What traits, characteristics, and qualities make for a good freelancer?
Well, they have good attitudes. They’re positive people who like to help clients while providing fast service. They often have an ability to think ahead and suggest alternatives or better solutions. Sometimes they propose new ideas to make the client’s company better.
There are plenty of other qualities on the list. If you had to put them in order of importance, where would you put ‘skilled’?
If you said right at the top or even within the top ten qualities of a good freelancer, you’d be wrong. Skills are important, yes, but not that important. Your attitude, your behavior, and the feelings you bring to your potential customers are more important than your skills.
That’s right. How well you write doesn’t matter much.
People hire the great person to work with, not the diva with the diplomas. People buy because of how they feel, not because of what they think. It’s the whole concept of branding in a nutshell. Consumers don’t make logic-based purchasing decisions; they make emotionally-based ones.
That goes for hiring writers, too.
You could have a long list of diplomas, certificates, and credentials proving your fantastic skills – it doesn’t matter. The buyer is going to hire you because you seem nice, because you made him feel good, or because you sounded confident.
Many successful freelancers don’t have a degree at all. They’re successful because they do a good job and they have a good attitude that makes them desirable.
They land the gigs and they keep the clients because they provide full satisfaction. They get more clients because word spreads fast. You’ll never hear, “Joe has five diplomas!” You’ll hear people say, “Hey, go see Joe about that. He’s great to work with.”
So tell me, how’s your attitude these days?
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I disagree. I think sophisticated clients look at education as a key differentiator between potential contractors. Sure, many successful freelancers might not have degrees; but a degree is still going to get you a lot farther than someone who’s without.
You’re definitely right though: the proof is in the punch.
That is very true, that clients can overlook your diplomas and really value the attitude of the writer. I do have a question. Would you still recommend applying to gigs where they say they want a freelancer with a degree, and you don’t have one? Would a great attitude be able to overcome that hurdle, or would they automatically reject you before getting to know you?
Thanks!
~Kimberlee
This is how I set up my resume based similar to another writers format and tips from FWJ.
Objective
Skills by category i.e. administrative assistant, communication, desktop publishing, other related skills, (this is where I put I can deliver timely, etc.)
Professional writing experience
Education with my certificates mentioned
My writing services
Areas of writing expertise and my contact info. on the header and at the bottom but not on the footer.
All of it together makes for a nice whole. So that’s where I think skills go. And there’s just too many traits, characteristics, and qualities, that make a good freelancer to mention.
Attitude today: I used to send out tailored e-mails when applying for writing jobs. Now I just send out generic ones and still get responses. Most writing employers want to see samples, (to see style, tone, if you can write effectively and coherently, etc.) so I send one along that is related to what I am applying to with my resume also. I don’t write one just for said company for said number of words however. I have thought of trying it once though.
I think the diplomas, certificates are important because it sets one apart from others it proves one can do the job. I wouldn’t want a doctor with no diploma, license to work on me. I wouldn’t go near them with a ten-foot pole!
So the diploma, license plays a huge part, then the attitude, and then the refferals from other patients because the doctor demonstrated they cared about the patient.
@ Michelle – Resumes have a traditional expected style to follow, so using that is the best method.
However, when you’re talking sales pitch, the format doesn’t follow resume styles at all. It’s one thing to show your qualifications (resume) and another to convince someone to hire you (pitch).
When convincing someone faced with 500 other applicants, all with resumes and credentials, you have to be able to answer the question, “Why should I hire you?” That’s where diplomas aren’t going to do you an ounce of good, because all buyers want to know is how you’ll change their life 🙂
Unless…your degrees speak to the job requirements.
I have a Commerce degree with a Marketing specialization, and a law degree. You can bet I’m going to mention and highlight the Commerce one every time I apply to a business or marketing related writing job.
Similarly, I always point out the law degree when I’m applying for legal writing work.
I’d say there’s no hard-and-fast rule. If you’re applying for jobs where your degrees have no relevance, sure – leave them off. Otherwise, if you don’t mention them, you may sway the hiring company’s opinion towards someone who does.
@ Jonathan – Yup, mention them, certainly, if they give you an edge. But I bet that a degree isn’t what sways a company to hire.
@ Kimberly –
Yes. I don’t have a degree – and I think I’m the perfect example of why degrees don’t matter. BUT! I will say that if you don’t have a degree and that is one of the requirements, you’d better have something else spectacular to make up for the hole.
@ Allan – Well, there was an interesting thought that came to mind while reading your comment.
Many freelancers tend to say, “I think companies do this; I think companies choose that.” I get that. We all make assumptions based on what we know.
