Nice tips for just starting in the freelance world - Keep Going!!!

Let’s face it, our economy is rapidly changing and you can either duck your head in the sand or you can own up to the fact that the one career job track is going the way of the dinosaurs.  I personally think this is a good thing for those of us who are creative enough to realize this change also brings in an opportunity for something we should value: personal freedom.  But with personal freedom, the consultant or the freelancer is required to learn and develop a whole new bag of tricks.  No longer can we be employees bobbing along with the corporate tide.
But the HOW is a real question.  For the newbies to the marketplace, humble creatives, and those who are realigning their careers; HOW do you get hired as a freelancer?  Below are some of the creative leadership lessons I have been working on with my amazing clients and hearing of from other entrepreneurs I collaborate with:

1.  Paint it: WTF does this mean?  It means get your butt on that computer and actually put yourself out there.  How exactly is someone going to find you if you don’t take the time to actually market yourself as someone with an identifiable presence online.  This requires putting out the little demons in your brain telling you that it doesn’t matter because no one will look.  You’re wrong, it’s your responsibility to make sure people look.  If you have some questions about this feel free to ask me how I went from not knowing what a hash tag was to having over two thousand twitter followers in less than six months.  There is nothing unique to what I did other than painting it, putting it out there, and starting a conversation.   Harder said than done, I know, but you have to do it if you’re going the route of the consultant/freelancer.   Here’s the added bonus – a lot of other people are NOT doing this, so it’s to your advantage to set yourself apart from the madding crowd-sourcing.

2. Paint it in real time: Host an event, however big or small, however appropriate, to showcase YOU.  It could be a small networking dinner with your business network, it could be a small charity related function to have the opportunity to meet with new people, but tie the event back to you, to what you are doing, and make that connection in person.  This is so incredibly valuable, easy enough, and fun that I urge you to figure out what your best creative angle would be and then to go after it.  There is nothing to replace the power of connection, and when you follow up, that freelance opportunity is much more likely to be rock solid.

3. Keep painting: Keep it going, don’t stop because the first 5 options didn’t work out.  A typical sales cycle in a lot of industries is up to 3  years.  That means that you have to keep putting yourself out there, keep putting up content, keep taking freelance small and even a few unpaid gigs and keep convincing people (including yourself) that you are not going away, you are good, and worth paying.  Trust me, if you do this, every maybe or no will eventually become a yes.
All surefire? Absolutely not, unless you put in your true creative leadership to make it happen.  But if you do, I doubt you’ll ever stop.