As freelancers we have to generate our own energy and momentum.
We don’t have colleagues or managers to give us a quick boost. Nor do we have group meetings or off-site brainstorming days.
At times we can do a great job of creating internal momentum for ourselves. At other times it becomes hard, and we feel ourselves running down, like a battery losing its charge.
And then there are times when we are given a little extra energy from an outside source. Like…
As you can imagine, I’ve been playing with ChatGPT and GPT-4 for a while now.
I’ve been using GPT as a brainstorming buddy, a research assistant, a first draft copy and content writer, a social media writer… and more.
Honestly, it’s incredibly good. Mind-blowing really, when you consider where this technology was just a few months ago.
This time I asked GPT-4 to write me a 40-page Kindle book I could publish on Amazon.
The title of the book is… Brain Sharpeners: 48 Natural Foods That Support Brain Health
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.
Whether I’m speaking on a stage, giving a live webinar or producing video-based training materials, I often encounter the same criticism…
“Nick, you don’t sound upbeat enough!”
And here’s a quote from a review for one of my courses:
“Lots of good stuff worth thinking about. I did find Nicks voice a bit ‘sleep inducing’ but otherwise clear. Thanks.”
Ouch. That’s not good. Feedback like that I take seriously.
In fact, before recording a lesson or lecture, I usually go through a series of physical, voice and mental exercises… all designed to give me a little more of an upbeat feel when I speak.
Generally, I’m not a big fan of dissecting what “successful people” do.
The promise implicit in “doing what they do” is that you’ll become successful too.
I think the road to success, however you choose to define it, is more complicated than that. A path taken by one person may not be the right path for you.
So let me qualify my headline by saying, “When I find myself dabbling, it’s a sure sign I’ve wandered off my own path to success.”
In other words, this is what’s true for me. It may or may not be true for you. (But I suspect it might be.)
The life of a freelancer isn’t always easy.
We have our ups and downs.
Maybe we lose a big client. Or that big prospect we thought was in the bag slips out of our grasp at the last moment.
Meanwhile we’re complaining about all the new freelancers entering the market, and pushing prices down.
Or we’re moaning about how the companies we’d really like to work with don’t seem to be hiring freelancers.
And then there’s that client who wants to renegotiate our fees, downwards.