The Pleasure Step In Your Creative Career
How you market yourself has a big impact on perception by a potential client. Often your creative business grows not because your skills get better (although that always helps) but because you start to rethink how you position what you are offering. This typically happens in three steps:
1. Services
We all start out this way. When you first set up shop and provide services, you almost always list them in very basic terms. Web design, photography, music creation, graphic design, etc. You list just what you do. I take photos of your event. I will design a website for your needs. You have a need, I fill it. Simple and to the point.
2. Solutions
The next level is when you start to look at the big picture. Instead of just designing a website, you sit down with a client and figure out how this will fit into their marketing. You position it as a solution to many problems. Instead of just doing logo design, you begin to research how the logo will be used, where it will be shown and how it can extend the client’s brand. You move from providing just the mechanics of a service to being a partner in your client’s strategy.
3. Pleasure
This is when you tap into a client’s primal desires. People want to avoid pain and move towards pleasure. You take them there. Most modern advertising is based on this. Cosmetic companies like Revlon are not just selling a service (this will make your lips red) and not offering a solution (this and other elements will make you fashionable) they are selling the pleasure (this product will make you beautiful and desirable). This step is when the client is buying on emotions. From a floor cleaner to a frosty ice coffee to a new car to insurance coverage, thousands of products and services are positioned to appeal to people’s feelings, not their specific needs. Many media artists are around step two of the three steps. But start to think about how you can move to the third step. Years ago I was one of the first photographers to get a digital camera. It was an exciting time, shooting as much as I wanted and not worrying about film. I promoted it heavily on my website, in ads, everywhere that I was a full digital studio. Over time I realized, people did not care about megapixels and workflow, they just wanted to look amazing in great shots. I started focusing on the aura of the process, the feeling, as opposed to the mechanics of the craft.
You may be thinking, I code HTML, how sexy can that be? I do a print ads for a hardware store, I am not Revlon! But remember it’s all story telling, every creative artist is telling a story with their work and client projects. The key is to tell a story that is not mechanical and straight-forward, but one that is visually involving, has a dramatic narrative and taps into people’s emotion.
This goes for all your promotional materials as well as your paid projects. It is the difference between what a new freelancer may do and what a top agency produces. The agency works to create an emotion or reaction out of the viewer, it is where the standard mechanics stop and the compelling story begins.
Basic clients are looking for a basic task, bigger clients are looking for the solutions of the larger picture and huge clients are looking to tell an emotional and theatrical story that moves people. If you want bigger clients you often have to tell bigger stories as well as ones that provide pleasure and emotion.
Look at your client work, your website and your promotional materials, are you telling compelling and emotional stories?
What step are you at now? What step do you want to move to?
Get Obsessed And Move Into The Creative Zone
Have you ever wanted something really bad, like really fixated on it and did everything in your power to get it? I am not talking about thinking about something and wondering that it would be nice to have. I am talking about obsessing and really focusing, having drive and a laser focus on the end goal. The term “peak performance” is a term used a lot with athletes, but it can also apply to media artists. Having a very strong drive towards something in your career or in your life is very compelling. It could be a new client you want to get, a new piece of equipment, a new workspace, a new service you want to ramp up. It could even be starting a business, leaving the process of working for others behind.
Let’s call this being in the zone. You have no doubt experienced it. Your drive is so strong and your focus so tuned that you accomplish what you set out to. For some creative artists, being in the zone happens periodically. In the day to day and week to week process there are these spikes where the drive is very high. It could be due to excitement, too much coffee, a deadline pressure, lots of factors. Athletes always work to be in the zone whenever they perform. Each and every time. But for some media artists, it happens here and there, usually looked at as a “good day”.
What if every day was a good day? What if you were in the zone on a consistent basis? The people who succeed and ramp up their career dramatically over time share a lot of qualities. They are driven, passionate, focused and obsessed. They pick a path and rapidly follow it with a clear end goal.
This has nothing to do with talent or abilities. It is only about producing consistent forward momentum in the directions they want to go.
