Monthly Archives: August 2022

Survival Strategies , , Leave a comment

Find Opportunity in Adversity: Surviving Inflation and Slowdowns

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It appears that Freelancers are having another moment although, as usual, it could be a mixed blessing. As we discovered when the coronavirus shutdown was waning and business began to slowly pick up, there are both roses and thorns to contend with. Still, economic fluctuations are nothing you haven’t seen before and you probably survived (but maybe not without suffering a few sleepless nights).

What distinguishes Freelancers and other independent business owners from employees is your plucky resilience and wily resourcefulness. Those traits are in your DNA and that’s why you struck out and created your own venture. However, you’re also a realist and well aware that neither boom times nor tough times last forever (although—surprise!—recessions and other economic downturns linger nearly twice as long as upswings).

Because a Freelancer’s income is often unpredictable you know that planning ahead with careful budgeting, sensible spending and, in flush times, building up savings to cushion cash-flow interruptions are absolute necessities. When either unexpected adversity or opportunity arises, you also know when it’s time to:

  • Assess what appears to be an opportunity or obstacle
  • Prepare to pivot, if it makes sense, to either expand into a new market or customer group or tweak a product or service to make it more appealing to what customers want now

Forward-thinking Freelancers also work hard to bring in multiple clients and develop additional revenue streams, so that there will be a way to cushion the shock of a lost client.

It is interesting that Inflation and the threat of recession have the potential to simultaneously add and delete clients on your roster. According to a June 2022 Wall Street Journal article big companies, including Twitter, real-estate brokerage firm Redfin and the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase have in recent weeks rescinded job offers made to candidates —-now that’s ugly. Google, Meta (Facebook), Oracle and Tesla have imposed hiring freezes that will be in effect through calendar year 2022.

Bloomberg News brings good news to Freelancers in its report of a survey conducted by gig work clearing house Fiverr. The survey showed that 78% of business leaders said they are more likely to hire Freelancers, rather than full-time employees, as long as economic conditions remain uncertain. Furthermore, economic uncertainty has motivated 85% of US companies to implement a hiring freeze during the current downturn and 78% plan to lay workers off, according to the Fiverr survey.

The current economic climate has Freelancers working in more than 80% of the companies represented by survey respondents, more than 1,000 owners of medium to large businesses. Those companies are currently hiring Freelance experts like you to get the work done and Fiverr reports that it has seen an increase in demand on its platform, especially from large businesses.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: Gas pump prices in Hingham, MA (cheaper than Boston!)

Sales , , Leave a comment

Freelancers Gotta Sell

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Selling is an important function in every industry however for some, the very thought of selling is intimidating and they shy away from it. Nevertheless, every business owner and Freelance consultant will benefit from becoming a competent sales professionals in tandem with their primary area of expertise because—-you went into business to sell your products and services! No matter what you pay an employee, s/he will never be a more passionate and knowledgeable sales person than the company founder or owner.

Selling can be learned like any other skill and just about everyone who tries will learn to become a competent and reasonably confident seller. Read on to get an easy-to-follow recipe that will result in successful sales for you.

Selling is asking questions

For sure, you need to get your prospective buyer talking because unless s/he approaches you directly, and even if that happens, you need to confirm that your product or service is the right solution for the problem and that the prospect intends to buy from you and soon. To do that, you must learn to ask a series purposeful questions. Primarily, your questions must make the prospective buyer feel comfortable telling you about his/ her need or problem and specify the desired outcome or objective that ideally will be achieved.

Successful sales professionals have discovered that open-ended questions are perhaps the most useful sales tool because they are conversation-starters that get the prospect talking about him/herself and what brought him/her to you. Good questions allow you to launch the sales process. They allow the prospective buyer to reveal the objective or outcome that s/he wants to achieve, the purpose of it all. You can come to understand the prospective buyer’s priorities, concerns, timetable and budget. You might also learn about unsuccessful trials with competitive products or services.

Selling is listening

The most important fact to understand about selling is that it’s not about you, the aspiring seller. The act of selling centers on the potential buyer, the prospective customer. Unless the buyer is extremely motivated, has an urgent need for a solution ASAP, you’ll need to persuade the prospective buyer that your product or service will fulfill his/her needs and should be purchased now (or in the near term).

In order to understand the problems and need of a prospective buyer, the aspiring seller (you, Freelancer friend) must listen carefully to the answers to the questions you’ve asked. This can only be done by spending the majority of the conversation listening rather than talking.

