If you missed it go back and answer The Big Question in Even freelancers need a team – part 1.

If you’re on the fence about The Big Answer everyone else would like to give you some more time to think about leveraging a team to make your business stronger.

Here are 5 reasons to work with others:

Reason 1 – Hello, when was the last time you met a ”successful person” who didn’t have people on their team? Face it, the nice lady who comes every-other-week to vacuum your home is on your team because she does something you don’t like to do which needs to be done and it frees up more time for you to do what you LOVE!

Reason 2 – It is easy!  You get introduced to someone you think is pretty cool, you discover their skill (service), then think, “Ugh, I hate to do that!”  Voila! Teammate number 1.  You don’t have to go buy a desk and computer, run an ad, screen resumes, etc.  Call that cool person only when you need that specific skill on your team!

Reason 3 – You get to help other people!  I haven’t met a trainer, coach or speaker yet who didn’t do what they do because they love to help or touch people.  This is just another way to do that.

Reason 4 – You can build the perfect fit every time.  When you need a little help you call in a couple people.  When you are working on a whopper of a project and need all the resources you can find you can create a team specifically for that too.

Reason 5 – Regardless what you call yourself, folks like us are in the freelance industry.  There are little asides to that: virtual assistant industry, copy writing industry, graphics design industry, blah, blah, blah.  Bottom line is we are all one big happy industry.  By building a team you help your industry!

Now, go back and think about The Big Question again.

If you can’t stand it anymore and want to read it all NOW then by all means go get The Unlimited Freelancer!  Next time – ways to use a team!

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Sundi

I recently purchased The Unlimited Freelancer at Freelance Folder.  One of the authors touched a soft spot on my heart by saying he was getting married and needed money for his honeymoon – well, it was a great deal too!

I’ve read it three times now, find a new favorite tidbit each time.  Then I realized all my favorite stuff was coming out of section three – Building a Freelance Team!

We’re going to talk about team building Freelance Folder style, mainly, “how to outsource, partner and work with other people to create a scalable team.”  Granted, you aren’t going to get the entire section here.  Just my favorite pieces.  If you want the whole shebang you’ll have to click over to The Unlimited Freelancer and get yourself a copy – proceeds will probably go towards paying off wedding debt!

The Big Question

Do you run your business like this:

YOU receive a project from your client, YOU do all the work, YOU wrap it up and deliver it to your client.  [This is all you baby!]

Or do you run your business like this:

YOU receive work from your client, YOU design the content and concepts, outsource the pieces you don’t love like copy writing, design work, binding and shipping, YOU wrap it up and deliver it to your client.  [This is you minus half the time which you can spend an another project!]

The Big Answer

If you run your business like the first option wouldn’t you rather run it like the second option?  Just think how many more clients you could serve if you were present for only items you had to touch and only parts you love!

Obviously you wouldn’t want someone else accepting a project on your behalf and, if delivery is something you love, you want to provide the final product too.  But what about the stuff in the middle like copy writing, design, binding and shipping.

This is where building a team can help you be more productive and profitable!  Build a team of fellow freelancers who love to perfect your content, to make things beautiful and create the final product.  That way, you’re left to deliver it with energetic flash to your satisfied customer.

As a Virtual Assistant I consider myself a team member with many of my clients.  I’m in the process of building a team for my Virtual Assistant business too.  Think of this series as my positive self-talk (a smack down on my inner critic!) which you’ll learn something from too.

Next time…Why the heck should I do this?

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Sundi

The running monologue in our minds runs at a staggering rate of 500 words a minute!

Wow!  I actually said it out loud I was so surprised.  Think how long it took me to say it out loud compared to if I’d simply thought it!

I know I’m my own worst critic.  I’ve also been around long enough to realize my self-think gets me where I am, not where I actually want to be.  Isn’t it horrible to think we can do that to ourselves?  Just think of what a great source of income the Inner Critic is for coaches of all types!

I’m going to try some new self talk.  Call it my Half-Year Resolution.  Ok, we aren’t to the half-way mark yet.  How about the Self Improvement Goal for May?  Yes, you’re right.  I missed that by a few days, didn’t I?  Alright, it doesn’t have to have a name because I’m not going to wait on one.  The sooner I do this the better.

I’m going to start with the toughest one first…rejecting social ideals.  Saying no is a big one for me.

There are times my accommodating scores are off the chart and I know this.  For example, when I answer the phone during a time I’ve been deep into finishing a big project.  I get distracted by the ringing phone and answer it with the intention of wrapping up the call quickly so I can get back to where I’m centered.  The next thing I know I’ve said yes to just about anything the caller wanted and by the time I get off the phone I’m so distracted by what I’ve committed myself to I can’t get back to work anyway!

Here comes my Inner Critic beating me up about why I answered the phone, why I agreed to anything and, finally, why I can’t get back to work.  Wouldn’t it have been easier to reject the initial social ideal that I need to answer the phone simply because it was ringing?