Every step of the way there are opportunities to take you out of the zone. Your clients are not that exciting, you are in a rut, you are not exercising, your diet could be better, you see others making more progress. A lot of this occurs because your work day is focused on others, clients, phone calls, emails. The switch that needs to happen is focus on your own goals that will make your creative business grow. This may mean having a client wait just a bit longer while you block out some time to explore a new opportunity or move on a plan you have been thinking about.
You’ll know when you are in the zone. You will feel it. Media artists need to be in the zone more and on a consistent basis. However there needs to be time and room for this to happen. Take a project or idea that has been on your list for months and suddenly put a large amount of focus on it. It will suddenly go from a nagging thought never realized to an exciting option with a lot of momentum. Pick something new to focus on today.
Get obsessed, get focused, get rolling on the things you want to be doing in addition to the things you need to be doing. Move yourself, and those important items, into the zone.
Anticipating Change On The Road To Success
We have all heard that when you are in a creative career, or any career for that matter, an important consideration is to be ready for change. Always be alert to changes in the market, in what your competitors are doing and things that come up you do not expect. While it is a good goal to have, there is an even higher level to consider. Looking at what will change in the future.
Think of your creative career as sailing in the ocean. You can be sailing along and brace for rough seas, you can be alert and ready for sudden changes and adjust accordingly. But your scope of vision is somewhat limited. Now imagine a live satellite image of the ocean from a mile above. Suddenly everything is much more clear and you can adjust accordingly.
Say you are driving. You are heading down roads, making turns, making progress while exploring. Now imagine you have a map or GPS system. Suddenly you can plan, you can strategically chart your direction and look for various landmarks. Now you can see the big picture.
Many creative artists are busy with clients, hitting deadlines, somewhat braced for change, but often not looking at the larger view. They know how the week will end up but not how things six months from now will turn out.
Ever decide you want a certain car and then you suddenly see that model all the time on the road? Trends are the same, you won’t see them until you start looking for them.
Take some time and really examine some trends in your industry and in your career. What will change? Will anything be different six months or a year from now? Anything winding down or ramping up? Where does your focus need to move to?
Very successful people can look at an industry and try to anticipate the next big thing as well as visualize where the market is going. Try looking at the big picture of your creative career as well. Often you may be right and have the enormous leverage of being in the right place at the right time.
How Different Is Your Creative Career?
When you start your business and begin offering services, chances are you are offering a lot of the same things your competition is. There is much common ground, similar options, services and features. The hardest thing to do is also the most important, which is be different. Being different gives you leverage. It sets you apart from the competition. You begin to offer something that can’t be had anywhere else. It does take some time with a pencil and sketchpad to really map out what you can offer that cannot be found elsewhere, but it’s one of the most important brainstorming sessions you’ll ever have.
A great classic business book is “Differentiate or Die” by Jack Trout, which explores the topic in great detail. You don’t even have to read it, the concept is right there in the title.
Bear in mind you have more competetion than you realize. There are companies that are on your radar but there are far more you have yet to discover. Most strategic moves you do can be replicated by others. Lower prices? Others can do that. Higher? Yep. Add more services? Others can double theirs.
What is a move you can make, something you can do that cannot be copied by your competition?
It’s not an easy task. But with enough thought, there will be things you can offer that no one else can. Look at it from a potential client’s view. With so many options, who would they choose? Successful businesses branch out to be different and then multiply the moves. Pretty soon they become a local, national or international leader and then competition is more focused on catching up and mimicking the changes.
Try making a list of items that you could offer that your competition has not even thought of yet. Just sketch them out and think of as many as possible. Then start to think how you could weave this into your empire.
What sets your company apart? How can you outmaneuver the competition by being compellingly different?
Are You Dressed For Success?
We all like to think that it’s really about our talent and not how we look. But the fact of the matter is you will often be judged on your appearance as you work your way through your career. Sure it’s not fair but the important thing is to be aware of it. Now I am not necessarily saying you need to dress up in a suit everywhere you go, but certainly take some time to think about how you are perceived to the general public. You may spend a lot of your time in a studio or working for yourself or with a small team. Comfort is one of the luxuries we have when building our own empire. The difference is when we walk out into the world, when we network, attend functions, interact with people.
