I grew up on a lake in the Midwest, and fishing is a big deal in that part of the world. Before dawn the fishermen rise and pack their coolers, secure their tackle boxes, grab a few fishing poles and a net, and then set out on their boats to get in position on the lake before daybreak. Each fisherman has his theories about which lure works best, as well as corresponding stories about the size of the fish he caught with each kind. Each fisherman has a different opinion, a different strategy. The thing is, no one is wrong. Although fishing is, in fact, partially about how you approach the task at hand, it’s also about just casting out the line over and over to see what you get at different times and in different locations.
Fishing for clients works in much the same way. There are theories, and none of them is wrong (well, except for a few lunatic ideas). But ultimately it comes down to casting the line out and reeling it in to see if you get any bites. It’s about the combination of technique and persistence. Let’s talk about what fishing is within the context of the Patchwork Principle and how to go about it and then review a few pointers from an experienced fisher... fisherwoman, that is!
To get started, let’s define the term fishing in the way it works within the framework of the Patchwork Principle:
Fishing
To cast out inquiries in search of job leads.
Simple enough, right? In other words, fishing is looking around for work. However, you are not looking for just anything that happens to surface; you are looking for work that is enjoyable and that ultimately will fit into your Lifestyle Design. Keep that in mind because as Henry David Thoreau once famously said, “Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing it is not fish they are after.”
Within the context of the Patchwork Principle, there are two fundamental fishing techniques:
Let’s talk about each one and what each has to offer as you set off on your journey to score the first of many new clients for your business.
The eagle is a magnificent creature, well known for its keen eyesight and masterful ability to swoop in and spot an opportunity from great distances. Perhaps this is why, as Wikipedia notes, “the Albanian word for eagle is ‘shqiponje’ deriving from the root ‘shq,’ which is the same for the word ‘shquaj’ (‘distinguish’) and could be explained with the outstanding ability of the bird to distinguish clearly objects from long distances.”1 This quiet bird with a stealth approach can look out on the vast landscape and clearly distinguish an opportunity available in the vicinity.
The Patchworker who operates like an Eagle Eye enjoys carefully analyzing his or her territory (brick-and-mortar businesses, online organizations, and so on). The analysis results in the identification of key opportunities, which are gaps that signal a need the Patchworker can propose to fill. The Patchworker performs methodical research to learn more about these organizations to craft a pitch that will strike the right tone and make it clear to the decision maker that the Patchworker understands the organization’s needs and is proposing a customized solution. This Patchworker takes pleasure in a great deal of concentrated effort focused on accomplishing a single goal instead of dividing attention across several goals. The Patchworker carefully selects opportunities that appear to warrant special preparation, does the necessary research, and then carefully pitches solutions to the decision maker before making an approach.
There is an old African proverb to this effect:
Be present where you are.
But I would like to put an American spin on that old saying:
Life is like a sweepstakes, and you must be present to win!
Observation is the key to success for the Eagle. Being observant serves anyone well in life; however, for a Patchworker, observation is critical to livelihood. If you can observe a need within an organization before anyone else does, you can pitch a proposal to the decision makers, identifying yourself as the solution to the problem.
Here is a perfect example: I worked at a large technical college where the filing system in the office in which I was working as a consultant contained countless reams of confidential documents; the office was in utter chaos. This bedlam caused ongoing problems for administrators at all levels of the organization. Although I was hired to perform a very technical legal function for the college, I sensed that pitching a solution to the filing system issues would be well received. I pitched the idea and was instantly hired to put my plan into action. The college could easily have delegated this job to a salaried administrative assistant at no additional cost to the organization; however, they instead chose to pay my highest consulting rate simply because I observed a need, pitched the solution, and was willing to take action immediately.
Being eagle-like can be a rewarding approach for a number of reasons, including the following:
Although you may think that existing employees within an organization have the upper hand, I have found the opposite to be true. Being an Eagle is distinctly easier for a Patchworker than an existing employee because you are not so entrenched. In other words, you are able to spot an opportunity on the landscape instead of trying to separate yourself from the people, the politics, and the systems that are in place in the work environment.
