Butthurt

Good morning, it's Monday around 10am. I woke up a little later than usual at 7:15, and already this morning I've had 2 examples of egregiously stupid shit that freelancers do to keep themselves broke.

Here's example #1, from a charming young fellow I'll call Salty McDumbass to protect his privacy -

Now, a little context is needed here.

My client asked me for referrals for a specific type of service.

I put old Salty here in the mix on recommendation from his mentor.

There was a little bit of chat, but no deal.

Salty follows up a few times, and my client doesn't engage further.

In fairness to Salty, it prob would have been better for the client to send a one-liner with "not a fit at this time" or a similar kiss-off...

But what our pal Salty is forgetting...

He's a freelancer responsible to nobody buy himself.

And the client is a company owner with a team of about 20 people, hundreds of partners, and thousands of customers...

So client PROBABLY got busy and just forgot to reply.

No big deal.

No need to get butthurt and take it personal.

If Salty had just decided to chill and move on, maybe some business would get done down the line...

Or he could have followed up again in a few weeks time... Added some value and built a relationship.

Or he could have just said 'next' and got back to prospecting.

But he didn't do that.

Now Salty left a bad impression on my client (who's a great guy and a consistent source of quality referrals to me).

And Salty left a bad impression on me with his passive aggressive BS.

So Salty will never see another intro from me either.

Plus, Salty disrepected his mentor by being rude to 2 people his mentor introduced him to... So maybe the mentor will think twice before he makes an intro next time.

Silly old Salty's sarcasm has shot himself in the foot.

Don't do this.

Play the long game.

Assume error before malice.

Remember company owners tend to have more stakeholders and responsibilities and demands on their time than you do as a freelancer.

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OK, on to example #2!

The second example is from a super talented young guy who's been helping me with some projects recently, but is chronically undervaluing his own work.

I'll call him Shiney McPenny.

In contrast to Salty... Shiney has a super positive attitude, is polite, respectful, friendly, and reliable.

He's delivering high quality assets that my clients love, and will have a lot of long term value to their businesses.

But he's pricing his work based on arbitrary factors like time and word count...

Instead of pricing based on the proven value of work he's already done...

And he's charging a pittance for his work to the point where it's embarrassing.

I've already sent 2 of his invoices back telling him he needs to charge me more because I'd be ashamed if anyone ever found out I'd paid him so little.

(I'm also playing the long game and want this young guy to keep me top priority as a client).

When I look at Shiney's self-presentation I don't get it.

He's well dressed, well educated, a quick study, and clearly has self-respect...

But for some reason he's not seeing how valuable he is, or he doesn't believe in himself enough... But I can see he has tons of potential so I'm encouraging him to change the way he's going about his business, and investing some time into helping him, as I know it will be a win-win long term.

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Of these 2 problems, the second is the better to have - it's a lot easier to fix pricing strategy than it is to unlearn a passive-aggressive attitude...

But neither of these behavior patterns are your friend if you're a freelancer, consultant or other type of entrepreneur.

In summary then:

Believe in yourself

Let your self-belief reflect in your pricing

Don't be a salty dick!

Have an awesome week.

Your friend,

John Caprani