According to FreelanceSwitch, I’m Doing it All Wrong

Great point and I totally agree. I have been freelancing for two years now, full time (and about 5 years before that part time) and I’m booked through and through, and I believe it’s exactly because of my candid blogging (and writing on my site in general.)

Some people don’t want to shop at Company, Inc. and they like the idea that I’m a real person.

I’m actually starting a website all about my experiences with freelancing thus far, sotware reviews, etc. I’ll drop you a line when it’s finished (sometime this week) if you’re interested.

Horses for courses, isn’t it? Just as you have found there to be plenty of clients happy to work with you based on your online persona, there are bound to be plenty of potential clients who wouldn’t go near you based on what they read on your ‘business’ site. The trick is finding the balance that works best for you.

I completely agree, Matt, but as mentioned in the post:

“If that kind of thing would turn you off working with me, you’re probably not the kind of person I would want to deal with anyway.”

It’s a much more open business relationship. The same reason why I don’t wear suits to business meetings - if someone honestly thinks that a tie = better performance somehow then they’re probably not the type of company I want to work with anyway.

And that’s the whole point of freelancing, from my perspective - to be able to live the life you want to, which is afforded by your freelance career - the opposite of the general “I go to work to pay my bills and live in between when I get the chance.”

Just my opinion.

I’m with you on that - I can’t imagine taking a job from client who saw my behaviour online and doesn’t agree with it (and it influences our relationship).

If you can’t talk freely, you’re simple not free.

Well i guess I’m somewhere in the middle. I work full time, but still I can’t work in a tie and so on.
Besides that - I do little bit freelance.

I agree on this one with you matt. When I was on interview at Samsung, and I saw thoose openspace with ties i thought.. “Aw HEEELLLL NOO!”.

Right now I work at a company that doesn’t give you that tie-crap and so on. You wear what you like, how you like, when you like I think that it is important to feel free, and be able to express yourself the way you really are, and not just being a handbook example.

I found myself scratching my head as well when I read that post on FreelanceSwitch. Why hide behind a “persona” that does not clearly reflect the real you? More likley than not, freelance project offers find their way into your inbox, not the other way around.

Nathan highlighted a great point in your post. If that kind of thing would turn you off working with me, you’re probably not the kind of person I would want to deal with anyway. I couldn’t agree more.

Well, it’s the type of clientele you want in the end. I have my personal blog separate from my business blog, but they’re not hidden from each other and everyone can take a look at both.

There’s something to be said about knowing what is personally appropriate to divulge, but it all depends on your personal and professional goals. The clients I tend to have are also rather open-minded, and also, I think all the little tidbits (like pics of the cat, occasional fun swearing) is what makes us human and more appealing/approachable anyway.

I’d rather deal with a human, not a corporate robot.

Hey Matt! Collis from FreelanceSwitch here

You know you make a good alternative point to that article and we received a couple of comments about it too.

I’ll write this up and post it on the site,

Thanks!

Yes, that is a completely useful list when striving for the “John Q. Business Drone” title.

People want to give business to actual people, not a cookie cutter Inc. or Corp.

Great article Matt!

I completely agree!

Yeah reading the post it is a bit ‘absolute’, things are never that black and white. Either ways a post to give the alternate view will be well served I think. We’re all for balanced opinion, but of course the opinions of the writer writing the piece are … well just one opinion. So if you ever do have a counterpoint to anything we write, please do let us know by email, pinging, commenting, or any other means!

In the meantime I’ve been thinking about this all day and I think you are right, on one level there ARE two approaches to freelancing.

I think also there is the matter of who your clients are and how you present to them. So for example if you do album art for indie labels vs government brochures for local councils would naturally need two different looks and the clients would presumably choose very different designers.

hmmm, lots to think about, in any case, awesome blog design by the way! I like what you did with the 9rules logo and I REALLLY like what you did with the comment style that appears for your own comments. I will have to add something like that to FSw when I have a chance

Definitely an interesting topic for discussion Matt.

