ASK SARA
Freelancing is associated with working alone, but no one really works alone. Success depends on connecting with people—and the first lesson of getting clients is that the connection has to be genuine. Otherwise you’ll come off looking devious, desperate, or both. “I think I came across as desperate at first,” one freelancer remembers. “I was, though.”
Networking and prospecting just narrow the field to the small number of people you’ll ultimately work with. It’s not like you’ll get work from 90 percent of the people you meet. So set your expectations accordingly, think long-term, and relax into it. When you do, you’ll connect naturally (we’ll talk about how in this chapter and go deeper in Chapter 8), alert to possibility, but not coming off like those creepy people who see everyone as a sales target.
This isn’t to criticize people who are truly desperate for work. There’s no shame in going after whatever work you need to make ends meet. All work has dignity—because dignity is in the worker. My aim is to help you set up your freelance life so you have many more calm and productive stretches and fewer desperate-feeling ones.
The most wildly successful freelancers motivate others to want to work with them. Gigs are constantly booked. What’s their secret?
First, the not-so-secret secret: They’re excellent, so they get repeat business and word of mouth. The X-factor: They have the ability to influence people.
The kind of influence I’m talking about doesn’t require money or status. Social psychologist Robert Cialdini has pinpointed six key elements of influence or persuasion. We all use them. Once they’re on your radar, you’ll spot them everywhere. You can apply them to make a connection, strengthen a bond, stand out, or even navigate tricky situations.
Fundamental 1: Reciprocity
We learn early that giving helps us get on in life. Share the blocks and you can build a bigger tower together. Invite Janie to your sleepover, and she’ll probably invite you to the water park. That’s reciprocity.
Reciprocity is most powerful when the gift is unexpected and costs the giver something in time, energy, or other resources. It’s doing a good deed not because you have to, but because you want to. It’s Love Theory in action: Build your Love Bank account, and your relationships will compound in value over time.
For example: Talk yourself up too much and people will flee your blowhard vibe. Instead, talk up others—refer them for gigs, make introductions—and they’ll likely reciprocate.
Sharing information is a big Love Bank gift: “Hey, Jackie, I met someone who needs a writer for a dog-training book. With your work in animal rescue and fostering, you’d be perfect. I told him about you. He wants to talk. Here’s his number. Good luck!”
In sales, reciprocity is the free trial, sample, or consult; the discount, “buy one/get one . . .”; the recession and early-bird specials; and gifts to say “Thanks” or “Happy holidays!”—all actions that keep customers coming back.
In negotiation, it’s each of you giving some to seal the deal: “That delivery date’s doable if we do the two-color version instead of the four-color.” “That price works for two revision rounds. If you’d like more, how about if we set a price per additional round?”
Fundamental 2: Consistency
When someone calls me and says something like, “Because of your work getting health benefits for freelancers, I was hoping I could ask for some advice about a health-care project I’m trying to launch,” I listen. Why? Because helping out would be consistent with my interest in health care and with my reputation as an advocate for affordable health benefits.
Here’s how consistency might look in networking: “Thanks so much for recommending me as a language tutor last year. Your recommendation helped me land a client I’m still working with. The tutoring has gotten so popular that I’ve created a webinar series to help more students. Attached is a brief announcement about it. If you know families or teachers who might be interested in knowing about it, I hope you’ll forward it. Thanks again—and let me know if I can help you out in any way!”
Here’s how it might look in a pitch: “I know you’re serious about education because of your long membership on our school board. Since you led the campaign to get funding for the computer lab, I thought you might be interested to hear about the language webinar series I’ve developed for high school students, from my work as a language tutor. My goal is to offer these at our school. Could I meet with you briefly to show you some material about the program?”
You can even use it in negotiations: “I assume the payout will be consistent with what we agreed in our last contract.”
Fundamental 3: Social Validation
Looking for a romantic restaurant? Get friends’ recommendations. Hunting for a preschool? Ask parents you trust. Got a call from a prospect? Talk to contacts who used to work there. We’ve all done things like this.
Life throws us tons of decisions, from what toothpaste to buy to what candidate to vote for. Finding out what other people are doing can help us size up our options fast. Marketers, of course, know this. Which is why we’re told how many copies were sold, how many patrons were served, how many subscribers the newsletter has, and how many votes the candidate got (or didn’t).
