The Art of Strategic Freelancing covers the business around the work: landing projects, writing proposals, setting fixed fees, signing contracts, and running check-ins. I spent nearly a decade in strategy consulting, including at McKinsey and BCG, and I've worked on my own since 2017.
Time
You sell your hours
Hourly and daily rates
Project
You sell an outcome
Fixed price or monthly rate
$5,000 for up to 10 days a month
Product
You sell a package
Fixed price and retainer
A $20,000 package that takes three months
From my lesson on time, project, and product work At McKinsey and BCG there was a team for everything, even graphic design. I never sent an invoice, and I rarely pitched a senior client on a call. When I went freelance in 2017, my consulting instincts were good, but every decision was suddenly mine: what to charge, which projects to take, and what kind of work I wanted to keep doing.
On your own, you're also the salesperson, the bookkeeper, the person chasing late invoices, and the one setting strategy. The easy response is to stay busy and say yes to every project at the same rate, and that's how burnout starts. This course is about the longer game: building your skills, shaping the projects you take, and earning client trust that lasts.
If your rate never moves, your work doesn't either. Fixed fees let you price the client's problem instead of your hours.
Later than you think. Agree on the problem with the client first, in writing, and the proposal becomes the easy part.
Clients hire you to help them decide. Regular check-ins keep them involved and end with a plan they own.
51 lessons and about 6 hours of video, at your own pace. You can watch the seven linked lessons before you enroll.
The fundamental goal: offer higher-value services. Then download the full freelance templates and an AI skill that drafts documents, proposals, and check-ins with you.
What I wish I knew before quitting strategy consulting. Freelance identity versus wanting freedom, five questions for every freelancer, an exercise to tame your fears, and how to find a test or pro bono client, with my own example.
Personal name or brand name, how much free work to do, why pricing at your full-time wage fails, your ideal client list and red flags, and your credential materials. Pricing strategies with McKinsey pricing examples, the math of fixed-fee pricing, and the pricing calculator.
Finding clients through your network, content, and communities. Three types of work: time, project, and product based. Why not to send a proposal too quickly, a law firm case study, three goals before you sign, and a walkthrough of a project contract, with a template for each.
Scoping as ongoing relationship building. The three typical stages of a project, the check-in meeting, three check-in case studies from my projects, and getting paid with Stripe.
Synthesizing information with the Pyramid Principle, a live synthesis example, creating your own frameworks, and two final deliverables from real projects.
Interviews with freelancers who have done this for years: Sean McCabe, Venkatesh Rao, Austin Church, Will Bachman, and Tom Critchlow. Plus a recorded Q&A on pricing, hooks, getting clients, types of projects, and branding.
This one took two calls, two proposals, and a final pitch to the client's full team over eight weeks before they said no. I walk through proposals like it from my work, so you know how many conversations to expect, what to send at each step, and how long it takes to get to a signed contract.
The pricing calculator lesson works out what you need to earn, your floor rate, and what a fixed fee pays per hour when a project runs long. A $20,000 fee for 100 hours pays $200 an hour, and it still beats a $75 hourly rate until hour 266.
Run your own numbers in the lesson
Open the pricing calculator lessonEach template is filled in for one sample project, a nine-week engagement with a made-up search firm, so you see a finished example before you swap in your own work. The slides come in four PowerPoint styles, and every part has instructions for what goes in it.
Before a first call, clients want to see what you do, how you work, and where they can start. My credentials and offerings deck template covers all of it, and an AI prompt interviews you and fills it in, so you can have a basic deck ready this week.
Build your credentials deck
| Compared | Think Like a Strategy Consultant | The Art of Strategic Freelancing |
|---|---|---|
| What you learn | How consultants frame problems, structure answers, and put them on slides | How to find clients, scope projects, write proposals, set prices, sign contracts, and run check-ins |
| Typical lessons | MECE, issue trees, hypotheses, the Pyramid Principle, slide design | Fixed-fee math, proposal walkthroughs, contracts, check-in meetings |
| What you get | Assignments with sample solutions, plus consulting slide templates | Templates for proposals, pricing, contracts, check-ins, client emails, and a credentials deck |
| Price | $797 | $347 |
If you already work with clients, the Consultant's Bundle has both courses, 131 lessons in all, for $997, which saves $147. If you haven't left your job yet, start with this course.
If the course isn't for you, contact me within 30 days for a full refund. Read the refund policy.
There are about six hours of video across 51 lessons. Watch them in order, or jump to the section you need, like pricing or proposals, and come back when a new client situation comes up.
Yes. The second section helps you decide whether freelancing fits you and how to test it with a pro bono or trial client. The rest of the course is there when you start taking on work.
Think Like a Strategy Consultant teaches how consultants solve problems and communicate: MECE, issue trees, the Pyramid Principle, and slides. The Art of Strategic Freelancing covers the business around the work: clients, proposals, pricing, contracts, and check-ins. The Consultant’s Bundle has both for $997.
Yes. Seven lessons are open to everyone, including the pricing calculator and the lesson on fixed-fee math, and you can download the credentials and offerings deck from the same template set.
Yes, and that includes new lessons and templates as I add them. The templates, worksheets, and pricing calculator were all added in October 2026.
Yes. If the course isn't for you, contact me within 30 days and I'll refund you in full.
Mindset, business setup, finding clients, and pricing, from nine years on my own.
Commitment, naming, pricing models, client materials, and deliverables.
How consultants find the real problem, write it down, and keep the client aligned.
