“What is one thing you wish you had known at the beginning of your self-employment journey that you know now?”
I got this small and huge and great question today.
As I answered, I realized this had to be what I write about for today’s One Creative Moment. My answer was this: you can have policies.
Big organizations will come at your small-to-medium-sized business, saying “it’s our policy that XYZ.” And if all you have to push back with are your preferences, it’s a no-brainer whose needs will triumph.
But there is nothing in the world stopping you from turning your preferences into a set of policies of your own!
Things like:
- We start working when the deposit is in the bank.
- We start all projects with a paid roadmapping session.
- We are only available via email.
- We take Fridays off.
I’m not saying be disagreeable for the sake of it. Nor should you be unwilling to negotiate. But if you care about something enough, it’s worth standing up for. (And if you don’t stand up for it, who will?)
This overarching idea comes to me from Blair Enns’ magnificent (and beautifully designed) “The Win Without Pitching Manifesto.” (See below.)
I was fortunate enough to start off freelancing with a great mentor (Joanna Wiebe of Copy Hackers). By association, she pointed me in the right direction on many fronts (Brennan Dunn’s Double Your Freelancing, Paul Jarvis’ Company of One).
But this more formal “official” approach is new to me and could have come in handy earlier.
Making it a policy,
James
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The Win Without Pitching Manifesto – written for creative/design agencies, applicable to all service-based small-to-medium-sized businesses. (I reckon.) |
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