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

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

Finding Out How Similar We All Really Are

Story by Rossyyume Flickr CC BY NC ND I love stories. Especially people's stories. The stories they've created. The stories that created them. Stories were a big part of why I majored in Journalism. It was an excuse to listen to people tell their stories. As a 19-year-old soon-to-be Journalism student, my goal was to live in a tiny apartment with five cats and interview interesting people all day. And while it's probably best for everyone -- including the cats -- that the career muses didn't send me down that path, I am still drawn to the experiences of others and how they share those memories and ideas. It's fascinating to me that we now have so many ways to tell stories -- ours and others. So many ways to document our lives, the lives of the people we know and the people we pretend to be. With each story comes a chance to put ourselves in someone else's shoes. In doing so, we get a little more understanding of how similar we all are. Here are a few ...
Post a Comment
Read more

This week's thank you: The person who makes time

Time by Stefanos Papachristou on Flickr CC BY NC I used to work at a bank where birthday and work anniversary notes from executives were part of the company culture. Even with about 350 people on staff, the executives made a point to know everyone who worked there. During my seven years at the company, I did informational interviews like mad. At least once a month, I picked up the tab for lunch to learn from someone I admired. Pretty much every executive at that organization made time for me at least once. I'm sure they weren't in it for the free lunch. These informational interviews provided me insight into everything from identifying skill sets to working to get myself into the right place at the right time. I've done a few interviews periodically since leaving that company with other people but short of an occasional LinkedIn update, I had lost touch with those executives. During the holiday rush, I ran into one of them at Target. That casual "hello" i...
Post a Comment
Read more