Freelancing

Develop a Unique Voice: Assignment from Seth Godin’s Freelancer Course

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Lecture 44: Exercise

Archetypes-SethGodin

Question: If you could chose an archetype or extreme (edgecraft), what do you want your brand or work to be known for? 

  • Helpful
  • Giving
  • Fun
  • Humorous
  • Informative
  • Supportive
  • Warm
  • Trustworthy
  • Exciting
  • Powerful
  • Generous
  • Inspiring
  • Unstoppable
  • Possible

Question: List 5 ways that you could express these attributes:

  1. Sharing as much information as possible with readers/listeners.
  2. Encouraging audience to share information with one another – to be a community.
  3. Make processes towards success feel like clear and attainable goals for audience.
  4. Make audience feel like being who they are and making a living doing so is more joyful than stressful.
  5. Offer them stories about people, from a similar demographic as theirs, who worked there way towards their path of truth which lead them to success.
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Rank Yourself: Assignment from Seth Godin’s Freelancer Course 

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Reputation. Seth Godin.

Exercise 13

Compared to others who do what you do, rank yourself according to:

For this question, I chose to reply surrounding my current career, not my future, hopeful idea of freelancing. The rank will be from 1-5.

  1. Reputation: 4
  2. Knowledge: 4
  3. Expertise: 5
  4. Tools: 3
  5. Handiness: 4

Which will you invest in developing?

Most definitely in the tools area. Where I once thought I was quite advanced in Excel, I recently took a course to see where I was at and quickly realized that there are so many advanced functions that I should consider tackling, which would be an asset to many clients and employers. I am also slowly but surely making my way through graphics design and web design courses, which are both a pleasure and an asset.

I gave myself a 4 on reputation because although I have a solid one at work, my workload and lack of motivation definitely has me less organized than usual. This can definitely be improved.

Reading back at my replies, hours later, all of those points are worth improving on and investing in.

List of 10 Things You Deliver to Your Client: Assignment from Seth Godin’s Freelancer Course

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Be genuine. Seth Godin.

Exercise 10

List things that aren’t things. Things like timeliness, confidence, respect, a story, etc.

  1. Resourcefulness
  2. Respect for deadlines
  3. Good listening skills
  4. Humour
  5. Great story telling
  6. Warmth
  7. A sense of alliance
  8. Empathy
  9. Quality
  10. Genuine interest in their success

Who are You? Assignment from Seth Godin’s Freelancer Course

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I just enrolled in Seth Godin’s Freelancer Course on Udemy for a discounted rate that seems like a steal.seth-godin-marketing

In response to the first assignment, which is exercise 5: Who are you?, my replies are below.

Seth suggests: Do these exercises online, in public. Blog them or put them on Facebook. Speak up. Speak out.

Question: What do you want to do? (Not your job, but your work, now, tomorrow, and in the future)* Who do you want to change, and how do you want to change them? *If you’re having trouble answering this, you’re going to have trouble moving up, because you’ve abdicated your dream to whomever walks in the door next

 I want to write, to blog, to podcast and to help others. I want to interview successful freelancers and entrepreneurs in order to understand their common threads, and then I want to simplify that formula and share it with an audience who might not have believed they could do the same. Once the formula is broken down, the dream seems attainable.

Question: Who do you want to change, and how do you want to change them?

Anyone who needs to feel empowered, but right now my heart is leaning towards specializing in the mother and maybe the single parent demographic because this is where I’m at currently. 

I have a deep thirst for having a more flexible schedule for my daughter, I want to show her that we can be successful as creatives and I want to have more streams of income for us. I know there are so many like me out there and we need guidance. I hope to mentor others in this category one day.

I want them to be changed by feeling capable, informed and transmitted into our new reality of where income can be sourced from. Then, they will share, too.

 Question: How much risk? (from 1 [a little] to 10 [bet everything]), how much are you willing to put at stake to make the change that you seek?

Risk almost always feels like I won’t be able to pay the bills at the end of the day if I dare take one. That’s always been my obstacle. I grew up below the LICO (Low Income Cut Off), so security has always overshadowed dreams, art, creativity and success. Take the job, get the bills paid and sleep well that night. Repeat.

Now that I have a child, the thought of poverty is choking. The thought of not living my truth hurts almost as much.

Take away that immense fear obstacle and I’d risk at level 8. With that fear, a 2. Maybe those numbers are actually higher because I’m surely risking getting fired every day by being complacent.

I’m willing to give away any toxic relationships and/or time with anyone who isn’t supportive or open-minded.

Question: How much work are you willing to do to get there? Be specific about the details.

When I consider how much I would love what I’m doing and the positive impact it can have, the answer is a lot of work. It wouldn’t feel like work. I’d be quite unwilling to take away from my precious time with my little one, but I can put in time while commuting, at lunch, at night, during peanut’s naps and I may be able to squeeze in some research during work. Wink. Wink.

Question: Does this project matter enough for the risk and the effort you’re putting into it?

Hell, ya. It seems as if there is no better time than now for creatives to make a living. Our platform has arrived. Anything we want to learn is at our fingertips. Almost anyone we want to reach out to is online; it’s as though the six degrees of separation is now two – maximum three degrees.

I’ve waited 42 years to start believing in myself – that I have value to offer to others. It’s risky, but it feels so right and effortless because I love the process.

Question: Is it possible – has anyone with your resources ever pulled this off?

I believe that many with less resources have pulled this off. Maybe they were hungrier. Maybe they were better executioners. Maybe they had a higher self esteem. Maybe they were smarter. Maybe they were more focused. Maybe they were foolish. I don’t know, but I plan to find them and ask them to be generous enough to share their stories with anyone who will listen.