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Try this one, close your eyes and focus on a certain color, let’s say yellow. Now when you open your eyes look around you and try to remember all the items that are yellow around, ten seconds will do (please do the exercise before you read on and you’ll be astonished by its results!) Now shut your eyes again and try to remember anything blue… Chances are, you won’t remember any… And that’s because your eyes were so keenly setup to see only yellows that it blocked everything else… Guess what… This happens to you everyday of your life! You only see things the way your eyes were setup to see blocking everything else that doesn’t agree with it. And there is a good thing about this discovery, now that you know how it works, you have to make it work with you, not against you. And your mission is to change your perspective.
Seeing things differently is an advantage… Shifting your perspective can and will show solutions that you never knew was there all along. A change of perspective is just what you need in order to proactively seek opportunities. Before I knew of this, my eyes would just wonder around magazines, television, mall stands and opportunity after opportunity, I missed it all! How did I know? Because now knowing how the mind works, I got back to the same things and I was blown away with how much opportunity was there! You’ll even see how other opportunities were taken by those who saw it before you and they are making big business.
To illustrate let me share to you my experience. When my daughter was in a singing workshop, their recital then was to be held in Teatrino in Greenhills San Juan. By then I was broke and had no job (I just resigned, believe me when you’re in this status, you really have to change how you look at things). Then I decided, let’s give the idea a try, i will be thinking of nothing but ‘how can i make money with the things i’m seeing’… guess what, it works almost instantly and even gave way to my baby video productions company KAIKO. As I was looking around the workshop and the concert itself, I noticed nobody was video covering the whole event! I myself would love to see my daughter on tape and she would love to see it too when she grows up, now there’s a market right here that nobody is servicing. So I went to talk to the director to give me a try and we did our first coverage with a rented video camera and help from friends, I edited everything, put it in a good packaging and gave it back… Now, we have all the succeeding contracts and all concerts which will be produced by the same director! And out of the same experiment I even saw other opportunities that other people might think profitable such as costumes, gowns for rent, and many more, I’m sure there’s even a lot that I missed to see. Projects will come in two-months interval but that’s a start. What I have to do now is fill in the gaps with other directors who might need the same services.
You see the power of changing your perspective is barely tapped by the experiment and yet a business was made, so I don’t see any reason you won’t be able to start up with the things I have shared with you. Use it all with the spare time you have and watch your progress unfold.
The Process
Scan - look around you and try to see if there are opportunities out there waiting for you to take. Anything that interests you the most might be a good thing to start with. It’s hard to just see things in your head only so you have to physically go out and explore, read books, and experience the world around you. You can use an already established businesses model (for me it was video coverage) and see if you can provide it. Or create something else which is much better (another business I’d like to venture in is Naughty Panties, printed panties with a twist!) DO NOT limit your ideas with the things you can do. You can share those other opportunities with one of your friends who might be interested, they will love you for it!
Plan - if you have found the opportunity you’ve been looking for, plan how you can actually make money out of it. Think like the project is already yours and it has more than enough budget to cover you (this mindset will force the best out of you). And think how you will present it. Profit is not a good front, it might be better to give an impression of helping out (because it’s all about that!) and you are interested in making THEIR business better.
Take Action - everything will be such a waste if you don’t actually DO IT. In the end, it’s action that produces results. It won’t work the first time, believe me, if it does YOU are sooo lucky! It took a number of proposals to gain the confidence, it took some time to shrug off failures and start again. But in the end, it all pays off. I think the lesson I learned from this experience is priceless because it will move me forward in life no matter what.
My mentor told me he got started with his own business knocking at doors for six months trying to find somebody who needs his services. And I did just that, but it didn’t take me that long since my services are quite cheaper than his (200k laser light show versus a 20k full video coverage). And it worked so successfully I had to hire other people to help me as I my schedule was full, providing income opportunities for others!
You won’t make any progress or start anything without doing anything! Don’t be afraid, mistakes are obstacles that makes you stronger every time you come through it. Mistakes are the actual treasures of experience so accumulate so much that you have no room for another (well, make it a point you only do one of each).
“It’s not what you know, it’s WHO you know…” A lot of times, clients would come in not through the usual way like phones calls or emails but through referrals, and this is specially true to startups who most probably get clients from relatives, friends, and immediate family members. And what does this tell us? It means that your circle is very small or your company name is not that well-known in your field to actually get a completely unrelated client (meaning not connected to you in anyway). The solution is NETWORKING. There are certain tools that are out there in order to maximize your potential in getting clients:
Business Cards
This one is very important and you have to be very careful about what you put here because a lot of what you are could actually be revealed here (which is the concern of your graphic designer).