Think about how you feel after being away from home for a long time and then returning. Does the landscape look different to you? Do you see things, both good and bad, that you never noticed before? Perhaps you were in the military and returned home from a tour of duty only to find that the people or the places seemed to have changed. Perhaps you went away to college only to return at the semester break to find that your childhood home and neighborhood looked smaller. This phenomenon is often referred to as re-entry shock or reverse culture shock. The “shock” occurs from distancing yourself from the familiar environment and then coming back to it with new experiences that give you a unique perspective on familiar surroundings. This distance is what’s missing for the existing employees within an organization; when they look around, they see only the familiar systems instead of the gaping holes. That’s where you come in!
As a Patchworker, whether you sporadically work for the organization in question or have never worked there at all, you are viewing an organization as a visitor. You are not “part of the machine” in any way. This gives you the ability to see how existing systems work (or fail to do so), identify missing systems, and see the “big picture” instead of getting caught up in the office politics at a micro level.
The Eagle quietly observes the landscape, identifies opportunities, and swoops in to pitch an idea to an immediate need. If you remember the 1987 movie Wall Street, Michael Douglas played an ultra-rich stock speculator named Gordon Gekko. He taught his young protégé the secret to his success, which describes the Eagle approach in plain and simple terms: “I look at a hundred deals a day. I pick one.”
Seagulls are noisy birds that squawk loudly as they scavenge for food on the landscape. They are opportunistic and well known for being resourceful and intelligent, adaptable and resilient.2 And are they gutsy—whoa! They dive into seemingly perilous situations regularly in order to check out opportunities, and they aggressively protect that which becomes theirs. In fact, The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds says, “No other family of bird divides opinion as much as the gulls.”3 Let’s face it; they are noisy, persistent birds who rummage around a vast area and make contact with a multitude of possible opportunities in a single day of flight.
The Patchworker who operates like a Seagull Scavenger enjoys a fast-paced, exhilarating day searching for opportunities among a wide array of businesses. They have a rough strategy in mind about which direction to head, but are not against going off course when a new opportunity appears. They expend a great deal of energy getting the word out about themselves to a large number of decision makers, essentially squawking out their marketing pitch with the hope that an opportunity will present itself in response. The pitches are relevant to the organization but are not necessarily highly customized solutions. The Seagull approach is simply playing the numbers and hoping that a percentage of the pitches will spark inquiries from decision makers interested in learning more about the Patchworker.
Being seagull-like can be a rewarding approach for a number of reasons, including the following:
The Seagull approach is a high-energy approach. Playing the numbers is key, and the resulting quantity of incoming interest can be tremendous. The Seagull uses a wait-and-see approach—whereby a show of interest is thrust out into the marketplace—and then follows up on the responses systematically.
The approaches of the Eagle and the Seagull are quite different, but each has an important role to play in the overall success of your Patchwork business, as shown here:
You may find that you utilize one approach more than the other for any number of reasons, but generally speaking you will utilize both in combination. Keep in mind that one approach may be better suited for your industry or a specific company, which only you will be able to determine based on your experience and observations. There is no magic formula for determining which approach will always work for you; however, there are two generalizations that can be made:
Likewise, one approach may be a better fit with your personality type (but again this is an oversimplification):
Whichever approach you choose, there are definite advantages to fishing for work, including the following:
Both the Seagull and the Eagle approaches offer opportunities for success. Now, take this fundamental information about the tactics of each approach and apply it constructively as you learn how to fish for leads, described in the next section.
To begin, let me say that fishing for leads is not rocket science. In fact, you have probably done some fishing in the past within the context of searching for a 9-to-5 job. This is good news. It means that no matter where you start from, you can do this! You can jump in and get started right now. The process consists of the following four basic steps, each of which is described in detail in the next sections:
You will notice that “procrastination” is not on the list—so let’s get going. Let’s discuss each step in a way that teaches you to fully understand how to fish for your own leads, on your own terms.
This entire section on reflection could be summed up by a single quote from the well-known actor, lawyer, and writer Ben Stein:
The indispensable first step to getting the things you want out of life is this:
Decide what you want.
Decide what you want before you start fishing! In the first half of this book, you figured out what kind of lifestyle you are after, and in this second half of the book, you figured out what kind of work you are after. In other words, you have decided what you want. Now it’s time to go look for it. Go fish!
