I've spent most of my waking hours today sharing lunch with a friend of mine. My friend asked if she could buy me lunch and pick my brains. Naturally, I said yes.
Over some great food and coffee in one of my favourite Yarraville cafes (the Corner Shop) we spent a few hours talking about our skills and our experiences finding our way in the world as freelance multi-taskers. It's a compliment to be thought of as someone who has something worth sharing and is of value to another person on a similar path. The sharing flows both ways in a conversation like this.
I always find myself thinking about what I've done from a different angle as a result of one of these conversations. Best of all, it helps me refine my thinking. I usually know exactly why I've made particular decisions but being asked to articulate this can help sharpen the thinking and gain a different perspective on something. All of this happened today - and more!
It's great to be in the flow. You know, when things arise as you need them. Introductions happen easily. Clients pay on time and refer you to other people. New opportunities land right in your lap. It feels like the ideas come to you. After some turbulence a couple of weeks ago it feels great to be in the flow again. Being out of the flow means getting bumped into, wearing a frown and feeling nervous about things. This is not happy territory and therefore it isn't sustainable.
During the course of our conversation we turned to the subject of our blogs and social media presence. We each had recommendations for the other to look up. We both have been conscious about our online presence for a while, so we share a common language. At one point we both realised we'd been talking about social media contacts as though they are real people...oh, hang on, they ARE real people. So are we! Even if we've never met each other, there's still an awareness of who they are and what they know.
Yesterday I met a woman who had joined facebook last week. We pondered this, imagining how different our freelance lives would be without platforms like our blogs, twitter accounts, linked in profiles and facebook pages. And that's before we even start thinking about our websites and domain names.
There's a lot of discussion about the value of social media and whether it's helpful, healthy or a time waster. The very strong theme of the discussion I had with my friend today was the notion of "reciprocity". Here are my top reciprocity tips for creating "flow":
1. My personal practice with every referral I receive from a contact, is to take time to personally thank the person who made the referral - even if nothing concrete comes of it. And if someone is taking time to forward your material on, say thank you! Appreciation costs nothing and builds goodwill. Goodwill is another way to think of "the flow".
2. Find out about people in your networks. Ask them what they offer. You might not need their services, but someone who approaches you might be looking. You'll be in a position to give them a referral.
3. Ask for testimonials after you've completed a piece of work. Linked In makes this really easy to do. Ask for permission to also publish the testimonial on your website. People want to know that you can deliver.
4. Don't stand on the sidelines. I have lots of conversations with people who tell me they don't understand Twitter. I tell them the best way to learn about Twitter (or any social media) is to participate. I usually hear that they've joined Twitter, but then they don't say anything - they want to "watch" for a while. Soon they close the account proclaiming that they don't get it and wonder what all the fuss is about. Social media is not for voyeurs.
If you're at the start of this journey, talk to people who are already doing it. It's worth thinking strategically before you set everything up. (I LOVE talking to people.) And I'd love to hear your ideas!
How do you build goodwill and keep it flowing?
*My friend is a whizz at helping people (especially artists) maximise their web presence. You can pay her a visit over at http://rosewintergreen.com/ Her "Top Tool Tuesday" posts are very handy. Don't forget to tell her I sent you!
Showing posts with label freelance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label freelance. Show all posts
Monday, 12 March 2012
Friday, 10 February 2012
Reflections on a Very Big Week
It's been a very big week. I worked every day! For most of my life I have been in full time employment and was required to turn up five days a week. Sometimes this involved travel and very long hours. I don't do that any more. So here I am, absolutely exhausted after turning up for 5 consecutive days - something I haven't done in over a year. I feel like taking a moment to reflect on what's different about working 5 days in a row as a freelancer and 5 days in a row as staff.
1. As a freelancer my responsibility ends with the delivery of whatever I was hired to do - in this case facilitate leadership development programs. The upside is being able to focus on the task at hand. The downside is not being able to know the next chapter in the story. The upside is not becoming entangled in organisational politics. The downside is not being involved in organisational politics. (Really.)