Make it clear
One of the very first projects I got through my business card is an AVP (audio visual presentation) for a religious group which was having an annual celebration. I got a text message saying: “I saw your card which says ‘motion grahics’, do you do film, AVP or presentations?” and I answered: “Yes, I do all of those, anything on screen and moving…”, and she replied back: “So, do you do AVP’s?”… and this went on and on and I finally gave here a call and asked about what I can do for her and it ended up and an AVP project. After this incident, I thought of how many more of those who got my card had the same question “what do you do?” How many of them hesitated to call because it was unclear what my business is? How many clients have I missed because of this mistake? The answer I wouldn’t really know but the thing is, THE BUSINESS CARD IS NOT EFFECTIVE! Business cards are suppose to communicate who you are and what you do not just a card to make you look professional to your friends. Rather than placing vague, fancy terms try more familiar terms, so instead of placing ‘motion graphics’ try ‘AVP, corporate video presentations, etc.’ this increases the chances of them calling you.
Make it big
Acquaintance No.1: “Where have you printed this? I looks really nice! And the texture is very unique…”
Acquaintance No.2: “Can you write your email address at the back? Your font is so small…”
OK, OK, I get it… Designing your card well is a good point especially when you are in the art field but having the information in it readable is one of the things you must consider first. Remember that the information it contains is the message you want to get across first, the design second.
Make it speak
It’s ok to make it look normal like the rest, but the chance of getting noticed or be recalled, especially when your card is in a mountain of contacts, is very very slim. You might get better chances in the cellphone phonebook! To be noticed it has to be unique and it has to tell something about what you do. I’m very proud of how my card was designed but this card is far better than mine combined with all the other aspects I’m talking about.
Meeting People
It doesn’t matter what occassion it is but you must meet people at a regular basis. Considering that you would most likely get referrals rather than phonecalls, it is very important to invest time and money being acquainted with potential clients. If you are not a very social person (like I am, I hate politics and small talk) you might consider befriending one or two who has big networks in different circles (HINT: these people love small talks and politics). Through this, you’ll get better chances of getting projects, in fact, 90% of what I do at the moment came to me through people I know with one degree of referral at most, meaning my clients are the ones I know directly (DIRECT) AND/OR recommendations by those I know directly (INDIRECT). Either way, you must ensure quality work to get return clients which are very important in establishing your name in your field.
Marketing Yourself
Websites, Brochures, Bazaars, Tradeshows, etc. are all vehicles for marketing your business. Consider having each to let your clients know that you exists and show some of the things you offer. A registered business name would be very helpful at this point since most of your communications/transactions would go through it.
What you do and who you market it to spells the future of your business. Force yourself to increase your circle in order to reach more clients and watch how your company will grow.
Things to do:
1. Be sure to have a business card that works, if you don’t have it yet, you are wasting precious connections
2. Arrange to meet different groups of people at least twice a month, especially those who might need your services
3. Have an introduction of what you do ready anytime, be bold about your statements, remember nobody likes the timid
4. Be ready at all times, you might bump into a big shot someday and you’ll be thanking the gods for having a business card and an introduction ready under your sleeves
Sorry it took awhile to make another post… many projects are coming up since I started to change perspectives and I hope you will also in the near future…
ONWARDS!
Client: Can you do this for us?
You: Yup! (with much enthusiasm)
Client: How long have you been in business again?
You: Uhm…
That’s not the answer your client wants to hear but you don’t want to lie either, lying might just get you into trouble. Should this send you back to applying for a job again? NO, it shouldn’t! The message you want to get across is “Yes, I’m fairly new BUT I CAN DO IT!” Now the problem is that the message doesn’t get across through words like “uhm…”. Solution? Embed it inside your product.
You might not believe it but the rate of success is almost a hundred percent. And as far as my experience is concerned, nobody turned my proposal down… but only when I brought the product first.