Expert salespeople are nearly always very good listeners. Experience has taught them that in order to sell, they must first understand the prospective buyer and personalize their sales pitch to align with the prospective buyer’s needs, objective, priorities, timeline and budget.

Recognizing window shoppers

These are people who are not serious about buying anything in the immediate future, if ever. They may be amusing and great to talk to, but they are not your friend. They are time-wasters and they cost you money by siphoning off your valuable time and energy to engage in a sales process that they will not complete.

These false prospects merely want to see what’s available, how it works and what it costs. They may not yet know what they need, if they need it, or what they can afford. They may have lots of questions and they may not be shy about taking up your valuable time to discuss a product or service that they will not buy anytime soon and if they do buy, they probably will not buy from you,

So how do you handle these people? You ask the right questions during your sales conversation. As you ask questions, be certain that one or two are designed to reveal if the prospective buyer needs/wants the product or service now, or sometime down the road. Asking direct, rather than open-ended, questions to discover when the product or service is needed is appropriate and an essential component of a successful sale. You must confirm the prospect’s motive and understand the urgency.

Uncovering and resolving objections

If a prospective buyer who appears to have a need to buy starts displaying pushback, this could signal that s/he is worried about whether the product or service is a good fit for his/ her needs. If a direct or speculative objection is made by your prospective buyer (“I heard this stuff doesn’t really work.”), I recommend you use a tactic that my colleagues in the sales department invented years ago. We called it Feel, Felt, Found.

  • I agree that there are some who’ve heard about our service but haven’t tried it themselves but they might feel that way.
  • Some of my best customers once felt the same way as you do now. They had doubts and questions.
  • But when they focused on the benefits they knew they could receive from the service, they found that what concerned them would not happen as long as they used the service according to our guidelines.

Confirmation and close

Once you’ve addressed the objection(s), confirm that the prospective buyer has dropped all doubts and now trusts your product or service (“Do you feel comfortable about using the service now, or do you need more information or maybe a demo, so you can see it in action?”). You cannot move forward with the sale until and unless you’ve resolved any objections and reassured your prospective buyer that your product or service is safe and effective. Once you’ve done that you’re able to either continue the sale, or invite the prospective buyer to fish or cut bait—-do the deal or look elsewhere.

Find the courage to ask for the sale! Get there by helping the prospective buyer envision the process by —tah- dah!—asking a few more questions as the sale draws to a successful close:

“Would you like to have the concierge service option, to make your life easier?”

“Do you like the blue or do you prefer the green?”

“Is the 20th of the month a good delivery date for your team, or will the 18th be more convenient?”

“Would you like to put this on a credit or debit card now, or do you prefer to write a check?”

“If you’ll be kind enough to sign in this line, we can seal the deal.”

After sale service

Avoid one-and-done syndrome and lay the groundwork for repeat business by extending customer service beyond the sale. Support the buyer who has now become your customer by answering questions or resolving problems that may occur after the sale. You want to take steps to make doing business with you a rewarding and pleasant experience. You want to be referred to your new customer’s friends and family. You want glowing online reviews and testimonials. You can use every sale to enhance your reputation and build your brand.  

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: © Annie Sahlin, photographer. Courtesy Palace of the Governors Photo Archives. Hopi Artist Elsie Talahytewa at the Santa Fe Indian Market in Santa Fe, NM, 1991 

Marketing , , , , , Leave a comment

7 Personal Brand Building Blocks

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OK, it’s like this—- if you’re not sure whether or not you have a personal brand and you don’t know what to make of it even if you do, you’ve come to the right place. Today, we’ll examine the business strategy known as the personal brand and talk about why you want to develop one for yourself. The short answer is, an effective personal brand is an excellent marketing tool.

Your personal brand helps you to clearly define your company and its purpose, describe the value you bring to clients, articulate what sets you apart from competitors and helps you to build and sustain a community of loyal clients who will be happy to give you repeat business and refer still more clients to you. A personal brand serves to establish you as a known quantity, familiar and trustworthy, a go-to expert in your field. Those with a respected personal brand have a high perceived value and that attracts clients. Are you ready to explore personal brand building blocks?

Authenticity

Your clients and prospects have no desire to interact with a focus-grouped and sanitized version of who and what you think they want to see. Clients and prospects would like to know you, i.e., the part of you that culturally accepted boundaries would incline you to share. It’s akin to being emotionally available.

