Keeping It Real …an Alternative Viewpoint
A couple of days ago, I posted up about why it is important to take care of your internet persona. The response it turns out was polarized with some people agreeing wholeheartedly but many others giving an alternative viewpoint in both the comments and on other sites. So today I thought I would present the flip side of the coin, or as I like to say in my pseudo-gangster speak … Keepin’ it real!
One of the great things about working for yourself is that you DON’T need to wear a suit/toe the corporate line/blend in and all the other things that made us become freelancers, so why would you want to give that up? Indeed for the most part you may not need to. What might hold you back from getting a job, may not hold you back from getting a freelance client.
A Marketing Question
To add another question in, if it does hold you back from getting a client, is that a client you want to work with? And that is the key question that defines how you go about your business online. You see really this question is a marketing question, how do you present yourself … to potential clients, to your friends, to the world?
In real life you have the choice to compartmentalise the different facets of yourself to suit different day-day interactions – you’ll act one way in front of one person and a different way for a different person. When you go online all of a sudden everyone is potentially part of every conversation and you will consciously or subsconsciously make a choice about how you wish to be perceived. In making this choice it is important to be aware that it may affect the entire range of your life, not just your personal one.
So in a sense my post on watching your internet persona was more of a what to do if you wish to be a corporate freelancer going after work with clients who would be turned off easily. But on the other hand let’s say your bread and butter is designing indie movie posters or photographing rockstars, then all of a sudden taking care of your internet persona is a whole other ballgame. Not expressing yourself and displaying at least a bit of attitude would probably work against you.
Of course your target client doesn’t need to be anything as cool as a rockstar or moviehouse, even just a local business might enjoy a bit of colour in their service providers. And so you need to decide what your image is, how are you presented and who are you presenting to? When Collis and I freelanced we chose a very slick persona that did still leave room for a little personality, but it took the form of our philosophy and ethics and our face-face contact. We did this because the clients we chased included large companies and because we’d always intended to grow beyond ourselves. For others a more balanced and more personal approach is better or for still others an alternative or just less mainstream image suits best.
It is very much a case of horses for courses. The important thing to remember is that whatever presence you take it has consequences, a super corporate image might not be very personable whilst a personal image may not be corporate. And to flummox the whole discussion, there are plenty of clients who just don’t care or don’t even look or are just willing to put up with whatever because you are just that good!
Separation?
If you do separate your online, business-y self from your other, regular self, its a good idea to remember that often they aren’t as hidden as you might like. This is best expressed in the words of a comments left on FS by Rob Clark:
That being said, I can’t agree when it comes to hiding your personal life behind pseudonymns or anonymous posts. Nothing is entirely anonymous on the internet, and such tactics are libel to leave you with a false sense of security. Suddenly out of the blue it is discovered that mild mannered Freelancer Joe Smith is raving politico-environmentalist ‘Captain Treehugger’. And a long trail of ‘un-published’ or removed pages is apt to leave a lingering discomfort of ‘just what are they trying to hide’.
As for me, I’m off to go see if captaintreehugger@hotmail.com is registered, its time to start raving!
Whether you want to learn while you work out or to make that commute useful, Freelance Radio is the place to hear all the tips, tricks and news of freelancing.
Freelance Radio
With over 100 weekly strips and counting, Freelance Freedom is an institution around here. Check out of all NC's brilliant work in the archives.
Freelance Freedom Archives
Interested in contributing to FreelanceSwitch? Write for the foremost freelance community and help share knowledge for the benefit of all!
Become a Guest Writer
I took some heat from colleagues recently when they saw my new website. “unprofessional”, “rough around the edges”, “liability” were thrown around. Joke’s on them. I’ve had two new clients approach me in the last month based on my rambling and expletive-laden rants. I always replace the vowels in four-letter words with asterixii but that’s not good enough for some people. F*ck them if they can’t handle it.
The key here is consistency and balance. At the end of the day, we are different professionals to different people in different situations merely because we cannot control how people think — we can only alter what they know and hope what they perceive is the truth. However, to help have some semblance of control on that, we need to brand and present ourselves in a way that is true to ourselves, and most importantly, consistently. People consider inconsistency dishonest, and who wants to work with someone they feel they can’t trust?