Observation is strategic looking around. Take Thomas Edison, for example, He was especially good at fishing for new ideas and leads related to his inventions. When asked how he did it, he said, “I find out what the world needs, then I proceed to invent.” This is the same mindset that you must have when you set out to fish for clients. Although you don’t have to have the know-how of Thomas Edison, you do need to invest some time in the process. When you’re first starting out, you may spend a disproportionate amount of time fishing for leads, but rest assured that you will be able to scale back as you build momentum.
For the most part, the work you are looking for is the unadvertised and perhaps unrecognized opportunities in business and industry. Observation means looking at the landscape with your Eagle eye and seeing how you can insert yourself into various organizations in a meaningful way. This form of job searching is nontraditional, and that is partially why it is so effective. You are not competing with others in a huge resume stack on the decision maker’s desk. Here is an example of how this strategy works from my early days as a Patchworker; in fact, this is how it all got started:
When I made the conscious decision to leave my so-called university “dream job” years ago, it seemed that the only thing left to do was search for college or university decision makers that had a potential use for my skill set and solicit them. However, I soon discovered that none of them was hiring—not officially anyway! I felt stuck. “What am I going to do?” I thought to myself. So what did I do? Well, the only thing I could do: find a way to make myself useful to these organizations. (This was my first credible attempt at fishing for leads in nontraditional ways. At the time I had no idea that it would become one of the most important exercises of my professional life.)
I spent every evening after work scouring the Internet for colleges or universities within a one-hour radius of my house. Then, I searched each institution’s Web site in order to learn about the organizational structure and culture of each one in order to identify potential gaps in the various offices on campus.
I began a letter-writing campaign to college and university presidents and described the gaps that I believed I could fill for them, including detailed plans full of statistical analyses that cited respected industry resources they would surely recognize. One day, I received a call from a college just five blocks from my house. The president requested a private meeting and hired me on the spot, a new position created just for me. I was thrilled!
Also, during my fishing expedition several consultant opportunities surfaced. This was not my first experience with consulting; I had been hired as a consultant many times in prior years. However, this was the first time that I was able to negotiate what I considered to be extremely high hourly rates for my services, because I was pitching immediate solutions to known problems. Usually it was the organization seeking me out, but with the tables turned, they were both impressed and excited, which translated into dollars. It was also the first time that I was hired on retainer, which meant being paid a regular stipend in order to make myself immediately available for consultation upon request. This was a brave new world! In a matter of months, I had left my old job, gone fishing with great results, and landed several new consulting clients. It was my introduction to being a Patchworker, and I was hooked!
That is my story, but it could easily be yours. Think about your own area of specialization, such as nursing, welding, accounting, teaching, or programming. Each area of specialization has core business types to which it caters. For example, the core business types for nurses include hospitals, medical practices, nursing homes, and home health care. If you are a nurse, you could select the business type that most appeals to you and begin searching for ways that you could insert yourself into the organization in a meaningful way.
Keep in mind that, generally speaking, the larger the organization is, the greater the likelihood that the organization has existing gaps in services waiting to be filled. However, the advantage of approaching smaller organizations is that the decision makers are often more accessible. Select one business type and begin fishing around; see what happens. If you find that one approach (Eagle or Seagull) is not getting you the response you had hoped for, then simply switch the approach, the level of decision makers you are contacting, or your pitch (which we will talk about in the next chapter). The key to success is to keep fishing.
The most effective and information-filled place to begin your first fishing expedition is online. The following sections describe three ways to get started on your first online fishing expedition: Visit the Web sites, social media outlets, and blogs of potential clients.
When you visit the Web site of a potential client, take time to learn about the organization’s mission, vision, and current initiatives. Do they align with your own values and your new lifestyle framework? Because time is precious and the Internet provides a wealth of information, visit company Web sites by the hundreds!
As you visit the Web sites of potential clients, keep in mind the following:
Omission counts for a lot in my book; it speaks volumes. For example, most organizations traditionally include a statement about a commitment to diversity. However, one organization that I visited online did not include a statement or mere mention of diversity anywhere on the Web site that I could locate. Then, when I looked through the staff directory, which included a photo of each employee, I discovered that the only people of color on staff were unskilled workers. Because I have a strong commitment to diversity in the workplace, I crossed that organization off of my list. One of the benefits of Patchwork is the choice to work with organizations that match your priorities and values.
