AnywhereMan

My wife Sarah has been doing some part-time photography for the past few years. She does it more as a hobby just because she really loves taking pictures, but it’s nice that she can actually generate some income for her time as well.

We had a conversation this past weekend about how she feels like more and more folks in our area are getting into photography and offering their services for hire as well. With so many options, why would anyone hire her for a session?

I thought about that a little bit and even compared it to my freelance web business. Why would someone enlist my services when there are so many other folks doing what I do?

I think it comes down to differentiation. There are little things about working with me, or having my wife take your pictures, that are unique. We all do things in our own way and the method to our madness is what sets us apart in a couple of ways.

Differentiation From The Amateurs

We’ve all probably run into this one, and I think Sarah sees it too when people find out what her rates are and convince themselves that they can do just as good of a job on their own, for free. This attitude used to drive me nuts but honestly if you are dealing with potential clients that have the cheap DIY attitude, you’re best to let them do their thing without you. Chances are if you did work with them you’d regret it.

Here’s the thing: It’s true that technology is amazing. Anyone has the potential to create amazing websites, photos, articles, or apps. But there’s still a learning curve. The last time I checked, our camera didn’t tell me what direction to face, the angle to hold the camera, how to position the subject, and how to get everyone to smile at the same time.

It still takes practice. And because you practice your craft on a regular basis, you have differentiated yourself from the amateurs.

Differentiation From Your Peers

Notice I didn’t use the word “competitors.”  We’re all freelancers, and we’re in this boat together. And this isn’t a little tiny life raft; It’s a cruise ship. And it’s a cruise ship that is headed out to sea to rescue survivors from the Titanic of corporate America.

I think people love working with the little guy and are fed up with the bureaucracy of large firms. That’s the advantage that we have. I really do think there’s enough business for most of us. A lot of times we can even collaborate. I emphasized this to Sarah as we were talking about her photography.

However, you still need to define the specific reason someone might choose you over one of your peers. The more and more we do what we do, little things start showing up that define the way we approach our craft.

As an example, Sarah is phenomenal at photographing kids. She captures moments in a photojournalistic, real-life manner that a big studio probably wouldn’t be able to easily do. She also has a specific style and user-experience unique to her approach. And I think that’s why people hire her.

Practice Makes Art

Knowing and developing your style is what’s going to differentiate you. Not only that, but it’s going to help you identify the type of client that fits your style, thus helping you market yourself more accurately as well. The more you are out there practicing your craft, the more you’ll be able to build an experience and product that has your fingerprints all over it.

Once people know what makes your brand unique and expect it, you won’t have to worry about amateurs or peers.

No, I’m not turning my blog into Twitter (“What are you doing?” or “What’s on your mind?”), but I wanted to create a post where all of you can introduce yourselves.

What is your career? What do you do? What do you want to do in the future? What is your website URL? Or your blog?

Are you a freelancer? Do you telecommute and work for an employer? Are you unemployed? Do you work in an office?

What are your hobbies? Where do you live? What are you super excited about right now? What are you passionate about?

Why do you read AnywhereMan? What suggestions do you have to make this community better?

Really, this post is open to all of you. Tell us about YOU, as much or as little as you want. Maybe it’ll lead to a new networking opportunity for you. I’ve got the multi-threaded Disqus comments enabled, so feel free to interact with one another.

Just tell us what you’re doing…

As a freelancer, you are the boss, laborer, marketing department, bill collector, bill payer, and more. When things are slow, you go into marketing mode. When things are busy, you’re often dealing with double the prospects while juggling double the workload. It can be tricky to get things into that perfect “pocket” of a balanced workload.

For me, the more leads I get on new business, the more time I’m spending on estimates and business requirements. As a result of that, the less time I have available for the projects in-process. Is it smarter to keep the prospects waiting, the existing clients waiting, or the wife and kids waiting?

I want to know what you do to balance your time between new projects and projects in the queue when things are insanely busy, and I want to know how you spend your time when things are slow.

One of the things I dislike about the use of blocks of time when scheduling is the tendency to use that entire block of time. When a speaker has an hour for a presentation, they’re going to use that full hour. When a pastor has 45 minutes, they’re going to use that 45 minutes. When we schedule a half-hour for a meeting, we tend to use that half-hour.

Don’t be afraid to keep things as short as possible!

Can what you said in that 30,45,or 60 minutes be shortened down to just 20 minutes of the good stuff? People will love you for the good stuff, and everything else might just be getting in the way.

The eternal “underdog” Minnesota Twins have made the playoffs five of the past eight years, recently signed arguably the best hitter in baseball (Joe Mauer) to a long-term deal, and just played their first regular season game in their brand new ballpark, Target Field. I’ve been a Twins fan all my life and looking back at their history, specifically the past 10-15 years, a person can learn a lot about what it takes to succeed.

1) Success doesn’t happen overnight

Obviously. Most of us realize this.

While the Twins achieved something that may appear to be success by going from worst-to-first in terms of being horrendous one year and winning the World Series the next (1987 & 1991), their overall success as an organization and business was just not there. After a few slumping years following the ’91 Championship season, talks of contracting the team began heating up. It didn’t help that they played in a bubble (the Metrodome in Minneapolis).

It’s only been through a commitment to build their team from within, spend within their means, and exercise patience in the face of criticism that the Twins organization has now become a success and powerful brand.

2) Flirting with failure makes success that much sweeter

The very-real possibility of contracting the Twins organization at the turn of the century is what makes their story so great. While the outlook on the business side wasn’t good, the team continued to focus on trying to win…on a budget.  They opted to develop solid everyday players through their own minor league system instead of spending big money on established stars, and it started to pay off. They started to win. They started to make the playoffs.

