Whether they know it or not, there are a few people who have come out of the woodwork over the past year to mentor me both during my job search and in my career transition.
I met Ben Stone during the summer of 2009 when I was deep in the grips of being unemployed. Ben is a “recovering HR recruiter” who has helped me with technical issues and offered up website development tips and tricks. He also gives back to the community on a continuous basis.
I started attending Central Iowa Bloggers last summer and am so glad I did. Mike Sansone is the unofficial leader of the group and has given me the support and insight I’ve needed to move my business forward. Starting something new is always difficult, but he instilled in me the mindset of being a “Free Agent” and I’ve never been able to look back.
John Stein is one of those soft-spoken intellectuals whose wheels are always turning. He gave me the guidance I needed to take my business to the next level and continues to monitor my progress using his subtle coaching techniques. He specializes in “extracting your natural genius” at Stein’s Way.
I recently graduated from Jeff Garrison‘s 12-Week Sales Habitudes Practice Group. I use what I’ve learned at every networking event and prospect/client interaction. My interactions in business are much more intentional and calculated and this is helping my business to grow.
Who are your mentors? Do you have a personal board of directors who you meet with on a regular basis for guidance?
I recently had a freelance professional ask me the following question at a networking event:
“How many clients can you really have at one time before your level of attention to each of them 
begins to diminish?”
My first thought was, “You never want to turn away business, do you?” But at the same time, there are only so many hours in a day – that’s never going to change.
I also feel that if a freelance professional is in the beginning stages of their business, they need to work as hard as they can to create that “unpaid sales force”. You want as many people as possible to know what is that you do well enough so that they can talk about what you do to others. One way to do this is by networking AND creating value for as many clients as you can.
I also had a colleague in the community mention to me this morning:
“Having too many clients is a good problem to have.”
What do you think? Have you ever turned away a client because you felt you couldn’t give them the level of service they deserved because you were too busy?
I submitted a chapter to the Age of Conversation III which is going to be available for sale no later than mid-April – maybe sooner. There will be a Kindle and iPad version of the book in addition to the hardback and paperback versions. Read more about the project below:
From http://www.ageofconversation.com/about-us/
Following on the success of the first two editions, Age of Conversation III: It’s Time to Get Busy! again kick-starts the discussion about how the global marketing landscape is changing. With over 300 of the world’s leading marketers, writers, thinkers and creative innovators contributing chapters, this collaborative work investigates the roles that community, conversation, experimentation, engagement, and collaboration play in shaping the 21st century’s economy of ideas. As businesses, public and private organizations, and individuals realize that there’s much more to social media and its impacts than first meets the eye, Age of Conversation III shows which platforms, tools, and approaches truly work.
From the boardroom to the locus of customer interaction, social media is transforming the way we do business. The impact of this is being felt in every customer interaction, each business decision and even the way we source, retain and engage our staff.
“Social media” is the business buzzword of 2010.
But what is happening beyond the hype? What are the practicalities that social media are imposing on our business practices?
In Age of Conversation III: It’s Time to Get Busy!, the world’s leading practitioners share their stories, ideas, strategies and observations. Each chapter yields practical insight and valuable experience.
The book is broken into a number of sections:
- At the coalface
- Conversational branding
- Influence
- Getting to work
- Corporate conversations
- Measurement
- In the boardroom
- Pitching social media
- Innovation and execution
- Identities, friends and trusted strangers
This third book in the Age of Conversation series is crowdsourced, bringing together hundreds of authors from across the world. The diverse perspectives and innovative approaches reflects the global, changing nature of business today. All profits from the sale of the book are donated to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
The information below is from Randolf Hock’s book, “The Extreme Searcher’s Internet Handbook” via “Real Simple” Magazine.
To Find: PDFs, Excel Spreadsheets, or PowerPoint presentations
Use: filetype:pdf, filetype:xls, or filetype:ppt
Example: Canon manual filetype:pdf
Why: If you include the file type in your search, Google will turn up only relevant files. For example, entering filetype:pdf will find all the PDFs that have to do with operating your new camera.
To Find: narrowed-down information
Use: a hyphen (minus sign)
Example: jaguar -cars -football
Why: You want information about jaguars-the animal, not the car or the sports team. Placing a hyphen before terms you want to exclude will omit pages with those words. Type a space before the hyphen, but not after.
To Find: a product you saw online (but can’t remember where)
Use: intitle:
Example: intitle:”Frye boots”
Why: Using the term intitle: searches the world in the title bar of Web pages and can be particularly helpful if you remember the name of a product you liked but not where you found it. Just be sure not to put a space after the colon and to use quotation marks around the phrase.
To Find: a verbatim phrase
Use: quotation marks
Example: “Bikram yoga”
Why: Using quotation marks around a phrase or a person’s name can eliminate many of the irrelevant links you would otherwise turn up.
- perform calculations – to figure out what 15 percent off a $78 shirt amounts to, just enter “78 x .15” into the search field, click “Search,” and the answer will show up at the top of the results page. No clicking on a second link required.
- convert measurements – How many cups equal a liter? Simply type “cups in a liter.” You can also find out currency conversions (“15 dollars in Euros”).
- track flights – Find out if your flight is on time by entering your airline and flight number.
- locate packages – Hunt down an MIA delivery by entering “track” plus the tracking number for a direct link to the status page.
- look up addresses – Type in a person’s home phone number and, if she is listed, Google will turn up the mailing address.
- find movie showtimes – Type “movies” plus your city or ZIP code to see theaters and showtimes for the next three days.
- listen to songs – Thanks to a Google partnership with music site lala.com, you can type the title of a song and its artist and a playable file will appear at the top of the results page.
When I started Contemporary Business Solutions in November 2009, I knew that I would be using the skills I had acquired while interviewing for jobs in the client-building process. It only recently dawned on me how vast the similarities really are. (Nod to Jeff Garrison and Sales Habitudes)
1. The preparation for both encounters
- Research the Company
- Learn everything I can about the person(s) conducting the interview on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and the Internet in general.
- Identify their need(s) and have solutions prepared if called upon to provide them
2. Follow-up
- Before leaving the meeting, have a clearly defined method for following-up
- Make sure both parties understand the next step
- In both job interviews and prospect meetings, it is STILL difficult to get a yes or no response (Did I get the job? Are they going to sign my proposal?)
- In both situations, the timeline for follow-up on their end is rarely adhered to, so I have to initiate contact
- There is a bit more flexibility with a prospective client relationship than there is with a potential employer in terms of communication
3. The dreaded $$$ question
- The first person who said an amount “loses”
- In the prospect meeting, I will ask if they have a budget range in mind; in the job interview, if the interviewer brings up salary, I will also ask them if they have a range in mind
Have any of you made the transition from job-hunting to being a Free Agent? What similarities do you see between the two?
