The Number One Tip For New Freelancers.
Freelancing is a subject that brings all manner of fire and brimstone and everything in between these days. Between the corporations who will try to bring you “in-house”, to the Non-Profits who may try to get a free lunch every day of the week, the very idea of going rogue as a freelancer may seem more daunting than it really is. What with all these distractions, cheap off-shore labor and industry-killing-contests on every corner of the web, you feel like you’re doomed to either starve or become a sell-out.
Well, you could probably stand to lose the weight, anyway.
Actually though, it’s quite possible to not only become a freelancer, but to become a profitable one and indeed, a successful one. In my years of experience I’ve learned a number of very difficult lessons on the hard road to bootstrapping your way to freelance success. I could spend a good thousand words or more telling you all of them, or I could cut to the chase and give you la lección más importante.
The number one tip I’d give to any budding freelancer is this: get arrogant.
I mean arrogant. I mean arrogant like Steve Jobs. Or David Heinemeier Hansson.
Now how would a people-friendly, service-oriented youth pastor like myself know anything about being arrogant? I’ll be the first to admit that you may not be able to tell when you first meet me just how arrogant I really am. I’ll seem nice. I’ll listen to your ideas. We’ll talk about what you want to achieve and the possible solutions to get there. But it’s all a facade, because in the end I’ll get nasty and tell you it’s my way or the highway. And you’ll love me for it.
Okay, I may have exaggerated just a bit about our hypothetical meeting, but here’s the honest-to-goodness truth: a company or organization is going to hire a freelancer because they have a need they can’t fill themselves. They either don’t have the resources, the knowledge or even just the desire to get it done, although they know it needs to be. They may be willing to admit that their creative is sub-par in this particular area, and they need you, the brilliant freelancer, to help them out.
And then you blow it by stumbling your way through the phone call, or doubting the quality of your work, or giving in to the awful demands of your pea-brained client.
I can see the comments now: “Aren’t you getting arrogance confused with confidence? Arrogance is such a strong word.” You bet it is. Arrogance is absolutely a strong word that provokes emotion and often intimidation. It’s like confidence smothered with smugness. It can leave people feeling upset and appalled.
But the thing I like about arrogance is it’s abundantly clear in it’s nature. People who know their skill-set and are somewhat arrogant about it get stuff done and they tend to do it right the first time. They have a laser-like focus on the end-result and no amount of feature-creep is going to get in the way. Lastly arrogance in communication leaves no room for misconceptions or confusion. It’s hard to take it the wrong way when someone tells you, “Your stuff sucks.”
You’ve got the training to do what you do best, don’t let anyone tell you differently. Yes, it’s good to be confident. But when your client insists on that flash animation that you can’t skip or they tell you to add so many buzzwords to the copy you’d expect to it be dripping honey - it’s necessary to be arrogant from time to time. Because as freelancers often forget, it’s not just their name out there, it’s yours.
Austin:
I don’t know if arrogant is the correct term — maybe “self-assuredly tenacious.”
I know people who are very skilled/knowledgeable at certain things, and they have no problem stating the straight-up truth about their abilities (they also have a student mentality - continually learning) — not arrogant at all.
Arrogance is when people think higher of themselves/their abilities than they ought. True arrogance will eventually come to the surface, thus revealing the underlying foolishness. People in general, not just freelancers, need to thoughtfully assess their abilities rather than thinking higher OR LOWER of themselves than they ought. Then, they should be self-assuredly tenacious about marketing themselves accurately according to that assessment and about not being pushed around by foolishness from ignorant people.
This concept is vital for a Christian to discover who (s)he is in Christ.
Sarah Jones:
Nice tips. It is a must follow for all freelancers. Thanks
Best Web Solutions:
Thanks for the post. Much needed topic.
Robby Slaughter:
I love this piece. The role of any consultant is to do things you cannot do and tell you things you’ll have a hard time hearing. This requires arrogance and a tough skin.
If you don’t think you’re smart enough to do the work, you probably aren’t. And if you DO think you’re smart enough, well, there’s a chance you just might be! Get tough and prove yourself.
Pavan:
Tip given is effective but at the same would also like to tell that if one is confident and sure about its work then being arrogant will be provoking.
What Do You Think?