20-04-2022, 13:34, Arnhem
New chapters. I always think of them as a bit cliché - personally I’ve only thought about life in ‘chapters’ when I was miserable. However, if I - despite my opinions of the metaphor - think of my life up until now as a series of chapters, this month has been the start of a new book.
Starting as a freelancer has brought a lot of interesting opportunities and issues, foreseen and unforeseen. People that know me know that I’m a bit of a perfectionist; starting my freelance business has been no exception. Setting up terms and conditions, business accounts, accounting software; cleaning up my portfolio, learning how to network, conveying my message to the outside world (figuring out what that message is, even!). It’s been a lot.
I’ve always been very value driven. Starting as a freelancer has given me the opportunity to transfer my values and opinions into selling points; more so than when looking for opportunities as an employee. It’s been a lot of fun trying to figure out who shares my values and beliefs, and figuring out where we can find value in collaboration.
I’m writing this blog entry - in part - as a ‘practice run’ for my LinkedIn announcement that I’ve started as a freelancer. I hope to cement my name (or my brand, for that matter) with my values. To decide those values - and turn them into effective, sexy, copy - I’ve been writing them down, scrapping, rewriting, scrapping again and occasionally throwing the whole piece of paper out, to start over. I think I have them figured out now.
"Sustainable, meticulous collaboration that adds real value for the participants and their communities."
Unfortunately, however, I’m not a copywriter. And while I’m not morally opposed to (commercially) promoting something I genuinely believe in, I don’t think I possess the skillset required to do so effectively - yet. Having figured out accounting, billing and terms & conditions in the past 2 weeks, I will now focus on how to convey my message. I will return once I have.
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