Manage Your Life
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Are you a creative entrepreneur or a freelancer?
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- by Kris C, on Fri Sep 19, 2008 8:36am PDT
There's nothing wrong with earning a living as a self-employed freelancer, but some of us might be wanting, well,
more than just hourly or project-based
work.
Mark McGuinness has written a neat article, "
The 3 Critical Characteristics of the Creative Entrepreneur" that anyone engaging in a startup adventure should take a few minutes to read. He describes the difference between freelancers and entrepreneurs like this: "Creative entrepreneurs are not freelancers. Freelancers earn a living by doing paid work for clients, usually charging by the hour, day or project. Freelancers think in terms of 'getting more work'. Creative entrepreneurs think in terms of creating opportunities, producing results and making profits. This leads them to create systems and businesses that generate wealth and free up their time for their next big idea."
This question: "Are you a creative entrepreneur or a freelancer?" determines the difference in the way you promote and sell yourself. These days, it's all about "personal branding" and those are not just buzzwords that you can afford to ignore. Learn more in
my latest post at http://www.freshwebware.com and watch a great video by Gary Vaynerchuk on the 4 principles of success for a creative entrepreneur and your personal brand.
Learn more and see the video
Related: self-employment, personal branding, freelance, creative entrepreneur
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Posted by Kris C Fri Sep 19, 2008 8:41am PDT
I apologize for the nightmare layout - I have tried cleaning up this post to no avail. I really don't understand what is wrong here at Shine that I can't just make a post, submit it and be done without spending tons of time trying to make it look normal. Sigh.............
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Posted by Dory Devlin, Shine staff Fri Sep 19, 2008 10:05am PDT
Hi freshid -- I can fix this for you. But here's a tip for the future. To avoid funky fonts and characters, save your post in Word Notepad, then cut and paste into the Shine blog tool. Notepad is a plain-text editor, so it washes out any funkiness. Hope that helps -- Dory Devlin, Shine Work + Money editor.
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Posted by Katherine Fri Sep 19, 2008 11:14am PDT
Your post is good for everyone starting a new business. The three critical characteristic need to be coupled with strengths. What comes natural is the key to using your strengths.
I know that I can't be an expert in all areas, nor do I want to be. I know what I do best and I know my strengths. Being a creative enterpreneur means taking ownership of my business and establishing my place. Personal branding is simply knowing my message and being able to express it well, at the appropriate time, and in the appropriate place.
Branding is an interesting term because it relates back to ownership. Being from southern roots however, branding reminds me of ranches and cattle.
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Posted by Kris C Fri Sep 19, 2008 11:39am PDT
Katherine, I agree about playing to your strengths.... that's why you have to determine who you are and what you do best, and what you WANT to do. Garyvee said something at the Web 2.0 Expo this week about "you can lose money doing something you hate, so if you have to lose it, do something you love!" (Paraphrasing what I overheard.) Conversely, you can make money doing something you love or hate also. Passion for what you're doing makes all the effort worth it.
Dory, thank you SO MUCH for that tip. I definitely will try that. I hated to post the comment here on my blog post, because I love posting stuff here at Shine, but I didn't see a support form or anything and was in a hurry. I really want to be able to post things here and interact with the cool readers you have more, so maybe that will make it easier. :-)))
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Posted by Tracy C Fri Sep 19, 2008 12:16pm PDT
Hi everyone!! I have been trying to find work at home and not had any luck!! Any suggestions out there?? I homeschool my teenagers and I want a better financial life for them!! PLEASE HELP!!
Thanks!!
Tracy
tcapstraw2@yahoo.com
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Posted by Kris C Fri Sep 19, 2008 7:37pm PDT
Tracy, I don't know what is required to be a user tester, but there is a company where you can do online user testing for various types of companies that sign up for it: http://www.usertesting.com/
This is the info on being a user tester - it doesn't look like a full-time opportunity or anything, but it's the only legitimate place I know to recommend that is truly work from home.
http://www.usertesting.com/BeTester/index.aspx
Good luck!!
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Posted by Midookie Sun Sep 21, 2008 11:20am PDT
Hello! I've always wanted to be an entrepreneur but never figured out what is it that I want to do... I'm a very creative person and I know I can be a great entrepreneur...once I know what I really want to do! It's very frustrating... I know things about a lot of things because I'm interested in a lot of things. The result of that is broad yet shallow knowledge. I can't be an expert of anything so there goes my credential. Am I being too negative about this or do you think I'm being realistic? Any suggestion as to making a decision on what type of business I should go for...?
Sorry about my unorganized paragraph.
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Posted by Kris C Sun Sep 21, 2008 7:14pm PDT
Midookie, there's a bit of swearing by Garyvee in this video, but you might get something out of it regarding your dilemma. This is from his keynote at the web 2.0 expo last week, but it is really fitting for anyone who wants to make things happen and is willing to work to do so. I think you're going to have to look at yourself differently than thinking you can't, or aren't an expert at anything. I know you are an expert at something, likely more than one thing. I recommend watching this video and just see if any inspirations come up regarding doing something you feel passionate about....
http://www.freshwebware.com/2008/09/gary-vaynerchuk.html
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Posted by Kris C Mon Sep 22, 2008 7:02am PDT
Tracy, I happened across a site you might be very interested in - it's all about "work at home moms" - http://www.wahm.com/
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