One of the best things you can do is convey a sense of confidence and success. A lot of this is attitude. Talent with a dash of ego, in moderation, is not a bad thing. But keep in mind as you ramp up your career you will be ramping up the quality of your contacts. It may be inevitable that you will be in scenarios where the attire is getting better and more official.
Stop to think about some of the most successful people you know. What are they wearing?
I discussed this topic quite a while back on my Media Artist Secrets podcast (iTunes) and got a huge response. Half were agreeing with me and the other half were very against, saying that being successful is based on skill and not about certain clothes worn. And again I am not saying wear a suit everywhere, but really start to think about what you are conveying with your attire. A lot of times you will go to functions and feel overdressed or underdressed. In fact before you even go you may be wondering if you should dress up or dress down. I suggest going for the dressing up part. You’ll never offend anyone by dressing up and you may get some new respect just from some presentable threads.
You have to remember that most of the time when you are networking, a lot of people don’t know you. And as your career ramps up you may be in situations that are basically more dressy. Ramp up your attire to coincide with your ramping up career. Dress “up” when your career is going “up”. It may be cool to dress down and be hip, but what is hip to you may not be hip to others. If you want to close the deal, connect with better clients and ramp up your career, start to really think about how your dress code is in sync with your new business paths.
How do you dress for your industry? How does your industry dress? Do you have a clothing budget as part of your empire?
Are potential clients you are connecting with dressing better than you?
How important are your clothes as a marketing element?
http://www.franklinmcmahon.com/
Cloudy Day Of Ideas – Capture and File
Part of the problem with us creative people is it’s very hard to turn off the flow of ideas. Many of us come up with new ideas seemingly hourly. It’s not a bad thing, in fact it’s quite good to continue the flow of ideas coming to keep things energized. The problem creeps in when there are so many ideas that it crowds out important missions. Or when an idea comes up that sounds fresh and exciting and you end up shifting away from your core creative career strategies to jump on to this new brainstorm. This past week we discussed creating golden goals on the podcast (iTunes link), where you narrow down your tasks to the most basic 3 or 4. But do we need to filter and narrow down our flow of ideas? I don’t think so. I think it’s good to have a way to capture them to refer back. But if the flow of ideas keeps you off track, then there needs to be a system in place.
First look at ideas as clouds. Imagine a bright sunny day with a couple of clouds. Ahh..soothing and pleasant! Nothing wrong with a few clouds here and there. But the more ideas you have, the more clouds come in, and what was once a sunny day is starting to become mostly cloudy. Then overcast. Then it could become really overwhelming. You’ve got so many clouds it becomes dark, you can’t even see the sun.
When you get an idea during your work week, you need to capture it and put it away. Refer to it at a later time. This part is important. The system could be a notebook and pencil, it could be on your phone or laptop, a digital device. When a thought occurs, jot it down and file it…away.
The reason you file it away is because you don’t want to assign it sudden importance. The same reason when the phone rings and you are working on a project, it’s better to not drop everything and switch to the phone. Not assigning sudden things as important, just because they are sudden, is one of the cornerstones of productivity. It’s the difference between a higher productive creative artist getting things done and a frazzled worker trying to catch up while immediately jumping on every distraction that appears. You’ve seen the stressed and frazzled workers and well…it’s not pretty.
Ideas should not be assigned any importance yet. They are merely ideas. They don’t immediately go on to your task list. They are not put into action while you drop what you are doing. They are captured and filed. You will explore them at a later time.
What happens if you assign immediate importance is you put them on the same level as your mission critical tasks for the day. The more ideas you have, the cloudier it gets and the harder it is to focus on doing what really matters. So don’t just add ideas to your growing daily to-do list. Capture and file. Then refer back at a later time. The idea will seem urgent, will seem important since it arrives so suddenly, but trust me, it almost always belongs in your idea file. And if you don’t have an idea file, start one. Otherwise you’ll have many ideas rattling around in your head on a continuous cycle. This is often more distracting than anything else you can do. Just jot them down.
