I help creatives thrive
as business owners.

Do you want to be your own boss while also doing the work that you love?

Let me show you how. Join thousands of others who have downloaded my guide for attracting clients directly to YOU.

I help creatives thrive as business owners.

Do you want to be your own boss while also doing the work that you love?

Let me show you how. Join thousands of others who have downloaded my guide for attracting clients directly to YOU.

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And if you need help managing your workflow…

Get my guide for seven tools to master task management and maximize your time

Over 20 pages detailing the exact tools and methods I use to manage my own time.

It also includes a 10-minute video tutorial showing how I utilize some of these tools.

Created during my time as a product manager, these tools and methods have allowed me to get so much more out of every day.

This guide is for you if:

You wish there was more time in the day
You are juggling multiple projects
You are sick of missing deadlines
You know you’re capable of doing more
You frequently forget information
You spend a lot of time scheduling via email

This guide will help you:

Hold yourself accountable
Stay on top of multiple projects simultaneously
Set and hit deadlines
Get your calendar organized
Improve your memory
Make your communication more efficient

Why are you hired?

A common theme that comes up in conversations in the Unreal Collective community is the struggle with self deprecating thoughts and head trash.

We are our own worst enemies.

I think it’s a cultural thing — part of where our society is right now. When we see beautiful highight reels on social media showing all the COOL stuff other people are doing (you met who?? you were speaking where??) we question our own legitimacy.

When I first started Unreal a couple of years ago and offered coaching services as an add-on, I had never offered formal consulting before. One of the first clients to sign up was someone who had a multi-million dollar exit just a few years earlier.

This really threw me for a loop. What could he possibly learn from me?

I started to really get into my own head before our first call. I had to hype myself up…I had to make him believe that he made a good choice!

My coach would say that I was trying to “prove” that I belonged.

Over time, I began to understand something that I now call “experience ladders.” Imagine a wall with a whole row of ladders lined up next to one another.

Obviously, we all have our own particular set of skills. We have a perception of our own skill level, and of the skill level of those around us. Same goes for the people we work with!

Think of each of those skills as a ladder. We ballpark our position on a ladder relative to others pretty much constantly, in all aspects of life. And when we think someone is higher on the ladder than us, we look up to them and try to learn from them.

Often, we hire them.

Here’s where things get sticky. Sometimes, when imposter syndrome rears its stupid little head, we consolidate the ladders into ONE ladder. We begin thinking of an absolute “skill score” and estimate others relative to ourselves.

This is what I was doing with my client. He was miles ahead of me in terms of hiring, running a P&L, and a lot of other things too. On an absolute scale, I was thinking, “How could I ever help this person?”

But that’s not what was happening in his head. He’s looking at the ladders where I’m a couple rungs higher and saying, “I could use your help in getting up there.”

To be successful in working with and solving problems with others, you need to be confident and secure in your position on the ladder. And not just on the ladders that you are perched high on — but also those where you are behind your client.

Understand that you aren’t being hired to help every aspect of someone’s life or business. They are hiring you for very specific ladders (skills) where you excel.

Instead of posturing and “proving” that you can swing on every ladder, be secure in the fact that you have a ladder you were hired for. You don’t have to help on all of them.

In fact, recognize the client for the ladders where they can help YOU.

Everyone you will ever meet knows something you don’t. …Respect their knowledge and learn from them. It will bring out the best in all of you.

— Bill Nye, UMass Lowell 2014 Commencement Speech

Focus on where you can help the most. Be confident and secure in those skills, and you’ll do better work (and enjoy it more too).

- - -

I want to show you how to get more people hiring you.

It's called the EYES and EARS Method and you can have it now for free.

Feeling stuck going project to project?

Stuck going project to project?

Most people find themselves freelancing for the same reason: control.

We want to choose the work we do, who we do it for, and how much we earn for it.

And in the beginning it seems great...but so many people quickly find themselves in the same cycle.

You want to be your own boss or have your own thing...but suddenly you find yourself with both less time and less money than you did before you started!

Clients used to come easy, but now it seems like pulling teeth to land a new project!

But don't let yourself fall into the trap of so many freelancers...

If you're already feeling to grind of finding the next project, chances are you're calling in favors and looking for a project to start tomorrow.

And in doing so, you are in huge danger of forgetting to think long term and create systems that bring in new leads so you never find yourself in this situation again!

And I get it — you need to put food on the table tomorrow. Who has time to think about the long term?

Well here’s the problem…

If you don't put systems and practices in place to prevent this short term crisis from happening again, you will never get out of it.

You'll go project to project, payment to payment and be stressed out the whole time.

That’s why I created Freelancing School. Being stressed about your next payment isn't where you want to be. And so many freelancers are there all the time.

I've been in the short term crisis, and I've worked my way out of it. In fact, I haven't been worried about cash flow for two years now.

You don’t need to keep fighting the same frustrations and problems.

Let me show you what I call the EYES and EARS Method of generating new clients.

Most freelancers and creatives
are trying to sell the hard way.

Most freelancers and creatives are trying to sell the hard way.

Most of my conversations are related to sales and finding clients.

It makes sense — sales are at the heart of all businesses, and I’m constantly talking to business owners (even those with a side hustle).

But we are beginning to expect that we should be able to sell online with very little personal contact.

And if we aren’t doing that, if we don’t have clients walking through our doors from our website, social media, or advertising, we feel like we’ve lost the fight.

But relationship selling is alive and well and truly at the heart of so many thriving businesses. Especially in the beginning.

One-to-one relationships between yourself and another individual can still truly drive results in your business.

Here’s the problem: we are impatient. By the time we start thinking about our sales strategy, we may be frantic or panicked about next month's rent.

Unfortunately, that’s not how relationships work. Relationships are forged out of trust and the absence of personal agenda. If you begin a relationship for the purpose of making rent, it’s not going to be very strong.

OK, Jay, but that doesn’t really help me in the pickle that I’m in right now.

There are creative solutions for any problem. But while you explore those, it's time to work on a little ‘preventative medicine’ to ensure this situation doesn’t happen again.

As the Chinese proverb says, “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.”

Let me show you how.

I created EYES and EARS Method to show my clients the best way for them to find new clients.

And you can have it now for free.

Who am I?

Hey, my name is Jay Clouse. I'm the founder of Unreal Collective, creator of Freelancing School, and freelancing instructor for Linkedin Learning / Lynda.com.

I've been both a founder and a freelancer. Previously, I was the Chief Operating Officer of Tixers, which was acquired in 2015. Then I spent time as a product manager at a venture-backed startup, and left that to freelance.

Through Unreal, I've worked with over 100 incredible individuals who have had multi-million dollar exits, six-figure crowdfunding campaigns, left their jobs to go full-time freelance, and bootstrapped technology companies.

You can learn more about me here.