They continued to win. People started attending more games. They started building a reputation as a team that played baseball “the right way.” And in the long run, they were able to establish their business so much that the public voted to help them build a brand new, outdoor ballpark which will allow them to be even more successful and profitable.

I can only imagine how good it must feel to go from folding altogether to becoming what people are calling the “model team” in baseball.

3) Trust your instincts

In 2001, coming off an awful 69-win season, the Twins had the first overall pick in the major league draft. With that pick, they chose local high-school hero Joe Mauer and sent him straight into their minor league system to develop. The Twins had an excellent track record of developing talent, and developing Mauer would be no different.

Meanwhile, the Chicago Cubs had the second pick and chose Mark Prior who rapidly established himself as a dominant starting pitcher. Critics constantly harped on the Twins for choosing Mauer instead of “overnight” star Prior.

Fast forward nine year to the present day, and Mauer is coming off of his first AL MVP season, won his third batting title, and has two Gold Gloves to his name.

Mark Prior? He’s battled injuries throughout his career and has never had a season as good as his rookie year. His most recent contract was a minor league deal and I’m not sure if he’s even playing or not right now.

The Twins trusted their instincts and refused to listen to critics, and it paid off big-time.

4) Luck happens to those who work hard

When the Twins eventually started posting consistent winning seasons in the 2000′s, it wasn’t due to power hitting or a dominant pitching staff. It was due to playing small ball. Picking up hits here and there, moving runners into scoring position with bunts and bloops, or simply taking runs away from the other team with incredible defensive players like Torii Hunter.

And sometimes, they just got plain lucky. However, I’ve noticed that often people that experience the most luck and the people that consistently work hard and do the little things that make a difference.

5) You can use your status as the “little guy” as an advantage

This is directly related to your status as a freelancer: Being the “little guy” is not a bad thing – it’s an advantage.

While other teams spend millions more to build their teams for the short-run, the Twins have spent less and gotten much much more over the long-run with the players they’ve developed. Even with the huge long-term contract awarded to Mauer last month, the Twins still aren’t spending like Boston, New York, or LA.

And that’s why they are popular. People LOVE cheering for a team that has been built, developed, and continually has an underdog feel to them, even if they have a very strong roster.

Likewise, I think people love entrepreneurial spirit, and I think people love working with a freelancer who has developed their skills and turned down full-time positions with established companies. I think it’s the go-getter attitude of freelancing and lack of a corporate safety net that gives us an advantage.

Go Twins!

Sometimes living the Anywhere Lifestyle means that you can live somewhere exotic like a tropical island or beachfront condo. Sometimes it means you can live your life as a digital nomad, constantly moving from place to place and taking your career with you. Sometimes it means you can live in a cabin right next to your favorite lake.

For me, it means I can live in a smaller community, work from home, spend lots of time with my family, have access to awesome outdoor recreation, and run into friends at the grocery store. It doesn’t have to seem exciting. Simply being able to exist in a place where you want is a great thing in itself.

Where do YOU want to be? Are you there now? Where do you see the Anywhere Lifestyle taking you in the next few years?

Today, MBOPartners asked the following question to freelancers and consultants like you and me: “Why do you love working for yourself?”

My answer: improvisation. I love making it up as I go. I love doing things a little bit differently each time. That doesn’t mean I don’t have a vision for things, but I love making adjustments on the fly.

Why do YOU love working for yourself?

Things have gotten really busy for me with the release of my WordPress customization service, TweakMyTheme.com, a few months back. Today I discuss why it’s helped my business.

Here are links to a few things I mention in this video:

• How I Started a Business on a Saturday Part 1
• How I Started a Business on a Saturday Part 2
• Give Each of Your Products or Services a Website

By building a website and community around each of your products/services, you’ll have a chance to really highlight the great things that you are doing. Pick one thing and try it!

Last August when I attended BizConf down in Jacksonville, I had the pleasure of meeting fellow attendee Brock Picken. There are two things you need about Brock. First, he’s one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet. Second, he’s in phenomenal shape and knows a ton about fitness and nutrition. He even spent a few years doing competitive bodybuilding.

When I met Brock, he told me about a site that was in the works where he and his fiance would share health tips, both in blog and video form. Well just yesterday, Brock and Marta successfully launched their new site, FitForTwo.TV.  It is SO cool to see a creative concept blossom into the final product. It’s a GREAT site!

Last fall I had emailed Brock for some workout tips. What he sent me was so fitting for what I do: The Anywhere Workout. It involves no equipment and obviously you can do this workout anywhere. I really got a kick out of that and made the agreement with Brock that I’d wait to mention it on my site until his was live.

Here are the six pieces of the workout as mentioned by Brock and Marta on their site:

Remember this Acronym:

Some Lucky People Deserve Brock & Marta

Perform the following as a continuous circuit, repeating 3-4 times for a 30 minute intense workout. Do 1 minutefor each station, or to failure, whichever comes first. Try to rest very little between each exercise. The less you rest, the harder it is and the more calories you burn!

S – Squats

L – Lunges

P – Plank/Push-ups

D – Dips

B – Burpees

M – Move! – do anything you can to get your heart rate up! Skipping, running on the spot, jumping jacks, etc. are all good at jacking up your heart rate.

They also put together a video outlining this workout, so be sure to check that out as well.  I need to do this one more myself. Summer is coming, and I need to get in shape for some good canoeing!

Congrats, Brock and Marta, on the launch of the new site!