with Sarah Masci

Live In The Feast

Today’s co-host is Sarah Masci. Sarah is a designer, entrepreneur, and the founder of Bracken House Branding Co.

Sarah has been in the online business game for 15 years now, and she’s the epitome of building a business around the life she wants.

In the beginning, she experimented with lots of different channels and products, including Etsy and blogging. Since she was DIYing everything—from her website to her ads—others began asking her for help with branding and design. She dabbled in client work as a side hustle for a few years before deciding to go all in.

Sarah currently uses a day-rate billing model, and building her reputation with clients early was important when she decided to make that change.

Knowing her work was solid, clients were excited by the billing mode. And it’s worked out well. Sarah has been doing day rates for two years now and is still going strong.

Sarah has also expanded into creating courses and products that help other designers figure out how to use day rates themselves.

In today’s episode, we talk about the benefits of a day rate model and how it can reduce stress, how to make the transition yourself, and how Sarah started creating courses on the subject as well.

“Get clear on just a few things that you are really good at—something that you’re consistently asked to do and something that gets you out of bed on a Monday morning ready to conquer your day.” ~ @Sarah_Masci

Main Takeaways

• The first thing to do before you start offering day rates is knowing what you're going to offer. Don't offer too many things. Instead, offer the things you're really good at—something you can do consistently, and something that excites you.
• Testing day rates can be as easy as messaging your client base and asking if it works for them. If you have the reputation, it won't be hard for them to get on board with what you're doing.
• To make sure the work is doable within a day, have clients fill out some sort of questionnaire. Make sure to set expectations for communication throughout the day.

Links and Important Mentions

• Bracken House Branding
• Mood Board Challenge
• StoryBrand
• Val Geisler
• Live in the Feast S03 E08 - Val Geisler
• Sarah’s Design + Branding Courses
• Sarah on Instagram
• Sarah on Twitter

Stay in Touch

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• Twitter
• Facebook
• Instagram