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Week 20
Jordyn Dunseath
July 02, 2024
TIP OF THE WEEK
Word of mouth. It’s truly one of the most effective ways to start/grow your freelance business. I wish I had actual statistics, but I can almost guarantee you that 80% of my income over my years in this business has come from a word of mouth referral. Do not be afraid to tell people what you do and that you’re available for hire. This is truly one of the most important and effective things you can do for your business - and it’s literally so easy. Just talk about it. Tell people you’re available. Have a portfolio they can find and you will be on your way to landing some incredible clients.
JORDYN UPDATES
Highs of the week: | Reality of the week: |
Week 20! Who’s been here since week 1? You’re awesome, thank you so much for that!
I just recorded my podcast and inspired myself to celebrate my wins, haha. I am genuinely proud of myself for staying consistent with this newsletter. It has been such a blessing to receive feedback from many of you saying that this newsletter has been helpful week after week. So, a big THANK YOU TO YOU for the encouragement to keep going. Seriously, thank you.
On another note, can I bring your attention to “self-imposed unhelpful pressure”. I wish that sounded catchier. Let’s call it “SIUP” with a silent “i”, haha. SIUP is exactly that - unhelpful.
Have you ever tried to create and feel like you have to make it look like the best thing you’ve ever worked on in order for it to be worth sharing? Have you ever tried to write a newsletter but felt like you had to have the most helpful advice for it to be worthy of landing in an inbox? Have you ever taken a photo that you didn’t share because it didn’t live up to your expectations?
Why the SIUP? Who is telling you that you must create the next best thing? Who says you can’t create just to create? Who said a newsletter had to be of a certain level of value to be considered worthy of writing? Who said a photo needed to look a certain way to be worth sharing?
Seriously, who is making these rules? Where are these expectations coming from?
Let me pose a question... Imagine posting a photo on social media and never knowing how many people saw it, liked it, shared it, or commented on it—it just sat there. No numbers, no results. I know, it's hard to imagine because feedback is so ingrained in our minds. But try to imagine if you received no immediate feedback on your work. Pretend feedback wasn't even part of the process. Would you still create? Would you still have a reason to create?
What if you knew deep down that some people were genuinely moved and inspired by your work... even if you never saw their reactions? Would you still create?
I wonder how many people today would say "no". Yet, I'd bet if you asked anyone before the internet existed, they'd say "of course I would."
Think about painters from the past. They would spend hours on their paintings, which would then hang in galleries or museums. People would come to observe and delight in their work. But the painters didn't get to see who visited or hear what viewers thought or said about their work. Yet, those painters understood their work held value for someone. And even if no one liked it... there was satisfaction in the act of creating it.
Now, I'm speaking for people I don't even know, so I might be off base. But I suspect I'm not completely wrong because those artists continued producing work. Why else would they? If feedback and results were the sole motivation for creating, it was much harder to come by in their time.
If feedback is the primary driver for creativity, we should be in a creative utopia now. We have endless opportunities for validation and feedback. However, if we're honest... we may have begun to lose perspective. We've started creating for feedback and results, rather than for the joy of crafting something. As a result, we become paralyzed by our own SIUP (self-imposed pressure) to produce something worthy enough of positive results.
What if today you created simply to create, without any self-imposed expectations for the outcome? How freeing would that feel? I encourage you to give it a try.
This week’s creative challenge:
Here’s a unique challenge. Write out an entire idea for a video and then write that exact video idea from a different point of view. Let’s say you were making a video about children playing in a park. What if you then told that same story but from the park bench’s perspective? This may help you come up with unique video ideas.
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So, announcing things is scary…because you will know if I follow through or not. I really want to try to get back into making YouTube videos again. I’ve got a busy week coming up, but I’m going to see if I can think of an idea, film, and edit something before another big project I have. We’ll see if I am able to accomplish it this week. There’s grace if I don’t but I really hope I do. You’ll find out in the next newsletter how well I did.
Thanks for being my involuntary accountability :). I hope maybe this inspires you to take action on your own work too.
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Have a great day!
Best, Jordyn
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