The Freelance Chronicles #10
I’ve hit double digits! I’ve officially been in the freelance world for 10 months now!
Over the last month I started to worry. Not so much about work, but more about the pile of business cards I had printed at the beginning of the year that I haven’t been able to hand out. Thanks to COVID and event restrictions cancelling many networking events I may have pushed myself to attend I haven’t been able to get out and about meeting people as much as I would have liked.
Well, worrying wasn’t necessary. Over the last month I’ve been able to connect with a whole bunch of great people without having to attend awkward networking events. And no business cards had to pass hands. The relationships I’ve built have been exciting, promising, and very aligned to my values. It’s been a wonderful month of connection.
It’s made me reflect on how important being able to connect with people online is. For one of my own brands, Hatchling, I started to experiment with video content of myself talking about my products, and the feedback I received was overwhelming. Many people told me they thought I came across very natural (even though my heart was racing and I was terrified, but no one needs to know that). I’m learning that if you can master the art of actually just being yourself when you’re talking to people via Zoom or online, then you can get just as much out of a virtual meeting as you can meeting in person.
I’ve always been a huge advocate of the digital world, but even I wasn’t expecting that an online meeting would be quite as good as meeting in person. It also comes with the benefit of not extensively interrupting someone’s day. They can join for a 30-minute meeting and get straight back to their day afterwards, instead of having to jump in their car and drive back to work, adding an extra half an hour to a meeting. Productivity and relationship building takes a lot less time now.
I look forward to meeting existing and future luu friends virtually and in person over the next few months. If you’d like to talk about how I can help you with your content needs, please do get in touch: lara@luu.co.nz