How elite marketer Brian Honigman productised his skills to beat AI (and how you can too)
Corporate tech redundancies are mounting. Generative AI is rapidly swallowing up basic industry tasks. As a result, the traditional freelance model is under massive pressure.
Yet, some independent professionals are thriving.
I recently chatted with Brian Honigman, a successful US marketer, career coach, and university instructor. He has built a brilliantly resilient career. His secret? He refuses to put all his eggs in one basket.
Instead of acting like a contractor who jumps from project to project, Brian runs his solo practice like a true business. He treats his various skills as separate, income-generating assets. It is a masterclass in career survival. He works with large corporations and even freelancers.
Our conversation revealed exactly how freelancers and solo self-employed business owners are bullet-proofing their livelihoods. They build diversified portfolio careers. They also create unique packages and IP that no algorithm can replicate.
Here is how Brian and others have learned how to rewrite the rules of freelancing.
Learning to think like a business owner
Many professionals leap into the independent market with years of corporate experience. However, skills do not automatically equal business acumen. The biggest hurdle for new freelancers is often psychological. They struggle to see themselves as true business owners.
“They have the industry experience,” Brian told me during our chat. “But they don’t know how to professionalise their own business or think of themselves as an owner.”
To break this cycle, successful freelancers and solo self-employed business owners must learn to productise their knowledge. Instead of selling raw hours, they package their expertise into distinct offerings.
“How do we package this up into different ways, so you’re offering different kinds of work products?” Brian explained. This approach minimises financial risk. It ensures a professional does not rely entirely on one client type. Packaging services to include, say, training, consultancy and final assets (i.e., a series of articles, a code, or a handbook) also acts as an excellent organising factor. It allows individuals to accurately scope out their mental bandwidth.
The power of “always-on” business development
When a freelancer secures a new or even major client, it is incredibly easy to put their head down and focus purely on the daily workload. But this creates a dangerous boom-and-bust cycle. True career longevity requires a continuous, proactive marketing strategy.
“It’s not enough to go and focus just on the work in the business,” Brian warned. He insists that freelancers must consistently dedicate time to gaining visibility. “Give yourself enough bandwidth in your existing work that’s paying you to also have room to do these other things.”
He recommends allocating roughly 20 per cent of your professional time to background business development. This does not mean trying to become a famous online influencer. Instead, it involves small, consistent actions. You might leave thoughtful comments on a target client’s LinkedIn post. You can check in with past contacts just to chat, rather than immediately asking for a job.
“Fostering different opportunities for yourself means that when two projects go out the door, you aren’t starting from scratch,” Brian said. Pipelines take time to build. Trust is never formalised overnight.
Mitigating risk with low-cost mall tests
Building a diversified career does not mean jumping blindly into ten different ventures at once. The most successful freelancers and solo self-employed business owners expand into new areas, such as coaching, public speaking, or corporate training, by running micro-experiments first.
“I’ve always tried to stretch into something else from an interest standpoint,” Brian shared. “The trick is bringing on new opportunities before you actually need them.”
Before spending thousands of pounds on coaching certifications or launching a massive new service, run a small test. Offer free, ad-hoc advice to someone in your personal network. Write a single, deeply analytical article on LinkedIn to see how your peers react.
“See if you actually like it,” Brian suggested. “See how people react before you go and spend all this money. What if you aren’t aligned with what the market wants?”
Introvert-friendly networking and the “Trojan horse”
With remote working remaining highly popular, the thought of walking into a crowded, awkward networking room fills many individuals with dread. Brian, a self-described introvert, manages this by focusing on genuine, one-on-one digital relationships.
“Most of my networking is online,” he said. He routinely identifies people with interesting careers and reaches out simply to tell them their work is cool. “I don’t always have a big goal or outcome in mind. It’s just about building relationships where there is a genuine intersection.”
For busier, high-profile targets who may not have time for a casual coffee chat, Brian uses a brilliant editorial strategy: he interviews them for publications he writes for as well as his blog.
“Consistently getting your ideas out there in a public forum shows versus tells what you are interested in,” he explained. Asking to interview an expert provides them with free exposure while giving you incredible insights for an article. “It gets you some valuable face time. Sometimes, it even leads to a real, long-term working relationship.”
Value-based pricing and gatekeeping your time
Pricing remains one of the most stressful topics for any independent worker. Many clients will deliberately hide their budgets to force a freelancer to undercut them. To fight back, elite freelancers establish strict pricing thresholds and firm boundaries.
Brian handles this by utilising “starts at” pricing on his website for complex consulting work. This immediately filters out clients who lack the proper budget.
“It sets a threshold and weeds out the time-wasters,” Brian said. However, being open during initial discovery calls is still vital. “I’ve found success giving helpful, company-specific recommendations in discovery calls to give a preview of what’s to come.”
The key is maintaining boundaries so you do not give away all your strategy for free. If a prospect begins drilling you for free labour, you must be ready to cut the conversation off. “Say, ‘I’m happy to dive into that once we sign on the dotted line and get everything sorted.'”
How to beat AI with proprietary intellectual property
At a time when generative AI can instantly generate generic marketing strategies, article outlines, or basic code, standing out requires personal intellectual property (IP). You cannot simply repeat standard industry advice.
If we’re all just spouting foundational best practices, that is already available for free in a tool. We have to come to the table with something unique that is based off our own experience.
IP can be a unique methodology, a copyrighted framework, or a specialised focus. Brian highlights industry legends who copyright specific models and turn them into courses, certifications, and high-tier consulting gigs.
IP is a reputational signal. It clearly communicates your unique approach so that you are differentiated from an algorithm. It scales access to your expertise beyond your limited hours as a solo professional.
So, what have we learned from all of Brian’s wisdom? For one, the current economic environment demands adaptability. We can’t offer just one service.
We also must build a distinct personal brand by testing new teaching opportunities safely, dedicating 20% of our time to business development. It may feel counterproductive at first, but it pays off in the end. One guest writer article or course could be worth thousands in sales leads and new client projects.
