Changes

Please note that from now on this blog will be continued at my official Jean Biri website/blog

Sad But True

Sometimes, tragedy can make someone inherit a title and a lot of money as seen in Hind Hariri’s case who’s now labeled as the youngest billionaire in the world.

No Love For Cold Calling

In all my years in marketing, I have probably come across hundreds of ways professionals market their services. Some are ingenious, some are simple, some are a waste of money, effort or time and some are just so complex that by the time the person applying the promotional tactic is done crafting it he or she is confused as hell.

In the creative freelance field (photographers, writers, illustrators, designers, modeling and so on), the ultimate promotional technique will have to involve a third-party raving about your talent, skill or service. I will say it now and will repeat it very often so get used to it

Let’s take cold call, a technique that many marketing consultants recommend to freelancers.

You supposedly pick up the phone and call a list of carefully targeted prospects (suspects, sorry… because they have not shown an interest in your service yet!) and eventually, you are going to land some new business. And hey, it even works on a percentage basis (so it’s “scientific”). So, if you call a hundred people who have not asked for you to call them, three or four might end up being your clients.

The rationale goes on: the more “suspects” you call, the more business you are going to generate because cold calling is a number’s game.

Before all the direct sales pros have my head for breakfast, I will tell you this: cold calling does work. The question is: At what cost?

I don’t know about you but as a businessperson who provides services to clients, I don’t have time to spend calling gazillions of strangers and chit chatting with them in order to have their business.

Cold calling is a tricky bugger because you have to sell three things:

- Sell yourself to the person to the other line so that he or she can give you “a few moments” of his or her precious time.

- Sell this person onto your services

- Sell the person on the price of these services that you offer.

Those are three tough sales to make especially if you are a “little guy/gal”. If you are the shy, nervous or sensitive type, your chances of succeeding with cold calls are so slim that your response rate might never go over 0.5%.

The problems with cold calling are not hard to spot: unsolicited, lack of credibility and too resourceful (time, money and energy). I will not even go into the whole “do not call lists” implications…

My message to all freelancers using cold calling as a promotional method is to stop for a minute and let the common sense kick in. Wouldn’t your time, effort and money be better spent elsewhere?

And it does not matter if you are successful. You still are wasting that precious asset called time. Even if you are currently doing well with cold calls, you certainly would triple your response rates if you applied more effective and efficient methods.

Cold calling is a waste of your marketing time and energy in my humble opinion whether or not it works. You may get a gig or two but your chances of building a highly profitable freelance business are very poor.

No love for cold calling.

A Few Good Reasons To Build A Personal Brand

Building a strong personal brand is no magical task. Although the process is pretty simplistic, the application can be a little bit tricky and the one catch is that it does take time for you to go from oblivion into household status.

No wonder people would rather cold call, advertise and do all sort of things that involve selling to gather new and repeat business. They feel like they are not just sitting there doing nothing.

Whenever you feel discouraged and wonder if your personal branding efforts will eventually pay off, just keep your eyes on the pros. 



Benefits of establishing a powerful personal brand include:

1) Not having to hard sell yourself to get new business. If you hate to make sales-pitches such as cold calling, posting ads and kissing people’s butts to get them to recommend you, you are better off building a strong personal brand.



2) When faced with so many choices, the prospective client will usually ask around (through Google or personal friends and associates) who the best in the field is. If your name does not come up first, your chances of new business are slim to none. But as a recognizable brand, you will be the first name on people’s lips or “best of” lists.



3) When disaster strikes, you will have dug your well before you are thirsty. Do you ever notice that people who are constantly in the public’s eyes in a favorable manner seem to get themselves out of trouble faster than an unknown folks? Accidents or incidents always happen that can damper your reputation. Note what happened to US’ Vice-president Dick Cheney recently.



4) A powerful personal brand name creates so many opportunities. Everyone wants to do deals with you, clients will fight to get you to offer them your services (ie: price war in your favor) and to be honest you become a mini-celebrity. You might not make the tabloids’ gossip columns but within your industry, you will be a force to be reckoned with.





