Tutti noi abbiamo posto questa domanda in un momento o nell'altro. A volte troviamo delle scuse e le attribuiamo agli altri (soprattutto alla nostra sfortuna). A volte disattuiamo il sistema e guardiamo fuori dalla finestra, solo per poi incolpare noi stessi! Credetemi quando vi dico che tutti noi siamo stati nella stessa situazione!
Trovare un cliente è difficile, ma ciò che è ancora più difficile è assicurarsi che rimanga con noi nel lungo periodo. Già ieri abbiamo concluso un contratto con uno dei clienti che ci ha pagato bene ma che ci stava dando fastidio. Nel mio prossimo newsletter vi parlerò di come garantire che il cliente rimanga con voi e vi aiuti a crescere come professionisti.
Oggi, concentriamoci sulla ricerca del cliente giusto!
Ma prima di arrivare a questo, avete sentito parlare dell’effetto IKEA? È una cosa che discuto con i miei scrittori a tempo pieno quando li ingaggio per CJ (quelli che mi hanno scritto e mi hanno spiegato cos’è CJ Digitals, la mia agenzia di scrittura chiamata così in onore delle iniziali dei miei cani). L’effetto IKEA afferma che le persone tendono a valorizzare un oggetto di più se lo realizzano da sole. Ancora più importante, l’effetto IKEA parla del fatto che tendiamo a apprezzare le cose di più se abbiamo messo in campo uno sforzo extra per crearle!
Understand that you will create hundreds and thousands of blog posts or content pages for your clients or agencies. But what you will love and admire the most is the content you have created for yourself — something that we call our portfolio!
A couple of days ago, I was on a one-on-one consultation call with a freelancer who asked me about the importance of having a portfolio. I told her the same thing that I am sharing with all of you here, ‘your portfolio is the start of your bread and butter (beer in some cases) – make sure it resonates with who you are, what you do, how you do it, what you did in the past, and what plans you have for future!’
How can you implement the IKAE effect into writing or other freelancing jobs?
The IKEA effect would suggest that clients value the strategies, visions, missions, and goals you have played a part in building.
Next time you pitch to a client, talk about the things you helped build! Your portfolio should shout about your work so that your client will say, “Oh, you made this happen? I think you are the right person for us!”
If you are not able to find relevant clients, this is what you should do:
- Create a portfolio: If you have not worked for anyone yet and are just freelancing in the early days/weeks/months/years, write for yourself and share it on your blog/medium.
- Stay active on LinkedIn: LinkedIn is more than just connecting like-minded people. This is a great place to get inbound leads. Participate in my 30-day writing activity that would help you write over 24,000+ words in a month, boosting your confidence and improving your network (you might get good paying leads as well).
- Skill Up: If not today, then when? If not now, then how? Right? Today is the perfect day to skill up your freelancing game! Learn new things! Instead of putting Kesariya on repeat, this is the right time to listen to some great coaches and mentors.
- Create Case Studies: Create multiple case studies in and around your learning and previous gigs. As I say during my classes, case studies are the perfect way for your client to know how easily you can solve the problem! It also helps them understand what you did as an individual to resolve a given set of problems! Remember the IKEA effect? The client will see and learn how you build something from scratch!
- Be Confident: Even if you are not getting clients or projects, do not be disheartened! It happens to everyone. This is a serious game, and only those who know how to swim against the tides can survive! I understand the money factor (we all have bills to pay!) and how easily we make the fist to hurt ourselves with those sharp nails, but that is not the way ahead — learn from your mistakes and skill up this game!
And if you want to bitch about some client or discuss some project, I am here!
Until the next time, Baw-Baw!
– V