Nearly every business in the world now has a Web site, so take advantage of these free, comprehensive, and image-rich resources as you fish online for leads. A wealth of information is available at your fingertips.
Social media outlets, such as Twitter (www.twitter.com) and Facebook (www.facebook.com), provide a wealth of information that may provide (or at least imply) information about a company that the official Web site will never tell you. Why? Several reasons, including the following:
This informality can work to your advantage, giving you the inside scoop in some cases. To get started in the world of social media, do the following:
Social media sites offer access to free, immediate, and relevant information about a great number of corporations. These online resources can provide useful news about an organization as you research potential leads. Also available online are other information-rich resources such as corporate and employee blogs; let’s take a look at them in this next section.
A blog is simply a modern-day diary. The word derives from the blending of the words Web (as in online) and log (as in diary) to mean an online diary. Corporate blogs offer a treasure trove of information about company activities. Some blogs are a series of announcements in a press release format whereas others are informal accounts of important happenings or simply the rant of a disgruntled employee. To get started, keep these points in mind when viewing a prospective client’s blog:
Observation comes naturally to some people. For others it requires cultivation. Wherever you are starting from, whatever your natural inclinations, know that success comes from observation that is strategic, dedicated, and consistent. It’s the same way that you get to Carnegie Hall: Practice, practice, practice!
This step involves looking at known, advertised gaps that organizations are actively seeking to fill. The identification process is the traditional job search, with a twist (a big one!). Previously, you were searching for full-time 9-to-5 work that fell within certain parameters, such as geographic location or health insurance benefits. However, now you are seeking Patchwork opportunities, giving you a completely different focus as you scout around for work. Now, your focus is work that is both enjoyable and a good fit with your lifestyle framework. Although the advertisements appear the same, the way you view them needs to change in order for you to see the plethora of new opportunities that await you. Let’s look at some traditional search techniques and work through what matters and why in each instance.
Thanks to million-dollar investments by leading job search engines, companies such as Monster.com and CareerBuilder.com are household names. These job search engines serve up a wide array of available jobs in every occupational field including legitimate positions posted by legitimate businesses and spiraling downward toward pyramid schemes looking for new contacts.
Some of these ads are actually seeking applicants, whereas others are posted merely to comply with standardized advertising requirements before the position can be filled, rendering the posting useless for the job seeker. Some ads reveal the name of the company that is hiring, whereas others indicate the name of the industry only. This lack of identification may indicate that the ad is either protecting the identity of a position that is currently filled (the person currently occupying the position is about to be fired, for example) or that the business of prescreening qualified and promising applicants was delegated to a temporary agency, known as a direct hire. So, after you sift through all of the listings, what is the take away for the Patchworker? Plenty!
For example, if a company advertises for a graphic designer, then you may want to pitch your skills to them as an independent contractor that can come in with a customized plan on day one. The pitch must be compelling, be tailored, and offer your skills as an immediate solution to their needs. Does your pitch need to mention having seen the advertised posting? Not necessarily—hold your cards close whenever possible.
Job search engines like these provide an excellent overview of the changing marketplace in real time. They present a big-picture look at known opportunities locally, regionally, and nationally. What a resource!
These search engines are a boon for Patchworkers! I just can’t say enough about how much specialized job search engines have to offer, but I’ll do my best to pack it all into the explanation in the sections that follow. These search engines are repositories of specialized job postings for work that is directly in line with your no-strings-attached, make-my-own-hours, set-my-own-schedule, work-from-home (or elsewhere) career aspirations. If your skill set qualifies you for work at any of these sites, which is likely due to the great variety of jobs available, you could very well earn a good portion of your income via these sites! There are three basic categories that are of greatest interest: freelance engines, specialty skill sites, and location-specific sites. Let’s look at each category in detail.
Freelance job search engine sites are your best bet for finding short-term, part-time, or project-based work in volume. It’s out there just waiting for you to click and bid. The sites contain ads placed by either individuals or businesses seeking help from skilled workers, or as one site phrases it, “online talent.” Freelance job search engine sites specialize in matching employers with talent (that’s you!). Quality sites manage the progress of and payment for the work in a virtual workspace online. After the project ends and payment is secured by the freelancer via the site’s escrow-like system, parties on both sides leave feedback about one another, which is publicly visible going forward. This feedback is powerful, based on the same premise used on eBay, but in this case the feedback relates to services instead of products.