Personal branding is the ultimate way to differentiate yourself from the thousands of freelancers offering the same services. You become the winner that takes it all.



The formula is simple: Find a differentiating focus + Strong credential + PR Promotional Campaign.



More on the “magic” formula in forthcoming columns.

Cindy Klassen: How A Legend Is Born

Less than a month ago, very few Canadians knew who Cindy Klassen was. After the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics, she has become a Canadian legend. She’s managed to bring home five medals making her the most commemorated Canadian at Turin’s Olympics. To top it all, it happens that she’s won more medals that any Canadian athlete in history.

All these achievements have earned her a powerful title: Cindy Klassen, the most successful Canadian Olympian.

Not bad from someone who first wanted to make the hockey team, failed to make it and jumped at another opportunity: speed skating.

She still has some good years left in her and if she manages to win more medals when the games are hosted in Vancouver, Canada in 2010, she will just cement her powerful credential. The odds will certainly be in her favour as she will have the “home court” advantage.

What do sports, Ms Klassen, freelancing and personal branding have in common?

1) There are many roads to success. Cindy could have given up her Olympics dreams in 1998 when she did not make the Hockey team but she chose to try out another sport (less popular at the time).


On your quest to success, keep your eyes open, as the opportunities that may arise might have nothing to you do with what you had in plans.




2) A powerful brand takes time to be built. Cindy Klassen devoted most of her life to sports. Although she had managed to win some major championships and break some records that she still holds today, it was Turin 2006 games that made her a household name.




As a freelancer, the same will happen. It takes time for people to learn about your services and especially about your focus or specialty. It takes time to get the media to recognize your achievements but when they eventually do, your career is made.



3) Getting there is the hardest thing, staying there is another thing. As I write this, I don’t see any possible contender to Cindy in the next ten years except maybe for Clara Hughes another successful Canadian Olympian. Cindy just needs to win one or two more medals in the next Olympics and she will be in a very comfy lead giving her the chance to benefit from her title for many years to come.


Once you are on top of your game, you need to protect your leadership status. Business like sports is a very competitive game. The more you rest assured that there will always be contenders to your title, the more you can remain one step ahead allowing you to keep your reign.



4) A powerful personal brand opens wider doors. As an legendary Olympian Cindy Klassen will probably not become a millionaire… however, she does not need worry as all kinds of sponsors and business people will be knocking at her door offering her large sums of money to endorse their products, motivate their people, coach their athletes and anything else you can think about that comes with one’s celebrity status.



Becoming your industry’s power brand opens doors to more clients, higher fees and all sorts of business propositions. When you are the leading writer, publishing houses will fight each other to offer you gazillions of dollars in advance fees to write your next best seller. When you are the leading graphic designer, software development companies will be offering you ridiculous amounts of money to get you to endorse their products and so on…



In today’s times that are so immersed in celebrity culture as a freelancer or independent contractor, you have no choice but to achieve a celebrity status. We’re not talking about Hollywood here. You just need to become the hottest personal brand in your industry and all good things will happen to you.




The Canadian Olypic Team’s mission chief just said that Canada’s great performance in the Turin 2006 games will boost the morale of the nations’ youth who will be motivated to participate in more sports especially those that are not as popular but in which Canadians achieved some wonderful results.

I think the advice should extend to all freelancers worldwide… just think of a person who’s done well with their freelancing career and just remind yourself that if they can do it so can you.

We actually have it easier than athletes where only the gold medals counts. In business you can create your own race and since you are the one who knows its ropes you can earn the gold medal and scoop all the goodies that winners get to take home.

Go for gold…


What Makes A Personal Brand Name Powerful?

For a personal brand name to be powerful it has to be both strongly focused and widely recognized.

A strong focus means that the personal brand name is synonymous with one concept. If you are into the tech world, a mention of” usability” will first bring to mind Jakob Nielsen for instance. If you think “operating system”, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs or Linus Torvalds might come to mind.