Each week should be tightly focused on big goals and projects with an exciting and separate idea file you build that does not distract you. Avoid a huge jumbled, sprawling and ever growing to-do list that lacks priorities. These types of lists often wrongly give priority to the newest brainstorm.
Are you focused on your main tasks and goals for the day with a solid idea capture and file system?
Breaking Up With Your Job
Jobs are a lot like relationships, sometimes unfortunately they run their course and you need to move on. Or they are not quite what you expected. Sometimes you will grow out of them. As you advance in your career chances are you will go through many phases of your work life. If you have not started your own business yet and are working for an employer, you may need to examine how the job is working for you. Many people dream of starting their own empire, but they just don’t have the time because they work so many hours per week. They are not entirely happy with their job, but the pay is good and so are the benefits. Benefits are a pivotal part usually, some have spent decades in a job that they are not crazy about just to have benefits.
People usually move on from their job as a last resort, when it is absolutely necessary and they just can’t take it anymore. Unfortunately this is often proceeded by years of discomfort, being at a job they are not crazy about while yearning to do something different. I was a creative director for years in broadcast television and new media, and taking the chance to start my own company was a huge decision I did not take lightly. Like many of you I had a yearning to do my own thing, break out on my own, focus daily on my own empire rather than someone else’s. I also realized that directions and income are typically fixed in a standard job. Working for companies I had only so many ways I could move to advance in new and different directions. Same with income, it was more fixed with limits. Running my own company I can now explore new avenues of services fairly easily. And income is unlimited, it really depends how hard I want to work.
The key is to really start to look at where you are now and where you want to be. We’ll discuss this more in the future here, how to actually make the move, but the first step is to embrace some of the discomfort you may have under the surface. The reality that it may be time for you to move on.
Really start to envision what you would rather be doing, then take steps in that direction.
What is the next step for you? When is the next step for you?
http://www.FranklinMcMahon.com
Implementing Good Career Ideas – Passive vs. Active
This is another concept that sounds like a no-brainer, but it’s one to be constantly reminded of. I do a podcast called Media Artist Secrets (iTunes link) and people will proudly tell me that they have listened to all 75 episodes, some even have re-listened to them all. I tell them that is great and ask what techniques they have implemented. Some say none, but it does get them inspired. The same goes for business books or self development audiobooks. I know some that go through tons of books for inspiration but rarely implement the ideas in them. Considering that even one book may contain hundreds of ideas, it seems a little off to not even try a few.
It can be a rush to live vicariously through the success of the author, most of us read this way, but why not take that wisdom and apply it to yourself?
I did not start out implementing. Early in my career I would read and listen to books and get jazzed up, but the enthusiasm was always short lived, it was a burst that faded soon after. It wasn’t until I started taking notes, writing down techniques, trying ideas, seeing what worked and what didn’t, that the info I was absorbing really started to have a dramatic impact on my career. Executing some new techniques and ideas made me want to try even more.
The first step is questioning how you are currently doing things, and this is something that often does not come naturally. We like to think we are sailing along fine, but there is often room for improvement. And not every technique will work for everyone. So it sometimes can take experimenting with a number of different methods to find the best fit.
Chances are you may be reading a number of blogs such as this one, various books and other sources of info. If you are implementing ideas weekly, that’s great, if not, start with a few. Nothing life-changing, just small steps in different directions. I find it helps to jot notes of things you would like to try, it’s handy to refer back when ready to put new ideas in motion.
Creating new and improved habits takes focus, experimentation and repetition. It does not matter what techniques you are trying, it only matters that you are expanding into new more productive and creative areas.
Have you tried putting new info you absorb immediately into use? How can you make it easier to try new ideas?
Letting Clients Go To Grow Your Creative Career
As your empire ramps up and you develop bigger clients, the current stable of clients, that have been a real feather in your cap, may unfortunately need to be let go. If a client has been with you since the beginning, there is often nothing more difficult than moving your creative career up to a higher level and having to leave existing clients behind. It’s a tough move, but needed for your career to grow.