It takes some courage. Sometimes it means you’ll take a public stand that may not be universally popular. If you can appropriately define your boundaries (something that also requires courage, along with self-awareness), the practice works for introverts and extroverts.

Visuals

 It will be to your advantage to maintain consistency in how you present your personal brand, to make it easy for you to be recognized. Develop a visual repertoire that represents you well and makes you and your company memorable in the best way. Create a look that epitomizes you and your company and include your branded elements of style in all visuals:

  • A logo that is used consistently in all media placements
  • Your profile photo that is used consistently in all media
  • Consistent cover and background images used in all media
  • Specific colors used in all media
  • Consistent style of dress when your photo is included in all media representations

Story

Your story can be quite simply, what motivated you to go into business as told through the experiences that brought you to where you are now. Storytelling is used as a marketing strategy and your personal brand is an integral component. Be sure to emphasize that it is the quality of your product or service, as well as the attention paid to the needs of clients, that guides your company. Your emphasis on the importance of meeting the needs of clients and exceeding their expectations on every metric is another must-do.

Expertise

Establishing yourself as an expert is the key component of being in business, even if you’re selling popcorn. Your expertise is the foundation of your reputation and the trust that clients, referral sources and prospects have for you. Showcase your expertise through content marketing, public speaking, interviews and direct interactions with colleagues, peers and prospective clients. 

Visibility

Half of life is about just showing up, as some very wise person said many years ago. Along with your regularly updated online presence, remember to seek out opportunities to appear in traditional print media outlets and to make personal appearances. If you are a decent writer, learn to repurpose your blog or newsletter posts by offering selected pieces to the editor of a media outlet that covers your business sector.

Whether IRL or virtually, attend three or four professional or business association meetings each year. It’s thrilling if you’re asked to be a headliner or a panelist, but just being in the crowd presents many advantages. You can network and meet people who you want to know. You might even meet a good prospect or referral source. You’ll grow and strengthen your professional network. You’ll enjoy the experiences.

Value

A key component of building a personal brand is first developing an understanding and awareness of what motivates clients to do business with you and then developing the ability to communicate it clearly and succinctly in your sales pitches and marketing materials. Work on all the ways you can express your value, the why of doing business with you. Maybe you’ll be able to distill your value proposition down to a single sentence that you can use when asked you to describe yourself and your venture. 

Relationships

Who you know and who knows you are important as you spread the good word about your personal brand. Through your relationships you will receive introductions to others and will expand your network and influence. The list of supporters, referral sources and clients that you accumulate will result in testimonials that speak directly to your character. People do business with people they know and like; they do even more business with people they know and trust.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: Anna Wintour, “Nuclear Wintour, ” powerhouse Editor-in-Chief at Vogue Magazine (America) and Global Chief Content Officer at Conde Nast, arrives at the Chanel ready-to-wear collection fashion show in Paris on March 3, 2014.

Administrative , , , Leave a comment

Waiting For the Call—Is Time on Your Side?

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First, the email arrives and you’re elated. The conversation you had was on the level and the project you were told about is real. They’ve invited you in (virtually or in-person) to discuss how your services could be utilized to produce the deliverables and achieve must-do objectives. Step two, the interview goes well, from your perspective. You’re not naive, but you feel confident about the possibility of being offered the contract.

But a week slips by and then two-—crickets. Uh, oh, this doesn’t feel good! Why haven’t they gotten back?

Unfortunately, this is a fairly common occurrence. There are any number of perfectly understandable and valid reasons reasons that delay the follow-up after an interview. It’s nerve wracking for Freelancers, though, who are anxiously awaiting a status update. It’s something that can wake you up at night. The wall of silence leaves you to twist in the wind.

Well, take heart—silence doesn’t always signal rejection. Why don’t we talk about a game plan to help you survive post-interview silence when it happens to you? There are proactive questions you can ask that might make the interview team less likely to resort to a news blackout. There are coping strategies that can help you understand why this sometimes happens. Life is about managing expectations and you can train yourself to keep calm and carry on, confident that you’re still in the game and can still win this thing. Here are a few things that you can do:

Questions that encourage follow-up

Communicate to the interview team that you want follow-up and not silence by saying something like this to the interviewer, “In light of the candidates you’ve met with so far, do you see me moving forward in the selection process?” However, bear in mind that you could be the first of two or more Freelancers who’ve been invited to discuss the project. You could be a top candidate today but later get knocked down the list tomorrow by more experienced competitors who come along.

