The coffee bean — a commonly traded commodity, like many freelancers.

Anonymous Corp was a small company that used several freelancers for writing and graphic design. When they decided to cut costs, each freelancer was asked if they could offer better pricing. Joe immediately offered to cut his cost in half. Karen pointed out that they were getting significant value for they money they paid her. She offered to help the client transition to a less skilled freelancer if they no longer required her level of expertise.

What do you think happened?

Basic economic theory says that when price goes down, demand goes up. I see freelancers applying this logic all the time in order to get more work. What most small business owners don’t understand is that this is based on the idea of commodities—products or services that are pretty much interchangeable.

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Photo by willnixverbergen.

Early in my career I overlooked the value of networking and keeping in contact with people. A few years after my first job change I had lost the contact information and even forgotten the names of many of my peers that I didn’t work with on a daily basis.

After starting my own company I became acutely aware of the power of keeping in contact with people when I got a call out of the blue from a past co-worker that turned into over $200,000 of business for my company.

Here are some of the techniques I use to keep in contact with people:

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