Skip to main content

Freelancer Course: Develop a unique voice



This is the seventh post in response to question prompts in Seth Godin's Freelancer Course, found on Udemy. Please feel free to include your answers to these questions in the comment section.

 If you could choose an archetype, what would you want your brand or work to be known for?
On the prompt, there were a number of adjectives as possible suggestions. Everything from edgy to safe, knowledgeable to innovative. Each had their pros and cons. If you are known for being adaptable, is that synonymous with a dilution of your talent based on what the client asks for? If you are known for being dependable, do you then forego being spontaneous? Does your voice, your brand, have to be singular in its purpose? Can it be known for being daringly patient or glamorously intelligent? 

 For the sake of completing the exercise, I would want to be known for being observant. Not only observant of the people I work with, noticing when they are engaged or when I'm putting them to sleep, but also observant in the market and recognizing ideas and trends that are getting attention. With that archetype, two other descriptors seemed necessary. In order to recognize the ideas that have merit, I have to be knowledgeable. In order to be knowledgeable, I need to be connected. Connected to the sources writing about and sharing the questions that lead to the ideas.

 Observant. Knowledgeable. Connected.

 List five ways you could express these attributes.
1. Share relevant articles and ideas. 
2. Add comments to the articles, tweets and posts that I find interesting.
3. Facilitate discussions. Get people talking about the ideas they are working through and create a conversation. This can happen at conferences, on social media or through Google Hangouts/Skype.
4. Find people doing interesting things and ask them questions. What are they trying to do? How did they come across this new idea? How do they think it will make them better?
5. Write more. Write about ideas. Share other's stories. Get people thinking. Through blog posts (personal and professional) and tweets. Maybe even a white paper if the topic had enough meat to it.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

It's All About Style

I'm a terrible sister. The fact that I haven't talked to my sister in months in no way means I don't care about her, her life or my nephew's latest Evel Knievel stunt. I blame a lot of things for my lack of talk-talk with my sister -- crazy schedules, current addiction to social networking sites, Harry Potter. But I think the real reason is much more psychological (aren't all the good reasons psychological?). Communication style. I'm a writer. She's a talker. I pick up a pen and paper or a keyboard. She picks up the phone. I think to talk. She talks to think. We are opposite communicators and therefore we have trouble connecting. This happens in all facets of life. Your boss. Your coworker. Your friends. Your lover. People communicate differently and unless you can give them information in the medium they digest it best, they probably will only get half the story. But if you can pick up on and cater to those communication styles, you are much more likely to ...
2 comments
Read more

This week's Thank You: The door closer

I have a reminder that goes off each Monday at 8:30am. The reminder says "Write a Thank You Note". I work in a large building, housing several hundred employees during our peak rush season. A large portion of the building is our warehouse, with conveyor belts whirring and totes strolling their merry way to the shipping stations. Within this large building, I work in an open configuration of desks and cubes in a fairly quiet area. Fairly quiet, that is, when the door to the room is closed. That door maintains the balance between concentration-enhancing white noise and a cacophony of heavy steps on concrete, snippets of conversation and the buzz of machinery. Maybe because my desk is closest to that door, or perhaps because I have the concentration of a gnat while I'm procrastinating, but my productivity drops to sloth-like levels when the door is left open by unaware (or less distraction-prone) co-workers. Many times have I looked at the door left ajar, will...
1 comment
Read more

Unchosen: The Graduation Invite

Sometimes I'm really bad at predicting which design a customer is going to choose. And that leaves me with some of my favorite designs unclaimed. I'm going to start highlighting some unclaimed designs here in the blog, as well as some of my favorite designs that were chosen. I'm pretty proud of my concoctions, and I want to show them off! I've been doing a lot of invitations lately, and they are a lot of fun. I'm sticking to the small, intimate parties (no Bridezillas here, please) like bachelorette and graduation parties. My customers have great ideas for themed parties and you just can't find invitations at Target for the "She Got Knocked Up" baby shower. Okay, I haven't done that one yet, but I bet it would be a blast! This unchosen design came from a recent graduation party invitation. The soon-to-be alma mater's colors were green and gold, and the graduate is a big fan of pink. That's where the color scheme came from. Because it was a ...
Post a Comment
Read more