You’re invoking social validation when you:
• provide references for a prospect to check
• display testimonials about your work
• build your number of social media connections
• let people know you’re setting up more seminars because the current one is sold out
• post news about getting a professional award
• tell prospects about other clients you’ve worked with or projects you’ve done
All suggest you’re a freelancer worth choosing, because others have chosen you.
You can even use social validation in negotiating: “I’ve never been asked to delete this language from my contract.”
Fundamental 4: Liking
I’m curious about people and want to know what they’re all about. So when I meet people, I ask questions. Doing this almost always leads us to something we have in common—whether it’s our interest in freelancers, a film we just saw, or our passion for flea markets.
We tend to feel more open with people if we share some kind of bond. Maybe we went to the same school, belong to the same professional group, or go to the same place of worship. Paying someone a genuine compliment shows a shared value. So does cooperating to meet a goal: doing a community project, organizing a panel, or helping to coach the team. There are so many ways to build liking.
Liking is one reason why friends and family can be your best sales force and maybe your first customers. It’s why industry veterans get glowing referrals from colleagues they’ve worked with over the years. It’s why networking with fellow high school or college alums, members of a professional organization, or your neighborhood, school, or spiritual community makes sense. It’s why, when you and a client get along great, often you’ll both give up some negotiating points to strike a deal.
When you meet people, look for a common connection, but don’t be ridiculous about it. You’ve got a minute or two to get to know each other, and you either find that connection or you don’t. Be genuine and interested and you’ll have the best chance of finding the place where liking happens. In the groups you’re involved with, step up, volunteer, be helpful, and you’ll discover how quickly the good energy spreads and just how many people like you—and yes, maybe even love you.
All the doctors I’ve ever been to display their diplomas in their offices. It promotes trust in their authority. You can do the same in many places and ways: your résumé, website bio, portfolio, client list, professional titles, memberships, certifications, special training, and awards.
With prospects, mention your experience: “I recently worked for a photo house, and I know this budget will only buy about two-thirds of the images you want.”
Fundamental 6: Scarcity
I have a friend who says that at dinnertime, her husband points to the largest piece of food and says, “That’s mine.” She thinks it’s from growing up in a large family, where he had to lay claim to his share.
Scarcity definitely pushes our survival buttons. Scarcity of the coveted holiday toy can drive mall stampedes. Scarcity of goods drives prices up as people pay more for what they need. Scarcity of gigs drives freelance wages down as freelancers take what they can get. Even scarce information skyrockets in value—think of media fights over the exclusive celebrity interview.
In your freelance life, scarcity can look like this: “limited edition prints.” “Only three slots left!” “Sale ends tomorrow!” “These contract terms are available until X date.” “Class size is limited—enroll early!” “The first fifty people to sign up get a twenty-percent discount.” “Exclusive rights to the image will cost X.” Or even: “I just got a cancellation for five p.m. tomorrow. You mentioned your back was hurting, so I wondered if you might like to schedule a massage.”
Sometimes gigs drop in your lap, but mostly they come from networking. We’ll talk about networking in more detail in later chapters, but here are some “best practices” for connecting with pretty much anyone as you start looking for gigs.
Networking gets a bad rap because of people who do it wrong. You know, the ones who are scanning the room while they’re talking to you . . . who spew business cards . . . who call only when they want something . . . who don’t reciprocate . . . who never really want to know how you’re doing . . . and other obnoxious behaviors.
So if networking makes you feel vaguely dirty, call it something else—reaching out, connecting, talking, sharing, contacting, or meeting.
I’m serious. Use another word.
The best networking is networking you’ll stick with doing. Your style should mesh with your personality and habits, with gentle stretches in new directions.
If working the room at meet-ups isn’t for you, join a professional association and go to their events. Make small talk; get to know people. Keep showing up and you’ll soon be a regular welcoming the newbies. Then a meet-up might not feel like such a dread fest.
If you feel allergic at the thought of going to conferences and introducing yourself to strangers who look at your name tag first, to see if you’re “worth” talking to, don’t go there. Or don’t start there. Try smaller-scale seminars like the ones we have at Freelancers Union on finances, taxes, and marketing. Everyone’s there to learn and meet people. Work your way up to larger groups.
If you take lunch or coffee breaks during your workday, turn a couple of those every week into get-togethers with freelancers you’d like to know better.
If you’re most relaxed when doing something, your best networking op might be standing on a stepladder working with other parents to fix up the gym for the school carnival, or serving on a committee at your house of worship or your favorite charity.