When I was at Pilita’s Restaurant in Greenhills, I saw that their menu board was quite a design disaster and not a really good match for the cozy place. I’m not an expert but I’m sure I could do better design than that so instead of going straight to Carlos (Pilita’s husband, the chef and owner of the resto) I planned my way to get the menu board design project. Normally you’d go looking for supplies with the lowest price, see how much time you’d spend with it and compute it against your rates, and draft a good looking proposal… to hell with that! First of all that’s too much time just to get rejected, trust me it’s quite frustrating. Secondly, a well-drafted proposal doesn’t get your real message to your client and it’s “I CAN DO IT” and you even lose the chance to say it when they see your price! By this time I was busy with other projects I was working with so I gave this opportunity to my wife who happily accepted it (take note, the project is still not ours by this time). It took two days to produce the actual menu board and guess what, we got the project instantly! His only comment was that the food photos was not his, now that’s so minor for a revision! We are just waiting for the photo shoot and we’ll be done with it.
This was actually the second time I applied the idea, the first time was with Tim Bennett’s motivational books collection CD which gave me the idea actually. When I attended one of his seminars, He gave us a free CD which looks crap! (Sorry Tim). However, when I opened it, I was blown away by the content. Some of it I was actually looking for. But it didn’t show in the packaging. I suddenly saw an opportunity, I can improve it in a way that it would sell. So I went producing the cover, the cd interface and the case. And the response was instant, “If you want the project, you got it” he said.
These are just some of the results but I used this idea several times and it hasn’t failed me ever as of this writing! If you still doubt it why don’t you give it a try? Competition? There are no competition, not much people use this approach.
This would take a lot of effort on your part since you have to work as if the project was already awarded to you. Added to that is the risk that you might still not get the project. But based on results, it’s worth all the effort. Now you have their actual product right before their eyes as if saying “I’m fairly new BUT I CAN DO IT and I’ll do it like this!” There are two major components of this approach, seeing the opportunity and action.
Seeing The Opportunity
You have to look at things differently. Whenever you see something and you hear yourself whisper, “I can do better than this”, you are actually seeing an opportunity, you just have to add “and I’ll prove it” on the whisper and it’s almost complete.
Action
As Steve Pavlina would put it, “It’s only action that produces results” so unless you do something about your statement earlier you won’t get anywhere. So shut your mouth and let your product do the talking.
I hope this with all the other tips get you started soon!
ONWARDS!
Most people are trying to catch the big fishes, there’s nothing wrong with that, but the problem is you aren’t big enough to catch them yourself because you are just starting out. And the chances that you’ll get a big fish is very slim right now. Just imagine a few hundreds of guys like you going for the same thing. You must really have a name first before the big fishes starts to notice you and how do you do that? FIND SMALLER FISHES and eat them, trying bigger and bigger fishes when you get the chance until you grow bigger yourself. This is how strong companies grew!
Keeping this in mind you’ll avoid the competition. While everybody else is trying to catch the big fishes, you just sort of wait for smaller fishes along the way that you can take. And before you know it, you’re big enough to compete with the others. With the experience you’ve had, you’ll have a better understanding of your clients increasing the likelihood of doing business with them.
One disadvantage of this idea is that it takes TIME. You have to be patient and consistent enough in order to grow. Slowly but surely as they say.
Things to do:
1. Identify your niche
2. Sort the big and smaller fishes and try to catch the smaller ones first
3. Do it consistently, regularly setting the bar higher each time (quantity)
4. Try a bigger fish next time (quality)
Don’t get disappointed thinking that you are under utilizing your capacity. It might look as that but what really happens is that you get stronger and more efficient each time you do it, what I mean is, you don’t lose in the process.
If you can, try to make up in quantity instead, to bring up the challenge. See how far you can go. When you’re boasting each time “hmmm, this is going to be easy…” try getting more and more of the easy stuff and you’ll be surprised of how complex and hard it will get. Time management and allocation of resources are skills which would improved at this point.
It’s really hard to get started. And trying to reach for something big at this moment might blind you from the opportunities around. Remember, you can only eat smaller fishes today but soon you’ll be big enough to catch the big ones. However, it is POSSIBLE to catch bigger fishes when you’re small… How? That I will discuss in another post, so check us out often.
ONWARDS!
I hope the first part already got you started. Having a mentor at your side really gives you the assurance that you are on the right track and you’re giving the best you could.
Part two of this series says, you have to give it away for free first. Now this idea has been around for quite a while now. This idea gave birth to “free taste“, “free sample“, “free trial“, and all sorts of free stuff with the major purpose of having the market TRY IT OUT. The same thing goes for your skill, if you are too afraid to know if your market will put less value to your skills/products, give it away for free and let them decide how much is it worth. Everybody nowadays wants it for free, so you can be sure that your market will warmly welcome your offer. Now you might think, “they might give me an even less value now that they know I gave it away for free”, the answer is that THEY WON’T, they might even give you a higher value than what you expect. Of course there are these type of people who really abuse the offer because of their “poverty mentality” but these people are not your market. You’ll offer this to those you know will pay for it if it has value. And the value is very important and it has to be there because this would chart your course of your future relationship with a particular client.
