Kindle Notes & Highlights
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February 2 - April 5, 2021
it determines what clients think of you before they get in touch.
For example, you might decide to: Write a customized approach letter to one new prospect every week Post two LinkedIn updates every week Blog about an industry development once a month Follow five new freelancers or industry thought leaders on social media every week Request a testimonial at the end of every job.
Write your personal pitch
Many freelancers on LinkedIn frame their offer in terms of how they help, rather than what they do.
Some freelancers even create a cartoon character or Memoji version of themselves, which acts as their avatar on social media.
Becoming ‘we’ might also help if you do several different things. You may well be competent to deliver them all, but prospects might still be suspicious that a ‘jack of all trades’ is master of none. But a company that offers a wide range of services might make more sense.
Terms and conditions: details of how you handle formal aspects like project scope, scheduling, invoicing, payment, intellectual property, final approval and so on
Approach: a description of your working method, or the values you bring to your work
The easiest way to take the pressure off is to ask people questions, and listen carefully to the answers.
the things they create to go out into the world and engage with people on their behalf. That could mean actual creative work, or it could mean practical solutions to clients’ problems.
case studies about projects you’ve worked on. Make sure you cover: Who the client is, and what they do What they needed from the project The problem that the project aimed to solve What you did, and how you solved the problem The results that the client obtained.
a story format. The beginning is the client and their problem, the middle is what you did on the project and the end is the results.
Sharing your thoughts and opinions is a great way to build up your public profile and reputation as an expert. You can write about your own work, but it doesn’t have to end there. Potential subjects include: Reflections on your work, or projects you’ve worked on Advice, how-to guides, handy tips and dos and don’ts Interviews with other people in your industry Your opinions on events, changes and trends in your industry Your reviews or analyses of other work in your industry.
LinkedIn posts. (That’s the shorter posts that appear in the feed, not the longer articles that you click off to.) At 1300 characters, they’re just long enough to share a thought, a concept, an idea or a brief anecdote without getting bogged down in detail. They also get great engagement, and you can even attach images, movies or PDFs. Sometimes, I’ll publish a concise post on LinkedIn, and a longer version on my own blog.
charging by the project. With this method, you set out everything you will do on the project, and quote a single figure that covers it all. You’ll certainly consider how long it will take, but just as important is the value the prospect will get from your work.
For example, suppose you’re designing a website for a management consultant. It will be their shop window and first point of contact with nearly every client. They’ll be using it to pull in mega-fee-paying business. So your price should reflect the value that it brings them – not just the number of hours you spend, or the size of the site in pages.
nominal daily rate to use as a ...
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Project pricing is a model of simplicity: one job, one price. It’s also transparent, in the sense that you say exactly what you’ll do, and deliver, for the money.
turn particular batches of work into products, packages or bundles available at a fixed price.
The worst way to discuss important prices, particularly for an introvert, is ‘live’, in real time.
you want to get the discussion into writing as soon as you can. If a client puts you on the spot, say something like, ‘Can I give that some thought and send you an email later today?’
you want to shift the conversation to the unique value you offer
One way to deal with the ‘ballpark’ question is to reveal your nominal daily rate, as a basis for comparison
If you’re happy to offer a discount in principle, try not to undercut yourself. First, ask the client what they’d be willing to pay.
might want to build up your skills or experience. You might want to generate projects for your portfolio, or positive testimonials (see chapter 6). You might feel that doing free work will help you gain a particular client – or provide a stepping stone to other, more lucrative clients later
help a friend, family member or good cause. If so, you can get all the benefits above, plus the satisfaction of making a difference. Many well-established freelancers do pro bono work for this reason alone.
your beliefs shape your reality, including your fortunes as a freelancer.
one person might experience that reality and conclude that life is a struggle, another might decide that life is a game
These beliefs are ‘self-limiting’ because they are limits that you impose on yourself, not external constraints.
Tune into the voice of your inner critic, and what it tells you. Then, when you notice a self-limiting belief, ask yourself: Is this really true? How do I know it’s true? Have there been times when it wasn’t true?
For example, instead of saying, ‘I can’t speak in public,’ you could say ‘I haven’t spoken in public yet. But I have presented my work to clients, which is similar, just on a smaller scale.’
You already have all the resources you need
The value you offer is unique
On a purely technical level, it’s true that your service probably isn’t one of a kind. But your relationship with a client, and the personality, approach and values you bring, are important parts of the deal – and they are unique.
actively seeking out opportunities to experiment, even if they involve ‘failure’, because you know that’s the route to success.
Maybe you’re a ‘fixer’ or ‘completer-finisher’ like me – someone who likes getting things done and dusted as quickly as possible. That can be a positive trait for a freelancer, because it means you follow through diligently on client projects. However, it can also cause you some anxiety if the right answer takes a while to emerge.
There’s an important distinction between consistency and security.
Even after several years of success, having no work can make you feel pretty anxious. My advice is to use the time for a creative project or a job you’ve been putting off – because you’ll be back to the grindstone before you know it.
You are always gaining and losing clients, developing your service, learning new things and evolving your beliefs. Your business, and the way you present it, never stands still.
if you start seeing it as a negative, you might end up with a constant, creeping sense of dissatisfaction and incompleteness. So if your clients are happy and your bills are paid this month, give yourself a break and call that success.
