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Thanks so much to everyone who joined us on today’s Fireside – they really are a highlight of my month! In summary, we talked about:
– overcoming the feeling of needing to know/be seen to have ”everything” in place before we begin,
– changing assumptions that are made about us,
– networking with diverse experiences from rising stars to established names to learn from different points of view,
– understanding your value and how to talk it up,
– creating clarity so that both parties meet expectations,
– using generalist superpowers and when to niche,
– managing your workload as you would crops – so that they don’t all ripen at once…
– and so much more.
There were a few questions that I couldn’t quite get to (which I love btw, thanks for asking such great questions!) so I thought I’d ask these to our brilliant panel on here instead…
Productisation or packaging up your services is something that often gets talked about in the community, and it can be a great way to get your foot in the door, but how can someone go about implementing this approach? What’s the kind of investment you need to make in yourself in order to be skilled in the best possible way in order to monetise your expertise? Do you have to do it all yourself or can you leverage the skills of others? What’s your experience of this way of working? And leading on from our last point on time for reflection, how can you best set yourself up for success?Nicola Twiston Davies, Lara Martini, Charlie Rogers, Ben Legg – what are your thoughts to these ones?! Thank you again for sharing your expertise and experiences with the community.
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Thank you for hosting an awesome event Lexi Radcliffe-Hart – it was truly great hearing all the questions and the panel’s answers!
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I’ll speak to both the investment in self and success questions:
I know I’m going to sound biased but coaching was hugely useful for me and it’s ultimately why I ended up also becoming trained as a coach. I was miserable at my 9-5 and so having someone else to talk to and challenge me and hold me accountable to change was why I ended up saying yes to a freelance gig and not a fulltime job offer.
That’s the mental side of things – as a freelancer you’re often going to come up against your own doubts or concerns so knowing why you’re doing something and knowing your worth are life skills you’ll constantly be using!
For a lot of people, getting specific experience or a certification in the field you’re interested in can be a game changer to getting clients but also to your confidence. It also signals to people what you value and where your expertise lies. Although remember, you don’t need to get everything all at once!!
From here, talking about money is useful to be comfortable with – there’s some great negotiation courses for example. I’ve learned a lot of what I do on the job and then learned around it as I go along.
And finally, always remember why you’re doing it and make sure your day to day is feeding into that. It can be tiring feeling like you need to be earning every hour of the day and you’re unlikely to do that at the start. Learning around your topic is still useful groundwork – relax into it and enjoy the process. I have a coach friend who has monetised her newsletter off the back of a few years of reading around topics she cares about and it really translates into her work and it’s been key to her success in doing that.
So overall, make sure it still makes sense to you- you’re building a career to work for you and if it isn’t doing that, it’s time to reassess.
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We’ll be sharing the recording next week, but in the meantime, the following articles may also be of use:
How much should you charge for portfolio work: http://staging.the-portfolio-collective.com/content/articles/getting-started/how-much-should-you-charge-for-portfolio-work/
How much does portfolio work pay? http://staging.the-portfolio-collective.com/content/articles/understanding-portfolio-work/how-much-does-portfolio-work-pay/
Jo Rossi I know you wanted to check out the links etc again, so here it is!