The Five Most Common Mistakes of Female Freelancers
By DJ on Jun 16, 2008 in Business Tips/Advice, Interesting Stuff
The Five Most Common Mistakes of Female Freelancers - FreelanceSwitch - The Freelance Blog
One point made by the post author is below:
What is it about self-promotion that freaks out so many of my female colleagues? You are your business, and you’ve got to market yourself just like any business would market its flagship product. Hand out business cards, attend networking events, create a personal website yourself or hire someone to do it for you.
My take on this first point is that women very often do not want to be labeled “pushy bitches” by promoting themselves. It is a tag that still permeates the universe. Women feel anger and are insulted by the “b” word, and go into survival mode when hit with it, or even the chance of being hit with it. Survival mode is sometimes inaction mode. I really wish the “b” word would disappear from people’s vernacular as has the “n” word. Or that it would be socially, ethically and morally unacceptable to use the “b” word. It isn’t though.
So, what do you think the reason is that many women freelancers/small businesses/home businesses do not actively promote their businesses and skills? We’ll take this little dissertation one point at a time.
So?
Posts
Shelly | Jun 17, 2008 | Reply
I can’t answer for ALL women, but I can answer for myself. At least, I can say why *I* don’t do it - and I know that the reasons aren’t good ones - but it’s still the “why” for me.
I don’t know how, number one. I never went to a business school, I’m not big into “business” websites that tell you how to market - I just do what I do. “Marketing” is something I would outsource to someone who knew what they were doing.
But herein lies the issue - I’m the personality type of “If I don’t do it myself, it won’t be done right.” If I were to outsource something like this - especially as close to my heart as my business, I would REALLY have to trust the person that would do it. And I don’t trust anyone as much as I trust myself - so in the end - for me - it comes down to time. And I’m horrible at making time for myself. I *always* put myself last.
That’s definitely one of the things I’m trying to work on this year, is to make myself a priority. I suppose the old “guilt” is the issue - because when you do that, you feel guilty for taking care of yourself and YOUR needs instead of everyone else’s. Perhaps it’s how I was raised, I don’t know.
I know I need to take time out for myself, because if I do, I take care of myself, I am well and healthy and I do a better job for everyone else in the end. But still, when I try to do it, I have this little nagger in the back of my head saying “You could be doing this…” and there’s the guilt.
So there’s my issue - I’m insane and listen to the voices in my head.
I know that seems all over the place, but I guess what I’m trying to say is *I* don’t market, because I don’t take the time out to stop what I’m doing and try to do it, to take a break from clients and take time out. Me and my business are last on the rung - and (as I said before) I know that’s wrong. But knowing something is right and DOING it are two different things.
DJ | Jun 17, 2008 | Reply
Then maybe we need to write a series of posts on how to get on the ball here, get your site marketed, taking that little bit of time out of the week to do it, constantly so that it becomes part of your normal “work”. I am suffering from a dreaded “old design” on my site KidoImages that was done when I was first learning CSS in 1993. It shows it’s age. I’ve marked out time to do it, but keep taking it off the schedule. So, let’s just do it. Next week.
Shelly | Jun 17, 2008 | Reply
ooOO! It’s like a Nike commercial. “Just do it!’
I agree. I’ve been working on my “scheduling” because I’ve been overworked - due to my own negligence. over the past few weeks, I’ve been slowly getting more organized and “streamlining” my processes so I’m not going insane. I could so work this into my schedule now - since I’m still hacking it out