Another question you might ask the interviewer is, “When will you review and compare the candidates and make a recommendation to the the decision-maker?” Below are four common scenarios that might cause you to encounter post-interview silent treatment:

  • Interview recap

When you speak with more than one interviewer, they will need to conduct a candidate recap and debrief. Candidates may or may not be interviewed on the same days, which means that interviewers can’t share their feedback with each other on the same days either. Furthermore, every interviewer is not necessarily on time with providing feedback; it could take a few days to align interviewer calendars and schedule the debrief meeting.

The unexpected sometimes happens—-in the middle of the selection process, the decision-maker or one of the stakeholders might go off on vacation, depart on business travel, or come down with COVID. The selection process would be put on hold and the Freelancers get to wait and wonder what’s going on.

  • Project spec change

The desired outcomes or deliverables, time table or even the purpose might change, perhaps in response to economic fluctuations that impact the prospect’s business. Sometimes, unfortunately, your hoped-for project may be put on hold or even canceled due to the changing economy or business needs. This scenario can happen fairly often, as there are fluctuations and uncertainty in the economy that could impact revenue. Companies may reevaluate what they need and cut budgets.

  • Making an offer

The decision-maker could be discussing how to finalize an offer to someone — but maybe not with you. If you’re not the number one choice, you may be number two and will need to wait, in silence. However, should the top candidate reject the offer, the second round pick usually gets the prize!

  • Ghosting

If you’re getting silence from your interview contact no matter how often you reach out, you are being ghosted and it’s probably for one of the above reasons. Ghosting is selfish and cowardly, unprofessional and unacceptable. It hurts. Remind yourself that it says more about the interviewer than it does about you. They did you a favor, you don’t want to work for such people anyway. Apply elsewhere.

On the other hand, If the interviewer stays in touch, it’s guaranteed that you’re in the top two or three. If you’re told something like, “We’ll have some decisions made next week” and the debrief time frame has passed, either the decision-maker has not made the decision, or s/he offered the assignment to another candidate and they’re waiting for a response before rejecting you (because you are the second choice).

Silence can speak louder than words. When interviewing for a project assignment, be bold enough to ask questions to obtain information on where you are in the selection process. If you were invited to interview but ultimately didn’t get the assignment, that means your resume demonstrates your experience and your interview skills are solid, but you weren’t the top candidate. The rejection may have nothing to do with you , it may be more about interviewer preference for a certain educational degree or certification, a specific competency, or a competing candidate’s superior interviewing skill.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: “Like sands through the hour glass, so are the days of our lives.”

Technology / Office , , , , , Leave a comment

6 Digital Trends to Make Doing Business Faster and Easier

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Maybe you and I are alike when it comes to technology—-neither in love with tech-based products and services, nor afraid of them. I’ve never played a video game in my life but when fax machines were still a new thing, I bought a (Panasonic) combination phone and fax. You may remember that first wave fax machines required special paper that was sold in rolls. When plain paper fax machines became available, it was a big thing.

When a new product or service brings a significant improvement to my life or business, I’m happy to be an Early Majority Adaptor, in marketing parlance. I do not rush forward with my arms wide open when a big media rollout announces that a flashy new product or service has come to market but before too long, I’ll investigate. Might this new arrival be useful for my life and business? Will it help me to make money, save money, save time, or enable me to do business more efficiently or amplify my impact somehow? Can I afford to buy it? Can I afford not to?

Presented below are six relatively recent technological inventions or developments that are reshaping how we work and live. Nearly everyone on Earth is almost guaranteed to utilize at least four of these six tech- based services, whether or not you realize it. The presence of these resources—-and that is what they are—-will only become more entrenched over time. It’s up to you to be proactive and figure out how to harness the power and tap into benefits that these resources can deliver to you.

  1. Artificial Intelligence

I’ll bet you’ve used a chat bot —-an AI-powered service— when you visited a website and wanted your basic questions answered quickly. No? We’ll, does the keypad on your tablet, desktop, or smartphone have autocorrect typing? I thought so! AI has seeped into so many routine functions that we take for granted.

