When you’re building your own business it’s best to diversify. Work with multiple clients, maintain positive relationships with potential clients, and continually add new contacts to the mix. I knew that! But, after working as an employee for many years, I became accustomed to giving a company 100% of my time. When I first started… Read More
When considering subcontractor/contractor, qualified lead, or partnership arrangements (defined in part 2), you need to work with the right people and define as many of your terms as possible up front. Work with the right people Look for companies and individuals that share your values and priorities, management style, client relationship philosophies, and work ethic.… Read More
As a small business owner or a solopreneur, business development relationships are among the most difficult to manage. To start exploring these challenges, we’ll need some common language to describe the types of relationships that exist. We’ll start simply (by clarifying terms) and add detail as we discuss how to make these relationships work (a… Read More
As your business grows, so will the ways through which you find and fulfill work. There will likely be people with whom you forge business development relationships. You may work on engagements together as partners. You may pass leads to each other. You may work as a contributor on their contracts and they may work… Read More
In Free Agent Nation, Dan Pink talks about the days when most people worked at home. They were farmers and blacksmiths and bakers, and they had everything they needed at home to make a living. There weren’t work/life balance issues. Work was life and life was work. The family was there and they all… Read More
Who am I and what am I selling? What specific benefits do I offer my clients? What makes my offering unique and valuable to my clients? Some people can walk out of the corporate lobby into their own business and know exactly who they are and what they’re selling. I was not one of those… Read More
Do you need a boss? According to Seth Godin bosses do a lot for us! “Bosses decide what’s urgent. Bosses pay you even when the client doesn’t honor the invoice. Bosses create deadlines, and stick with them. Bosses pay for the Postits.” We’ve talked about becoming a Solopreneur and some of the transitions you might… Read More
After listening to Free Agent Nation, by Dan Pink, reading the comments Ann Handley and Michael Pollock made on Becoming a Solopreneur, and talking to some of my “solo” colleagues, I started to consider the transitions we go through when we leave corporate life. On our own we need to diversify our client base. If… Read More