Boldly go!

We are faced with a whole new frontier where we can “seek” a whole new life.

I like that word “boldly”. For too long, we have been taught to work hard for someone else. That’s how business used to work. You got a degree, you got a job, and then you hoped and prayed that your employer wouldn’t fire you. You meekly submitted to more hours and more work for less pay and fewer benefits. So they fired you anyway!

Polish your resume and jump back into the same old fray? Go back to school to get another degree and get on the merry-go-round again? Do you simply create another “job” for yourself by “freelancing” – doing the same tasks for a little more money? Do not mix my science fiction references, but “you must unlearn what you have learned”. Let me make a suggestion:

Boldly go where you have not gone before.

For more than a decade, we’ve supported communications experts and creative services professionals by helping them build their own businesses. But what does that mean? Really mean in this new economy? Freelancers have been around for centuries. Did you know that the term actually comes from the Crusades? Knights would rent their services (their skills with a “spear”) to the highest bidder. Since they did not belong to one side of the other, they became known as “free spears”. I don’t think their retirement plan was too good either.

Invest in a new mindset.

We spend a lot of time and money educating ourselves, creating our promotional materials, and networking. Did you know that more than 90% of your success comes from inside your head? His knowledge and experience is just the tip of the iceberg. I want to challenge you to make March, the month of the rescued guinea pig, the month in which you expand your mindset beyond being an independent worker and become an innovative entrepreneur for the new economic frontier. Here are some ideas and resources to help you do just that:

Expand your revenue streams into new revenue quadrants:

In the IASECP Academy Business Basics course, we delve into the income quadrants as a way to stabilize your income no matter what the economy is doing.

• Become the expert of an expert. Develop a set of tools, checklist, templates, or system that your colleagues can use to optimize the way they serve customers.
• Create a case study extract file. Dig into your past projects and write up some “lessons learned” snapshots with examples from your own experience. What a gold mine for others just starting out!
• Create must-have packages. Customers don’t really know what they need. Create clear packages that give them options, at different prices, that you can produce quite easily. For example, a simple logo/branding project can be turned into a business stationery package with business cards, letterhead, web banner, and other pieces of identification just as easily as making a single logo. Or a business marketing strategy plan can become a mixed media strategy, a public relations campaign. Now think of some.
• Team up to provide a complete package. We’ve been singing the praises of collaborating for over a decade. Now expand the idea beyond simply providing services. How about joining forces with experts in adjacent industries to provide trainings, workshops, seminars, retreats?
• Turn it into a product. Whatever you do once, consider recording it, either on paper in workbooks or audibly/visually for downloadable products or CD/DVD projects (for a higher price) that you can sell from your website.
• Create a course or series of courses. Remember that you can teach clients (who can’t afford your personal services) and you can train others in your own industry who are looking to you for leadership.
• Get others to market and help sell your products and courses. Create your own affiliate programs. Invite partners and peers to earn a small percentage of each transaction to send buyers your way.
• Be an affiliate for others. If there’s a product, service, or expert you believe in, see if they have an affiliate program and recommend them from your site. Be honest and authentic and don’t turn your site into a sales page, but instead share resources and make a small profit.
• Be a leader. You are an expert in something. Maybe it’s just understanding what your customers really want, whatever that is. Share that idea with your tribe. Don’t you have a tribe? Connect. Connect to your community. (hint: IASECP is a great place to start).
• Be a connector. As you connect with your community, take note of the experience of others in your tribe. Knowing who to send people to is a very valuable service. It makes you the person to turn to, even when it’s not your cup of tea.

Some good examples to learn:
Going boldly doesn’t mean you have to go it alone – following early adopters can make it so much easier and really fun. Here are some that I follow:

• Emma McCreary | Tao of prosperity: That’s how it is. Our own Emma. Talk about mindset expansion! Emma’s blog is excellent for her mind to understand another way of thinking about money and the energy with which she comes to her business.
• Pat Flynn | Smart Passive Income: I love this guy’s blog! He was laid off a little over a year ago and decided to simply experiment with “passive income” strategies and Internet business models. His blog not only chronicles what he has learned, but also shares his actual earnings report every month, detailing what he did and what the results were. (Hint: he’s averaging $10K per month in just over ONE year!)
• Ed Gandia | The rich freelancer: Ed is a writer and editor who writes about his experiences as he went from being a “freelancer” to a media mogul and business savvy. (Plus, he also went from PC goofball to Mac evangelist almost overnight, so he’s got to be on the right track!)
• Chris Guillebeau | The art of nonconformity: Chris has to be cool, he’s from Portland. His blog chronicles his writing on how to change the world by achieving significant personal goals while helping others at the same time. He is leading the battle against conventional beliefs, focusing on three areas: life, work and travel.

Remember that the action that follows “Boldly Go” is “To Seek Out”.

So start looking. Focus and filter, but search.