That being said, I think there’s a danger to a subject like this where we end up stereotyping businesses and clients and freelancers alike. Just because one’s major target market is “artsier”, doesn’t mean they aren’t capable of doing something more corporate. And just because one’s company is more corporate, doesn’t mean they can’t do something innovative or deal with people that are open-minded and warm. We all aren’t one type of person or professional. Deal with each as individual cases but always present yourself honestly and consistently.
Online pseudonyms are so last century. It’s too difficult to keep up the charade, and anyone who knows both your identities can ruin it at any moment. It’s best to just be yourself, and if that’s not good enough either you or your client need to rethink things.
I agree completely with Lance. Just be yourself. If clients have a problem with that then do you really want to be working for them anyway?
I second Lance and Benek. I’ll only bend my personality to a certain extent to get a job. If a client can’t handle that, his bad. I carry the notion that I get paid for good work, not for looking good, fitting in or not saying what people want me to say, or what would be considered politically correct in a specific situation. I don’t mind wearing a good shirt from time to time, but in all that’s just not me. But if I say something I’ll stand up for it.
Glad, and somewhat suprized that you have posted an alternate viewpoint on this issue. I do agree much more with this one, but both have their good and bad points.
I decided to “keep it real” when I graduated and was on the job hunt. On my personal website / portfolio I included a website I did for my senior project… on pornography. It was a well designed website and something I put a lot of research into.
I interviewed at a conservative think-tank for a position; I remember thinking “why did I drive 2 hours for this?” when the interviewer let out a long “inteeereeesting” as we reviewed my portfolio. Needless to say, I didn’t get the job and am glad I didn’t. Later, I got a great position and was told that the “porn site” was the reason they remembered me, they said it made me stick out of the crowd and they new I was “their kind of people,” someone bold and willing to take risks.
Keep in mind that a new law was passed in the US,where anonymous comments/posts on blogs that are “inflammatory or annoying” are now illegal. Think about that before using a pseudonym.
The previous article was just terrible advice in general. If a client doesn’t want to hire you based on who you are as a person, then basically you probably don’t want to work for them anyway. I’ve had personal blogs that discussed whatever I wanted (politics, business, design, tech, religion, etc.) for the past 4 years and have been doing client work for major corporations and internet startups that entire time. It doesn’t matter who you are, what you say, or how you portray yourself… if your work kicks ass then it speaks for itself.
Maybe if a freelancer sucks at their profession then they should keep themselves on a leash to not upset the few clients that come knocking, but if you’re good at what you do then who cares what people think. Be yourself, do good work, make that money.
Hey It’s Mike Rundle!
For me, the key is to think before you do most things online. What you say and do has a habit of sticking around. Actually if you are interested in personal branding and marketing, you should visit Neil Patel’s new blog QuickSprout – http://www.quicksprout.com, its an interesting take on these things.
I really enjoy the article, it was posted over at a forum with a link back to this page. However, I just wanted to mention that near the beginning of the article you wrote “suit and toe” instead of “suit and tie”.
I’m not an “uber” proofreader, I just happened to see it and thought I’d let you know in case you want to edit it.
With the economy going the way it is I wonder how many freelancers are having to market themselves to potential clients they would never have considered in the past just to make ends meet?
The fact is, opinions change, lifestyle’s change, and career objectives change. Especially when that pesky economy changes! But what you put out there on the Internet remains forever. And like it or not, what you’ve put out there will be judged by prospective clients, employers, dates, etc. While it’s easy to say that you’d rather not work for someone who’d judge you for your Internet persona now, the day may come when you need to put food on the table. At that point you cannot afford to be too picky about your clients. However, clients can ALWAYS afford to be picky about YOU.
Something to consider.
Yes, stepping out on your own is risky, but worth it. I went out on my own for 14 years practicing law–at first scary, but I made it.
Now, i just finished a book, While African Americans Slept:Leadership by Parasites, but now I want to return to what I love most: teaching college. Does that mean I’m stepping back into “it.?”
Lenton