A common use of artificial intelligence is for what’s called machine learning, algorithms that through repetition appear to “learn” over time. Artificial intelligence is also making inroads into Customer Relations Management (CRM) systems. With the introduction of AI, CRM systems transform into self-updating functions that allow business owners, marketers and accounts payable specialists, for example, to set up AI generated order confirmations, customer birthday greetings, or subscription renewal notices.

Artificial intelligence is also a mechanism for detecting gaps in computer network hacking defenses. AI systems can recognize a cyberattack, as well as other cyberthreats, by monitoring patterns from data input. If a threat is detected, it can backtrack through your data to find the source and help to prevent a future cybersecurity threat.

2. Automation

Routine administrative tasks are unavoidable in most jobs and getting it done is often time-consuming. The practical benefits of intelligent automation companies increasingly enable the automating of many repetitive tasks so they do not require manual input from you or other team members. Today, payroll, invoicing, event registrations and numerous data entry functions are handled by automated services.

Expect more business solutions to be powered by AI for analytics, data protection, security and search algorithms. As a result, many businesses will run leaner as business owners find ways to employ automation.

3. Hybrid workplace

We turned on a dime and responded most efficiently to the reconfigured workplace (and classroom) environment brought about by the coronavirus shutdown. The pandemic proved a virtual workplace is possible.

But also, it has shown that a work-from-home setup is not ideal for everyone. The solution is to design your hybrid workplace to fit the needs of your workers, as directed by their functions and deliverables they produce.

Workflow development specialists will be especially useful for helping hybrid teams, some that may even work across national boundaries, decide how to approach decisions about how the work can be efficiently executed, how to promote good communication and camaraderie and even who should work from home and who should work in the office.

4. Cybersecurity and privacy

As of July 1, 2022, 4.95 billion of the 7.95 billion global population are internet users (source: United Nations). That about 62% of the world is online has all sorts of implications, for better—-more opportunities for communication and exchanging information!—and worse—an urgent need for user data protection, to protect privacy and promote security.

Online business owners should already have encryption security measures in place, to safeguard financial transactions and customer information. Online customers are becoming more concerned about the security of their personal data that by necessity is in the hands of many organizations, including banks, employers, insurance companies, retailers and social media platforms. Freelancers and small business owners are expected to guarantee security measures to protect their customer data just like global enterprise companies.

Data breaches are embarrassing and expensive. They’re bad for business, especially for smaller companies, that don’t have the budget to engineer a reputation rescue executed by a crisis communication marketing team. To ensure the data integrity at your organization enact all of the standard data protection protocols. Verify the security of your cloud-based software systems, cloud data storage service and your online and mobile payment providers. Protect all company internet devices, as well as personal devices, by using two-factor sign-in and strong passwords.

5. 5G

In 2021, I took my sweet time to trade in my 3G smartphone for a 5G smartphone and my cellphone provider was unhappy with me for a while. We’ve been hearing about the 5G revolution for, what, 5 years now? More networks and devices have moved—-more like been pushed—-to 5G in response to increased demand for faster connectivity, but 5G is more than just faster downloads.

Speed of data transmission on all of your mobile devices is a huge plus. Online meetings, streaming movies, listening to music and watching live TV are so much more seamless and satisfying with 5G bandwidth. You may not have noticed, but your phone and tablet are already faster now and they’ll soon become faster still with successive 5G upgrades and rollouts. Expect to see very soon expansions of fast, powerful and more reliable wireless internet service at home and at the office.

5G will also impact your car. Automobiles coming to the market this year will offer 5G capabilities. In the not-too-distant future, expect high-speed cloud connectivity to bring AI powered smart mirrors, super premium audio systems and self-driving trucks and other delivery vehicles—-yikes!

6. Digital payments

We’ve witnessed an expansion of digital payments and related banking options courtesy of the of pandemic shutdown. But the need for secure and fast mobile and online payment systems was already in a slow boil. The steady rise of e-commerce demanded secure online payments. Outdoor festivals, flea markets, farmers markets, art festivals and every imaginable business conference found someone. with a self-published book to sell or motivational videos to buy, enabled by remote payments.

Banks and other consumer financial institutions such as Venmo, Square, Wallet and PayPal, continue to invest more in online solutions for their customers.

  • Online payment channels.
  • Online loan applications and approvals.
  • Cashless payment transactions.
  • Online personal identification.
  • Faster and user-friendly online banking apps

Thanks for reading,

Kim

Image: “Digital rain” computer code in The Matrix (1999)