Particularly resonated with the reorientation of what sales looks like. It’s also applicable for traditional BD work and corporate jobs where your ‘clients’ are internal stakeholders.
My mindset shifted when I saw team leads approach potential projects as the client’s coach and advisor, rather than a salesperson. The client’s first “why we want this project” often doesn’t tell the deeper story. Going through this process helped me realise sales is a series of conversations to understand the client’s true context, and a candid assessment on whether we can deliver what they need. We often won trust points by talking a client out of work they should not be doing at that moment
awesome list! fellow solo self-employed person/owner/whatever over here who, too, struggles ALL the time how to describe what I do to folks from more traditional backgrounds. I used to say “I freelance” and it took a lot of confidence and more experience (almost 3 years now!) for me to start telling people I “have my own business,” though of course my business is just me, my LLC, and my business banking accounts.
I really like “design your own curriculum” in tangential skills/topics as one I should intentionally focus more on, and one lesson I’d add from my own experience is “don’t try to replicate a 9-5!” unless of course that’s what you actually want. I found that I used to try to stick to a 9-5 schedule for routine reasons or to align my schedule with everyone else’s, but the beauty of the freedom is that no one is looking over your shoulder. I also found that I used to always want to fill up any free time with projects (fallacy being busy = more work = more money = happier!), but some of the times when I said no to work and took home less money is when I made some of my best work on personal projects.
I still don’t know where this is “going,” but I’m part of the 80% that probably wouldn’t go back!
Hey Maddie, thanks for reading and for sharing your journey! Resonated with lots of the things you mentioned - especially the imposter syndrome around ‘i have my own business’ when the business is a solo biz. Good luck on your journey and would love to hear more about it!
/bookmarking this for when i eventually take the leap
gosh i wanna be like you when i grow up
don’t think you this, girl. you’ve 100% got the skills already!
Particularly resonated with the reorientation of what sales looks like. It’s also applicable for traditional BD work and corporate jobs where your ‘clients’ are internal stakeholders.
My mindset shifted when I saw team leads approach potential projects as the client’s coach and advisor, rather than a salesperson. The client’s first “why we want this project” often doesn’t tell the deeper story. Going through this process helped me realise sales is a series of conversations to understand the client’s true context, and a candid assessment on whether we can deliver what they need. We often won trust points by talking a client out of work they should not be doing at that moment
These are so thoughtful and great. Love every lesson
Thanks Sharon!
"It is you vs you" 😶🌫️
Very relatable learnings, long live self-employment 😆
Great advice, seriously appreciated this!
This one really hit “I’ve found that being sincerely helpful, even when it doesn’t lead to a contract, tends to come back around.”
Thanks, Rohit!
Great piece Ines - thanks for writing! It's always fun to get a glimpse into how you think about things 😊
Thank you, Bhav!!
awesome list! fellow solo self-employed person/owner/whatever over here who, too, struggles ALL the time how to describe what I do to folks from more traditional backgrounds. I used to say “I freelance” and it took a lot of confidence and more experience (almost 3 years now!) for me to start telling people I “have my own business,” though of course my business is just me, my LLC, and my business banking accounts.
I really like “design your own curriculum” in tangential skills/topics as one I should intentionally focus more on, and one lesson I’d add from my own experience is “don’t try to replicate a 9-5!” unless of course that’s what you actually want. I found that I used to try to stick to a 9-5 schedule for routine reasons or to align my schedule with everyone else’s, but the beauty of the freedom is that no one is looking over your shoulder. I also found that I used to always want to fill up any free time with projects (fallacy being busy = more work = more money = happier!), but some of the times when I said no to work and took home less money is when I made some of my best work on personal projects.
I still don’t know where this is “going,” but I’m part of the 80% that probably wouldn’t go back!
Hey Maddie, thanks for reading and for sharing your journey! Resonated with lots of the things you mentioned - especially the imposter syndrome around ‘i have my own business’ when the business is a solo biz. Good luck on your journey and would love to hear more about it!
You are such a pleasure to read. I loved that Kevin Kelly quote ❤️
Check out my latest post on financially structuring yourself when self employed
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