Stop Looking For Freelance Work, Start Helping People

More than likely you have seen this occur at least once in your life: someone is attracted to another person, they proceed to tell the other person all about themselves, and an immediate rejection is given. “Wait what!? The person I’m attracted to isn’t interested in me?,” they think. This scenario is in many ways similar to stating “I’m looking for work.”

If you’re reading this, you’re trying to improve yourself and your communication skills. That’s to be commended. Keep this in mind as you continue reading because it’s meant to help you understand what the other person is thinking, not demoralize you if you’ve done this yourself. A good communicator is a dedicated listener and trying to use their words and actions to help the other person understand intent.

Emotional Effect

First off, let’s view the phrase “I’m looking for work” in a raw emotional form: it’s disgusting and smells of desperation. Understandably, that may not be the intent, especially if English is a second language. However, that’s what a native English speaker feels when hearing or reading this. They think, “why does no one else want to work with this person? What’s wrong with them? Way to only care for yourself.”

Let’s break this down more especially for those who don’t speak English as a primary language but need it to transact business.

• I - subject of the sentence and center of importance

• Am - current state of being

• Looking - present activity

• For Work - what the subject of the sentence desires

What the other person is hearing is that the freelancer only cares about themselves and describing what they want to get, nothing about what they have to offer. The opportunity has already been lost to describe what will be given of value to that other person. They will have immediately rejected the freelancer that used this phrase.

A Linguistic Curse

As it is for all speech, we are communicating our thoughts. We are sometimes validating and reinforcing those thoughts as we speak. “I am looking for work” is a curse. It implies a permanent state of unfulfilled desire. So besides being off putting to another person, it’s also reinforcing the idea that the freelancer isn’t currently finding work!

Someone can argue reasonably well that you may use a similar phrase at a market or a convenience store. “I’m looking for a bottle of water.” Why isn't it bad in that context? The author would suggest that the person is in proximity of the object of desire and it is very specific for starters. The dynamics of word choices are more nuanced beyond that. There really is no hard rule how a word or phrase may be interpreted. A shopkeeper will have an easier time to meet the demand of a bottle of water than offering an unsolicited job.

The Better And More Satisfying Method

Help others.

Of course that seems overly simplistic, and it is in some sense. We’ll look at ways to be more practical about helping others where there is an exchange of payment, but it’s really important to have the shift in mindset. If you are helping others, then you are no longer the center of importance. Even if this was the freelancer’s intent when saying “I’m looking for work” that’s not what was being communicated.

So how do we help people in the practical sense?

Help The People That Need Your Help

Be selective by finding a niche of people to help. You have skills and experiences that some (not all) people will find valuable. You need to figure out exactly what they are looking for. Put yourself in places that people visit who need your skills and talent.

Make Your Profile Stand Out

All of your public profiles should stand out to people in your targeted niche. It should speak to them in a way that only a person that truly understands them would know. You can get your first freelancing client by speaking to all the issues you know they have and you can solve.

Write Specialized And Effective Proposals

When you communicate with a potential client, you must write a highly effective proposal that communicates that you can solve their specific problem. This lets them know that you want to help them, and the best part is you don’t have to think of anything to talk about yourself. Don’t say anything about yourself, they don’t care. They have a problem that you can solve, and they’ll know who you are by the way you tell them how to solve the problem at a high level.

Engage People On Social Media

On just about every freelancing related post, there will always be at least one person that blurts out that they are an expert in XYZ and looking for work. Don’t be that person! You’ve taken the time to read this article and understand how it makes the other person feel and perceive you.

Instead, celebrate people’s accomplishments, give compliments, share experiences, and ask interesting questions as it relates to fellow freelancers. People who give kindness will receive kindness as long as the intention is pure. People can sense when someone is being kind only to get something in return. Start networking with fellow freelancers early because client sharing is likely to happen within the first year of freelancing.

In similar fashion, you can post helpful tips for those you know you can help or engage with people. Gather insights, get to know the market better. Use the information to make your profile and proposals even better for people who need your services right now.

Engage with people rather than broadcasting a self-serving message. That’s the key takeaway. Build relationships.

Be The Dream Freelancer

We hear about dream clients and dream jobs all the time. If we take the time to work on our mindset, find the people we want to help, and communicate with them in the proper ways - we can be their dream freelancer. Think back on the example in the first paragraph: a person attracted to another trying to gain their interest. If the information is taking hold, you will now or eventually see that good relationships work in the opposite way. We have to be genuinely interested in the other person and be the right fit for them to take interest. It can’t be forced, and it is most certainly not worth the effort or consequences of trying to force it.