It does not really matter what you do, it could be producing graphics, animation, music creation, video production, audio producing, web design, traditional arts, whatever you are doing to provide content or a service, as your career ramps up you’ll get bigger and potentially better clients. This is actually a good thing, as your skill set increases, so does your rates. You start to get the type of clients on your radar that would not have even been considered by you a few years back. Your business is growing and as you move up, you move towards a higher end client. They are ready and so are you, thanks to your body of work, years of experience and newly minted quest to achieve more in building your empire.
At least that is the plan. Some will work in the opposite direction. Jobs come a little less frequent, you hit a slow patch, you want more clients than you actually have. You start to drop your rates, you take on clients that now take up huge amounts of your time, clients that you would not normally take on if business was better. You are making less and working more than ever and you can’t really understand why.
The reason is you are scaling downward instead of upward. Keep in mind, if you do anything for say five years, at the end of that five years you usually have much more experience, lots more skills, you are just better in many different ways. Your rates and services should absolutely reflect that.
Some creative artists get stuck in a rut. They never can quite get out of their current client base, they strive to do more, charge more, and get higher end clients. But the quest to achieve that often does not materialize. Of course it takes drive and ambition, but it also may be something that is holding you back, it may be your current client base.
And the process of weeding out current clients need not be a difficult one. Be direct. Let them know that you need to raise your rates for your business to thrive, to remain competitive. Convey that you are no longer able to work with them on their projects and provide suggestions on other creative producers who may be able to help them out. Remember, the apprehension is often always worse than the implementation. In this case you will typically find out that clients will support you in your career move. They will miss working with you, but they will generally understand if you convey it properly.
Everyone wants their business to grow and a lot of times your client base has to grow with you. You can’t let it hold you back. Raising rates and moving on from some of your existing clients is one of the hardest things you’ll have to do as a creative professional. Believe me I know this is not easy. But you need to flex new creative muscles, you need to break into new client challenges, you need to ramp up and reach higher to keep your path of success constantly reaching upwards. Often it’s not enough to want it, you have to be around people, clients and contacts that will help pull you along and move you there.
Are you ready for the next level of clients? What can you do to move to that level?
Media Artist Secrets Episode #75 – To-Do List Overload vs. Golden Tasks
This episode: To do list overload, golden tasks, 3 story house mode, idea bin, trim and set creative project priorities and much more – franklinmcmahon.com – The Podcast for the Creative Professional
Media Artist Secrets (iTunes link) is an audio podcast I do that is focused on career building, getting things done and ramping up your empire. This new episode is focused mainly on to-do lists and how quickly they can completely overwhelm us.
The main problem with a task list is every time you add a new task, you take a little priority away from all the others. If you have 3 tasks that are all pretty important and then you add another, and another, soon you have 10 or more tasks that are trying to share the spotlight. 7 tasks that are pulling you away from the 3 major ones.
We’ll call these top 3 tasks “Golden Tasks”. These are the cream of the crop. In any given day, these are the top 3 that are going to give you the most payback, the most traction and the most impact. The key is to trim down your task list to the most important. It’s OK to have ideas and things that pop into your mind, but those should be stored separately. Not jumbled in with your Golden Tasks.
At the end of the day, if you complete the 3 major tasks, you’ll really feel like you have accomplished a lot, as opposed to having a list of 10 or 20, and only working through half. If your list is 12 and you only do 9, you’ll feel like you did not complete it. If your list is 3, and you did those 3 plus had extra time to complete 2 more, you’ll feel tremendously better.
So focus on your Golden Tasks first above all. Let me know how you work your own To-do list.
Is it focused on a small number of goals or is it lengthy with minimal priorities? Do you have any tips or ideas on organizing your own task list?
Creative Secret of Life – Just Ask
Well it did not take long for me to reveal the secret of life here on the blog! Actually this is a common theme that will come up often in my posts and there are a few more secrets that are tent poles, supporting your creative life, but this one is probably one of the most important.
Creative artists are sometimes wired to be a little more demure than other people. You may be more focused on your craft, work and brand, and spend less time asking people for favors. But the key is to not be shy about it. Lots of successful people I know ask me for things often. I look at it as an opportunity to help and welcome it. I can’t help everyone all the time, but I do try to do my best.
