7 Ways to Turn Miss(ter) Modesty into a World-Class Freelancer
As a freelancer, modesty will get you little. Unremitting self-promoters need only apply.
Expressing inadequacy or uncertainty can cost you precious time and money. Clients just want their job done. All they want to know is that you can do it. And you can!
We all have different levels of self-confidence and this changes throughout our lives. With age and experience, people tend to gain more confidence. Here are seven tips to help you excel now.
1) Visualize success. If you look at a map, yet have no destination in mind, how can you chart your course? Spend time regularly envisioning your ideal career situation so that you can figure out what steps you need to take to get there.
2) Fake it ’til you make it. In the act of doing something, you will learn how to do it. I learned most of my skills while on jobs. If your client is not satisfied, keep working at it until they are happy. If you can’t complete the job, get help or refer your client to someone more skilled as a last resort. As long as you know more than the person you are serving, then you have value. Get paid while you learn.
3) Buy what you’re sellin’. If you do not believe in yourself, your product and your services, why should anyone else? Remember the children’s book, ‘The Little Engine That Could’? As she was chugging her heavy load of gifts up the hill, she kept saying: “I think I can. I think I can. I think I can.” She convinced herself over the top of that hill. You can do the same by believing in yourself and others will believe in you too. Proof is in the outcome.
4) Learn from the conman. People are attracted to confidence and success, not insecurity and failure. The word conman derives from the word confidence. Even though the conman has nothing real to offer, he makes people trust him so that he can swindle them. Confidence means to give full trust. Clients need to trust you. Be trustworthy, responsible and accountable (unlike the fraudulent conman). Confidence sells.
5) Believe the hype. Things are made popular by hype, marketing, and positive word of mouth, not because the quality of the product or service is necessarily any good. Marketing is often the biggest expense of many businesses. In the film industry, even though a film might be terrible, it can still be profitable due to good marketing. What’s the worse that can happen if you hype yourself? You get rejected or people disagree. So what? You are not any worse off than when you started at zero. You must market yourself in a positive way. Hype from clients who like your service is the best marketing because it is honest and free.
6) In Southern drawl she says, “Why, thank ya very much kind Sir.” Accept payments, compliments, and gifts graciously. To reject kind words and offerings is an insult to the giver. If you say, “I don’t deserve this,” or “I’m not that good,” or “No, you don’t have to pay me,” you’re telling the giver that they have bad judgment. It’s bad manners. People often prefer to pay, it makes them feel like they are getting something of worth.
7) I am worthy. I am worthy. I am worthy. Repeat positive affirmations. I know this sounds corny, but it works. If you say something enough, it will become your reality. For every negative thought you have in your head, flip-it into its exact opposite, and say it ten times. Take the, “I’m not that good,” and turn it into, “I’m really good.” Each time you feel like saying something negative to yourself or to others, say the exact opposite positive statement and watch your problems dissipate.
Save your modesty for when you can afford it. Be confident, imaginative, and believe in yourself. Even superheroes have imperfections and weaknesses. All you should expect from yourself is to do your best. You don’t have to know the answers to everything. Everyone has to start somewhere. Start by believing in your future. The power of the mind is an amazing thing.
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I’m touched and inspired by the last words. Thank you, Jaden, for sharing your thoughts.
Nice article, would be doing the most of the things said above..
However, I did the same thing, as out of confidence i got a project which included the skill that i don’t possessed. It never helped me take projects like that again. However i always try to find and accept those projects which i can do well, or atleast i keep enhancing new skills by working on my own projects and when i think i can do it well, i accept the project of a new level.
We need to take extra time from the client if we are going to get our hands dirty in a new skill.
Hmm…interesting food for thought…:)
I’d also like to add that it might be a good idea to pick jobs without fast-approaching deadlines (or emergency jobs) to learn a new skill on.
Thanks for the post,
Stephen
You’re so right! I’ve been working as a freelance editor and writer since 2002, and I’ve had to learn all sorts of things, such as copywriting and creating storyboards, from scratch. I’ve had to work on books for packagers–and I hadn’t a clue how to go about it–but I did it. I think one just has to believe in oneself–that one has the talent and the skills to get through life, come what may. I’ve realised that although we may face many problems, we can find a solution if we are determined. This applies to life in general and freelancing in particular!
Sorry but this sounds ridicoulous…
Really, i think everyone of us doing this work don’t need this kind of advice.
These are the kind of things you learn at the very beginning by yourself..
Maybe useful for who’s trying to begin a freelance career, but i think are predictable anyway.
Jaden, thanks for this post. I like point 7. Worthy is not perfect. But worthy is good enough. It’s crucial to decide to feel worthy, good enough, in order to present your best self to clients.
7) I am worthy. I am worthy. I am worthy.
Did you read Multiple Streams of Income?
We don’t all approach freelance at the same mindset, Nemesis. As you have correctly stated, we’re not all at the same level-especially those new to freelancing.