Now, before you rush off and begin madly fishing around, let me mention a few important points:
These freelance sites offer a fantastic volume of opportunity for you to peruse from employers located in the United States and beyond. Spend time reviewing these sites carefully to see if the jobs are a match with your skill set and Lifestyle Design. There is work available for practically every skill set imaginable; take a look around.
Separating themselves from the pack, specialty skill sites offer work that focuses on the recruitment of talent with a specific skill set, such as graphic designers, writers, or photographers. To locate a freelance site that caters to professionals like you, simply do a Google search for the word “freelance” followed by the name of your specialty (freelance transcription, for example).
The International Virtual Assistant Organization (www.ivaa.org) defines a Virtual Assistant (VA) as “an independent entrepreneur providing administrative, creative and/or technical services.” A VA may provide general office support, such as reception (called “live phone answering”), executive assistance, word processing, and typing; or specialized support, such as bookkeeping, advertising, or paralegal services. VAs typically perform all work from their home office or some other space that they independently maintain. VAs who own the latest and greatest software and equipment are often at a distinct advantage over their colleagues, depending on the nature of the work.
Some VAs band together and create groups in order to offer a greater array of skills and services or to provide seamless service to clients in the wake of illness or injury. Approaching a VA group to inquire about opportunities to serve as a backup during busy periods of time is another angle for finding Patchwork in this VA environment. I made such an inquiry myself, and many groups were quite interested in vetting potential talent to join their group on a regular basis or to serve as a second string. You can find a list of VA groups on the IVAA Web site.
Another specialty sector worth mentioning caters to telecommuters. This area may be of great interest to the Patchworker who is excited at the prospect of working in pajamas, being home with young children or aging parents, or simply working at home in order to escape the typical 9-to-5 work environment. Finding credible telecommuter work can be a challenge, so consider this a warning.
The key is working with a reputable site that specializes in telecommuter work and then vet the company for legitimacy. Take a look at FlexJobs (www.flexjobs.com) to get started. The greatest numbers of available jobs are in the following fields, in rank order: sales (think telemarketing), computer and IT, writing, Internet and e-commerce, Web and software development, education and training, customer service, business development, medical, and marketing.5
Finally, you may wish to consider working in a reverse outsourcing arrangement. If you are unfamiliar with this term, you are not alone. Although it is not a new concept, reverse outsourcing has been brought to the attention of the general public only quite recently as media outlets have cited it as a source of employment in a tough job market. What is it? Simply put, it is when companies overseas hire American workers.
While traditional outsourcing is when American companies hire mostly overseas workers to fill position vacancies, reverse outsourcing is when overseas companies hire American-based workers to fill position vacancies. In other words, it’s the reverse. ABC News reported that in 2009 U.S.-based freelancers earned a combined total of $15 million from overseas employers within this reverse outsourcing framework and anticipates this figure to more than double in 2010.6
If you are scratching your head wondering why countries like China and India might hire Americans at a price much greater than hiring local labor, the reason is this: No one knows how an American thinks better than a fellow American. Companies that want to attract and retain customers in America hire Americans to deliver some of the front-end services such as Web content, public relations, marketing, branding, and customer sales. Sites that offer these opportunities include Elance (www.elance.com) and Odesk (www.odesk.com).
Location-specific sites are those that offer job postings for the masses but within specific geographic locations. These sites can be a fabulous way for you to penetrate a local business and get to know the decision makers, learn about organizational culture and quirks, and more. Although companies will advertise full-time positions that are not of interest to a Patchworker, the part-time and temporary listings may be just what you are looking for.
Generally speaking, all of the same sentiments mentioned in the previous section regarding job search sites for the masses apply to location-specific jobs. However, there are unique advantages to landing work with nearby organizations, including the possibility of building an ongoing relationship for on-site work, networking opportunities with local business people, or creating a niche in your hometown (this is the foundation of my own success). Many sites choose to specialize in advertising work in specific cities, regions, or states depending on their location, with midsize and large cities providing enough volume for sites such as www.milwaukeejobs.com.
