How Working at a Running Store Taught Me to Be a Sales-Savvy Freelancer

I didn’t expect to learn much from a job that paid $10/hr when I was earning more than six times that as a web developer. I was so wrong.

Three years into my freelance web design career I started working at a local running store to make some extra cash on the side.

But it wasn’t just that. I also needed a break from staring at a computer all day and wanted to meet more people than I normally would as a stay-at-home freelancer (in other words…zero people).

That said, I didn’t expect to learn much from a job that paid $10/hr when I was earning more than six times that as a web developer.

I was so wrong.

Lesson 1: Ask and You Shall Receive

Frequently, customers will come into a running store and say something like, “My knees hurt. I need a shoe with a lot of cushion!”

A less-experienced me might answer “ok, I’ll grab a few high-cushionshoes…what size do you usually wear?” But this isn’t enough information to base a solid recommendation on.

In fact, within a few weeks of being hired, I started to learn that the more questions I asked the…