ASK SARA
Q Dear Sara, I just graduated and I’m new to freelancing. I don’t know how to network. Where should I start?
A You do know how to network. Your first day on campus, you didn’t know a soul. Now you know your roommates, dorm-mates, classmates, club-mates, teammates, and professors.
Everyone has a network. Imagine concentric circles. In the inner circle are your parents, siblings, immediate relatives, closest friends, and close family friends. The next ring might be good friends, their families, school connections, and people you’ve worked with or for. Next might be people you meet through your activities, sports, alumnae organization, or spiritual community. Next would be contacts you make through people in all of these circles. And so on.
Start with your inner circle, and don’t worry about a polished pitch. Their questions and feedback will help you get a handle on your goals and the possible markets for your work. By the time you’re ready for the next circle, you’ll have more refined goals and an improved elevator speech. That’s when you’ll start zeroing in on people and professions for prospecting.
But work leads can come from anywhere. Now’s not the time to be embarrassed when loved ones brag about you. As one freelancer said, “A significant percentage of my work and income has come from reaching out to friends, letting them know what I’m doing, and asking if they know of anything going on.” Maybe you can offer a price break on some services in exchange for an introduction. It’s important not to make anyone feel obligated, though, or sound like you’re always pitching.
Make sure you show the love to thank that inner circle who listened, gave feedback, or offered help or kindness. They’re just as important as people who can more directly get you gigs. Write them a note, bake them a cake, take them to lunch.
If you’re on social media, remember it’s based on face-to-face networking fundamentals and was built to help people with shared interests find one another. That includes professional interests. If you meet local people you like online, see if you can meet in person.
Start networking by thinking of all the ways you can be helpful and start giving. You’re building your Love Bank account. After some robust giving, you can start to ask for help, advice, brainstorming, et cetera. Often when people think of networking, they think, What can I get? That leads either to the obnoxious networking mentioned earlier or to anxiety-ridden encounters where you feel you failed if you came away with “nothing.” Change your mindset to “What can I give?” and it gets much easier because there’s nothing to worry about or fail at.
So, meet in their neighborhood. Pay for the coffee or the lunch (especially if you did the inviting—unless you’ve agreed to go dutch). Invite them to an event as your guest. Offer a work lead, some industry info, or an idea for solving a problem they’re dealing with. Introduce them to people you know.
In some professions, sharing is more the norm than in others: “Freelance publicists tend to be very giving. We share media contacts with one another, as well as potential clients.” If your business is stingy, what would happen if you set a different standard?
When reciprocity is working as it should, others will give back in their way. If you feel all the love’s coming from you, move on and show it to someone who appreciates what you bring to the party.
In addition to the six fundamentals of influence above, here are a couple of other unwritten rules for Love Banking:
1 People don’t appreciate those who expect a “get” for every “give.” “I was recently recommended for a huge project by another freelancer who couldn’t take it on herself. She’s even spending some time giving me direction on how to proceed. This is by contrast to another freelancer who used to refer work to me and ask for a kickback for the referral.”
2 When someone gives you something, don’t ask for more. “A freelancer friend and I were at a lecture and I introduced him to a guy I’d worked with on a couple of projects. It turned out my friend and this guy had contacts in common and started talking about them. Later my friend suggested I put in a word about this guy hiring him! I was annoyed. I’d introduced them, they’d hit it off, and now it was up to my friend. In the time it took him to ask me, he could have contacted the guy himself and made a date to continue their great conversation. And he had built-in references from contacts they had in common!”
Say you meet some interesting people at an event and collect their cards or contact info. Do the Follow-Up Three-Step:
1 When you get home, jot down some key words on their cards about what you talked about, including personal details.
2 Add them to your contacts list and include the notes.
3 A couple of days later, call or email one or two of your new contacts and suggest getting together. Get into this habit and see how it accelerates your networking. Send emails to the others (create a form email that you personalize) saying it was nice to meet them and talk about such-and-such.
If you don’t get in touch right away, don’t write off the contact. It’s never too late. It’s kind of flattering for someone to be remembered after time has passed. Here’s where those notes on what you talked about come in:
“Dear Barb, We met in December at the public library lecture. I’m still laughing about your story of your toddler and the pancake batter! I’m interested to hear more about your work. I think there might be ways we could help each other. . . .”
“Hi, Ben: I can’t believe the write-a-thon happened almost a year ago! You were a great writing buddy. I’d love to get together and catch up. . . .”
