A lot of freelancers find their forward momentum is slowed down by fear. Fear of making a cold call. Fear of reaching out to get work from a large or well-known company. Fear of charging more for their services. And so on.
And that’s perfectly natural. It’s normal to feel fear when facing an uncertain outcome.
But you don’t have to let it stop you.
One way to address fear is described really well by astronaut Chris Hadfield in the video below.
He is having a conversation with William Shatner. Hadfield is in the International Space Station and Shatner is at his home in California. And it seems they are big fans of each other’s work.
At one point in the interview, Shatner asks Hadfield how he manages to handle the fear he feels at dangerous moments, like when blasting off from earth.
As with all of his answers, Hadfield gives this some careful thought before answering. And to paraphrase what he says, he reduces his fear through a very thorough regimen of preparation. He trains hard in advance. He thinks of everything that might go wrong, and imagines his response or reaction. Whatever might happen, he feels he is prepared.
You can do the same as a freelancer.
Let’s say you want to talk with the marketing director of a company you would just love to work with. The idea of making a cold call like that can be pretty scary. Well, if you make the call without any preparation, you are probably right to feel scared.
But what if you prepared in advance? What if you found out everything you could about that person? What if you found out in advance whether he works with freelancers or not?
Tough to do? Maybe. But I bet if you spent some time on LinkedIn you could find some other people who knew that person or had worked with him.
Now spend some time preparing for what you are going to say and ask. Also, think of the things he might say, the objections he might raise.
The more you prepare for any scary step forward, the more confident you will feel, and the less fear you will experience.
Enjoy the video.
Related Resources:
My coaching service for freelancers…
My ebook – Affirmations for Freelancers
About the author: Nick Usborne is an online writer, copywriter, author and coach. Read more…