2. Hired-in consultants have freedom to be more frank with a business - that's what we're paid for. The thing is, I've always been very frank and direct in my conversations with people and that didn't always work so well. Some organisations think they want their staff to speak truthfully but react by threatening or severing the employment relationship. Having this freedom is more in tune with my natural style.
3. As a freelancer I am paid much more than I was paid to do the same work as an employee. Yay!
4. The flip side is I have no job security. Future work is dependant on whether clients like the work I'm doing now. I want them to ask me to work with them again. I want them to recommend me to their colleagues. I have to take every opportunity to network. Luckily, this is really working for me. This is a very effective reward and recognition scheme - if I'm not doing good work and cultivating relationships, I don't eat. Today two future jobs came through on the phone - one which is a referral from within my network to someone whom I don't know (Yay!) and the other is the third piece of work for a person I met when I was working on the same project for a day. We networked and about 6 months later she hired me.
5. As a freelancer I work with a variety of people regularly. Sometimes it works well and sometimes it is hard and not enjoyable. I love this! It's so wonderful to have new people to play with. It's also great to work in a context which requires a conscious approach and presence to succeed. Each time I work with someone new, I love that I inevitably learn so much from them. I worked with terrific people this week.
6. As a freelancer, I am running a business of my own. Running a business requires planning and straight talk about money. Often money ties into the nature of the business relationship. The art is in recognising what's important at any given time. This week, the conversation was about money. I'll talk about the relationship later. (Thanks to my brother who helped me work that through.)
Working permanently or working freelance both have their benefits and their struggles. We're all different and what works for one person might not suit another person. I can honestly say, I never envisaged that I would be working freelance and running my own business. It's been a fabulous surprise!
Have you made the move from permanent employment to freelance? Or maybe you've moved the other way? What do you like best? What do you miss?
1. As a freelancer my responsibility ends with the delivery of whatever I was hired to do - in this case facilitate leadership development programs. The upside is being able to focus on the task at hand. The downside is not being able to know the next chapter in the story. The upside is not becoming entangled in organisational politics. The downside is not being involved in organisational politics. (Really.)
2. Hired-in consultants have freedom to be more frank with a business - that's what we're paid for. The thing is, I've always been very frank and direct in my conversations with people and that didn't always work so well. Some organisations think they want their staff to speak truthfully but react by threatening or severing the employment relationship. Having this freedom is more in tune with my natural style.
3. As a freelancer I am paid much more than I was paid to do the same work as an employee. Yay!
4. The flip side is I have no job security. Future work is dependant on whether clients like the work I'm doing now. I want them to ask me to work with them again. I want them to recommend me to their colleagues. I have to take every opportunity to network. Luckily, this is really working for me. This is a very effective reward and recognition scheme - if I'm not doing good work and cultivating relationships, I don't eat. Today two future jobs came through on the phone - one which is a referral from within my network to someone whom I don't know (Yay!) and the other is the third piece of work for a person I met when I was working on the same project for a day. We networked and about 6 months later she hired me.
5. As a freelancer I work with a variety of people regularly. Sometimes it works well and sometimes it is hard and not enjoyable. I love this! It's so wonderful to have new people to play with. It's also great to work in a context which requires a conscious approach and presence to succeed. Each time I work with someone new, I love that I inevitably learn so much from them. I worked with terrific people this week.
6. As a freelancer, I am running a business of my own. Running a business requires planning and straight talk about money. Often money ties into the nature of the business relationship. The art is in recognising what's important at any given time. This week, the conversation was about money. I'll talk about the relationship later. (Thanks to my brother who helped me work that through.)
Working permanently or working freelance both have their benefits and their struggles. We're all different and what works for one person might not suit another person. I can honestly say, I never envisaged that I would be working freelance and running my own business. It's been a fabulous surprise!
Have you made the move from permanent employment to freelance? Or maybe you've moved the other way? What do you like best? What do you miss?