Funny enough, I was just thinking about the way I post on my blog this morning. And how I definitely do tone down my “online personality”.

Thought maybe I should be more open or real, whatever you want to call it. As you do on your site.

Guess it’s just the thought of trying to keep my blog focused on my professional work in web design. And when I am focused on my professional life (the part that makes the money!), I want to keep it controversy free.

But, at the same time, people do appreciate honesty and believe it will always keep visitors coming back to your site in the long run.

After 5 years of working for myself, I can safely say that I’ve never had a problem being who I really am online.

I’ve never had a client tell me that they were offended by or decided not to work with me because of something I’ve said on my personal or business web-sites or any one of the tens of web-sites I frequent.

I believe that online and offline shouldn’t be considered separate and should be approached from an identical view point, I’m still me when I get up in a few moments and walk away from the interweb, so why pretend to be someone I’m not while in the web to gain clients, it just doesn’t make sense?

Good write up Matt, and I agree. Now let’s do that thing we talked about.

This list don’ t seem to concider that a lot of potencial clients (especially on the web) like the idea to work with someone as human as a computer, they want someone they could be friend with, not a cold geek !

100% agree, a blog is a place to express yourself, whats wrong with that?

Swearing, that, in my view, is just an extreme form of expression and there is little wrong with that.

No political views, why? It’s fun to attack the government (or praise them - but it never happens).

Hey folks, and here is the promised followup: http://freelanceswitch.com/general/keeping-it-real-an-alternative-viewpoint/

Thanks for your thoughts Matt and all, it was a really interesting counterpoint!

Collis, I replied to your follow up in the comments. However, I just want to point people to Mark Bixby’s article, Empathy in Branding. This is what this is all about. By “keeping it real,” we end up answering the “Why should I care?” question. With this tactic, clients choose us because they end up caring about us.

Anyway, I’ll probably write an article on this on my site, as this ties really well with my Art of Self-Branding series… Stay tuned!

Thanks Lea, i’ll head over and check it out!~

I think there is a balance like with most things…

I’ll put it simply… like I said in my recent interview with Rob Goodlatte —

I want you to know who I am, I want you to know what I’m like and where I’ve come from. I’m going to keep doing that, and if something bad happens, then I’ll live with the consequences of my actions. It’s only the right thing to do, in my mind at least.

When it comes to drawing a line between my personal life and my blog, it’s a moving target and the line is starting to blur as well. [...] There’s no reason for me to hold back and I think I’m doing my readers a disservice if I do.

I appreciate most honesty which, in such cases, means that I would like to know who you are, you my possible business partner.

So, be who you are!

To anyone interested, I wrote an expanded follow-up on my blog.

You were the first person I thought of when reading that article.

My guess is that your unique style combined with your up-front and honest personality could be pretty attractive for clients, maybe that’s why it’s working so well for you?

I totally agree:

At the end of the day I don’t care if someone I employ cross dresses the weekend and posts pictures of it on their blog so long as the work they do is of high standard and given in on time.

I am actually more likely to hire someone, after reading their blog. Because it gives a sense of what they are like. Yes some employers are prudes but at the end of the day your not going to want to work with them and they aren’t going to want to work with you. This way you get to work with people who know what to expect because they “know you” from reading your writings.

I have managed to get freelance work from my blog, I even worked full time at a company whom discovered my blog half way through my contract and said I wouldn’t have needed an interview if they had seen it I would have been hired over the phone, which surprised me because I had always been told that companies hated blogs.

Awesome post Matt. I am a first time reader here (came in through the feed icons post) and I really like what you have to say.

Thanks for sharing!

hahaha, nice point bro. cant agree more…

seems that they also realised it.. cause there is another post about “keeping it real”

Hot topic, and nice article. Glad this got as much attention as it did and helped push them over the edge into writing the other point of view.

Way to stick up for those of us trying to break the mold of what you have to be to gain a successful and reputable business from others view.

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I could not agree more - I love the idea of presenting a more personable company to your demographic.