No one will help you.
Photo by Tabea Schimpf on Unsplash
Get four points today.
I repeated the mantra to myself as I stared at the motivational print-outs posted up on the wall above my computer. You know the kind: wise words and quick-witted insights from famous entrepreneurs and salespeople; the kind of snack-sized quips that grace the header image of any LinkedIn profile.
I had just left a full-time job with a steady paycheck for the uncertain, turbulent lifestyle of a freelancer, and I needed all the motivation I could get. The job I left wasn’t in my chosen field and it wasn’t a healthy working environment… at all. So, on the one hand, I felt free as I struck out on my own to start my own video production business. On the other hand, I felt like a high-wire tight rope walker who had just told his assistant to cut down and remove the safety net.
The problem with the choice to freelance full time is that no one from HR is at the door to greet you and escort you upstairs for orientation. There is no on-boarding. No SOPs (corporate speak for Standard Operating Procedures). No jaded, 25-year veteran who can take you aside and tell you what the company culture is really like. Nope. Just you, a home office, a computer, and a client list that falls well short of meeting payroll. And so, like the person who’s just been drop-kicked into the deep end for the very first time, I just had to figure it out.
And so I read books on entrepreneurship; on sales; on marketing. I listened to podcasts hosted by other freelancers. I went to seminars. I read blogs, saved articles; anything that could help me build the business I wanted. That’s when I came across The Little Red Book of Selling and author Jeffrey Gitomer’s “Get Four Points Today.” Here’s how it works:
You earn one point for making a new, promising contact.
You earn two points for scheduling a call or meeting with a potential client/customer.
You earn three points if you have a sales call/meeting.
You earn four points for making the sale.
It’s a personal scoring system to help you stay focused and goal-oriented every single day. And I needed that structure.
“But wait,” you ask, “aren’t you in video production? Why in the world would you spend all that time on learning about sales?”
Because I was trying to build something from scratch and my list of potential clients at the time was very, very short. I had to sow as many seeds as I could and hope that they would take root. That meant that not only was I the one actually producing each video, but I was also responsible for:
attending as many networking events as possible
talking to as many people as possible
passing out as many business cards as possible
following up everyone I met
taking calls and meetings with potential clients
writing my own marketing materials
speaking at lunch-and-learns
signing on as a vendor for shows/exhibits and maintaining a sales booth
volunteering at community events
And that’s just in an attempt to land new business. After that, I was the one to maintain client relations, work out each contract, budget each job, and produce each video to the client’s satisfaction.
I learned that the freelancer lifestyle requires a certain kind of attitude; a certain kind of discipline, characteristics engrained in me that still help me in my work today.
Structure
Using the four points system from The Little Red Book of Selling really helped me in those early days. It provided me with a daily blueprint, a tangible goal, and something to focus on. When you’re sitting in a home office by yourself, the temptation is to waste time in idle pursuits, doing things that may feel productive, but in the end don’t actually advance your business. If you’ve never worked as a freelancer you might think, “Hey that sounds great. Be your own boss. Set your own hours. No one to answer to…” when in reality you are answerable to that dwindling amount in your bank account. Working as a freelancer taught me how to organize my day; to stay on task and focus on tangible goals.
Sell
As a freelancer, you don’t have someone passing out assignments, telling you to get going. You just have to start. And you can’t be timid about it either. In my years as self-employed video producer I learned how to market myself and my work, talk to people, sell my services.
But my story doesn’t end with me telling you how I built a successful business with millions of dollars in sales per year. I’m not writing this to encourage you to buy my book or come to my seminar, because the truth is, for me, it was incredibly difficult to generate business. I didn’t succeed consistently. I didn’t grow into a multi-million dollar production company. And I do ask myself, “What I did I do wrong? Why didn’t it work out for me?”
Although my goal of running a successful video production company never materialized, the hustle and drive stayed with me. I learned how to present myself; how to pitch my ideas and vision; how to promote myself. How to get up and get going.
And by writing this post, that’s what I’m encouraging you to do.
Start.
