Are You Smarter Than A Freelancer?

We all judge others. You do it. I do it. My 80-year-old Jewish Grandmother does it.

And whether we pay attention to the judgements we make or not, it’s just human nature. Our brains like to pigeon-hole other people for easy categorization (brains are remarkably lazy and efficient that way).

What I’m trying to say here is that first impressions matter, because that first impression is when you get categorized in someone’s mind as attractive, smart, witty, slow, jerky, or whatever.

And when you’re a freelancer, first impressions really matter, because sometimes landing that next big client can mean the difference between a 4-star dinner and PB&J (again). So the trick when you’re first meeting with a client is to appear smarter than your competition.

Notice I said “appear” smarter. Listen, we’re all smart and talented here.

Andy Warhol didn’t have more talent than countless “unknown” artists from the 1960s. In fact, he tried to remove all signs of his talent from his work.

The difference was that Andy Warhol was a marketing genius. He could sell the crap out of his ideas – I mean, he painted Campbell’s Soup cans for crying out loud. Try painting boxes of Lean Cuisine or Hot Pockets and see where that gets you.

So when you’re selling your services, talent and intelligence take a back seat to marketing and sales.

Unfortunately, when we’re in school they only teach us the talent part, and they leave out the valuable business skills we really need to make money in our industries.

Well, through trial and error (mostly error) and a ton of research, I’ve found some simple, proven sales techniques that you can use to look smarter today. And I made a video to show them to you.

The best part is that these aren’t “sleazy” sales tricks. These are bona fide strategies that will make clients think you’re the cat’s meow.

So go check out the video and let me know what you think.