“Dear Jon, This article reminded me of our conversation at Gizmofest about educational toys. How’ve you been? Do you have time to meet and catch up?”
Don’t be one of those “calls-only-when-they-want-something” networkers. Email and voicemail make the soft reach-out easy:
Send something: An article or video clip they might be interested in; a link to a good discussion board; a funny video you know they’ll like.
Congratulate them on something:
A deal: “I saw in Industry Weekly that you landed the Big Kahuna project. Congrats! I’ve been busy finishing up [describe] . . .”
A promotion: “I saw the announcement of your promotion. Congratulations and best wishes for continued success. I hope you’ve been well. I’ve been busy . . . [et cetera]”
A new job: “I heard about your new job at Goliath Corp. That’s great news! [Et cetera]”
A new product: “I saw your product at the trade show. It’s amazing! I hope it’s a great success, and that you’ve been well. I’ve been busy . . .”
Ask them something: “Have you tried that new software? It’s constantly crashing on me. If you have any advice, the drinks are on me!” A genuine appeal to someone’s authority or skill motivates them to be consistent by sharing their know-how with you.
You can sign off any way you want—including with a suggestion about getting together: “It would be great to get together later this summer and catch up” or an invitation: “I’d love to get together and catch up. How about coffee later this month?”
Be sensitive to their time: “I really enjoyed our conversation at the Freelancers Union meet-up the other night. Do you have a minute or two now to talk?” If they’re busy, ask if there’s a better time for you to call.
Start with some small talk to revive your connection. Then get to your point with a clear transition (assume they’re multitasking!): “So, Nate, I’m calling to find out . . . to see if we could get together . . . to ask your advice . . .”
Let them talk: “What do you think?” “What’s your opinion?” “Have you ever tried that?” A conversation’s a two-way street. You don’t have to carry it alone.
Keep your asks modest: “Do you know anything about X Corp.? I’m planning to pitch them and haven’t found much info on their R & D.”
Better yet, just call because you’d like to get to know them better.
“Thank you” has boundless power. Especially when someone gives you work leads, thank them and let them know what happened, even if it didn’t work out.
Successful prospecting can seem like a secret formula: “I’m good at making contacts, but I don’t feel I’ve acquired the skills or comfort level to get in front of the people who do the hiring.” or luck: “I’ve been lucky enough to connect with two local media outlets I enjoy working with. For both, it was about meeting and pitching an editor on the spot, and having it work.”
The reality’s somewhere in between. Prospecting combines strategy, Love Banking, and throwing yourself in the path of opportunity.
Successful prospecting has three goals:
1 To start a conversation with the right people. Make sure you’re contacting prequalified prospects: people with hiring responsibility in healthy professions or businesses that could conceivably, at some point, use your services. More on that below.
2 To make a connection. Treat it like an informational interview. You don’t ask for a job. You talk and learn how you might be able to help them out. Ask about their business, their needs, and their view of the industry. If you’re a newbie, ask their opinions about your goals, good resources to read or consult, and other people you could talk to.
This might segue to a talk about how you might be able to work with them, or introductions they could make. If not, that’s OK—you’ve made a new contact. Know when to get out of their hair. While an interview may not lead to a yes, there are lots of interesting “not-quite-nos”: “Send me some information.” “Call me in three months.” “You should talk to Sam Prescott at X Corp. Tell him I told you to call.” If things don’t click, it doesn’t mean they never will. More often than not, people return to the table eventually. “I request informational interviews from anyone I’m referred to, or from people I read or hear about in industry news. I’ve found that, while most people can’t offer work, they’re happy to meet with you, and you can’t have too many contacts. These contacts often lead to others down the road. One of my informational interviews led to four short-term and long-term jobs.”
3 To be top of mind when they need someone like you. How do you do that? By staying touch without being creepy, doing a lot of what you do when networking: tuning into their interests and sending info you think they might like, congratulating them on successes, and sharing ideas for how you might be able to work together. You’ll have a better chance of being top of mind when they finally do need someone like you. As one manager, now a consultant, told me, “I rarely hired outside contractors, but when I did, I always needed someone right away—and I could never think of anyone! If someone with good skills had been in touch with me a month or so earlier, they’d have gotten my call. Whenever I feel weird about prospecting, I remind myself of that.” A graphic designer says, “I send samples to people who haven’t hired me in a while saying, ‘Here are some designs I recently did for so-and-so, and I wanted you to see them.’ I’ve gotten many new jobs that way.”