I grew up hearing the everyday minutia about employment agencies from my family, which owns and operates a small staffing office in the Midwest. I always felt like I really understood what their office and others just like it all across the country had to offer to a prospective employee—until I became a Patchworker. When I initially embraced the Patchwork Principle, it seemed to me that employment agencies were not applicable. After all, they typically place prospective workers in one of these general categories: day labor, temporary light industrial, temporary clerical, or highly skilled permanent positions. Because it seemed that none of those categories was relevant to me, I scratched employment agencies off of my list of possible sources for leads.
Over the years I have come to see how much value there would have been in connecting with a few high-quality services in my area, especially as a new Patchworker eagerly seeking a great volume of leads. These agencies are in the very business of serving up leads that fit your skills and lifestyle preferences—free of charge! You don’t have to figure out how and where you fit into the mix of jobs that comes across the employment agency’s desk. You simply show up and let the agency do the rest. In exchange for filling out an application form, taking a few basic aptitude tests—perhaps a skill-based test, such as typing—and submitting to a ten-minute interview with an office staffing agent, you enjoy the benefit of receiving customized leads on a regular basis. The notifications continue as long as you agree to accept an assignment once in a while and prove to be reliable. Fair enough, right? Did I mention that this service is free? Okay, I did. So check out employment agencies in your area, which by the way, are now referred to in our politically correct culture as staffing agencies.
If the statistics are right, the majority of 9-to-5 jobs are found through networking efforts. However, you might wonder if this same truth (if it is one) applies when it comes to work that is of interest to the Patchworker. In my experience, it can. As the old saying goes, “People hire people,” and so the more people you make contact with, the better it is for you.
Although there are, of course, those standard networking groups that we all know and frequent, there is one tool that I find particularly useful in identifying location-specific networking groups or other interest-specific groups: MeetUp (www.meetup.com). I love this site and have a lot of experience organizing groups and joining existing groups as a regular member. My advice is, scan the Meetup groups in your area and look for a freelancer’s meetup, a specialty meetup (such as Web designers), or a group that may be seeking your services that would allow you to come in and offer a presentation and pass out business cards. Take a look at the Meetup groups in your area and consider the possibilities. Networking with both like-minded people and potential clients can be a lucrative and rewarding combination!
Evaluation is all about sizing up the opportunities that appear on the horizon and determining how closely they align with the priorities that matter most to you. You may wish to be highly selective right from the beginning or to work slowly toward that goal. Your approach will be determined in part by your finances, your emotional state, your personality, and other salient factors. Keep in mind the guiding principle discussed in Chapter 9, “Guiding Beliefs of the Patchwork Principle”: Small jobs may lead to big opportunities, so consider the hidden potential of every opportunity.
If an opportunity appears to have potential, don’t rule it out until after you get a chance to speak with the decision maker about the details of the would-be position. Sometimes the work you initially inquire about can be put on the back burner as the decision maker presents some more-pressing need within the organization for which you are qualified. In some cases, these secondary opportunities are even more attractive and potentially higher paying based on their priority at that moment in time.
Ultimately, only you can determine whether a potential opportunity for work is a good fit with your Lifestyle Design. Survey the possibilities, identify promising leads, and charge ahead; stand and deliver!
As we wrap up this chapter, let’s take a look at the cardinal rules of fishing to guide you as you set out to cast your line into the sea of opportunity:
Cast your net wide, enjoy the experience, and reap the rewards of fishing for leads. The more you fish, the better your technique will become. So, get started—go fish!
1 Wikipedia, s.v. “Eagle,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eagle#The_word (accessed August 20, 2010).
2 The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, “Gulls and man,” www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/features/gulls.aspx (accessed August, 24 2010).
3 The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.
4 Drake Benett, “The End of the Office and the Future of Work,” The Boston Globe, January 17, 2009, www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2010/01/17/the_end_of_the_office_and_the_future_of_work/?page=3 (accessed August 20, 2010).
5 “Finding a ‘Flexible’ Job,” Cable News Network, television interview, www.flexjobs.com/cnnvideo.htm (accessed March 5, 2010).
6 “Working from Home: Reverse Outsourcing,” ABC News, February 15, 2010, television interview, http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/JobClub/video/working-home-reverse-outsource-9840138 (accessed August 20, 2010).