Tuesday August 25, 2009
Freelancers Self-Promote by being Friendly
Recently, I’ve been putting together some tutorials for the newly launched PhotoTuts+, and I thought it would be a nice gesture to reach out to freelance photographer community and give them an opportunity for some free exposure. So, for the past month, I’ve been putting the Twitter word out that I was looking for some RAW photos to work with in my tutorials. Submit your photo - get a mention in the tutorial. Easy peasy. The response, however, was surprisingly dull.
Of course there were a few who stepped forward, but the overall uptake was dismal at best. And that got me to thinking; are freelancers doing enough to self-promote themselves by jumping at opportunities to be friendly?
Let me illustrate.
A few years back I volunteered my skills to help a friend I had met on a forum put together a web site to share her recipes on. It wasn’t spec work, it was just being friendly. Guess who she recommended when her sister-in-law, a successful dentist, needed a web site?
Just a few weeks back I noticed a tweet from Lea Woodward over at Location Independent that she was experiencing some wiki setup headaches. Admittedly, I don’t know much about setting up wikis, but I volunteered my services to give it a go. A few hours later, the job was done and I had established a great contact, some free publicity, and a great potential working relationship.
Most of my best clients have come from putting myself in a position to be there when the people I want to work with need the services I provide. With Envato, I made sure to place myself in the FreelanceSwitch community and work my way up through forum participation and eventually writing review articles for the web site. That got my name in the door, and through responding to future job postings and just being a friendly guy, I was able to meet the principals Collis and Cyan. Now I’m working as an assistant to the CEO and it has been one of the most enjoyable experiences of my freelance career.
Sure, it means finding and developing the networks and doing a few favors for friends, but the end result has meant better clients and more interesting projects. Being friendly and willing to lend a hand is a wonderful way to self-promote (again, just to prevent a mass outpouring of hate, I’m not talking about doing spec work).
So the next time someone is looking to give you a bit of free promotion why not get it touch and develop a friendly working relationship. Guess who he’s going to think of next time he has to recommend a great photographer?
musings, web design
I noticed you’d been doing articles on FSW but had no idea you were in so deep. Well done.
Nice post btw. I tend to agree with you that doing things for other people just to be friendly (with no other motives) is a good way to network.
— Greg Corey · Oct 5, 01:46 PM · #
Yes Greg…I’m very, very deep :)
— Travis King · Oct 5, 02:01 PM · #
Thanks for being so helpful Trav, I would definately recommend you!!!
— Shani · Aug 27, 05:17 PM · #