801 - Socializing for Introverts and Organizing Events with Emily Leach

04/13/20 • 44 min

Today's co-host is Emily Leach. Emily has been a freelancer for 20 years and organizes many big events, including TEDx Talks and the Freelance Conference.

Emily is a hustler. If she puts her mind to something, she goes out and does it. Most recently, she set out to host her first virtual summit. Freelance Conference (or FreeCon), was created out of a need that Emily was already working to fill through her site, Texas Freelance Association.

In the beginning, she had hundreds of freelancers, but no gigs. Knowing that it would fizzle out quickly if she didn’t do something, she started personally evaluating jobs on Craigslist and other platforms and then hand-matching them to freelancers in her community.

As Emily watched the community grow, and more freelancers find the support they needed, she saw an opportunity to scratch her own itch and create something unique. And thus FreeCon was born.

In today's episode, I talk with Emily about socializing for introverts, how to find solutions by looking at your own skillset, and how to evaluate your business needs without over-committing yourself.

I really want their [freelancers] voice out there. It gives me an opportunity to support the work that you guys are doing and put you in front of other people and engage with what you're talking about and help some other freelance business owners get more reach. ~ @emilyleach

Main takeaways

It's important for freelancers to be able to meet up and support each other through shared ideas and networking. Conferences are a great way to do this.
Figure out how to market your skillset. You may not even realize that you possess a skill that's valuable or needed by someone else. You can become a specialist by looking at what people need.
It's easy to take on a lot of different projects as a freelancer, but once you're over-committed, it can be hard to identify what you should let go. It’s important to evaluate everything you’re doing and figure out what’s important.

Links and important mentions

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For full show notes and resources

Live In The Feast - Episode 1 of Season 8

Today's co-host is Emily Leach. Emily has been a freelancer for 20 years and organizes many big events, including TEDx Talks and the Freelance Conference.

As Emily watched the community grow, and more freelancers find the support they needed, she saw an opportunity to scratch her own itch and create something unique. And thus FreeCon was born.

Main takeaways

It's important for freelancers to be able to meet up and support each other through shared ideas and networking. Conferences are a great way to do this.
Figure out how to market your skillset. You may not even realize that you possess a skill that's valuable or needed by someone else. You can become a specialist by looking at what people need.
It's easy to take on a lot of different projects as a freelancer, but once you're over-committed, it can be hard to identify what you should let go. It’s important to evaluate everything you’re doing and figure out what’s important.

Links and important mentions

Stay in touch

For full show notes and resources

Live In The Feast - Episode 1 of Season 8

Previous Episode

710 - Improving User Research and Asking the Right Question with Michele Ronsen

Today’s co-host is Michele Ronsen. Michele has been teaching design and user research for more than 20 years, and is the founder of Curiosity Tank, a design and user research firm in San Francisco.

Michele partners with companies and individuals to improve and grow businesses using a data-driven, consumer-centric approach. She’s worked with companies like Slack and Zillow, and she’s a regular instructor at General Assembly.

One of the primary ways she does this is by helping people ask better questions. It’s not rocket science. But there is an art to asking the right questions, and setting them up in a way where your customers will answer honestly.

In today’s episode, we talk about how you can apply these principles in your own business. Michele also helps us better understand the fine art of digging deeper in a meaningful and effective way.

In this episode Michele talked about:

The differences between working with solo entrepreneurs and more mature companies with established user experience knowledge.
Figuring out what you want to learn, understanding where you are in the learning process, and applying that knowledge.
The core follow-up phrases she teaches in her The Art Of The Interview class.

"User research to me is part art, part science and part improv. And that improv to me is a lot of acting, getting into that beginner’s mindset, and exploring and mining these areas with that mindset". ~ Michele Ronsen

Main Takeaways

There are two ways to gather information: listening and observation. Listening helps us understand the “why”. Observation helps us understand habits, behaviors, and actions.
Talk to customers and get their feedback. It can be scary to reach out, but it’s worth it.
Don’t shy away from criticism. Even critical feedback can help us understand how we can improve our customer experience.
Be fully present in all of your interactions with people. Be engaged and make observations about things like body language. There is a difference between what people say and what people do, and if you’re distracted during interactions, you might end up missing these nuances.
Practice and get comfortable with essential follow-up phrases.

Important Mentions in this Episode

Curiosity Tank
Curiosity Tank classes - Use promo code FEAST15 for 15% off any class
Curiosity Tank Newsletter
Sales Call Role Play
Michele on LinkedIn

Next Episode

802 - Experimenting, Getting Unstuck, and Why You Should Build a Team (Even If You Don’t Want To) with Matt Giovanisci

Today’s co-host is Matt Giovanisci. Matt is a serial entrepreneur and the founder of Money Lab, a website where he writes, podcasts, and chronicles epic experiments about making money online.

Matt is a proud generalist. Over the course of his career, he has worked with clients, created online courses and products, and built multiple businesses. He’s also a musician.

As a kid, he started out as a pool boy. He taught himself how to build websites and created Swim University, which is still his main business today.

One of the recurring themes in Matt’s story is his desire to constantly learn and try new things. This has created lots of twists and turns in his career, but he’s figured out how to make it work for him.

One of the things he does particularly well is documentation. He knows how to show his work, as Seth Godin likes to say, and writes in-depth articles about everything he tries.

In today’s episode, we talk about how to run experiments in your business without losing focus, how to get around the roadblocks holding you back, and why you should build a team, even if you like doing everything yourself.

"If someone tells me I can't, I will. If someone tells me it's impossible, I will do whatever it takes to make it possible." ~ @MattGiovanisci

Main takeaways

Transitioning your focus from one aspect of your business to another comes from your desire to learn and grow. Having a generalist perspective can make this process easier.
If you continue to do everything yourself, you're wasting time that could be spent growing your company. Hiring someone is a great way to force yourself to focus on the things only you can do.
Take new projects one step at a time. If you think you need something, investigate it. Create a hypothesis, try it out, and let that inform your decisions.

Links and important mentions

Stay in touch

For full show notes and resources