The Client Letter
July 22, 2011
Sedona Arizona
Spent some time today commenting on a few freelancer blogs. I do that every now and again in an effort to get the word out and to spread some of my messages.
One of my most powerful messages is this one:
You’re valuable. And until you FEEL it, and let it be known, you’re going to struggle as a freelancer.
That’s a six-figure tip right there and my hunch is that it might be something you deal with from time to time.
One of the blog posts I came across today was about a freelancer who didn’t like the idea of selling his services. He didn’t want to appear, you know, “salesy.”
OK, so let’s let this scenario play out.
Mr. Freelancer, who doesn’t want to appear “salesly,” gets to business NOT appearing salesy. When he sees opportunities where he could add value, he politely moves on – he doesn’t want to appear “salesy.”
Then Ms. Savvy Freelancer shows up.
She sees the opportunities and snatches them up. ALL of them.
Only thing is, Ms. Savvy Freelancer is a newbie. She just got started in this business. She has very little experience. In fact, Mr. Freelancer doesn’t even know how she gets clients.
But somehow, she DOES.
Let’s be really honest here for a moment:
What do you think might be an emotion you’d feel if YOU were Mr. Freelancer and you heard about the success of Ms. Savvy Freelancer?
Well, if you’re like most of us humans, you’d probably be just a wee bit jealous. And maybe even annoyed. Then, you’d start thinking of all the reasons that person shouldn’t have accomplished the stuff she did.
“She can’t even write…”
“She’s terrible…”
“I don’t think she’s nice…”
“Have you SEEN her hair?”
(OK, I just threw that last one in for kicks.)
If you can’t be your biggest fan in the world, then don’t expect anyone else to be. They won’t.
Stand up and cheer for yourself. It works and you deserve it.
If you don’t have the guts to cheer, then just be prepared to watch the other folks who do.
The fact is, you DO have the guts… you just have to use it.