5 traits of a confident freelancer
Reader, my business and life improved when I worked on the following areas.
(If you want to command higher rates, reduce your chance of getting ghosted, and enjoy better client relationships, today's email is a must-read)
Confident freelancers and business owners:
1) Challenge their clients
Being confident isn't about throwing your weight around. It's about looking at the objective goals of a piece of work, then standing by the best course of action to meet them.
This means saying no to people pleasing. It means sometimes challenging your clients on their wishes.
A web design client once asked me to put 50 pictures into a massive slider on their homepage carousel. This would have been disastrous from a user experience perspective. I explained this, and we explored better options. Challenge your clients.
2) Set and hold their boundaries
Confident people assert themselves when needed. Using powerful "I" statements, such as, "I need your sign off by this date" or "I will be unavailable on those days" is a mark of self-assurance.
We hear a lot about integrity in the business community - but it has nothing to do with morals. Integrity is about setting your expectations and not crumbling easily under the pressure from others. Hard to do, but so worth working on!
3) Know they're not always right
It is so liberating to be able to tell a client "I don't know".
In the early days of my career I felt like I had to show up with all the answers. The worst thing about this - short of the fact you can never have all the answers - is that you feel compelled to defend your position even when it's wrong.
I went through a process of letting it go and in that space, that I thought would be filled with fear and exposure, a calm confidence appeared. Embrace not knowing.
4) Genuinely want to see their clients win
How many reading this post, deep down, don't give a hoot about their client's success? How many are in it for themselves?
Be honest.
Improving your mindset on this point, above all others, will do wonders for your confidence and success. Help others win, and you will win too.
5) Pitch live, not over email
I wasted a lot of opportunities by "pinging over a proposal".
There's not much to say on this other than you'll have a far greater impact in your prospect's world if you show up in front of them, talk through your ideas and handle their questions in person. Pitch live, not on email.
EXERCISE:
Take each one above and rank yourself 1-10 for each (10 being "I'm great at this"). Then, for each one, write down some ideas for things you can do to move up a level. So for example, if you scored yourself 4/10 for genuinely wanting to see clients win write down some ideas that would move you to a 5 or 6. These might include "I will send a weekly check-in email" or "I will introduce my clients to others who can help them".
Taking these small actions will grow your confidence, enhance your impact and make things better for everyone.
Which area do you need to work on most?
Matt
P.s. My Solo Collectivists will be enjoying a talk on Selling without Selling - How to Boss Your Next Discovery Call. This sales training will help you run more confident, effective calls, leading to higher conversions and better rates.
There are 3 spots available for guests. If you'd like to come along, reply with "ME" and I'll send you the details.
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