Find Work, Not Jobs! There may not be as many jobs these days, but the business of America still needs to get done. As independent professionals, independent consultants, contractors, Free Agents!… we don’t need jobs, we need work and clients. Next time you are at your favorite trade and professional association meeting or anywhere else that brings you in contact with people thinking about business and talking about business, ask people… “How’s business?”
“Ugh” you hear. Then the stories begin. Good. Ask follow-up questions. You are not going to hear about jobs. But you just may hear about business problems, business needs. You may hear about opportunities. Perhaps they don’t even have enough work to keep you busy full-time. No matter. Suggest yourself as the solution to the business problem. You can use the off-hours that you’re not working to find the other client. It’s better to have 2 part-time clients than one full-time client anyway – remember income diversity.
Back to that conversation. Since you’re a Free Agent, you can offer a corp-to-corp contract, no problem. Just sign and we start. No long term commitments, no fuss. Only thing that keeps it going is genuine exchange of value. Your new prospective client looks at you with relief; “Really?” “Yes”, you say. “Let’s talk again tomorrow to go through the details of what you need. What’s a good time for me to stop by?”
