If you’ve ever worked any type of office jobs, you know how vital PowerPoints are. Thirty-three-year-old Courtney Allen knew this and decided to capitalize on it. She graduated in 2012, did freelance work as a presentation designer, and then built her client portfolio through Upwork starting in 2015. In 2017 she founded her own presentation design company, 16X9.
Today, Courtney’s brought in over $2 million. If you’re a recent grad, or just looking for some career advice, Courtney has a couple of tips for you.
- “Focus on unsexy problems.” She knows that PowerPoints aren’t the sexiest thing, but she also did research and found out that 30 million PowerPoints are made daily. She found that there was “an endless pool of work to be had” and maximized that. If you’re looking for a niche to start in, she says to find those “unsexy problems” as there are day-to-day tasks people are looking to outsource.
- Be a “strong advocate” for yourself. You need to be paid what you deserve. Be “a strong advocate and negotiator for yourself,” she stresses. Courtney has one example where a client “wanted a project due by the end of the night” and didn’t reach out to her until around 6 p.m. At the time, she was chagrining about $60 to $75 an hour but upped it because her nights are worth more. “I believe I told them $200 an hour,” she said, figuring out that her nights are typically worth $500. The client agreed and even came back to her with other work.
Source: CNBC