Freelance Success: Reaching The Boiling Point

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How do you define success as a freelancer? Is it measured by the number of clients knocking at your door? Or is it just the fact that you’ve stayed a float by being able to pay your bills and take some time off here and there? When was the last time you were contacted to speak at a conference hundreds or thousands of miles away that relates to your industry? Is that considered success?

For many of us “success” means something entirely different. While some of us would be happy just being able to manage their bills, some of us want to be the next big thing. We want our names mentioned in every corner of the blogosphere, we want our expertise to be published in various editions of industry magazines, and we want to be wealthy of course.

There isn’t a lot of room on “the top” but some of us do succeed getting there. How does someone go from something like a moderate web designer to a hot commodity? They get there by reaching The Boiling Point.

If any of you have read “The Tipping Point” you have a general idea of what I’m speaking of. It’s the point where you go from the moderate web designer to the next big thing… almost over night. This boiling or tipping point works in all aspects of freelancing and all aspects of business in general.

When did that daily blog you read go from 100 visitors a day to 100,000 visitors a day… in less than a week? How did that web developer go from being virtually unknown to being mentioned on one of those popular daily blogs?

Reaching the boiling point seems elusive for most of us. Some of us may never quite get there but I’ll let you in on a little secret: almost all of us have an equal chance ending up there.

No matter if your a Web Designer, Writer, Graphic Designer, or whatnot… you can reach the top at almost the same speed as anyone, even of lesser “talent”, in your industry can as well. While I can’t hand over the roadmap and point out every stop on the way, I can tell you what all of those people who made it had in common: Presence Building Skills, Self Branding, Business Management skills, and the right Mindset.

The Smart Way To Build Online Presence

You’ve been working hard for the past two years and have successfully handled many clients needs and solutions but somehow, outside of your small little circle of clients, no one has any idea who you are. They most likely stumbled upon your portfolio out of luck, or from a reference from another client. Either way, your reach is very short because, in reality, your just one small dot in a sea of many others.

The thing is, you don’t have to be the best to be on top. You just have to be known. You need to work as hard on building your online presence as you do on your clients projects… if not harder.

Presence building can be boiled (no pun intended) down into a technique. I’ll be blunt with you: most of us aren’t very good at this at all. It’s not our fault. We’re given the same advice, tools, resources as everyone else. You most likely haven’t promoted yourself in a way that a thousand others just like you have done before you came on to the scene. You’re still going to be that small dot. You can submit yourself and your portfolio to every website, directory, job site, bookmarking site, and social media platform out there. And unless you’re extremely talented, you probably wont get noticed any more then the next guy.

I’ll be honest with you: While I still somewhat promote myself on social media websites or services (those with related categories to my industry of course), I try not to rely on them to bring me the stardom that I am looking for (at least at first). I believe you will find your success there only after you’ve found success in other areas.

While I began freelancing, I promoted myself at local universities. This brought in the majority of my beginning clients. It proved to start my online presence before I even begun to try and “catapult” it myself. Why did this prove to be a good idea?

I choose to target local universities because the students there were within the same range I was in. Who has heard of a modern college student who doesn’t know what twitter, digg, or delicious is? And many of them, especially the business students, had their own ideas they needed to get off the ground as well. They needed affordable web design and development to do so. They also trust fellow students (which they believed I was). While I didn’t get any thousands-of-dollar jobs this way, I did get quite a bit of promotion and work.

The clients who were also students promoted my work without my help. They had their own network of friends and colleges whom I was being referred to. Suddenly I found myself being promoted through social networks in which I didn’t submit myself. I then found local design companies looking to hire or contract me out for the bigger jobs.

I was doing free advertising in the right area. I was advertising to those in need of what I had to offer and to those in the right generation. Word of mouth spreads online when the people you target use the internet to spread the word.

It’s decisions like these you need to utilize to build your presence with a leg up on the competition… the competition being everyone else in your same field trying to promote themselves. The point is to go beyond these “traditional” ways of promotion and target clients who will help you become known, even if it means settling for a little less income on certain projects.

Turn Yourself Into A Brand (inside and out)

The term “Branding” has gotten a lot of criticism lately. It’s become a buzzword with no real meaning behind the way its being used by some individuals or companies. It has its purpose and that purpose is important when you use it for what its worth: turning yourself into a brand.

