Week 34 - How curiosity and authenticity make strong connections 💪

This week I’ve learned 3 main things:

• Asking people about what they want to discuss is better than assuming it.

• Reaching out with a genuinely tailored message that resonates with someone’s interests is more effective than using a general message.

• If you admire someone, tell them about it, and great things might happen.

So this week I’ve made a speech about starting freelancing, and instead of thinking what specifically to talk about, I decided to ask folks in the audience by using a simple slido form, and here are the answers I’ve got:

First of all, it helped me to understand where folks in the audience are in their freelance journey, and secondly, I tailored my whole presentation to what people told me they’re interested in, instead of making assumptions that might or might not have been right 😏

Next, while connecting to high-level managing positions, such as CEO, Managing Director, Head of smth, etc., I decided to abandon the initial small message (up to 300 characters that a paid LinkedIn account allows to do). This way, I’m not telling them what I expect from them, but let them decide whether they want to connect with me, or not. And if they accept my request without any messages, it gives me some hope that they are interested in continuing a conversation with me.

Secondly, knowing they are interested in talking to me allows me to be vulnerable and honest. So, I check their profile, see what they’re talking about and interested in, find where our interests are intersecting and what a potential collaboration might look like, and tell them about it, admitting that I don’t know what I don’t know, and invite them to share ideas from their side of how they see our potential collaboration.

For example:

Piotr, thank you for your answer! I don't know yet, I'm currently exploring what are the main challenges people I talk to have, and afterwards trying to find the best suitable solution.

freelancermap is a platform that helps connect freelancers and those who hire them, basically we encourage companies to post specific projects only for independent talents, and give an opportunity for both sides to connect without being an intermediary and charging extra fees, etc.

my end goal is to encourage companies to post more freelance projects because more projects, more jobs for freelancers - everyone is happy

still, I approach this goal from a bigger perspective - collaborating with others who are moving in the same direction, and educating end clients on the benefits for their business of hiring independent experts, and in addition, educating freelancers on how to be better at running a freelance business

so, the best-case scenario outcome I'm looking for is that more companies hire freelancers for specific projects, and freelancing has its own confident seat at the workforce table

and for now, I start with finding the main blockers to hiring freelancers (admin, mindset, compliance, etc.) and creating and spreading educational materials to bridge this gap (for example, I've recently started The Independent Workforce podcast)

and still, it's a very general conversation at this moment, and I believe you can also help me ideate what the collaboration might look like :)

what about having a coffee chat sometime next week, or maybe even talking in person on Thursday? 🤓

Such genuine messages let people see that I don’t really want to sell them something, but really want to find the best win-win solutions, and from my recent experience, they work really well 🤩

And finally, some time ago, I met a very interesting person during the Creator Spotlight podcast, after listening to an episode I messaged them right away telling why I loved the episode, and thanked them for sharing their experience, afterwards during few weeks I saw their insightful meaningful posts and added valuable comments to them, and finally this person agreed to come to one of my podcasts, which I can’t wait because they have a lot of personal experience of using community for business, and I believe they have a lot to share with the world 🤩

The moral is - when you admire someone, genuinely connect with them, and keep the conversation going in an interesting, meaningful way, exciting things might happen if you ask for them 😉

Coming back to small videos 😉👇

Thoughts of the week:

• “If we are to better the future, we must disturb the present.” - Catherine Booth, quote from the Economist

• “Art won’t be replaced by AI, but it doesn’t mean it cannot be improved with it.” - Nudge podcast

• “It's easy and I love what I do, that's why it's hard to take money for that! - That's exactly why you have to take decent money for that!” - my friend 🙂 

• “Do what you feel in your heart is right, for you’ll be criticised for it anyway.” - Eleanor Roosevelt, quote from the Economist

Song of the week:

Book and quotes of the week:

Supercommunicators by Charles Duhigg

“To get deep, we have to make an offering of our vulnerability.”

“Ask others about their beliefs and values. Ask them about experiences and those moments that caused them to change. Ask how they feel, rather than about facts.”

“We laugh to show someone that we want to connect with them—and our companions laugh back to demonstrate they want to connect with us, as well.”

Tools that I use with referrals:

• Descript - for anything around podcasting and video editing

• Manus - for building complex systems and projects

• Beehiiv - for a newsletter (that’s what you receive 😅)

• Text Blaze - to access message templates with shortcuts (like “/ty”)

• Exali - promo “FROMYURII” - indemnity insurance for independent experts in Europe

Daily actions:

• invite 5 people to give feedback about how I helped them

• invite 5 people to check my website and ask them for advice

• participate in a secret LI support group

• read a self-development book/listen to a professional podcast for 15 minutes

• make a valuable post/comment on LinkedIn

• tag 30 people in my database

• work 30 minutes solely on my business 😎

Weekly actions:

• transcribe one new episode of the Creator Spotlight podcast and learn something from it

• transcribe one new DOAC video and learn one thing from it

If you have any thoughts, ideas, or questions, please 👇

And if you’d like to walk The Road To $1M+ Freelance Business with me 👇

See you next week! 👋