A lot of prospecting is about staying positive. Are you subtly sabotaging yourself? Take the true/false quiz below and find out.
1 True/False: I’m bothering people who’d rather be doing something else.
False. If you’ve determined beforehand that they could be a qualified prospect, then anyone with any business sense should be willing to at least get to know you. In a few years, they might be looking for work and you’ll be looking to subcontract. If they really don’t want to talk, they’ll say so. Remember, you’re not spamming people who couldn’t care less about your work, you’re talking to people you know you can help—now or in the future.
2 True/False: I’m terrible at selling myself.
False. You’re not selling you; you’re connecting with them. You’re talking shop. You’re great at that. A lot of people who talk shop everywhere else somehow assume they’ll be tongue-tied on calls like these.
3 True/False: People will ask questions I can’t answer.
False. Asking questions means you’ve started a conversation—that’s half the battle! Chances are you can easily answer questions about what you do. See also: Know What You’ll Do If They Ask, “What Are Your Rates?”
4 True/False: I don’t know if they’ll need me.
True, but you’ve done enough homework to think they might need you—maybe just not yet. I don’t need a plumber til I’m mopping the floor with one hand and dialing 800-UNCLOGG with the other. Moral: Nobody needs anybody—until they need somebody. You want to be top of mind when that happens.
5 True/False: There’s so much rejection.
True, but rejection helps you prospect efficiently. It lets you focus on prospects who say “not right now,” “maybe,” “not yet,” or “let’s talk.”
6 True/False: There are so many people to contact, it’s overwhelming.
Partly true: More people want to know about you than you might think! And partly false: If you carefully qualify your candidates, you’ll be narrowing the ocean to a river, river to lake, lake to stream. So when you cast your line, you’ll be more confident that these fish may want to bite.
7 True/False: Most of them won’t lead anywhere.
True. In fact, a lot of the time you’ll be getting voicemail. If you get a small number who are mildly interested, you’re doing pretty well. Remember, the goal isn’t to walk out with a gig (though anything can happen!), but to start a conversation, build your network, and start building your Love Bank account.
Though there’s no formula for successful prospecting, there are ways to boost your effectiveness and stay on track.
Review your Key Skills List from Chapter 1. Which businesses, professions, industries, or companies might need what you do? Start a list.
Then rank them, from ideal candidates on down. What makes them ideal? Their fit with your skills? Their pay scale? Their size (big and stable . . . midsize and busy . . . start-up and growing)? Their reputation? Their Blue Chip potential? Recently had layoffs and might need outside help?
Next, find contact info for the people who commonly hire people like you. The Internet has made this so much easier. You can search by industry keywords, trade associations, company names, or people’s names and titles.
Think about where your prospects go, in person and online. What organizations do they join? What websites, blogs, or discussion groups do they visit? Where do they go to hire people like you? “A lot of my writing gigs come through literary agents looking to match their clients with collaborators,” Dan says. “So one day I looked up the website for the Association of Authors’ Representatives, an organization several agents I knew belong to. I clicked on the ‘Agents’ tab, and voilà! Up came a member directory of more than four hundred agents, including contact information, websites, and blogs. The site also had links to other publishing associations I could research. It was an amazing resource.”
No, you won’t read it. You’ll have it in front of you, so well practiced that you’re just glancing at it for key points. It could be in large type with important words or phrases in boldface, a list of talking points, or a flowchart on a legal pad. Your script says who you are and what you do. It asks if they ever hire people who do what you do. It states what you’ll do if they’re interested. Generally, your goal is to take your conversation a step deeper, usually by sending them some information about yourself and/or setting up a brief meeting, or opening up the possibility of contacting them again. Remember, you’re not looking to secure a gig, just to start a conversation.
Personalizing your script a bit helps build liking. Maybe you belong to the same professional group, your kids go to the same school, you attended the same conference recently, or you heard the person give a talk. Mention something you learned about this contact from your research, or how you found the contact: “I read about your work and found your contact information in the Landscape Architects Association membership list . . . on your company’s website . . . in the Landscape Architects Expo conference program.” If someone referred you, say so.
Try out your script with some folks in your Brain Trust. It’s better to call than send an email (even a voicemail pitch is more personal than an email pitch—which might get deleted unread). Rehearse both leaving a message and getting them on the phone. Ask your rehearsal partner to respond in different ways—welcoming, terse, in a hurry.
Contact less-important prospects first to warm up and get relaxed with your script. Start with industries where you already have work, know your spiel, and feel the strongest match with your skills, rather than industries you’re looking to break into.
