You Could Crush It As a Free Agent

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My career has long featured a little rebel streak. So a few months ago, the people who know me best were unsurprised when I quit my stable, reasonably prestigious COO job to go it alone in the middle of a global pandemic and economic upheaval.

Fortune made the case back in April that freelancing is about to enter its heyday. Fast Company argued that freelancers may be best positioned to pick up the work left behind by millions of lost jobs. So I’m as optimistic as I could be. And that is for tangible reasons, too. I found a few good clients quickly, and more seem to be on the way.

I haven’t taken a poll, but I’m pretty certain I’m not the only knowledge-economy worker who has spent most of 2020 fantasizing about cutting loose from the 9-to-5. You can make it work. I made it work once before, for 13 long years. And there’s nothing remotely superhuman about me. I’ll succeed this time because I’ve committed myself to a few behaviors, or tenets, or maybe ways of being. They’re based on what experts advise, and they’re based on my own firsthand experience. They are commitments that any aspiring freelancer can make:

I will be a tenacious content marketer. This is my first and foremost commitment, one the experts say I simply must do in order to break apart from the pack. I will market myself by generating and publishing thoughtful, helpful content that also reveals the uniqueness of my personality. I will sound off on topics that I know a lot about and enjoy sharing perspectives on. I’ll do it in writing vs., say, YouTube videos or podcasts, because writing is most comfortable for me.

And I’ll do it weekly-plus. Solopreneur marketing expert Dorie Clark writes, “For all you renaissance entrepreneurs out there with multiple passions or areas of expertise just remember: the fastest way to become known for something is to create a vast volume of content on a specific topic, in a concentrated amount of time.” Weekly is the only way I’ll get myself to “vast volume.”

And for me, weekly-plus is the toughest part of the content-marketing commitment because I am such a tenacious client-service person (See #4 below). Nothing distracts me like an opportunity to delight someone who’s paying me a fee. But I acknowledge that today’s client could be gone tomorrow, no matter how well I perform. So, weekly-plus it is.

And I commit to push through moments in which I feel like no one could possibly be interested in what I have to say. When those feelings arise, and they do every time I sit down to write, I’ll double down rather than indulge my little insecurities. I am committed.

I will be patient. Patience comes wildly unnaturally for me. I’m a sucker for instant gratification, yet the rewards of the content marketing I describe above are, for me, long term. If I do content marketing well, then by and by I’ll become recognized as an expert on the topics about which I know a great deal and share enthusiastically.

When I become a recognized expert, well-paying clients who don’t otherwise know me will seek me out. That is what will enable me to generate business far beyond my professional network. That will boost my freelance business’ viability in a very big way. So I commit to patience.

I will mine my professional network without being salesy or pitchy. I will reach out to the key people in my network, one by one, and ask them if I can tell them about my new business and the kinds of clients I’m hoping to uncover. I will not pitch them nor drop hints that they should hire me. Instead I will ask them to think about people in their network who I should know. I’ll also tell them that I’m eager for any advice they’d like to offer. And then I’ll stay in touch with them in an ongoing, entirely non-salesy way.

I’ll do this even when I struggle to muster the energy for reconnection conversations. (I lean toward the introverted.) Oh, and I’m terrified that someone might mutter, “I never hear from that guy Shane until he wants something.” Yet I’ll push through anyway. Because if I don’t talk to the people who respect me and my work already and explain what I’m doing, then — at risk of stating the painfully obvious — they won’t help me by referring new business to me.

I’ll delight clients with stellar work. Of these commitments, I have the most experience with this one, so it’s the easiest for me. But it’s a reportable commitment nonetheless. I will break my back to be sure my clients are thrilled with the work they get from me. I will listen closely. I’ll go above-and-beyond in meaningful little ways. I’ll take the pointers I recently shared about how to thrill your boss and apply them in a client-services context. And I’ll be a pleasure to work with. I will make it almost irresistible for them to refer me to other people, cultivating the sort of organic in-network growth that every freelance business needs.

…

Back in 2006 when I read Daniel Pink’s Free Agent Nation, I acknowledged that I absolutely, positively love spending my days working in an enterprise that is of my creation. I love success or failure hinging on me and my decisions alone. So I have once again re-embraced solopreneurship. To ensure success, I will adhere to my commitments. And as always, I will wish that more smart people joined me in the joy that solopreneurship holds.

This article was originally published on Medium.