Freelancing

A few years ago, on a hot summer day outside a cafe in Los Angeles, California, I met Lynn Fang¹ in person for the first time and, after a stream of increasingly existential questions and cautious probes into each others thoughts on the existence of extraterrestrials (a stream dotted with moments of awkward silence), we found ourselves coining the term, and discussing the concept of, lifestyle support, the idea that people should be so transparent in their lives (online and offline) that their lifestyle would be an incentive for others to support their work.

By being honest and open about how we live, we can give the people who gravitate towards us (or who work with us by matter of happenstance) the ability to make a conscious decision about whether or not they want to support our lifestyle by paying for our work and doing business with us.

I had mostly forgotten about this discussion with Lynn until a few weeks ago when my friend Ali Dark² recommended that I read Breaking the Time Barrier³, a free ebook for anyone recognizing that selling your time--one hour for X dollars--eventually creates a barrier to earning more income.

I’m not a collection of hours,” Karen said. “I’m the accumulation of all my skills and talents. I’m wisdom and creativity. I’ve stopped seeing myself as a punch card. My clients don’t see me that way either. Yes, sometimes, I’ve had to change my client’s mind-set. But it starts with me, first, just as it starts with you. You have to forget selling time. The best thing you could do for yourself is to get the concept of time out of your head.”

[...]

a value-based approach to pricing your services is a powerful way to break through the time barrier.

The book shares an empowering perspective and I highly recommend it. It's a quick and fun read that uses storytelling to convey knowledge.

While I found myself nodding in agreement to most the book, there was something on page 27 that caught my attention and reminded me of the meeting with Lynn a few years earlier:

"Should a client be asked which lifestyle they want to support?”

“No.”

I believe the answer should be 'yes'. I believe that people should ask themselves what kinds of lifestyles they want to support. They should buy products and work with people who are in alignment with the values that lead to the lifestyles they agree with.

I don't believe in the lifestyles of "the rich and famous", the owning of multiple mansions, yachts, and private airplanes. I wouldn't want to work with people who follow those lifestyles or even seek them out. I wouldn't want to pay them money or buy products or services from them because doing so would be a vote for their lifestyle, a vote that says I agree to help support such a lifestyle (or the pursuit of such a lifestyle).

I realize, as I type this on my MacBook Air, that in today's world of monolithic corporations it's hard to know what lifestyles you may be supporting by buying certain products or services.

But corporations are nothing more than a big collection of people, so we can start there. If we start with the people first, then we have to start with ourselves.

Is the lifestyle of the people you do business with important? Absolutely.

Your act of doing business with someone else helps to support whatever lifestyle they lead. If they're not leading a lifestyle that you agree with--if your values and their values are not at least somewhat in alignment--then supporting their lifestyle will violate your own values by supporting opposing ones.

If someone else believes in the lifestyle you lead--if someone believes in the values that drive your lifestyle and the values that influence the choices you make both personally and professionally--then they will want to see more of those choices made in the world and that will be a big incentive for them to support you.

The more I think about this, the more I realize that lifestyle support goes way beyond business transactions. The emotional support you give others--spending time with them, meeting them for lunch, agreeing to attend parties, etc.--supports their lifestyle too. And perhaps that's why I'm so selective with my time and so careful about who I relate with.

The term "guilty by association" is usually used in the context of a criminal act, but when it comes to your lifestyle, you really are guilty by association. Your actions say a lot about your lifestyle and that in turn says a lot about what you believe and what you value, which in turn says a lot about you.

I met up with Lynn Fang after connecting with her online because I felt that we held a lot of the same values. I stayed with my friend Ali in Australia for a few weeks last year for the same reason.

The Internet opens the world up to us and lets us find people with similar values and similar belief systems, but we need to be transparent and open about who we really are for them to find us. Connecting with such people and openly sharing ideas and thoughts leads to discussions like the one I had with Lynn, which in turn leads to the development and sharing of more ideas and more discussions, thereby making the world a better place.

If you believe something--if you hold certain values close to your heart--then ask yourself if you're associating with and supporting people who hold similar beliefs. Ask yourself if you're leading a lifestyle that reflects what you truly believe.

