For Independents

 

The life of an independent can be rich and rewarding. Free from company politics, inspired by the variety of work, 
rewarded by higher fees and personal freedom, the freelance career can be a dream come true.

 

 

 

 

 

With double-digit growth opportunities across Europe - and (as yet) no obvious age limit – the career potential
for an independent with the right reputation is open-ended. And this remains true even in the wake of the crisis.

On the other hand...

The most common pitfall is the dreaded “feast-famine” cycle, where months of stress and overwhelm are followed by months of insecurity.

 

The working pattern of an independent professional can also bring feelings of isolation. Many miss aspects of the leadership role they once enjoyed in their “first careers”. At the extreme end of the spectrum, prolonged difficulties and extensive travel can bring severe burnout, loss of confidence and depression.

 

Borrowing a model from the writings of Ken Wilbur, we might sum up the issues as follows:

 

	Interior Needs	Exterior Needs
Individual	Confidence Identity	Energy Performance Conversation skills Pricing
Relationships with others	Rapport-building Isolation	Planning Positioning Keeping-in-touch Client journey Getting referrals

 

What makes the difference?

The contrast between success and failure is a stark one, and this was brought home to me in 2004 when an acquaintance who worked as an interim manager committed suicide. His endless travel and isolation in hotel rooms fuelled his consumption of alcohol, which in turn led to depression, dependence on medication, and a downward spiral from there.

 

Yet in the very same month, another interim-manger was winning an award for his services and was enjoying a professional identity of which he had never dreamed. A few months later, another freelance client successfully concluded a deal with Dutch group and was celebrating a huge increase in confidence and in fees. So what makes the difference?

A new approach

Professional development is often confined to one or two of the quadrants above. Strategists tend to ignore the role of inner confidence, but how can anyone charge a high fee if they cannot get the words out? Equally, personal coaching that does not take account of the real market-conditions of an independent may simply be an investment in frustration.

 

Obviously there are many factors, and I have tried to summarise them roughly in the table that follows. These may be summed up in the phrase “sustainable business development”:

From “Lone Wolf”		To “Outstanding Professional”
Feast and famine		Balance of delivery and development
Apprehensive of selling		Skilled in the Value Conversation
Alone, isolated		Inspired and supported
Relatively unknown		Positioned with alliance partners
Absence of support		Advisory board in place
Backlog of admin		On top of workload
Boring work or clients		Fulfilment and challenge
Few outside interests		Full and varied life
Insecurity		Reservoir and pipeline in place
Reasonable daily rate		High fees based on high value

.

New skills and habits

Even when the freelance realises that s/he needs to develop new skills and habits, they often face a second problem. Many dislike selling - no matter what it is called - and the contents of most sales-courses are repugnant to many professionals. So when talking to potential clients, they resort to talking about the one thing they feel most confident about: their own experience and stories.

 

This is a mistake (for reasons we don’t have space for here) and at some point in the conversation the independent often senses this for themselves. Indeed it often feels like they have strayed into the very thing they wanted to avoid: selling!

 

Interestingly, this illustrates how an inner-conversation (“I hate selling”) conspired with outer-conversation habits in a way that diminishes rapport, and reduces the effectiveness of an interim’s dialogue with others.

Essential support

There are three forms of support that no independent executive should be without:

1. admin: every hour spent on administration is wasted, even for those who are good at it. It would have been better spent on development.
2. some form of business-development coaching or mentoring or training – by whatever means suits the independent best. Sure, some services are better than others; but any is better than none, or living in the illusion that we have progressed beyond it. We all can improve our business-development skills.
3. advisory board, mastermind group … some form of peer-support from fellow-experts, where experience can be shared and learning passed on. Again, some groups are better at this than others, but isolation is never healthy  

For more information visit the Outstanding Professional page or contact us for essential support.

 

 

© John Niland, www.success121.com. May be reproduced on condition that the copyright notice is included.