I appreciated this little reminder, and these are good mantras to keep in the back of your head for when you’ve had a rough day of it. Thanks for sharing this with us.
Freelance Switch is starting to get a bit predictable now. But considering that I’ve been reading this blog every day since a month after its launch I guess it’s understandable lol
This article looks like many others on here and in some cases some of the points look as though they’re taken from multiple sources and thrown together to make a ‘new’ post. In some places it looks like certain points contradict others, which isn’t good.
A bit of originality is badly required on this blog now if it wants to keep the old readers reading.
Agreed with Ani. This is a well-written post with good advice to newcomers, but it does seem a bit recycled. This isn’t the first post of recent weeks I’ve had the same thoughts… definitely in need of a dash of originality.
Yes it can be hard to keep content fresh on here:)
Good article,i am inspired.Thank you Jaden. But i also think that this is not a very useful article for those freelancers who are very successful…
As the name of this website is FreelanceSwitch, one would assume that the articles are geared towards people who are new to the business and need help switching from the security of a day job to the insecurity of the freelance world.
If you know everything there is to know, why do you still read it everyday, Ani and SSP? Nobody is forcing you. Get a grip you grumps. Why try to detract and take away positive things from people who need it? Put your selfish big ego on the shelf. Talk about a joy kill. What benefit is there to what you have said? None. There is plenty benefit to what Jaden has said.
Maybe you should start a website called: KnowItAll.Com and have no articles because you can’t tell know-it-all’s anything, because they already know it all, and all they want to do is bring everyone down.
Ah, who but the toughest among us doesn’t need the reminder?
Next time you are in over your head or have a nutcake client, you’ll need to re-read all of these.
Number 4 is the real gem here. Learn from the Conman. It’s true!
Thanks, Jaden!
When I first found this site I loved the design and expected great content but when I seen the headlines for each post I am turned of because of their generic nature. “7 ways to…”, “10 things to…” they remind me of a magazine cover trying to lure you in and deliver meaningless content.
Considering the business of the parent company this is the cookie cutter content one would expect.
All that being said I do like the common sense reminders and things I already know but forget to use post from time to time.
Harsh.. but I agree with Nemesis. Feels like recycled link bait I’ve seen a million times. Don’t worry, still love you Freelance Switch.
thanks for some great words and inspiration, jaden. great advice for anyone.
I didn’t know Tony Robbins wrote for FreelanceSwitch. *wink*
I think RealityCheck needs a reality check. Comments we made were constructive and aimed at trying to encourage creativity and originality.
…and to answer your question. Why do we read it every day? To find something new! We just pointed out that the website is getting a bit repetitive lately. That doesn’t mean we think we know it all, it just means we think some more interesting posts should be made that are not similar to a number of others already in the archives.
Constructive feedback helps writers become better and websites to know when their readers are in wanting something new. Welcome to reality. Check.
Agree with ANI.
Jaden: This was excellent! I feel it was written directly for me. Thank you. Everyone has been telling me the same thing on my blog lately, as I’ve been dealing with each of your points, so it seems perfect that I found this here!
Excellent article Jaden
“I DON’T BUY FROM EVANGELISTS”
A lot of times when a person tries to sell me something with “confidence”, I’m taken aback because I feel like i’m watching a commercial. I believe there are pros and cons to every product, so if a person only accentuates the pros, I become very very very suspicious. I don’t buy from EVANGELISTS. I like talking to engineers and programmers, because they are very objective about their products/services, and they leave the decision to you.
Overall, I don’t disagree that confidence can sell. But why doesn’t it sell to me int he case i stated above? Does anyone else feel the same way? What’s wrong with the type of confidence i just described?
Great article! thanks very much – it’s a good reminder
Thank you everyone for your spirited comments.
@ LogoMotto, Steph, CV, Glinda, Qingwei Gi, John M, Easton E, Devaki K –
I am glad you found value in my article. I write things like this to save other people the hard years it took me to learn these techniques. It brings me great joy to help others.
@ John — It sounds like you are talking about those late night infomercials where one rich guy stands on a stage in front of lots of poor people, pounds them on their forehead, and steals their last dollars. The reason that feels wrong to you is because that is a con — it is the bad kind of confidence about which I mention, the kind with cruel intentions, fraudulent behavior, and selfish motives.
@ James T — Thanks. You have a really cool site and great design skills.
@ Rich — No, I am sorry, I have not read Multiple Streams of Income. Should I?
@ Stephen2Earth — I like your name, funny. Thanks for you addition. Good point.
@ acedab — You are right, learning on the job is not for everyone. Learning on the job might be more of a personality type thing. I get bored easily and need new challenges. I learn quickly. Others might want to do online tutorials on their own time without the stress of a looming deadline or employer. Also, I was too broke to do it any other way; back in the day, there were not the free learning tools available on the Internet, like there is now.
Some excellent encouragement here — well put!