For the past few weeks, I, along with the rest of LinkedIn, have been watching the layoff announcements. Amongst the comments are people saying to use your skills to work for yourself. Yes, and the frustrating thing for someone in that position is not knowing how to do that while also trying to figure out how to pay the bills. Today, I'm sharing some of the how.
Start By Busting Self-Limiting Beliefs
Whether you are venturing into freelance or independent consulting work as a permanent career choice or to bridge the gap to your next opportunity, there are self-limiting beliefs that present themselves as an obstacle.
If you're here, I'm willing to guess that your first self-limiting belief is that you can't do this. You don't know how and no one will pay you to do what you do.
This is completely false. Your company paid you to do what you do. They valued you at a certain level. They might have paid you under that value, but they valued you nonetheless. That means you do have a skillset others want and will pay for. This was one of my self-limiting beliefs until I landed my first five-figure contract within two months
Keep in mind that as companies are laying off, they are strapped for people to do the work. They may not have the budget for full-time employees, but they may have the budget for contractors. I know you feel some kind of way right now, but ask about that possibility.
Another belief that was holding me back was that my skill belonged to my employer. As crazy as that sounds, my employer invested a lot of resources to develop me and for some reason, I felt like I couldn't use those skills - even though they were in my head.
I got over that belief quickly, especially after seeing several high-level leaders leave to be founders of their own startups.
In this video, I explain how to believe as a warrior believes. You are a warrior.
By the way, I challenged myself to make 100 videos because another self-limiting belief is that I couldn't make good videos. Eventually, I got better. This video is an example of that journey. 😉 #bekind
Next - Identify Your Skills and Unique Value Proposition
When I work with my coaching clients, we start digging into what makes them unique after busting the self-limiting beliefs. We go through an exercise I call Solving for the X-Factor.
A unique Value Proposition is a fancy way to explain what you do better than anyone else in the world. And you want to be very specific. People buy the destination, not the journey. Don't make people guess what you do and the value you bring. Clients don't buy a product or service, they buy value.
In this video, I walk you through Solving for the X-Factor. Your superpower will attract your dream clients to you.
And I explain how you can use your skills to power your personal economy in this video.
Time To Put Yourself Out There
Up to this point, we've done mindset shifts. Now, it's time to transform those shifts into action. You have to put yourself out into the world to be found. Yes. You can.
If you're telling yourself that you can't because you're not ready yet. Let me tell you in this video why perfection is holding you back from success.
How you present yourself to clients and how they feel after working with you is a part of your brand. And here is where I explain the elements of your brand.
Time To Make The Donuts
You have landed your first client, now what? Do what you do best and that is what you do best. You want a smooth onboarding process for your client. This can be accomplished through free and minimal-investment tools that make you look like a rockstar.
Here are a few things you can do to make the business run smoother.
The Back-End Is As Important As The Front-End
While you're out there wowing your clients, don't forget to create an experience for them that delights them and telegraphs your worth. Also, make sure you're keeping track of the money. Have a plan for every penny you receive. I was a Finance major, so this part was pretty easy for me. If you're not used to handling business money (as opposed to personal finances) it can be overwhelming.
Just because you're a solo shop doesn't mean you can't give your client many of the positive aspects of a big company experience.
Learn more about basic financials here.
Avoid My Mistakes
While it may seem like I have it all together, I made huge mistakes when I first started. Here are a few and how to avoid them.
Do You Have More Questions?
Yes, you do! I can't address all of them here, I have a resource that may help you. When I first started doing freelance and independent consulting work, I had so many questions. I ended up watching a ton of invaluable webinars and searching Google. Now I can ask ChatGPT. Eventually, I realized I had what I needed in my head. During the pandemic, I quickly threw together a course to help others. I re-vamped that course and added in a few extras.
In this FREE course, I cover:
- Establishing your personal brand
- Defining your value proposition
- Where to find clients
- How to price your services and develop estimates
- What to consider when onboarding a client
- Tools you need to run a small you-business
In 2020, I started creating short courses to educate people on business basics. The courses were taken down temporarily. I am in the process of migrating them to my new course platform hosted on my site. Hosting them on my site reduces the cost for me, and I'm passing along some of the savings to you. Once done, I will make them available again for a fair price. Stay tuned.
Why Did I Stop Making Videos? 🤓
If you're new to my space, you probably aren't aware of my journey. A little over a year ago, I was diagnosed with a large benign brain tumor that required surgery and a lot of radiation. I also started a new opportunity as a willing employee. I simply didn't have the time or energy to make more. I promise to start again. I'm getting back into it slowly on my other platforms.