Communicating what you do and how much you charge is imperative, especially if you’re just starting out as a freelancer. Here’s a word of warning post that I might also have entitled: How Not to Give Away Your Skills for Free.

If you’re starting out as a freelance consultant be wary of people looking to hire you. Seriously.

Many successful business people are adept at getting things for nothing and if you’re new to pitching for consulting work you could find yourself dishing out valuable skills and information – for free!

Be Wary of “Come and have coffee”

Let’s say you meet an prospective client at a social gathering. You tell them what you do and you feel that buzz of excitement when they mention “My company is actually just looking for some of that as a matter of fact!” You hit them with your elevator pitch, a stylish business card and a smile and low and behold a few days later they get back to you.

“Why don’t you come into the office for coffee? Let’s have a chat about what you can do?” they might say.

To the eager novice consultant this might sound like potential business.

“What a fabulous opportunity to pitch my skills and services, and grow my business. Right?”

Wrong!

Well, only possibly.

Don’t Be Too Eager

The risk is that when you get there, all dressed up in your glad rags, seated in a leather chair and supping a frothy cappuccino, you’ll fall for one of the oldest tricks in the book. Giving away your skills for free.

“So we’re thinking about improving our SEO?” the charming, friendly CEO says. “What are the problems with our site? Do you think you could help?”

Having researched Potential Significant Customer’s site dot com before your get-together because you want to know something about them, want to impress them a little, you spill a few of the beans.

“I can see there’s stuff you need to improve: the title tags across the site don’t work and you’re not making the most of title tags. You should definitely reduce your duplicate content. Google treats www.yourdomain.com and yourdomain.com as separate sites.”

“Really?” wonders the CEO, encouraging you to take a couple of M&Ms from the candy jar on the table, still smiling, still friendly. “Is that easy to fix?”

“Oh, sure you just need to tweak your htaccess file.”

Before you know it the CEO is enthusing about your skills, the easy way you communicate your ideas and how you’re just what they’re looking for. Add a touch of mild sexual tension to the mix, maybe the CEO is flirting with you, and your ego’s glowing. You’d be only too happy to help.

“I think we really need to use you,” the CEO says, before hitting you with the sucker punch. “Could you just put together a brief outline on paper about what we’ve talked about and give me a quote for the work?”

So then off you go, type it all up and wait eagerly for their response, dreaming of that big fat deal you’re about to sign.
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Thinking about ordering new business cards? You might want to spend a bit of time carefully considering want you want your card to communicate. After all, if you’re placing a bulk order you don’t want to be stuck with the wrong message for the next three hundred cards you hand out.

Must Haves

It goes without saying that your business card needs to include:

• your name
• your phone number
• your email address
• and almost certainly your company website.

If you don’t have a website, or you’re embarrassed by the site because it is in need of a major overhaul, I would still include the URL on your card. Why? Because people are going to Google you anyway. You’d be surprised how many people would rather just google your name and click on a html-linked email address than actually pick up your card, read your name and type your.name@yourCompanydotcom.
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Talking with a friend over coffee this morning, it was clear her company have massive problems communicating with each other. Bosses bark out orders to middle managers. Middle managers feel they’re not being listened to. Meanwhile, the company is under massive pressure to increase profits.

Amidst turbulent economic times it’s easy to lose focus, panic and stress out. But you mustn’t let this effect the way you talk to each other within a company.

If good communication goes out the window relationships suffer

And that may well have a knock-on effect on productivity, growth and profits.

There are lots of ways to help you promote good communication at work. Here are five:

1. Hold a solo brainstorming session and write down as many ways you can think of to be a better communicator at work. Getting mentally set to communicate better is imperative.
2. Cut as much bureaucracy and complexity from your internal communications. If you’re a manager, appoint someone to review internal communications and instruct them to slash as much bureaucracy and complexity as possible.
3. Remember to say something positive to colleagues, even if you intend to ask them to adjust what they’re doing. E.g. “I’ve noticed you’ve been putting in a lot of extra work on the project. That’s great. But I need you to shift focus slightly and cover …” Without the first part of this example it might feel as if you’re barking out an order.
4. Add “No reply necessary” to emails that don’t require a response. We waste hours a year writing “You’re welcome” emails. Be effective and be happy.
5. Listen. Get to know your people better. Find out what makes them happy. Show them that you hear what they’re saying. Make them feel seen. Great communication is a about knowing when to speak and knowing when to listen. It’s a two way process.

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