There is a reason why popular brands are popular and a reason why you will eat something that was prepared by a total stranger: trust. There are many ways to create a feeling of trust including being well known, being referred to by someone else who is trusted, or even by simply being able to relate to someone in a way that is mutually understood.

A natural disaster brings total strangers together because those strangers can both appreciate life. They both understand what each other is going through and they realize they are going through it together. Even something as simple as the electricity going out can make an entire neighborhood feel closer and bring neighbors together. Mutual understanding brings people together and helps create a sense of trust, even if that trust simply means you both understand what it's like not being able to watch TV or use the computer.

So what does trust have to do with selling? Everything! If given contradicting advice from a friend we trust and from a total stranger, who would we be most likely to trust? Our brain works by using reason to determine which is the better choice. Obviously, our brain will whichever is more trustworthy.

I've never studied marketing and I've never been a salesman, but I do observe things very closely and pick out patterns rather quickly. Advertisements in magazines, TV and radio commercials, and yes even salesmen, all do the same thing: they try to make you believe that they understand you and that they know what you need and want. All of this is done to indirectly gain trust from your brains and make you feel comfortable giving them your hard earned money.

Understanding the importance of trust behind sales and marketing is key to understanding the importance of customer service within a company. There is no better method of advertising than to be referred by an existing customer. We already saw that a recommendation from a friend trumps any advertisement, so it's easy to see how a referral from a friend is the most important advertising tool for a business.

So, how do you increase the chances that your customer will refer you to those whom they trust (and who, in return, trust their opinion)? You give your existing customers a reason to come back; a reason to recommend your services (or products) over someone else's, regardless of whether your products or services are more expensive. This means you need to treat your existing customers as being more important than new customers. After all, a very satisfied existing customer has the potential for awesome advertising power in that if they refer your product or service to a friend, the chances of that friend becoming a new customer of yours is very, very good.

The problem with most businesses is that they think of sales and customer service as two separate departments, totally unrelated to each other. This couldn't be further from the truth. In fact, an excellent customer service department has more potential to bring new customers to the business than catalogs than advertisements put together, and all without spending a penny extra.

So, how do I know all this if I have no "marketing" experience? Well, for the past few years I've been running a business that has enormous competition. There are literally hundreds of thousands of people selling the exact same service as me, with fancier looking sites, more advertising, and much better prices. And yet, I have people coming to me for service. They are leaving my competition for one reason: I provide excellent customer service.

One of the biggest reasons I can provide excellent customer service is because I have the skills, the knowledge, and the tools necessary to know what I'm doing and how to get it done. If something goes wrong, I know how to fix it. I don't need to make excuses or lie to my customers in an attempt to give them impression that everything is under control.

I have discovered this same "service-is-money" effect while being a landlord for the past 6 years. Tenants really appreciate a landlord who cares about the property and cares about their wellbeing. Developing a relationship with a good tenant is extremely important. As a landlord, I'm providing a place for someone to live; the least I can do is make the tenant comfortable. Too many landlords think of themselves as kings with tenants as their slaves from whom they need to collect money.

Good customer service makes happy customers. Happy customers mean more money for the business. More money for the business means happier owners and happier owners with more money can pass on those extra profits to their employees, which makes happy employees. Everyone is happy and everyone is making more money.

Customer service is often thought of as a necessary evil; something that is necessary because customers exist. The direction of the company is constantly focused on ways to attract new customers without putting enough value on the advertising power of their existing customers, and the importance of keeping those customers happy. In fact, if a business can sell something without needing to deal with customer service, they consider it the best way to make money.

In reality, a strong and loyal customer base insures the longevity of a business. For this reason, the majority of a company's attention should be put towards existing customers while only a small percentage is focused on sales and gaining new customers.

Unfortunately, that statement is probably considered blasphemy to many businesses, which results in unhappy customers, stressed owners, stressed employees, and less profit and happiness for everyone.

Take Customer Service seriously. If he were a person, he would be your top salesman.

Lifestyle Support

The Customer Service Salesman