Freelancing

To take charge of your freelance business, you have to love promoting it.

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freelancer arm wrestling with clientA few days ago one of my coaching clients told me, “I don’t feel in charge.”

And I know she isn’t alone in feeling that way.

As a freelancer it’s easy to fall into the trap of feeling you are simply at the beck and call of your clients. It’s easy to feel powerless when negotiating with prospective clients. It’s easy to feel you have no choice when clients impose crazy deadlines.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

A couple of years back I published a program called Profitable Freelancing. It’s all about getting back in the driver’s seat of you freelance business. It’s about being in control and being in charge.

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Monday Spark: What stops you from thinking bigger?

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cow sculptureYou live in the country and raise cattle.

You are also a sculptor. So you do some small, bronze sculptures of your favorite subject – cows.

Sounds interesting. Not too many cattle farmers also do sculpture on the side.

But hang on, why not pay someone to truck dozens of wrecked cars to your farm, and then use them to build some truly immense sculptures of cows?

At this point most people would say, “Hmmm, I don’t think so.”

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Aim – more or less – then Fire, and then get Ready.

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ready aim fire confusionWhen freelancers are starting out and preparing to launch their new businesses, they generally take forever to get ready.

Me: I thought you were going to start calling some prospects last week.

Them: I know, but I’m not quite ready.

I get the same answer one week later, and then the week after that.

(If you think I’m talking about you in particular as you read this, I’m not. I’m thinking of dozens of freelancers I have spoken with or coached.)

What’s happening here?

Two things, I think.

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How to love marketing your freelance business [VIDEO]

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love marketing

I know a lot of freelancers, and I think it is fair to say that most of them don’t much like marketing themselves.

They enjoy their craft – writing or copywriting. But they don’t like promoting their services to prospective clients. In fact, the whole process of finding prospects and then trying to turn them into paying clients is the part of being a freelancer they like least.

I get that.

A few freelancers are natural salespeople. Many of these are extroverts, and happy to jump in front of a prospect and start selling.

But what about the rest of us?

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Monday Spark: Good news for introverted freelancers [VIDEO]

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introvert freelancerWe live in a time when extroverts seem to get all the glory and attention.

In fact, even the education system and our workplaces put a premium on people who are gregarious, outgoing, and comfortable working in large groups. Certainly, the media likes extroverts.

Those of us who are more introverted and like to spend time alone, or in smaller gatherings, have become the outsiders.

If you are a freelancer, and also an introvert, you might feel you are at something of a disadvantage. After all, the limelight seems to shine on those freelancers who have websites filled with their photos and video clips. They hold court at conferences, and do well in large client meetings.

But what about the rest of us, who are more quietly spoken, are happy spending hours at a time reading alone, thinking alone, and coming up with our own ideas?

To jump straight to the good stuff, watch the video below.

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When you have nothing more to say.

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nothing to sayI work with a lot of freelancers, as a teacher and as a coach.

9 times out of 10, when I visit their blogs, Facebook pages and other social media pages, they had nothing to say today, or yesterday, or last week.

This is a problem.

A few years ago, when most freelance websites were simply a collection of static, evergreen pages, you could get away without adding much to your site. But not any more.

If you have a blog, you need to post something more often than once every couple of weeks. If you have a Facebook page or a Google+ page, you need to be active on a daily basis.

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