Be Your Own Client - Catapult Creative

Be Your Own Client

Once upon a time, I was approached about a copywriting job for a small, social media growth company. In doing my due diligence research, I checked out their website and their social channels, which I was excited to explore since that is their specialty. As it turned out, their rate for my work was offensively low, but what I couldn’t get over is that they had less than 200 followers across their four different social media platforms combined.

Let me explain why this is a problem…if you don’t practice what you preach, it doesn’t exactly instill confidence that you’re any good. In this case, if I am a client and you’re telling me to invest my money in you and you will, in turn, grow my social media channels, but it doesn’t appear you can even do it for your own brand…no, thank you. For me, as a potential freelancer, I’m now writing about how you got it hella wrong and any network you potentially had access to through me is gone gone GONE.

Now, I’m not saying 100% I know that this group isn’t good at their jobs. But the materials they are putting out into the world, which should act as a portfolio, are telling me that I should assume they aren’t. So what is the solution? Well, I mean, be good at your job. More importantly, BE YOUR OWN CLIENT.

The work you do for other clients is great for examples, but shouldn’t the work you do for your own brand be great too? Is there an assumption that we aren’t an example for potential clients? An added bonus of looking at yourself as your own client is that you are free to test and try it all before bringing it to your clients – you get to have fun with full freedom. Make the most of it!

Easy to say, I know. But easy to do with the thoughts below:

  • MAKE THE DAMN TIME – We all preach about making time for self-care in our personal lives, so shouldn’t we be doing it in our professional lives too? If you run a business and are struggling to keep your head above water to the point of not being able to manage your own brand, you’ve taken on too much work (or are working harder instead of smarter). Figure out how to say “no” and prioritize yourself. Even if it is 30 minutes a day – make the time to reflect and work on what you’re putting out into the world when it comes to YOUR brand.

  • YOU ARE YOUR OWN PORTFOLIO – “Those who can’t do, teach” is bullsh*t. So make sure that you are doing for your own brand what you would do for your clients. Think about the reflection on your services/company if you aren’t spending much time on building your own brand. And then consider what it looks like to the outside world (and the internal one too) when you are spending the time. Be your best example.

  • REMOVE THE PERSONAL – Think outside yourself. Be as tough on the work you do for your own brand as you would for a client. You’re in charge of yourself, so you can impact the change and drive the beauty that comes out of taking yourself seriously.

Not easy. We get it - we get super busy too, but this is about longevity.
And if you can’t get out of your own way to take yourself seriously, you can’t expect others to either.

BACK TO BLOG