Thursday, 15 December 2011
Time for work.
As things wind down in preparation for Christmas, I have more time on my hands. As a freelancer I am subject to the rhythms of the business world. On one hand, it's helpful because I have time to do my own preparation for Christmas and holidays. On the other hand, it's potentially a financial wilderness.
Working and living this way has its challenges. I've really learnt that if my anxiety levels about work and money go up, the chances of work and money coming my way go down. I think it's probably because if I'm anxious I'm less likely to be able to see opportunities and also I'm less capable of creative problem solving - something I'm usually good at.
One of my other personality traits that I need to be aware of is my ability to get stuff done is directly proportional to the amount of stuff I need to get done. If I'm flat out busy I get everything done. If I'm not, things linger until the very last minute and I struggle. I still get everything done, but find the process is not as enjoyable.
These peaks and troughs were one of the reasons I started to write "divacultura", and made a commitment to write daily. During the flat periods, without a clear focus, time would just slip by if I wasn't careful. I was a very productive knitter and I read a lot of books, but I also recognised the potential to do nothing but watch my favourite shows on DVD. I needed to recognise that I was blessed with something that I hadn't had enough of for all of my working life: time! How dare I squander it!
As a creative person working in a corporate world, being able to focus on my creative life and practice was something I often sacrificed the moment the phone rang or an email flashed on the screen. On reflection, it seems incomprehensible to me that I would not fight fiercely to claim that space for myself. It was a matter of priorities. And now I have them straight-er.
Tonight, I felt the compulsion to write, but also the lure of bed. I am feeling mentally exhausted after a day working in an academic environment, co-teaching about simulated patients in health care and medical education. My daily writing habit won! Here I am honouring my commitment to my daily writing habit.
I knew when I set my parameters for this blog that they would be important: I was setting priorities in my life. "divacultura" is a high priority each day for me; it must be written. There have been days when I have not been able to honour this commitment because I've been interstate and not had the facilities. The strength of the ingrained habit on these occasions has been very strong. Where I have been unable to do the publishing, I've often hand written the post and typed it later, or turned up my thinking so that the words would flow when I was next at my computer.
This is a good thing that I have done. Not every post has been a winner. Sometimes that's not the point. And in any artistic or creative pursuit, bad work is still work. I heard writer Steve Hely (author of "How I became a Famous Novelist") talk about this at the Melbourne Writers Festival this year and it has really stuck in my mind.
Today's work has left me struck by the synergies I keep finding in all my different worlds of work. Today I heard the concept of "practise, rehearsal, performance" presented. As an artist, I'm incredibly familiar with this cycle and am aware that a tiny proportion of my time is spent in performance. In the world of medicine, it's the opposite. Most of their time is spent in high stakes performance and the opportunities for practise and rehearsal are limited! I had never thought of it like that before.
What luxury I have being able to put the work in first.
I knew when I set my parameters for this blog that they would be important: I was setting priorities in my life. "divacultura" is a high priority each day for me; it must be written. There have been days when I have not been able to honour this commitment because I've been interstate and not had the facilities. The strength of the ingrained habit on these occasions has been very strong. Where I have been unable to do the publishing, I've often hand written the post and typed it later, or turned up my thinking so that the words would flow when I was next at my computer.
This is a good thing that I have done. Not every post has been a winner. Sometimes that's not the point. And in any artistic or creative pursuit, bad work is still work. I heard writer Steve Hely (author of "How I became a Famous Novelist") talk about this at the Melbourne Writers Festival this year and it has really stuck in my mind.
Today's work has left me struck by the synergies I keep finding in all my different worlds of work. Today I heard the concept of "practise, rehearsal, performance" presented. As an artist, I'm incredibly familiar with this cycle and am aware that a tiny proportion of my time is spent in performance. In the world of medicine, it's the opposite. Most of their time is spent in high stakes performance and the opportunities for practise and rehearsal are limited! I had never thought of it like that before.
What luxury I have being able to put the work in first.
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