If You Are a Freelancer, Strive to Become A Business Partner Instead of A Gig Worker
“Why do you want to know about our sales and marketing strategies? Will it help you in any way?”
“Yes, this information will allow me to know what questions might your customers have.”
“But, how will it help you while writing? We are giving you topics to write, isn’t it enough?”
“This project is just not another gig for me. I want to add value by becoming a business partner to you and help your organisation scale up exponentially.”
He was impressed and scheduled a conference call with his sales and marketing guy, where all of us discussed various strategies and current approach. Within 2 months, we could see significant improvement in brand awareness and lead generation.
Do you know why did it all happen?
Because instead of taking up it as a gig which required me to write articles on pre-decided topics, I took it as a full-fledged project.
I conducted the competitor research, analysed on-going and future trends into the industry and also focused on solving customers’ problems through effective positioning of products and services.
Freelancing is often misinterpreted with gig-working. In reality, doing a gig is different from working as a full-time freelancer.
When you are doing a gig, you focus on fulfilling the deliverables within due time so the client can approve the project and pay you for your work. Once your payment is received, you move on to some other client, probably looking for another gig that pays more than the previous assignment.
However, while doing freelancing, you act as a solopreneur looking to grow and sustain the business. Hence, instead of focusing solely on payment, you strive to build relationships with your clients.
What’s the core for building a long-term relationship?
Trust and loyalty, right?
You start adding value to your client’s business. You make some additional efforts to know their business, their process of approaching customers and the pain points they might be facing.
Then, you carefully build a strategy around their expectations which will fetch them the desired results. At each step, while strategising and executing the strategy, you keep the end goals in mind.
This whole framework gives a sense of trust to your clients which becomes a base for the professional relationship.
If you analyse both of them closely, you’ll find a sense of added responsibility in freelancing since you connect everything to a long-term goal or objective.
Next time, when a client approaches you or vice versa, how will you position yourself — as a business partner or a gig-worker? Yours is the choice to decide.
