Freelancer Vs Consultant
When hiring a freelancer, customers tend to think of using your services for a short-term project with a very specific outcome. For example, writing a case study or designing a brochure. As a freelancer, your role is to take initial direction from the client and then go off and complete the assignment.
Typically, the work is done off-site, using your tools and resources. You control nearly every aspect of the project, including determining the best method for tackling the project and deciding the necessary timeline for completion. Once the project is finished, your relationship with the client may end until the next project comes along.
As a consultant, your clients look to you for detailed guidance on a particular area of expertise. For example, you may be hired as a crisis communication consultant or a marketing strategy consultant providing advice to the client. In many cases, the scope of the project is more extensive and could include several smaller projects within the overall agreement.
For instance, a marketing consultant may be hired to conduct competitor research, organize focus groups, oversee the development of an ad campaign, and write a marketing plan. For that reason, the work may occur as part of a long-term or ongoing commitment, as opposed to having a definitive start and finish date in only a few weeks.
What to offer as a service?
- If you are a freelancer, find one specific service which you can do alone
- If you are a consultant, have someone to assist you, do for you
- If you are agency, have associations with other agencies, freelancers, and consultants
Authority
How to build the authority?
- Approach
- Communication
- Prospecting
- Choosing whom to work with
- Defining your price
- Blog
- Articles
- Recommendations
- Referrals
Content
- Do some keyword research and see what are the common pain points
- If you have solved the problem already, share the success story
- if you have a solution, offer, write a post on it
- Engage with prospects, ask their problem areas
- share tips and tricks, dont copy, share
- be consistent
Network
- Associates
- Agencies
- Mentors
- Peers
- Social Networks
- Offline Events
Social Network
- Facebook Page
- Facebook Groups
- Share knowledge
- Be consistent
- While showcasing success stories, share the exact thing you did
- Don’t boast yourself too much, what might be an achievement for you may be a peanut for someone
- don’t be pushy
- listen more than talking
- don’t do negative propaganda/politics
- make friends, not enemies
Few tips and tricks
- Join Facebook Groups as your page
- Have a chatbot
- Have an appointment scheduler in your page
- List your services and products
- get recommendations
- have a payment gateway
- get used to video calls
- call with permission, not randomly
- dont ping at odd hours
- be humble
- dont cut off a relationship if you dont get a project