As freelancers we have to get out there and build an audience.
Many of us do this through creating our own websites, publishing newsletters, writing articles and networking on social media sites.
Over time we might build up a subscriber base of a thousand, five thousand or even twenty thousand or more people.
These are people who read our articles, our blog posts or even our Tweets.
But who are these people? What kind of audience are you building?
In this post I want to take a look at a simple way to balance your immediate needs and your long-term plans.
Here’s what I do with my own business…
At the beginning of each week I start a new page in a Word document with two columns.
In the left side column I make a list of the work I need to get done in order to pay the bills and meet any other short-term deadlines or commitments.
In the right hand column I make a note of the various projects I’m planning, working on, or completing that won’t give me any income this month, but have the potential to generate a good income in the future.
If you’re anything like me, you’re not at your most impressive when you look in the mirror each morning.
This is all fine and normal, so long as you don’t mix “morning you” with “professional you”.
And yes, it matters a great deal that you create a quite separate professional persona.
It’s hard for freelancers to maintain a high level of visibility.
For the most part, our clients and prospects think about us only when they need us.
Day-to-day, their attention is more likely to be focused internally, on their own company and colleagues.
How do we get around this? What steps can we take to become more visible? How can we stay top of mind?
As freelancers we all need to invest in our futures by learning.
This means subscribing to some newsletters, listening to podcasts, buying relevant business books, and sometimes investing more heavily in online courses, products or programs.
But before you take the leap and invest a few hundred or thousand dollars in that next program, think carefully about what you are doing, and why.
Many years ago, I remember Jay Abraham and Rich Schefren talking about the difference between opportunity-seekers and entrepreneurs. I can’t even remember now whether they were talking about this in an article, a video or recording.
But the topic really resonated with me.
As a professional freelancer, and a coach, here’s my take on the subject.
This is something of a mantra for me: Find the gap!
Too many freelancers build up a body of expertise in a particular area and then dive straight in.
Maybe they decide to be a writer or copywriter in the alternative health industry. Or the financial industry. Or the software industry.
They choose those industries because they are interested in them.
But there is a problem here. If you jump into an industry or industry niche without first figuring out whether there is a gap for you to work in, then you’ll be competing head-to-head with dozens, hundreds or even thousands of other freelancers.
You don’t want to do that. You don’t want to have to compete with other freelancers for every job that comes up.