Branding is simple but should be utilized beyond its traditional meaning. Most people think of branding as the color scheme of your website, letterheads, business cards, logo and so on… the “feel” they get when they think of your name. It needs to be more than a unique style of colors and elements that define you. It needs to be apparent in every aspect of who you are online and what your business is… not just the way it looks.

Branding needs to reflect who you are to the world. Not just what colors you enjoy. It needs to be part of the tagline to your business as much as it needs to be in the way you reply to clients and project quotes in emails.

You need to have your own persona that fits with your brand and they need to intertwine. Not that if you were Nike you would reply to every email “JUST DO IT!!!” but if you choose to be personable while professional, your website and your conversations both need to reflect that…. in every situation.

Sometimes while speaking, for the first time, with another web design group or professional I get the sense that they have no idea who they are. I see their website looks very clean and professional but when speaking to them via email they seem like the kid who lives next door. Its acceptable for clients to reply “Hey bro! That layout was sick! Keep it up!” but if you’re trying to seem like a trendy but professional freelancer, keep it within the same range as that… unless you know them personally or know them well.

The point is that you need to create a service which is consistent in looks and in tone. You’re creating an experience. Your working in a creative industry and you need to look, act, and sound creative… and since this is also a business, you need to have a certain level of professionalism.

How does this help you hit the boiling point? When you become consistent to your brand you have created a unique experience. Something that is worth being known to others. If you become unique in every sense (which is done via banding) then you plant a firm steak into the ground. It becomes your foundation for promotion. Many services, individuals, and companies seem too much of the same. No one wants to settle for something average. They want something unique and you’re going to portray that in every way you can from now on right? right!

Managing Yourself Like A Small Business

Your a freelancer and you work for yourself by yourself… but you’re also a small company as well. You can do your work, get paid, and go blow it all on bills, food, beer, and whatnot. Chances are, you’re most likely not going to hit the boiling point this way.

You must invest in yourself as if you were investing in a small retail store you just opened. You need to save a percentage (10% is a good start) to put back into advertising. Advertising will be the catapult which launches your name into stardom.

It’s not about how many hits you get from that advertisement. It’s about getting your name out there in every way possible. If I go to 10 websites a day and see your ad there, I’m going to know who you are even if I never click that ad once. Chances are, I’ll think you’re already well known. If i think your well known then so will many others and they will treat you that way as well. Soon your bookmark count on delicious will rise steadily, and your services may even be mentioned here and there. You may get reviewed as well.

You will get referrals by not only that ad, but by those who’ve seen your ad and brought it up in conversation. Even if they’ve never visited your website or portfolio once. Why? Because they think others probably know you as well. Heck, you’re services are being advertised all over the place… you must be well known.

The point is that people name drop just to sound like they know what they’re talking about. Some of them do of course, but if they see you everywhere they think you’re already well established, legitimate, and somewhat of a success already… even if you aren’t. The majority of those who are part of the crowd that keeps you known are not going to be your clients or even those who consider your service… they’re going to be those on a level who look up to you in a sense. Being everywhere possible is the easiest way to achieve this.

To do this you’re going to need to manage yourself like a business where as you put in as much money back into your business as possible and then use that money to get your name out. Target the trendy but popular websites to advertise on.

Keep The Right Mindset

I wont lecture you on the power of positive thinking but I will say that keeping yourself within the right mindset is the only way to achieve success. By thinking of yourself as equal to everyone else, your most likely going to make decisions that re-enforce that. If you think of yourself as already being successful and established- your actions and decisions will re-enforce that.

Your decisions are always re-enforced by your mindset. Not to sound new-age, its perfectly scientific. On your journey to becoming the next big success, however you define it, you’re going to come across opportunities. If you think you have the same chance or talent as everyone else, you most likely wont see these oncoming opportunities, and if you do, you most likely wont make the best decision! It’s as simple as that!

Conclusion

By reconfiguring yourself and your business with the points outlined above, you are setting yourself up, with the best of chances you have, to hitting that boiling point and becoming the next big hot commodity. From this point you will easily land those bigger clients you dreamt of. Infact, some of them will be coming to you first!

As every business and individual service as a freelancer has its own unique path to success, you will be faced with unique obstacles which will require unique decisions. That is something I cannot outline but I can give you the best advice from studies of others who’ve ended up with overnight success. So prepare yourself, get the word out, and work smarter more than working harder and pay attention to the wave of trends and take advantage of them any way you can! You don’t have to be the best but you can be on top!