The second thing I’m going to work on is balance.  Yeah, I know.  That word is probably the most over used one around!

Look at it this way though…If I focus on stopping the negative comments I’ll always be concentrating on the negative comments because I’m trying to stop them.  Isn’t a better way to achieve this actually by concentrating on positive comments and injecting them when my self talk expresses a negative one?  That way I’m following up the negative with a positive.

With this train of thought about half my 500 words a minute will be positive.  I’m half way to every word running through my head being positive.  Even if I never make it the other half way I’ve surely reached a healthier place than everything being negative!

That’s it.  Two small steps for me.  What two small steps can you take to help shut down (or up) your Inner Critic?

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Sundi

Do you use a workshop evaluation form?  This is specifically for all you trainers out there or speakers and coaches who occasionally wear a trainer’s hat.

Some clients want you to use a workshop evaluation form.  Sometime you have specific questions you need to ask to gain the exact feedback you are looking for regarding newly developed content or to accurately measure the happiness of a new client.

If none of these are the case then I have a great idea for you!

Let’s say you are doing a series over several months at a client site.  Or maybe you’ve used this same material over and over but customized it for your client’s industry (customized rather than out-of-the-box).  Either of these situations would be a perfect time to try a different tool.

A single sheet of paper labeled “The workshop would have been easier if…”

Hang it somewhere in your meeting area or put it on a table by itself away from everyone else.  Explain to your participants what the sheet is for…this will be different for all of you.  Some of you would be comfortable enough saying, “I’m using this today because I know everyone gets tired of filling out the same evaluation sheet.”  Others can just leave it open ended, “I put a partial sentence at the top of this sheet of paper and sometime today I’d like you to complete the sentence.”

Either way you introduce the tool you can make it anonymous or you can ask everyone to put their name if they are comfortable.  Try telling them they can do which ever way they are comfortable.  Also mention if the completion of the sentence needs follow up from you then they need to provide their extension, etc.

I think the results of this will be something totally different than what you receive from your standard workshop evaluation form.

Things like “The workshop would be easier if…”

…your examples of “Sensing/Thinking” individuals had been clearer.

…the meeting next door hadn’t been so loud.

…we had more breaks in the afternoon instead of the morning – I’m a morning person!

…the print on the “Keys to Conflict Resolution” handout hadn’t been so small.

…I’d gotten the materials in advance.

Clearly some things people add will be out of your control – not necessarily though if you are glancing at the sheet the entire day and can have the room temperature adjusted.  If it is a two-day workshop then maybe you can change around the breaks a little for the second day.  If you are using an off-site location rather than your client’s office you most definitely can make a trip to the front desk about the noise level!

The other items from the list can be adjusted the next time through the subject matter if you deem it necessary.

The point is…you only have one sheet to review rather than a bunch of evaluation forms!  Now, who wouldn’t love that for the plane ride home?

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Sundi

Who doesn’t want to deliver a talk to an audience hanging on their every word?

Chances are good the group has seen your bio.

Chances are good you created that bio because whoever is promoting you requested it. 

Just as important, there is a lot to be said for a great introduction, right?  This doesn’t have to be left to the luck of the draw!  It is a strong possibility you are a coach too so use your skills to get exactly what you want – listeners on the edge of their seats!

Do your best to have a conversation with the person who is responsible for introducing you.  If you can’t accomplish this because your schedules don’t mesh then have your assistant do it for you and get feedback on how the call went.  Here are the topics someone from your organization should cover peronally with your introducer…

The basics.  How to correctly pronounce your name is good information…unless your name is something like Joe Brown this could be critical!  Get the introducer to pronounce it back to you and then spell it for them.  If you are going to incorporate a title now would be the time to cover this too.

Avoid cliches.  The only event where “we are gathered here today/tonight” should be said is at a wedding.  Seriously.  And if someone needs no introduction then why is someone telling me this?

Be concise.  When simply stated your introduction needs to only contain why you are uniquely qualified to address the topics you’ll be covering!

Avoid lists.  If your introducer goes into a list of accomplishments the intro is too long – you’ve already started to loose some of your listeners!  Besides, most of this will be found in your bio previously supplied to them!

Don’t be embarassed.  The only thing worse than an intro that isn’t good is an intro that over-builds you.

Save the name.  Of course it only makes sense for this to be the last, most important information shared…wait for it…even more…Insert Your Name Here!  (And the crowd goes wild!)

If you need inspiration then check out YouTube for some great introductions!

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Sundi

Interactions with your favorite clients are easy – like calling a friend. Obviously I’m not talking about the subjects you cover but more about the comfort level you feel in picking up the phone and ringing the number. I’ve wondered if this comfort level leads to a better level of communication.

Or if the comfort level causes us to shut down some of our best client-interaction skills.

Or maybe the quality of communication is the same compared to conversations with all your other clients but the stress level is different.

Have you ever wondered if they get as much out of them as you think hope they do?  Instead of my usual “My Office Zilla Satisfaction Survey’ this year I’m going to try something different.  I’m going to ask about my communication skills.

