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Freelance Cake

Freelance Cake

De : 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 Direction Economie Management et direction
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  • From Accidental Freelancer to Strategic Business Owner with Satta Sarmah Hightower

    From Accidental Freelancer to Strategic Business Owner with Satta Sarmah Hightower
    Apr 24 2026
    Satta Sarmah Hightower opens up about the evolution from being a skilled freelancer who took good opportunities as they came… to becoming a more intentional business owner who chooses work based on where she wants to go.At first, she did what many freelancers do: she followed the money. After layoffs and instability, survival mode made that feel sensible. But over time, she realized that good income and a solid client base were not the same thing as strategic growth.One of the most useful parts of this conversation is Satta’s “monkey bar strategy.”Instead of trying to leap blindly into a brand-new niche, she explains how freelancers can use adjacent experience to move from one bar to the next — from healthcare to healthcare tech, from financial services to fintech, and from familiar work into more valuable, better-aligned opportunities.We also get into the identity shift that often separates advanced freelancers from plateaued ones.Satta talks about what changed when she stopped primarily seeing herself as a writer and started thinking like a solopreneur and business owner. That shift made her more intentional about what work to accept, how to position herself, and how each project could support the business she wanted six months down the road — not just the invoice she wanted this month.There’s also a strong thread in this episode around sustainable growth.Growth, for Satta, does not mean going wider and building a giant machine she does not want. It means going narrower, deeper, and getting clearer on what “enough” looks like. We talk about mindset, gratitude, recovery time, and the planning practices that help experienced freelancers grow without burning down fast.And if you’ve been thinking beyond client work, you’ll appreciate the final part of the conversation about IP.Satta shares why she wrote The Forever Freelancer, how she thinks about intellectual property as a durable asset, and how building assets like books, newsletters, and other owned work can expand what a solo business becomes over time.This one is for freelancers who are no longer asking, “How do I get work?” and are now asking better questions:What kind of business am I actually building?What direction am I choosing?And how do I grow on purpose?Key PointsFrom survival mode to strategy: Satta admits she was not especially strategic in the early years. She was following the money, building from available opportunities, and doing what many freelancers do after instability: taking solid work when it appeared.The monkey bar strategy: Rather than reinventing yourself from scratch, use adjacent experience to move into stronger niches and better-paid categories of work. Think bar to bar, not cliff dive to cliff dive.The identity shift matters: Advanced freelancers often hit a ceiling when they keep identifying only with their craft. Satta’s growth accelerated when she began to think of herself as a business owner and solopreneur, not merely a freelance writer.Intentionality changes decisions: Once she embraced that business-owner identity, she became more deliberate about what work to accept and how each engagement served her longer-term trajectory.Gradual change is underrated: Satta makes a strong case for evolving slowly and intelligently rather than blowing up your whole business in the name of “transformation.”Growth is not always bigger: For her, growth means going narrower and deeper, not building an agency or chasing “more, more, more.”Mindset and recovery are business tools: Gratitude, space to reflect, and her “For Me Fridays” practice all support sustainability and clearheaded decisions.Notable Quotes“It’s about evolving from reactive freelancing into strategic business ownership.”“I own my trajectory and my business growth and my professional growth.”“Growth, at least for me at this stage, it doesn’t necessarily mean going wider. It means going narrower and going deeper.”“You have to know what your enough is and you have to know what growth looks like for you.”“You need to treat your business like a business.”Resources MentionedSatta’s book listing for preorder: https://tinyurl.com/sm9z59my Satta's Book landing page to subscribe for updates: https://www.sattasarmah.com/bookSatta's Instagram: @sattasarmahhightowerSatta's TikTok: @sattasarmahhightowerSubstack: https://substack.com/@sattasarmahhightower‍Freelance Cake Community: freelancecake.com/community
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    54 min
  • Life Plan First, Business Plan Second: How Matthew Fenton Built a 30-Year Freelance Career

    Life Plan First, Business Plan Second: How Matthew Fenton Built a 30-Year Freelance Career
    Mar 27 2026

    At a certain point in your freelance career, the question stops being “How do I get more clients?” and starts being “How do I build a business I actually want to keep running?”

    In this episode, Austin sits down with Matthew Fenton, a positioning and strategy consultant with nearly three decades of freelance experience. Matthew has worked with brands you’ve heard of, launched White Mystery Airheads, hired agencies and independents from both sides of the desk, and built a long freelance career around a simple but weighty principle: Life plan first. Business plan second.

    That idea shapes everything.

    Austin and Matthew talk about what it means to design your freelance business around the life you want, not the other way around. They get into the challenges that don’t get enough airtime, like isolation, self-management, and the discipline required when nobody else is building structure for you.

    Matthew also shares one of the most useful concepts in the episode: your "gig floor." That’s the minimum threshold a project has to clear before it earns a yes. Right money. Right people. Right kind of work.

    They also dig into what actually makes a freelancer rehirable. Spoiler: it’s not just talent. Matthew makes a strong case for reliability, sound judgment, clear communication, and the ability to be a real partner instead of a prima donna with a nice portfolio.

    And yes, they also open a delightful can of worms on why freelancing is not for everybody and why Matthew opted out of the whole personal branding conversation years ago.

    This is a grounded, honest conversation about sustainability, selectivity, and building a freelance business with enough structure and sanity to last.