But I think that unless people have literally been in the hirer’s position, have literally had to choose between applicants for a job, perhaps our thoughts of what we think to be true may not be real?
What if you felt diplomas were key differentiators – but they weren’t? (You may have been a hirer at one time; I have no idea. Just using the example.) What would you use to choose? What if everyone had the required diploma? Who would you pick then?
So together a resume and a pitch will work much better and get positive results?
I’ll go find info. on how to put attitude and punch into the resume, e-mails, and how to pitch properly while still trying to sound/be original.
Thanks.
Hey James,
I won’t lie, I haven’t been in the hiring seat. But I have had a lot of conversations with professionals in my region and they espouse the benefits of having a degree. Is it all rhetoric? No. In my opinion a degree means you’ve spent years researching, writing, following deadlines, pursuing group projects, and all across a spectrum of differnt subjects. I don’t think a degree gives you the right to lord it over potential employers, and Jonathan is right, you need to choose which skills you’ll highlight for each application. But I still stand by a degree as a key differentiator.
Looking forward to your reply 🙂
@ Allan – Here’s my take on it.
A degree proves that you have dedication, ability to learn, self-discipline, aren’t afraid of hard work and know how to pursue goals as well as meet deadlines. To me as a businessperson who does hire others, that’s valuable.
However, I’ve seen people come to me with degrees under their belt and they can’t string a sentence together. That’s scary. The degree itself does not prove (to me) that you’re a good writer.
(If you’re a doctor, you bet I want to see diplomas on your wall!)
Now, also, if I post a job that has a degree as a requirement, I *expect* people who apply to have the degree. If they don’t, they shouldn’t apply, or they should have equivalent experience that makes up for it.
Therefore, these people are all on even playing ground where the diploma is concerned. I don’t have a choice *but* to look to other factors. What other factors will help me distinguish who’s best for the job if the requirements to get the job DONE, at its basic level, are all met?
I do agree that highlighting skills is important – but skills come from far more than just a piece of paper, don’t you think?
I’ve noticed a few things in my brief time as a freelance writer (only about six months, but I’m making around $6,000 a month now).
I don’t have a degree. I have a GED. I wasn’t a dropout, but I was homeschooled and wanted something “official”. As you might guess, I’m not exactly promoting my formal education.
I do apply for jobs that say they require a bachelor’s degree, and sometimes jobs that ask for experience I don’t yet have. I also occasionally hire people for short projects.
Mr. Chartrand, in my experience, is right. I used to send out piles and piles of fairly generic responses to job postings, with my resume and targeted writing samples attached. I think I was hired for maybe 5% of these. That’s out of perhaps 200 applications.
Every now and then, a certain job posting looked like something I *really* wanted to do, but wasn’t really qualified for. For these, I took a different approach. To be honest, I tossed back a drink and “let it all hang out”. No, really.
I sent out rather informal, friendly “cover letters”. I included my resume and general interest writing samples. Not targeted samples, because most of these were jobs writing in an area I find personally interesting but haven’t written for before.
Out of 22 clients, I landed… (wait for it)
100%. No kidding.
I couldn’t demonstrate experience in the areas I was asked to write for. I certainly don’t have a relevant degree. What I was able to do was let my personality show and write something memorable.
On the hiring end, well…
Being easy to work with counts for a lot. I have hired people who were skilled, but inflexible, and I’ve hired people who had few skills but were eager to learn. I’ll happily go the extra mile for the latter group.
–K
Awesome post K.V.
Thanks for the tip. Will keep it in mind and on my favs.
@James,
Sorry I didn’t reply sooner. Reminder emails were going to my junkmail box. You’re right and I appreciate your reply. I wonder if those degree-holding applicants came across as confident writers. But soon realized that professional writing and academic writing are completely different. I know that during my brief foray into professional writing (10 months) I’ve had to forget everything I learned about academic writing. But at the same time, my expertise in the more formal aspects of style have been an asset to the company. You’re speaking from experience and I’m speaking from assumptions I’ve made. I’ll definitely defer to you on this one. Thanks.
@KV. Do you have a blog. I’d love to get in touch with you about your success. Congrats man!~
While I agree that have an advanced degree in writing doesn’t necessarily help you become a successful freelancer, I find that pitching my Master of Science in Direct and Interactive Marketing from New York University, as well as my M.A. in Writing, DOES help. Both of these degrees, and my dual experience as a marketing executive and freelance writer, give business clients confidence that I understand both the creative side of the task and the marketing background necessary to complete the job successfully. So while I do agree with you Jim in essence, I think that having various degrees and certificates CAN help…but I agree, they can never replace a good attitude and talent.