If you don't respect your business, no one else will 🙌
- Emma Nelson
- Apr 16
- 4 min read
How to craft a professional persona and get potential clients to take you seriously.
As a quick exercise, consider the following scenario…
There are two freelance photographers who you’re thinking about hiring to cover your wedding.
Both have great samples of their work on their somewhat popular Instagram accounts. Both have professional-looking websites showcasing their portfolios and contact information. Each has identical pricing and camera equipment.
You set up a meeting at a local coffee shop with each potential photographer.
The first shows up about five minutes late wearing a T-shirt and sweatpants. He slouches across from you and answers your questions with little interest. His photos and pricing are great, but his hair is greasy and he seems more interested in getting through the meeting than making you a priority.
The second shows up about five minutes early wearing a button-down top and a nice pair of khakis. He starts off with good eye contact and a firm handshake, answers your questions with ease, and seems truly excited at the prospect of capturing your special day.
Now, which are you going to hire?
That’s not even much of a question, is it?
That’s because, while both photographers signaled professionalism to you online, only one signaled it to you when you met.
If you get nothing else out of today’s post, remember these two key takeaways:
If you don’t respect your business, no one else will.
If you don’t take your business seriously, no one else will.
Besides looking put together and answering questions well in meetings with potential clients, though, what goes into crafting a professional persona so that clients will take you seriously?
Here are three things that have helped me land more clients with professionalism.
1. Stay up-to-date on industry knowledge. 📅
Educate yourself on your niche! When a potential client meets with you, they’re hoping that you’re the solution to a problem they’re facing. So if you don’t have answers to their basic industry-related questions, you undermine your credibility and make it hard for potential clients to trust you with their project and their money. Learn about and stay up-to-date on publishing, memoir writing, website copywriting, sales, or whatever it is that you sell as a freelancer so that you can really “wow” potential clients and convince them that you’re the person for the job.
For me, as a memoir ghostwriter, this looks like reading successful memoirs by other authors, studying ghostwriting/interviewing techniques from successful memoir ghostwriters, and developing extensive publishing knowledge to guide my clients’ projects from start to finish.
2. Show up early for meetings and dress to impress. ⏱️👔
Say it with me:
I WILL NOT BE LATE TO A MEETING WITH A POTENTIAL CLIENT.
And also:
I WILL NOT MISS A MEETING WITH A POTENTIAL CLIENT.
Barring extreme/emergency circumstances, you should never miss or be late to a meeting with a potential client, especially if it is the first meeting you have ever had with that individual or business. Signaling right off the bat that you won’t respect their time, you won’t make them a priority, and/or you’re unorganized is a surefire way to lose out on high-paying work!
Showing up a few minutes late might not seem like a big deal to you, but in the professional world, it can be the difference between landing or losing a gig. Take meetings seriously, show up, and show up on time.
When you show up, whether that’s via Zoom or in person, be sure to dress the part. Wear a professional shirt, dress, etc. Look, I get it: one of the best parts of being a freelancer is that you can work from home in your sweats. But when it’s time for meetings with potential clients, it’s also time to put in a little effort to reflect the professionalism and seriousness of what you do.
3. Always be business-ready. 💼
When you attend a networking event, meeting with a potential client, or social event where your potential clients may be, always be ready to give a quick pitch of your business. Have a 30-second “here is what I do and here is how it helps people” speech ready to go. You never know when you’ll meet your next client, or someone who can connect you with your next client.
Prepare a digital business card so that people can scan and save your business contact information with very little effort. Have a website to direct new connections to, an easy-to-use digital calendar, and a strong portfolio that you can send over to potential clients. I can’t tell you how many of my meetings with potential clients resulted from connections I made at networking events/social meet-ups - all because I could get them on my calendar and in my phone the moment I met them.
Since freelancing seems like something anyone can do, you have to set yourself apart by establishing the professionalism, seriousness, and success of your business. Knowing about your industry, showing up on time for meetings, looking professional in professional settings, and prepping a quick pitch of your freelancing business will help you convince potential clients that you are the type of dedicated, hard-working freelancer they want to hire for their project.
Thanks for reading today’s post. Let me know in the comments which of these three tips you found most helpful, and feel free to share any tips you have for professionalism in freelancing! ✍️ For more great tips on freelancing for a living, be sure to subscribe to my Substack newsletter for FREE with your email.
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