Re: FN-FORUM Survival

date posted 29th June 2002 02:41

> Just a quick mail really to find out if everyone is surviving on pure
> freelance work ? - the reason I ask this I have always produced freelance
> stuff around a fulltime position but dealing with redundancy yet again im
> seriously thinking about never working for anyone else again and just
> setting up as a pure freelancer.
>
> Has anyone got any tips to becoming a pure freelancer ? or is it just luck
> to be able to make a living from it ???

There are three important points.

1) Being impressive enough so that customers recommend you to others.

This doesn't mean you might be a world leader in your field, but that you
provide an excellent SERVICE. For example, you're always there, you send
thank you notes all the time, and you make the customer feel good about
recommending you. It's 50% being good at your job, BUT it's also 50%
marketing/customer service. People who focus 100% on their technical
abilities can also do well, but would certainly do better if they had more
sales and service savvy to develop a strong rapport with clients.

2) Finding work where others don't look.

This is probably my biggest 'secret', and really I'm not sure why I'm
posting it. A lot of people here are fighting in very similar markets. It
depresses me to hear that 2 squillion people have sent in mails to each job
post on Freelancers.net, and I would feel even worse if I had to depend on
that lottery. So my main job is finding work where other people aren't
looking.. and yes, there are a lot of places. Unfortunately I can't help in
this regard since it varies depending on what you do.. and I'm not giving up
any of my discoveries (sorry!)

3) Become an 'established supplier' to some businesses.

There are several businesses who pay me a regular monthly fee. It's not a
retainer, it's to ensure that if they end up in the s**t, I get my ass round
there straight away and get them out of it. You can't do this in every
industry, but having a few customers like this can make up most of your
'survival' paycheck and it means you don't really have to do much. Remember,
the goal of capitalism is to do as little work yourself for as much return
as possible.

~

I can recommend a number of books and sites/mailing lists to read which will
definitely help you develop great freelancing skills (from the
service/marketing POV, not the technical skills, which you should already
have!)..

"Wizard of Ads" by Roy H. Williams
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1885167296/
(worth its weight in gold, superb advice for getting any sort of work,
freelance or not, and only costs a tenner!)

FrankelBiz
http://www.frankelbiz.com/
Okay okay, this -is- one of my secret discoveries. This free e-mail list of
business people could bring you more business than all other sources
combined. It cannot be beaten. (The weekly online chats are amazing, and you
get to learn tons about branding yourself to be your customer's only
solution.)

There are numerous other books, but I'll leave it as an 'exercise for the
reader' to find them:
"Press Here!" by Annie Gurton, "The Beermat Entrepreneur" by Mike Southon..
and, okay, one MORE secret weapon.. any books with "Guerrilla Marketing" in
the title by Jay Conrad Levinson.. they're cheap but full of advice and
tips.

Actually, I think I'll quit while I'm ahead. I don't want you getting more
business than me! ;-)

Good luck, and let me know about your progress!

Pete


================================================================
= ************************* SilkPHP ************************** =
= ---------> Free PHP Scripts for your web sites