Lets take photographers. When ramping up a photography career, you’ll often see a creative artist who is really focused on photographing events, people and other subjects. But so often they grumble about the lack of money that the work is bringing in. Sometimes they don’t see the value they provide. Or they once asked a few times for money, got shot down, and decided not to bring it up again with anyone. Of course they would do it for free because they love it, but it’s quite compelling to do something you love and get paid as well.
Professionals do this too. Even a seasoned pro with a successful operation will often be a bit shy about asking for the sale. They have lined up a great proposal, worked to get a client interested and then often leave it to them to let them know. Asking for the sale is important. It’s a black and white question. It’s probably more aggressive than you may be comfy with, but asking in general is a path to getting what you want and need.
I actually happen to know a few “serial askers”, really these are people who ask everyone for everything. I am floored by how much people do for them. Even more amazing is everyone is not grumbling, they are happy to help because the people are grateful to have the support. These people know what they lack and know to ask for help to fill in the needs.
Getting help is another main area. Most creative projects take resources. If you are planning anything it helps to have people involved. You may think people are too busy or may not be interested, but believe me, you may be surprised who steps up to help you in your mission. This can apply to your income as well. You may work at an agency and not be making the amount you think you should, or not as much as your peers. Ask for a raise, it can’t hurt and it merely will convey that you are on the rise and want more, as opposed to having your head down behind the monitor and quietly settling. Being a creative director for years, I was always impressed with the employees who worked for me who wanted more. I always thought to myself that these were the people on the rise who were going to make it.
Asking really is an art form that few master, but the ones that do have a lot of abundance. They are surrounded with people willing to help, they have the support they need in many areas, they have moved to higher steps not because they waited to be asked, but because they advanced the effort to move forward.
Ben Franklin said if you ever want to make a friend, ask them to do you a favor. Don’t limit asking to just your inner circle, journey out of your group of friends and ask new people to help, contribute and assist you in your path to what you need. The more comfy you get with asking, the better you get at it, the more you ask, the more you can receive.
I always tell people, “How do you get anything you want in life?”
“Ask.”
Are you comfy with asking? Have you been waiting to ask someone something but have been hesitating? What have you asked for lately?
Give it a try, and let me know if it works. And if you need any more advice or help, just ask me…
(And hey…do me a favor and leave a comment and/or retweet…thanks! Just figured I would ask…)
Poker Face – Mastering the Art of Creative Coolness
Who do you know who is not cool? Think back to past business associates and contacts. Think about their emotions. The ones that did not hold back. The ones that really said what was on their mind. Do you remember one that got very emotional? Often frustrated? Seemed to be stressed out a lot? Some people find it very hard to keep their emotions in check. Especially in the creative industry. And well lots of industries.
But the problem is it sends a very defined signal to everyone. And it could keep you from advancing in your career. Flying off the handle, letting your emotions get control, even on rare occasions, may cause someone to pause the next time they have an opportunity with you in mind.
Master the fine art of coolness. Be rather unreadable. Why? People will often fill in the blanks with favorable opinions of you. It’s hard to judge someone who is almost impossible to judge. But very easy to comment on someone who is a roller coaster of emotions. And this goes for co-workers and connections as well. You may flip out with a designer you disagree with, but, well you would never do that in front of a client. Actually, don’t do it in front of anyone.
What if someone is driving you crazy? Well then their mission may be to push your buttons. Being unfazed is the right path, because once you snap back and react, then they’ve got you. You advertise your weakness to be toyed with. First to them and then to everyone.
The best course of action is to work at not be engaged in swaying emotions in your professional career. Having an appearance of calm, or more of an unreadable poker face, will often be your best strategy. Snapping and going off the deep end, even briefly, sends a radar ripple that goes a lot wider than you can imagine, once legendary stories of your behavior start to become prevalent. Being in the creative industry, I know a lot of these types of people, I am sure you do as well.
So try taking a breath…and practicing to be cool. You’ll find the better you get at it, the cooler you will become. And the better it will be for your creative career.
So…are we cool?
Your Creative Career is Online but Where is your Digital Legacy?