I think this type of a survey would be very effective to conduct personally.  That might raise your blood pressure more than your confidence with allow!  If that is the case there are many efficient survey tools out there.  Most of them allow you to run simple surveys for F R E E.  Sending your survey out on the web can make it quick and increase the response rate from your clients.

5 Question Survey

These are my favorite questions from the ones I come up with so far.  They should get your creative juices flowing!

Do you generally understand me during our conversations?

Do I typically use your prefered method of communication?

If you could improve one thing about our communications what would it be?

Are you satisfied with the number of opportunities you have to provide me feedback?

Is there anything I could do to increase your comfort level while providing me feedback?

And you say what…

Have you done a survey about your communication skills with your customers?  Did you learn anything you could immediately implement in your client conversations?  What other questions would you add to your survey?

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Sundi

One of my favorite services to provide is cleaning up documents.  I have clients who love to paste text in from 15 different presentations or training materials to create a new document quickly.  This is great for my clients’ clients because it means they aren’t getting off the shelf training or coaching materials…content is custom designed to meet their specific needs.  What cracks me up is when my clients then wonder why the heck the formatting is all out of whack.  I won’t kid you or even pull your chain about this…I make a lot of money off of this service!

Since everyone already knows I love free stuff I’m going to give you a couple of tips on the house!

For Word

One of the best ways around this nightmare is to use the paste special function.  You’ll find it under the Edit menu.  As long as you are pasting into an area formatted the correct way, clicking on the option to paste unformatted text will carry on the correct formatting rather than the format attached to the original text.

For Power Point

Everyone likes options right?  In PP you have two!

With two presentations open and you want some slides from one presentation inserted into a second presentation just copy the highlighted slides you want in the slide viewer, switch to the second presentation and paste…you can drag and drop to the correct order once they are all pasted.  When inserted this way the newly added slides mimic the formatting for the second presentation.

If you just want to paste in text it really doesn’t matter where it originates from!  As long as you start with a text box that is formatted correctly your new text will match your existing text.

How about a bonus branding tip?

For about the same amount as one redesign and proofread I can create a template for you to use all the time!  One just for you – your business – a specific client – your family – each different line of business like coaching or training - whatever.  It can be created in any of the programs from MS Office.  That way, when you copy and paste, you can paste into the format you truly want rather than paying me to fix it later!  Besides, who doesn’t need more branding?  Plus, if you are very dedicated to using your templates the documents you have will already be in a desirable format!

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Sundi

Remember when all the Microsoft Office windows were umpteen million shades of gray and plain old white?  It used to drive me crazy.  I would change my font type color just to put something attractive on the screen even if I didn’t keep the document that way in the end.

What is it they say?  “Things have come a long way baby!”?

If you like things a little hotter when it comes to your materials there are plenty of ways you can do that without adding cost.

Color is my all time favorite!

Here are a couple of tools to help you set a pallete or determine the exact colors of a client logo. 

The web-based Color Palette Generator allows you to deposit a url in the slot and voila!  Instant color sensation.  If you aren’t into the cute default pallete try Saturn or an ultra-modern deco drawing in the url box.  The generator will provide you with multiple colors in the bold or muted sides of the photo’s pallete.

Maybe a specific color is more of what you had in mind.  Instant Eyedropper is a freeware tool which will tell you the exact color you are looking for in many different color formats to use on the web or in documents.  This tool is the handiest for getting your documents to match client color schemes exactly.

Text and nothin’ but text…

Makes your participants very bored!  If your text is long and daunting then break it up.  My journalism professor used to say, “What space sells.”  I’m not sure how true that is these days but it sure is easier on the eyes.

If you don’t have an enless supply of clipart, and most of us don’t, then create some of your own.  Not everything found in your materials needs to be ubber serious.  One of my favorite photo modification websites is the Warholizer.  This thing is fun on top of fun as each click gives you a brand new random creation based on the file you upload.

What Andy missed in effects variety he made up for in color.  If the colors there weren’t enough for you then give the effects at Dumpr a try.  They offer a variety of effects for free and some at a premium.  (Psst!  The coolest ones are free!)

White binder, anyone?

Use some of the above tools to make your binders stand out too.  If your white binder looks like everyone else’s white binder your participants will have a hard time using it as a reference.  Create a custom cover and bridge using the tools mentioned above to really make your binder pop.

If all the cheap and free stuff is more than you can handle then try these sweet things!  (You know how sometimes after a product is introduced you realize you should have produced it yourself a long time ago because you could have used them a bunch before they really hit the market?  That is what happened with me and these babies!)  They are called Ready Index Double-Column Table of Contents Dividers by Avery.  They provide a double set of 8 tabs for a whopping 16 tabs total.  Get you some at the nearest office supply super store!

Bonus!

If you want to jazz up your computer then try these items of freeware at Stardock for color and variety!

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Sundi