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Seth Godin’s Freelancing Course on Udemy: 

 Feel free to duplicate and share these questions – and follow along. It’s a course for freelancers who want to move up (Do these exercises online, in public. Blog them or put them on Facebook. Speak up. Speak out.)

WHO ARE YOU?

Assignment What do you want to do?
(Not your job, but your work, now, tomorrow, and in the future)

I want to help people change the world. I want to empower and build up – to not only encourage but to actually enable people with the resources they need to become self-sustaining. I want to help people change the world, not through handouts but the hand ups – meaning providing value far in excess of what they need to collect. Meaning I don’t want to just help people ask for donations – I want to help people create products and services people happily pay for because of the tremendous value it brings to them.

Who do you want to change, and how do you want to change them?
*If you’re having trouble answering this, you’re going to have trouble moving up because you’ve abdicated your dream to whoever walks in the door next.

I want to change the way that non-profits operate – from asking for donations to asking how they can give back and help change more lives. I want to help entrepreneurs who are inventing and changing industries – to create economic growth engines that take off. I know how to tell stories through video – be that scripted content and interviews. I see the way to help these changemakers being through documentaries. Moving the heart through capturing emotions – to showcase the good in the world.

Assignment: How much risk? 

(from 1 [a little] to 10 [bet everything]), how much are you willing to put at stake to make the change you seek?

5. I have 4 kids and a wife to provide for – so I’ve got to be ambitious and focused while also not letting down my family commitments to provide a roof, food, and father in their lives.

How much work are you willing to do to get there? Be specific about the tradeoffs.

Willing to stay up late 2 nights a week and early 1 day a week to work specifically towards this project.

Does this project matter enough for the risk and the effort you’re putting into it?

Yes – it’s what I want to focus on as my career in the future. I’m 30 years old now, my goal is to be completely telling stories by the time I’m 35.

Is it possible — has anyone with your resources ever pulled off anything like this? 

There are plenty of YouTubers who are transitioning to self-projects and away from client-projects. So yes. It’s not easy – not guaranteed – but with intentionality and hard work – building the right team it is possible.

 

Section 1 – Lecture 8 – WHAT DO YOU PROVIDE?

What do people buy when they buy something from you?

I provide handcrafted videos that tell stories. My films dive into the essence of a brand or organization and capture the ‘who’. It’s the WHO that must connect in order for their ‘WHY’ to matter. People don’t care until they know you care. They need to know who you are – when they know you they can believe in you – they trust you – they act above and beyond what they think they could ever do because they believe you believe in them – and they trust you more than themselves. We try to help you share your ‘WHO’ because your ‘WHY’ won’t matter otherwise.

That looks like story driven – authentic conversations capturing a slice of a person’s life – sharing what they are passionate about and what is a piece of their being – a piece of their existence. We make videos that capture that identity in a way that others don’t.

Leave out the easy, repetitive, generic stuff… What are you doing that’s difficult?

The difficult thing I do is ensure that the end piece we create authentically comes together in a way that shares that story. It’s easy to check the boxes in the task list. It’s easy for someone to create a look-a-like but it will never have that original finish. Putting people at ease is a talent and skill built up over years that’s super difficult to gain – and makes the difference between your interviewee or employee appearing stiff or coming off as comfortable in the finished video.

The hard part is not the 90% of editing – it’s the final 10% that takes it from a high “B” range to the solid A+ piece of work. It’s not doing everything myself – it’s the storytelling and final pacing of the story that moves the heart. It’s the conversations that break down those barriers in a person’s psychology that’s unfortunately very difficult to duplicate.