Freelancing

Monday Spark: Find some big, hairy problems to solve.

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overcome big problemsAs freelancers we often think about our work process in the following terms:

1. Gonna ask for some work
2. Gonna get a good brief
3. Gonna work on it ‘til the client likes it
4. Gonna send in my invoice

I don’t know about you, but that sounds like a pretty drab and soulless process. You’re grabbing any work you can, trying to please the client and then billing for your time.

It’s a way to make a living, but is it enough to bring out the best you can do?

Let’s look at the same process, but through a different set of lenses…

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The secret of success is to stay focused on one thing.

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the power of focusYou probably have a few friends who always seem to be into something new, each time you talk with them.

They are jumping into the latest new trend, or have discovered some amazing hidden opportunity.

You envy their enthusiasm and optimism. They seem so alive, so curious, so plugged into what’s happening. Their eyes sparkle, their level of energy is contagious.

In fact, you pretty much want to do what they are doing. It looks like a fun life, and a fun way to make a living.

But…

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Monday Spark: Be ambitious, and plan to create a memorable body of work.

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cattelan art

Last week we went to the Guggenheim Museum in New York to see the exhibition of work by Maurizio Cattelan.

As art, it may not be to everyone’s taste, but we were fascinated by his work. I was also amazed by the volume of his work, and the time and hard work that had gone into it. This retrospective gives some idea of the depth of his commitment to his art.

Creating art is what he does with his life, and he works hard at it.

That made me a little envious. As a writer and copywriter, much of my work is transitory. It is here today, does what it was designed to do, and then it’s gone. It is very rare that commercial writing or advertising survives for very long.

But…

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Monday Spark: Remember the very best work you have done.

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first prize for good workWe all of us suffer from self-doubt from time to time. We have good days and not so good days. Days when we think we can conquer the universe, and days when we feel we’re not even worthy to get paid for the work we do.

Welcome to the life of a freelancer!

Hopefully you have more up days than down days.

For when you do have the occasional down day, here is something I do to snap myself out of it.

I think back to some work I did that was really good. Maybe it performed incredibly well. Maybe I was just particularly proud of what I created. Either way…

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Being able to write for a living is a remarkable gift.

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writing skillsFor most of the time, we take our ability to write for granted.

After all, pretty much everyone can write. It’s one of those default skills we learn at school. And because everyone can do it, the act of writing becomes a commodity. There is no longer anything special about it.

Your mother writes. Your neighbors write. Your kids write. In fact, chances are that one of them is writing something on Facebook right now.

But if you view writing as a craft instead of just a commodity activity, remarkable things can happen.

First, you will have found a way to express yourself, your feelings and your opinions beyond simply writing one more Facebook entry. Second…

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Monday Spark: You’ll feel better as a freelancer when you see the difference you can make.

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small business clientsI was asked recently to identify my most memorable job from the last 30 years as a freelance writer and copywriter.

The interviewer was probably expecting me to come up with a job I did for one of my big-name clients from the past, like Apple, Yahoo! or Chrysler.

But I didn’t. My most memorable job is one I did for a friend about 25 years ago. I wrote a direct mail letter to help him grow his one-man business. And it worked gangbusters. In fact, a week after the mailing was sent out he had to hire three more people to keep up with demand.

Why was that job more satisfying than some huge project I did for a much bigger company?

It was satisfying because I could clearly see the results. I could see by how much I had helped my friend and his company.

In other words, I had made a difference and could see it.

With much of our work, we never really get to know if our contribution made any significant difference…

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