005 : AUDACITY, DREAMS, TIME

YOU VOTED FOR IT, SO HERE IT IS.

Instead of using your eyes and reading this newsletter, you can listen to it instead in the form of audio or as I like to call it: A Mini Podcast. Your choice!

(If you genuinely like it and find it useful, please do let me know)

1. AUDACITY DAY

Hey Freelance Friend,

I could not be more excited about this.

I had an idea while writing last weeks edition of Freelancer OS.

So much so that I thought about just scrapping last weeks newsletter (but it took me like 7 hours so I didn’t)

I want you to think about your dream client.

Your dream project.

Your dream collab.

You probably have an idea in your mind, right?

For me it has always been to shoot a campaign for National Geographic.

(Yes in my secret other life I’m a travel photographer)

Nat Geo is one of the most sought after and difficult publications to even get in front of, never mind the gruelling process by which they select their campaigns.

Now, when I think about reaching out to them, a million things cross my mind:

• I’m not good enough

• I should work on my portfolio

• Why would they even respond to me

• What would I even say

• Its impossible

You know the thoughts.

Maybe you’re a graphic designer who would love to work for Adobe Max.

Maybe you’re a copywriter who would love to write for their favourite brand.

Maybe you’re a SMM who has incredible ideas for their favourite brands socials.

But, you’re not quite there yet.

You aren’t ready.

Maybe one day.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

I’m officially designating Thursday 27th June as AUDACITY DAY

What I want every single one of you to do, with me, is:

• Decide who your dream client is.

  You know who it is!

• Find a way to contact them
  Tips: LinkedIn! Their Website! Their Social Media DMS! POST?!

• Write to them

Now, the enemy of things like this is time and thinking. So if you know who your dream client is, you found a way to contact them and you have something to say…HIT SEND.

BUT if you are nervous, you can keep it in your drafts and we will all hit send together on Thursday 27th June.

ALSO: don’t overthink it. If you have time to do a whole pitch deck and everything cool, but if not, just write an email or a message and say exactly what you feel. You think they are amazing, you love their work, you would love to work with them, do you have any advice or know who I could speak to. THATS IT!

What I want is that the 27th June is a celebration that we all got out of our comfort zones and reached out to our dream client.

NOW

I know what you are thinking.

They won’t even respond…why bother…won’t it look stupid to reach out to them when I’m so new or not quite at that level yet?

I will answer your inner dialogue directly:

If you do or you do not do this, not getting a response will land you in exactly the same place.

But by taking action you increase your odds of success, by not doing anything you guarantee nothing will happen.

Also, by reaching out you have shown initiative. In fact, some of the most famous photographers who work with National Geographic say they applied so many times, the hiring manager actually said they saw the others, and were impressed by the progress and desire shown.

and finally… you can write in your email / DM / letter that you would love to hear from them about the best ways to work with them in the future, if there is anything they look for in particular, or would help progress you to a stage where they would hire you.

All this to say, have the Audacity!

Let’s try and make our dreams come true.

By taking part, we at least we give ourselves a shot!

P.S. Please do respond to this email with your dream client / dream project. We can make a list and see how everyone got on and if they got a response. I will share the list in next weeks edition. Who knows…maybe another subscriber has an in or connection at your dream company!

2. TIME

Time.

You can have time. You can spend time.

You can never get time back.

Time is a finite resource. Once it’s gone, it’s gone.

This will be a cautionary tale about wasting time, and how it affects not just your present, but your whole life.

(As a Freelancer, of course, I’m not a life coach…)

I want you to think about your total time in terms of a finish line, or the edge of a cliff, or a bar on a chart with an end point.

The finish line or cliff edge is the day you retire.

(Because lets not think about death today)

As Freelancers we can be very liberal with our time.

Whether that’s ‘wasting’ our own time, using our time to help others, or having our time wasted by clients.

Whatever the reason we don’t use our finite resource of working hours in a day, you, and everyone else has this feeling that well…

“you can just do it another time.”

The issue is that with a finite resource, there is an exchange that happens.

Let’s say you use 10 hours this week on things which are not going to bring you income.

• A client delayed the project by not getting back to you on time.

• A well meaning friend who thinks you don’t work asked to meet on a Wednesday afternoon.

• You decided to take the afternoon off because the Euros are on.

These hours come with a direct cost.

That cost is your hourly rate.

Let’s say your hourly rate is £40. That’s £400 for those 10 hours.

Here’s where things get complicated, so bear with me, but this is crucial to understand and therefore protect your time more fiercely.

That work is still going to get done, so whats the problem, right?

The problem is, the 10 hours that will ‘still get done’ now take the place of 10 future hours.

Those 10 hours next week would have been used to do other work, had you done the work this week.

I want you to imagine hours like blocks, and using 10 blocks then pushes all the other blocks 10 hours along the line…and using the visualisation from earlier…pushes 10 hours off the cliff.

That £400 and 10 hours is now gone. Off the cliff of retirement.

Because not only are those 10 hours taken from next week, but next month, this quarter, this financial year, and eventually off the cliff of retirement.

Every hour you use, is taken from your overall pot of hours that could have been used to further your career, work on projects, and generate income.

This is why it is absolutely vital that we protect our hours.

That clients who do not stick to project timelines are held accountable.

Because a 2 week delay due to a client which could have been used for your next project, which would have started 2 weeks earlier had the delay not happened, has a very real and very definitive impact on your earnings for that financial year, and by extension, your lifetime earnings.

Those 2 weeks are gone. They are taken from another project which would have brought you income during that time.

Those 2 weeks then shuffle along the timeline and off the cliff of that financial year, then eventually off the cliff of retirement. You can never get them back.

Your contracts have to stipulate costs associated with delays and wasting of your time.

Now, if you are thinking that you can just use some of your other, non-working hours to cover for this. Please dont.

Those hours are priceless. Those are the hours you would be with friends, family, yourself and experiencing your life.

Don’t let clients, work, social media addictions, or anything else rob you of your time.

One term which needs changing is Spare Time.

It’s not spare, it’s your time, your most important time.

So, to conclude: protect your working hours vigorously, but protect your life hours even more so.

Time is something you can never get back.

3. Freelancer Feature

Each week I will be featuring one of you lovely subscribers. This week it’s the one and only:

JOE CARSON

You all probably know Joe, and if you don’t, well you should!

He is someone I have been lucky enough to meet in person and discovered him through his insightful posts on LinkedIn

Joe is a Freelance LinkedIn Ghostwriter & Social Media Marketer

I know he is good at what he does, because I see his posts all the time, and I have seen the steady increase in engagement since we both started around the same time (not that I’m jealous, should probably hire him…)

Here’s Joes insight for you all:

Want to connect with Joe?

Next Week

006: SCOPE, SOURCE, SAUCE

No hints for this one, you just have to tune in to find out….

With you next Thursday at 11:00am (UK TIME)