Compensating
When you’re complying with what your customers asks about price: “a better price”, “a final offer”, “your offer is 20% higher than the others”, “my cousin can do it for less”, you’re giving away your power. And profit. And here’s something else. You’ll try to make up for what you’re giving away, in other things with that client. To which, if they don’t do or argue on, you’ll look for ways to get out of it as quickly as possible. And trying to do that is not in your customer’s best interest,…
To stand out, you need to be authentic.
“You need to be authentic” “You need to stay true to yourself” “Your followers are not following your company, they’re following you. The more personal your posts, the more empathy and engagement you will get.” “To be authentic, it means sharing your true self with your network.” Everyone tells you all of that and more. Yet, what does it even mean? Going a bit deeper than just “it means to be yourself”. Authenticity in business is more than just one thing. It’s a set of attributes that come…
“We’re trained to give ourselves up to be accepted.”
That’s why to be authentic feels like a threat. Check this short video ???? Founder of Metahelm, Guillaume Wiatr, had this to say: “We’re trained to give ourselves up to be accepted.” This resonates big time and explains why authenticity is a scary threat and, therefore, why it requires courage, strength, and honesty to find who we are.” They’re right. And this is why —especially with soloists, freelancers, indies— it becomes so fucking hard to say “No” to bad fits, to red flags. Because we…
A stand on working for free
Friend-of-the-list and fellow daily emailer, Danny Ruspandini, from Impact Labs wrote a post on response to “Work for free”. And it’s worth taking over the list today: On doing work for free. I feel pretty strongly about this, so I replied. For clarity, the context of my response is within your business – you know, the one where you’re a solo creative pursuing a career that supports you, and perhaps a few other people. It doesn’t include helping a friend move house, tending the garden at your…
The brightside
Here’s the bright side (and takeaways) from these friends-of-the-list about “workifor free”: “Perhaps the 95% didn’t “not show up” but rather found a more respectful use of their time.” Wes Wheless “The people you want to work with never ask you to work for free, and the ones who ask you to work for free are the ones you wouldn’t want to work with.” Genevieve Hayes “The secret isn’t showing up, it’s positioning yourself so that you never end up in the position where you have to compete…
Don’t be that client.
The amazing thing about reading a post on free work? You also being triggered by it and coming with great replies and perspectives on the subject. (Thank you tons!) This one post shared in a previous email is the thing that triggered me to think about what’s wrong here: Some of the replies [edited for clarity; shared with permission) “Asking 1200 people to invest time in something you know will only go to one person is questionable, perhaps unethical.” — Wes Wheless, The Lightbulb. “… there…
You just gotta trust
Pre-S. You know what? You’re fucking amazing. It’s so awesome to have people around that value others and their work. 🙂 There were a bunch of replies on the last emails about “Work for Free” and “Showing up is the secret”. Most of them were taking into account that work goes both ways: give and get. Not only money, but trust. Here’s the thing There’s more and more of businesses, “thought-leadershitheads”, recruiters, and more, that will abuse their position. The only thing you will always…
Work for free?
Do you ask for free work, samples to your suppliers/vendors/sub-contractors? Actually, do you expect them to do work for free before you engage with them? If you do, what are the reasons for it? If you don’t, what are the reasons for it? Quite curious to hear what you have to say. 🙂
Legally required
You’re not legally required to say yes to every prospect. You’re not legally required to give a quote. Not even to build a proposal. Definitely not, to play in their terms. So, when you see red flags, saying “No” won’t put you in a bad spot. Spend the best of your time in the customers you want to help and that 1) want help, 2) can afford you.
How much bullshit can you drop?
Have you come across this type of vendor trying to sell you something that’s dressed quite nicely and redefined under a “new category”? When something is already known by you, you have a stand on it, and still they’re trying to convince you to buy? And, if you’re curious enough —or just want to poke around— you follow along and wanna see how much bullshit they’re trying to feed you? That’s the thing about pitching, presenting and convincing. It’s not about them (your customers), but about you…