Some people prospect in ways you’ll find impossibly pushy. Don’t go there if it’s not your style. There’s no one way to do this. If your gut’s screaming, “Don’t go up to that guy and shove your card in his face even though your friends say that’s what networking is,” then don’t do it. It won’t work if it doesn’t feel genuine. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try new things. But you know the difference between being a little nervous about a new situation and gut-screaming aversion.
Don’t worry if your delivery isn’t perfect. Normal speech isn’t. Actually, sounding too rehearsed can make people uncomfortable.
A good way to sound less scripted is to practice verbal mirroring: using words your prospects use. If they’re more formal, be a little more formal. If they’re less formal, mirror that. For example, if they say, “We’re all about the customer here,” you’ll sound weird if you say, “I applaud your mission to prioritize customer service.” You’ll be more in sync if you say, “Being all about the customer is a great goal!”
“My prospecting goes OK until they ask about my rates. Then I freeze, afraid I’ll screw up.” First, congratulations on getting them interested enough to ask! See how fast a prospecting conversation can morph into a negotiation?
Now’s your chance to ask them some questions. You probably don’t know enough yet about their needs to talk pricing. You might say something like, “I’d be glad to talk about pricing, but first I need a little more information about what your needs are.” Then ask your questions.
If you do give pricing in these early conversations, a price range (make sure it’s one you’re comfortable with—i.e., not leading with your lowest price) will give you some wiggle room and potentially segue to more specific conversation: “Well, depending on its components, which we can talk more about, a pledge campaign could cost from X to X.” For more strategies on negotiating pricing, see Chapter 5.
Suppose things go OK on the call or in the meeting, but they don’t have work right now. Have a next step in mind. Such as:
“I don’t want to take any more of your time, but I’d like to send you some information about my work for your files.”
“I’d love to talk with you when you have more time or think you might need the kind of work I do. Would you mind if I checked in with you periodically? Thanks, I appreciate it.”
“Thank you so much for your time. Are there others you think I should be talking to?”
“I really appreciate your taking time to meet with me. Are there some books or other resources you think would be good for me to look at to learn more about this side of the business?”
“I’m so glad we got to meet. Thanks so much for your time. By the way, I write an email newsletter about industry goings-on. I’d like to send it to you. Just let me know by responding to this email [or] I’ll send it to you.” (Make sure your newsletter has an “unsubscribe” option. See Chapter 9 for more about email newsletters.)
As with networking, following up without being creepy is key. Yes, you’ll do the chasing, because getting gigs is up to you. But know when to stop.
You might start by leaving a message, then follow up a week or so later. You might email an article you think they’d find interesting a few weeks after that. Then send some news about your work a month after that. Any signs of life?
If you keep trying and never hear back, or if you decide they’re not really a prospect, you might choose to stop. Certainly stop if someone asks you to.
Track your prospecting so it’s easy to pick up where you left off: when you called or emailed and what you sent; what follow-up you promised; even your impressions and information (reluctant, great vibe, distracted; prepping convention speech; son had soccer tournament coming up) to jog your memory and help you craft your next contact.
Your system could be a file folder and follow-up reminders in your calendar; it could be a spreadsheet; it could be a more sophisticated contact management system or CMS (check out listings online). Just find a system that works for you and maintain it as carefully as you would your financial records. After all, this is an investment record—of your time and energy.
In the end, networking and prospecting are about connecting with like-minded people. When you work from that win-win place, your confidence is strong and your enthusiasm contagious. You start to see that life is filled with opportunities to connect, ply your trade, and attract people and projects. As this writer’s story shows, it’s freelancing at its best:
“I was on the road, writing a music segment for my local public radio station. Early one morning, I found a small coffee shop adjacent to a surprisingly pretty public parking lot. I noticed five or six people in the lot working with large-format cameras—the ‘old school’ ones on wooden tripods with the long accordion-style lens casing and the black sheet you put over your head to use the viewfinder.
“I instantly saw there was a story here. I’d been listening to public radio for fifteen years and knew this would interest listeners. I had my field recorder in my bag, and I simply walked up to one of the folks and asked what he was doing. It turned out I was seeing a class being taught by a guy who’s been designing and building large-format cameras for thirty years. The students had traveled from as far away as London to take the class. The rush of finding something like that, interviewing all of them, and having a great story in the can that day was one of the best feelings I’ve ever had.”