Freelancing

Monday Spark: Get out and meet some people.

by

freelancer meeting eventWorking from home, all of the time, without any contact with your peers, prospects or customers is a little unnatural.

For the last 100 years – up to about 10 years ago – most people worked side by side with their colleagues in office buildings or factories.

Before that, people worked within their communities, often within walking distance of their homes.

It is only within the last 10 years or so that the internet has allowed people work from home. (Actually, I can work from anywhere in the world, as long as I have an internet connection.)

Tens of millions of people now work in this way – relying on email, the web, social media and their phones to keep in touch with industry news, and with their clients.

Read the full post…

When cold-calling a prospect…give, don’t ask.

by

cold calling with giftCold calling is hard.

Yes, a small proportion of freelancers find cold-calling easy. But for most of us, reading through our list of prospects, reaching for the phone, dialing the number, and then doing our best to pitch our services is one of the hardest tasks imaginable.

It’s hard because we know that more often than not our prospect will say no.

And when they do say no, we feel bad. We feel we have failed. And on a personal level, however professional we try to feel about the experience, we feel rejected. We are not good enough. Our prospects have found us to be inadequate and wanting in some way.

In a quite different way, it’s tough for your prospect as well.

First off, she has been interrupted. When her phone rang she was busy doing something else. Her mind was in a whole different place.

Read the full post…

Monday Spark: What is the worst that could happen?

by

scary space jumpIf Felix Baumgartner asked himself that question before jumping out of his capsule at an altitude of over 24 miles, the answer would be a little grim.

He was literally jumping out into the unknown, aware that a variety of things could go wrong at many stages of his descent.

Clearly, he and his team had worked hard to anticipate problems and risks, and to address and plan for them as best they could.

But still. It was a very risky thing to do. And the worst that could happen was…well, it was as bad as it gets.

So how about you?

Do you have plans to grow your freelance business that feel a little scary?

Do you think about approaching large companies for business, but never actually do it because of a fear of rejection?

Read the full post…

Monday Spark: Eating chocolate makes you smarter!

by

eating chocolate makes you smartI do love to be the bearer of good news.

Anyway, it’s official. Chocolate makes you smarter. It really does.

In a recent research study, just published by The New England Journal of Medicine, it was shown that there is a direct correlation between a country’s chocolate consumption and the number of Nobel prize winners it produces.

That’s right. The more chocolate you eat, the more likely you are to become a Nobel laureate.

Here is a quote for you, from the study.

“The principal finding of this study is a surprisingly powerful correlation between chocolate intake per capita and the number of Nobel laureates in various countries. Of course, a correlation between X and Y does not prove causation but indicates that either X influences Y, Y influences X, or X and Y are influenced by a common underlying mechanism.”

Never mind the X and Y stuff. Just focus on the chocolate.

Read the full post…

In the world of social media you can’t automate engagement.

by

social engagement conversationIf you want to understand how social media works, have a look at how you use it in your personal life.

You use it to keep in touch, let people know what’s happening in your life, and keep up with what’s happening in their lives.

It’s like an always-on, totally connected, interactive, multimedia round-robin letter. Best of all, the totality of content created by individuals on social media is comprised not of the original updates, tweets and posts created, but of the feedback and interaction that follows. Write 5 lines of family news and within a few hours you’ll have 20 lines of comments and feedback.

Now look at how companies and organizations use it.

Read the full post…

Monday Spark: Fake it until you become it [VIDEO]

by

powerful postureI often tell the story of a freelancer I know who, before making any kind of cold call – from his freelance work area at home – dresses up in a suit, makes sure his shoes are polished, and strides confidently around the room for a few minutes until he feels ready to make the call.

By making himself look and feel powerful, he finds he had far greatest success with his calls. His prospect can’t see he is wearing a suit, and standing while making the call, but he can.

I also advise my coaching clients, when starting out on their freelance careers, to imagine how successful they could be three years from now. I ask them to imagine their workspace, think of how much money they are making, think about the kinds of clients they have and the projects they are working on, and envision what their websites will look like. And I then tell them to start behaving like that right now, three years in advance of achieving that goal.

In other words, behave as if you are already as successful as you plan to become.

Read the full post…