One thing to focus on weekly is looking at what you are contributing to the community and what you are contributing to your online legacy. Your community is your contacts online, the people you interact with, share info, help and connect with. Your legacy is your body of work, what you create, what you develop and share with your audience. Most of what you share with people should be focused on your body of work, because that is the most permanent. That will provide you the most traction for advancing your creative career.
For years I have had various websites, email newsletters and podcast/online shows going in one form or another, it has been a way to get out information and convey to an audience what I was up to. The focus on keeping people in the loop built a following which kept everyone involved. Of course I do realize that doing something like a weekly show is work, but producing content on a regular basis is key to growing your audience.
Lets put it this way: you spend two hours interacting on social networks or you spend two hours doing some blog posts, maybe a video for your fans or updating your website. Both sessions involve some work, both can be fun and both have you contributing. But the two hours in social networking can be fleeting and not very permanent. 10 comments on a variety of blogs, chats back and forth on Twitter, checking out various links and images posted on Facebook, etc. You’ll get something out of it, you may catch the attention of some people, take part in a fun conversation, maybe find some new links and that will be about it.
Now think about two hours working on a blog update or doing a new video. Once you post those, its permanent and accessible. Every person you connect with can look back at the items, at any time, for years. It builds on your previous work, it grows the body of content you are pushing out to the masses. If anyone wants to see what you are up to, popping into your website is one easy stop. If your website has not been updated in weeks, it almost appears that you have not been making progress to the interested viewer. Show what you have been up to. Try to work to keep everyone up to date.
Lets take it to an extreme. You spent a year interacting on social networks, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. You’ve made some connections, got a lot of info and contributed to the community. But a few years from now, most of those items will be long gone. Say you spent a year updating your website or blog often, daily or even weekly, with video, images, opinions, tutorials, etc. A few years, even a year from now, you’ll have an amazing body of work that anyone can access at any time. And you can look back with a lot of satisfaction, you’ll suddenly start saying “wow…I did a lot” as opposed to “where did the time go and what did I accomplish to gather interest in my own empire?”.
Look at the people you really admire online. Chances are they are pushing out content on a weekly or daily basis. Chances are even better they have a large following. They do work the social networks, but the main difference is they have become a resource. They are a landing point. They are essentially putting on a show and more people are gathering around it. I am not saying to avoid building up your Twitter streams and Facebook pages, but keep in mind, you are building traffic and an audience primarily for Twitter and Facebook. Work more on your own site, your own house. Use Twitter and Facebook as secondary tools to keep people aware of what you are up to, but the focus is best if it is on your own website and domain.
It is important to take part in the community. Digital connections are vital. But if all you have are connections and interactions, with no content, your career may be much harder to build. You may spend more time going after people and clients, as opposed to building something that brings people directly to you.
You give someone your business card, they take it home and go to your website. How big is the world you want them to explore? How compelling is it? When was it last updated?
Really start to think about building up your empire online. Your digital legacy. Try building your own house, rather than spending all your time visiting other houses.
What can you do now that can ramp things up? What have you done lately?
If Your Name Keeps Coming Up Make Your Move
Have you ever had someone say, your name keeps coming up? That’s a good sign. It often means that the person has heard about you through multiple sources, often completely unrelated. This is a signal directly to you that your circle of influence is expanding. All that you are doing to promote yourself and bring your brand to a wider scope is working. The great part is the ball is already rolling, you now have a couple (or more) recommendations.
When working with a new client, the most important aspect is often not skills but trust. A new client wants to get to know and trust you, because they are often putting their career, business or brand right in your hands. Selling yourself and working to gain trust can be tricky and time consuming. However if “your name keeps coming up” this could easily provide some trust already through testimonials from your contacts. In fact chances are the potential client has been looking for something right in line with what you do. So the fact that they are now chatting with you, and had a few in-person or virtual references about you, is a fantastic start. This opportunity is one of the best ones to have and it is definitely the time to make a strong move.
So next time you hear your name has come up, focus in with laser precision on this specific opportunity. Other friends and colleagues have started the momentum for you, just grab the ball and run with it.
