Running a Freelance Business

Find Your Professional Edge Continued...

Bring all the same virtues you would to friendship, but don't expect your client to reciprocate until the benefits you provide are realized and trust is established. Trust is built over time, so if you have a prospect who hasn't approached you with a job, take him out to lunch. People want to know they share a similar set of values before they will trust you with their work.

Remember that your client has an active interest in his project~ Understand that providing timely information is imperative when a decision needs to be made that affects price or delivery of the finished job. Resist the urge to give the go-ahead without your client's approval, no matter how much pressure you are under.

You may only work with the owner, but everyone in the office plays a part in building a business. You never know who will be responsible for projects in the future. Keep in mind that employees share opinions and experiences; make sure all their experiences with you are positive.

Find your local chapter of the Art Directors' Club, the Production Managers' Association, or a local group of professional photographers. Listen and learn. Make friends with your peers and share your experience, even if it's limited. Nobody will understand your problems better than someone in the same business. Most accomplished professionals are eager to help people just starting out and carry a wealth of experience they won't mind sharing.

Your client will be able to see your skill by the specific work samples in your portfolio. Paying unnecessary lip service to your range of talent is overkill. Before you know it, like Narcissus, you'll drown in a pool of your own making. Express all your self-adulation in front of the mirror, where it will boost self-confidence you might lose later while making cold calls.