    Key Points

    • A freelance career can be built for longevity. Matthew has been freelancing since 1997 and has sustained his business by staying focused on strategy, positioning, and meaningful client work.
    • Life plan first, business plan second. The business should support your life, not consume it. That principle gets more important, not less, as your opportunities increase.
    • Isolation is one of freelancing’s hidden costs. Leaving a full-time role means losing built-in social structure and accountability. You have to rebuild those on purpose.
    • Warm reconnection beats cold networking. Matthew doesn’t think in terms of “keeping his network warm.” He reconnects with people he genuinely enjoys, and sometimes work falls out of that.
    • Your gig floor matters. Experienced freelancers need a minimum threshold for what counts as a worthwhile opportunity, especially when demand is high.
    • Reliability beats raw talent. The freelancers who get rehired are the ones who hit deadlines, communicate well, receive feedback, bring perspective, and don’t make the client regret saying yes.
    • Freelancing isn’t for everyone. Some people are better off with a paycheck job, and there’s no shame in that.
    • Personal branding is optional. Matthew argues that people are not brands and that many of the ideas lumped under personal branding are better explained elsewhere.

    Notable Quotes

    • “Life plan first, business plan second.”
    • “The primary reason for your business to exist is to meet your needs.”
    • “A deadline is a promise and failure to hit that deadline is a broken promise.”
    • “Some people are truly better off with a paycheck job, and there’s absolutely no shame in that.”
    • “I think pretty much the entire field of personal branding is nonsense.”

    Resources Mentioned

    • Follow Matthew on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewfenton/ (Let him know you found him through this episode!)
    • Check out his website: https://matthew-fenton.com/
    • Check out Winning Solo: https://winningsolo.com/
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    55 min
  • How Josh Cantrell Creates Demand with LinkedIn, Referral Partners, and Better Thinking

    How Josh Cantrell Creates Demand with LinkedIn, Referral Partners, and Better Thinking
    Mar 13 2026
    Josh Cantrell didn’t set out with some polished master plan.He got fired.What could have become a long, discouraging detour ended up becoming the first step in building a self-employed career with more ownership, more leverage, and more intention.In this conversation, Josh talks through the evolution of that journey.Early on, he did what many freelancers do. He said yes to whatever paid. Alongside marketing work, he flipped storage units, ran an eBay store, and DJ’d weddings to keep the lights on. Over time, though, he realized he didn’t just need more work. He needed a clearer way to create value.That’s where frameworks entered the picture.Josh shares how discovering StoryBrand gave him a structure he could lean on, not just to do better work, but to explain his reasoning, package stronger offers, and shift client perception. Instead of feeling like he was winging it, he had principles. Instead of selling tasks, he could sell outcomes.We also dig into the mindset shifts that came with experience.Josh talks about moving from scarcity to abundance, from thinking the world was small and stingy to realizing there’s plenty of opportunity out there. He explains how raising his standards changed his behavior, financially and professionally, and why standards often shape results more than motivation does.Another major theme in this episode is relationships.Josh has become increasingly intentional about building what he calls IRPs: ideal referral partners. Rather than relying on random lead gen or posting into the void, he focuses on real conversations with people who already know the kinds of clients he wants to serve.We also talk about LinkedIn, but not in the eye-rolly, “optimize your content funnel” kind of way.Josh uses LinkedIn as a conversation starter. He posts consistently, follows up with people who engage, and looks for chances to turn digital attention into human connection. That approach has led to podcast invites, referral relationships, and new opportunities.And beneath all of it is a simple but important truth: Clarity comes before amplification.If your message is muddy, more marketing just means you’re mumbling into a louder microphone. Josh explains why great content starts with great thinking, and why helping prospects believe the right things may matter just as much as writing the right words.If you want to specialize, strengthen your positioning, create more demand, and build a business with better leverage, this one is worth your time.Key PointsJosh started in survival mode. After losing his job in 2017, he pieced together income through freelance marketing, weddings as a DJ, an eBay store, and whatever else kept the lights on.Confidence followed competence. Early “imposter syndrome” had less to do with being broken and more to do with lacking reps, clarity, and proof.Frameworks changed the game. StoryBrand gave Josh a structure for making decisions, justifying recommendations, and packaging higher-value offers.His business evolved slowly but meaningfully. He moved from general marketing services into messaging, positioning, copy, and later more strategic engagements, including fractional CMO-style support.His mindset shifted from scarcity to abundance. Instead of treating every lost client like a verdict on his worth, he learned to see the market as big, generous, and full of opportunity.He now works from standards, not hope. Revenue standards, relationship standards, and service standards all shape how he shows up and how he grows.Ideal referral partners are a major growth lever. Josh aims to build relationships with peers and adjacent experts who already serve the kinds of clients he wants.He treats LinkedIn like a system, not a stage. Post consistently, follow up with engaged people, start real conversations, and see where the thread leads.He’s prioritizing documenting over performing. Lived experience, experiments, humor, and observations from real life make better content than sterile “5 tips” posts.A dream client already believes messaging matters. Josh does best with B2B companies selling something expensive, complex, or confusing that understand clear messaging must come before louder marketing.The deeper opportunity is belief change. Great content does not merely attract attention. It upgrades thinking. It creates demand by putting a fire in people’s minds about better ways to solve old problems.Notable Quotes“Confidence comes as a result of competence.”“If we’re spending money on marketing, but the message isn’t clear, we’re just mumbling into a microphone. We’re just louder.”“When you’re creating demand, it’s about putting a fire in someone’s mind about opportunities and possibilities and new ways to solve old problems.”Resources MentionedFollow Josh Cantrell on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshcanCheck out his website, Signal Brandworks: https://signalbrandworks.com/Join the Freelance Cake Community: https://...
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    55 min
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