When you give something away for free, it doesn’t mean that what you’ll be giving doesn’t have value. All the more that it has to have a value because this should be a very good example of what you could offer them. When you give a free taste don’t let them have the excess, when you give a free sample don’t let them have the reject, when you give them a free trial don’t give them less features. The free you give away should represent the whole thing you are offering so it should be the best that you could offer. And as long as the value and quality is there, you are assured of return customers, now that’s what we are after. What is the first-time-for-free worth compared to a regular client that comes back every month? You’ll recover your investments in no time.
The idea takes the fear away. You don’t have to worry about what they’d say because first and foremost it is them who’s getting the favor (but i’ll tell you later how they could return it back to you). So even if the client doesn’t like it, it is very unlikely that they’ll reject it (it’s very rude for them if they do, and if they did, these are the type of clients you wouldn’t like to be around, “hard to please rude clients”). It could also be a source of feedback (this is where you get your investment back). You do not take off with a perfect product, especially when you are a start-up, there’s always room for improvements. Be sure to know if they liked the product, what else do they want with it, how can it be improved, etc. The answers should be considered in order to recreate what you offer into something that your market will really value. And doing this regularly, you’d be amazed of how far you could go in perfecting your product that it actually sells itself. Lastly, before you part with the client, ask for a referral, somebody who might need your services or product, somebody who thinks that what you offer has a value.
Things to do
1. Define the particular thing you are trying to give away
2. Define your market and locate them
3. Get to them and make sure to give it to those who have the capacity to pay
4. Get their feedback
5. Ask for a referral
Again, this is a very good idea to get started. you’d learn to improve your product along the way and you’d know if your product really has value. It is hard for a customer to buy your product especially if they still have the “fear of the unknown”. Let them have a good taste of your product first, let them have a good feel, let them take a look closer and if your product really has value for them, THEY WILL BUY IT the next time.
But don’t take this too far or you’ll end up piled with weeks of work without any pay. The following are good points to consider when giving free services:
1. Make sure something will come back - it won’t be in the form of money but potential future business deals, referrals and connections.
2. Limit the alloted time - maybe a day or two in a week might be a good place to start. If this will work well with you, you’ll have enough referrals from these people that could generate a week’s worth of work. But limiting it is very important so keep a record of your schedules and avoid saying YES immediately without planning.
3. Finish it quick - you should always remember that your hour here are being consumed without pay so the quicker you get out of it without sacrificing quality, the better.
4. Pick the ones with a good action plan - when practicing this idea, be careful of those who asks help out of whim, there’s a big chance your work won’t be put to good use. avoid these type of people who just want waste your time.
5. How much value does your work have for them - evaluate if they really need your services. what we are trying to establish here is a relationship. if you think your services would not in any way improve their lives or has no value to them, you have a slim chance of getting the bonds you need for a stronger relationship.
So there you go, I hope this helps!
ONWARDS
When you are self-employed, you look up to somebody greater in your field and say to yourself: I’m going to be like him someday. You are inspired by his works and actions. Everybody in your field talks about him. You can’t think of anyone else that motivates you like he does… so what are you waiting for? talk to him, tell him you like what he does, and is it possible that i work under you for FREE! ok, before you comment on the “free” part, just read on.
You can never imagine how busy these great people are (you’ll know when you are in their position) and they are really looking for guys like you who are enthusiastic about working with them. Don’t be shy to ask because they love to hear from you (you’ll know that too when you are in their position). Who knows? you might end up a part of his team!
Most people are really just shy to ask. Opportunity favors the BOLD, so as far as i’m concerned if you can’t meet them face to face and ask, you can forget your dream of becoming like them because it’s never going to happen. If you still don’t believe me, check out this article about Felix Dennis, a publishing tycoon.
