Hi Friend,
Way back in 2011, George Clooney gave an interview to Parade magazine. The whole interview is interesting, but the part I’m focused on is at the end when the interviewer asks him about failure (the bold in his answer is mine).
You’ve talked about how lucky you are. What have you learned from your failures?
It’s hard when you get thumped. I’ve been proficient at failure. But the only thing you can do is say, “Here’s what I won’t do next time.”
I was a baseball player in school. I had a good arm, I could catch anything, but I was having trouble hitting. I would be like, “I wonder if I’ll hit it; just let me hit the ball.” And then I went away for the fall, learned how to hit, and by my sophomore year I’d come to the plate and think, “I wonder where I want to hit the ball, to the left or right?” Just that little bit of skill and confidence changed everything. Well, I had to treat acting like that. I had to stop going to auditions thinking, “Oh, I hope they like me.” I had to go in thinking I was the answer to their problem. You could feel the difference in the room immediately.
Clooney’s initial mindset (“I hope they like me”) is the same mindset many freelancers have. It’s also a harmful one.
We go into interviews thinking potential clients are the answers to our problems. We need to pay rent, we need to find clients, and we need to pay our bills. To make money, we need them to like us.
But that creates issues. To make them like us we lower our prices, we overpromise, and we take on projects despite red flags. We do this because we see our clients as the solution to our problem. Then we wind up in low-paying work, taking on projects we resent and working long hours, still always hoping the next potential client will be the answer to our problems.
Here’s the thing: clients aren’t interested in doing us a favour by hiring us, they want us to solve their problem.
When we see ourselves as the solution to their problem, we come from a place of power. We become the thing they need, not the other way around.
How do you view yourself as the solution to their problem?
I don’t believe in faking it til you make it, at least not in the way most people view it. Instead, I recommend the following:
Remember: potential clients have a problem they need a solution for.
The process of finding a good writer or editor is tough. It takes time, energy, and resources. Because they’re already super busy and pulled in a million directions, most clients want the process of finding a freelancer to be as simple and painless as possible. By being what they need and making it easy for them to choose you, you’re solving their immediate problem.
You don’t need to be the best editor in the world or the most persuasive writer to be the solution. You need to be capable and confident in your abilities.
By listening, you’ll figure out what their problem is.
When you view them as the solution to your problems, your focus becomes convincing them to hire you. So you wind up doing most of the talking. When the roles are reversed—that is, you ask them questions and listen to their answers—you can more easily identify what their real problems and goals are. From there you can position yourself as their solution.
Clients are often just as impressed by the questions you ask and the ability to understand them as they are by your previous experience.
Knowing what makes you unique will help you.
This may surprise you, but there are a shocking number of freelancers out there who can’t meet a deadline to save their life. Or who don’t know how to use a brief. Or who have terrible communication with their clients. Your potential clients may have concerns about working with such freelancers (maybe they even had a terrible experience already).
Figure out what you’re good at—besides your core offering (writing or editing)—and focus on that. Are you great at beating deadlines? Do you thrive on creating content based on only a brief? Do you have specialized knowledge in a certain industry? Are you incredible at research? These added benefits help clients see you as a solution to their problems.
Build up your savings account.
Yeah, I keep bringing this up. But one way to stop feeling desperate is to have at least a month of expenses in a savings account. It gives you the freedom of knowing that even if the next client doesn’t hire you, you’ll be okay for a while.
At the very least, be the solution to each other’s problems.
If you can’t let go of the feeling that your potential clients will solve your problems, at least view it as a two-way street: you can each solve each other’s problems. That way, you see yourself on more of a level field with your potential clients. And that may just be the confidence boost you need.
So, next time you take a meeting with a potential client, stop viewing them as the answer to your prayers and start looking at yourself as the answer to theirs. If it worked for George Clooney, it just might work for you.
Here’s to your ongoing freelance success,
Heidi