For the personal brand name to be powerful, it also has to be pretty popular. Many business people stand for very unique concepts but no one knows much about them. But flip through any tech magazine (to stick to our example) and you are likely to find Jakob Nielsen, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs or Linus Torvalds mentioned somewhere. Do the same with a web based magazine and you’ll come to the same result.



If you want to be powerful both brand wise and professionally, you will need a strong focus and a widespread exposure. Fortunately making both happen is not that hard although it does take some time. But, it is time well spent.

Do You Build, Collect, Or Create Credentials?

Alfamercado asks:

Do you build, collect, or create credentials? As a home-based businessperson what can I make use of as my best credential?

Your best credential has to be the most powerful attribute or achievement that not only makes your claims believable but also differentiates you from the competition.

Since you did not give details to your profession or business, I will use doctors as an example…

If you are a medical doctor, having a PhD is obviously a strong credential. Having two is even better. So if you give medical advice, those credentials are good enough to get patients to believe you when you discuss their illnesses.

However, those PhDs are not enough to differentiate one doctor from another as nowadays many medical professionals have quite a variety of PhDs on their résumés.

The doc who discovers a remedy against a certain kind of disease for example, will have such a powerful credential that will make him stand out from the pack. He will be hailed as a pioneer by the media. His practice, clinic or hospital will probably become famous and his income will increase too.

I always advise people to update their credentials. When you accomplish something remarkable add it to your promotional campaign. Eventually, you’ll get one that will shoot you up into stardom and reap the riches associated with being on top of the food chain.

Reading List: “Make a Name for Yourself”

Make a Name for Yourself : Eight Steps Every Woman Needs to Creae a Personal Brand Strategy for Success
One of America’s leading brand strategists shares her step-by-step program for creating an unforgettable identity in today’s marketplace.

I’m always on the lookout for new ideas on how to build a powerful personal brand. This is a book I just got my hands on… Will give it my own review once I have finished reading it.

In the meantime, check out as well as the reviews posted at Amazon.com.

What’s A Credential And Why Do I Need One?

A credential is a proof of qualification, competence, or clearance that is attached to a person, and often considered an attribute of that person. – Wikipedia

The reason why you need some credentials (the stronger, the better) is that they give you credibility when you promote yourself and your ideas.

If for instance, you are on a quest to show the world that you do not need medicine to cure a common cold, it does help when you are a doctor or studying to become one. If you just happen to be an accountant, it’s going to be harder for people and the media to swallow whatever concept you have come up with.

The stronger your credentials the better off you. A Doctor would have more credibility than a premed student although it does not necessarily mean that there’s a huge difference in competency.

With so many people making so many claims, consumers are furiously on their guard. Strong credentials will make you and your story more likely to be listened to.

More about credentials: Pro Freelancer

How Long Does It Take To Build A Powerful Personal Brand?

It really depends. Some personal brands are built almost overnight while others take a few years to be established.

One thing is certain though: it does take time. This is not a get-famous-quick promotional strategy. The unique idea associated with the personal brand name does take time to get acceptance by the public and the media. In some industries, some concepts catch on really fast (tech-world) while in others they do take forever (medicine).


Larry Page and Sergey Brin are two personal brands that became powerful in less than five years. Why? Their unique, next-generation idea, PageRank that helped them build a fast and relevant search engine, caught on pretty fast and the rise of their company Google helped them become celebrities in their own right and their status shot even higher when they started making the Forbes list of the richest people in the world.

Note: if someone becomes too famous too fast without first gaining acceptance and credibility, he may suffer the one hit wonder syndrome. Think, American Idol’s William Hung, China’s Sister Lotus or anyone you can think of who became ubiquitous almost overnight and a few months later, you already have forgotten all about them!


Building a powerful personal brand does take time, timing and patience. Results however can be felt soon enough in forms of increased client base, expert status, salary or fee raise to name a few rewards.