If you are following this blog, I wrote the first thing I did towards a million pesos in Genesis, and to tell you briefly about it. I was walking in Makati trying to figure out how to get one peso for my race to a million pesos. And the first thing I thought of was to ask for it… got turned down several times but i did manage to get one… and another… and another… and finally that thing was getting easier every time (that you’ll get bored after). But not many people would have the courage to do it… I know because I was scared myself at first. But if you can’t pass this stage of fright and move to courage, you’ll never get so far in life because your whole life is based on this principle of ‘asking’. When you were born your mom used to feed you (giving) when you cry (asking), when you grew older your dad will buy you a toy (giving) whenever you have tantrums (asking) at the mall, when you grew older your teacher would praise you (giving) when you do well in school (asking), and this goes on and on to almost any scenario you can think of. even now if you are still employed you are given a paycheck every month (giving) whenever you work for your company (asking). The only thing different in what I did was IT IS DIFFERENT. This is not how the society thinks of how you should get it. But the society will not feed you if you get hungry, so forget about what it thinks and concentrate on what YOU THINK!
I had the same experience once with my mentor in the post production field. He’s Avid Liongoren of Rocketsheep. I had no way of reaching him except directly so I gathered all the strength I have for that day and emailed him. And he did reply, with much excitement I told him my story and he offered help and train me under him. Much of my work flow improvement in post production came from him and I dramatically increased my productivity and efficiency (but his art was totally out of my reach, it’s a different story). Later on he employed me on several sequences on his Saving Sally project, some of his computer needs, and he is a very close friend now. Talk about getting close to your dreams! This wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t ASK!
The advantage of this principle is that you can get so much knowledge in your field and you can literally skip all the pitfalls that you have to go through and head straight to your success!
So what I’d like you to do right now is:
1. List all the BIG players in your field
2. Try to figure out the shortest way to get to him (a personal email address, a friend that might know him directly, etc.)
3. List all the things you can help him with (your skills and specialties) and come up with a very nice way to present your story
4. ASK!!! don’t hold back, remember, Opportunity favors the BOLD!
You can never go wrong with volunteering under a mentor. You can get up close (and personal in my case) with the great people you look up to, you can learn so much and further you career, and you will have the opportunity to work WITH them. Of course it will be hard (nothing’s easy nowadays), I was working my day job from 9am-6pm and work for free from 7pm-2am and the cycle goes on. I’m only home Wednesday nights and Sundays. But it all paid off…
There you go, I hope this helps you get started in your field. By this time all you have to conquer is your fear.
ONWARDS!!!
You think you can do it?
OK, you know your craft, you think you can do better than those who offer the same service AND for a lower price, you know you have what it takes to be successful and you are really inspired in doing your thing, but the problem is… you don’t know where to start. In this series, I’ll share with you the same principles I used to get started in my journey to a million pesos.
Many newly self-employed/freelancers or whatever you call them are having a hard time getting started. If they are stupid enough (me included) they’d end up resigning from their stable jobs and taking the leap of faith, but you can’t blame them! Seeing famous entrepreneurs earn big, talking to a freelance about how much more time they have after quitting their jobs, and coming over at your friend’s house seeing him still asleep while you are rushing to go to the office. They are fantasizing over these things. And if you are reading this, I know you are, too!
But at this point, I am thinking that you are reading this because you took the first step (resigned from your job, congratulations! if you haven’t I suggest you draft the letter tonight) but you don’t know the next step (i’m sorry to hear that, did you submit the letter to your boss already?) I won’t lie to you about it, IT IS HARD! And if you are not prepared for it, please do your country a favor and don’t be unemployed! I have a daughter and a wife who depends on me and it was really a big risk that we were up against.
Assumptions
I am assuming that you are self-employed by now. Some of the tips here may work for you if you are still employed but chances are, you will have a very hard time implementing it. I also assume that you already know your craft well or you already know what your passion is but don’t know where to go at this point. Lastly, I assume that you have no more than your skill to begin with, so no network, office or whatsoever to help you.
So here are the 7 Ways to Get Started:
- Volunteer under a mentor
- Give it away for free first
- Find the need below your capacity
- Product first before the proposal
- Build a network around you
- Don’t turn down any offer
- Proactively seek an opportunity
I personally learned it in that order (which you might want to follow) but each principle could stand on it’s own and could get you started. If it doesn’t, TELL ME, (and I’ll rip it off my list!) Or you can contact me and let me know, then we could work it out where you are doing it the wrong way.
Come back soon as I discuss each of the principles and logically explain how it worked for me and how it would work for you. Or you could already try it out and see for yourself!
ONWARDS!
Hermie Cabrito
if you need any help, please email me, kaimeerah@yahoo.com. I am always glad to hear from my readers!
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