There are 2 ways to approach your work: as order taker (an employee mindset) or as strategic partner (an entrepreneurial mindset). And it doesn’t really matter who’s signing your paycheck or whether you are actually self employed. These are your 2 choices.
You might be surprised to hear that many of the self employed designers and creatives I work with start off with an “order-taking” mindset or attitude and think of their clients as their “boss.”
So sometimes my job, in addition to teaching them how to find better clients with bigger budgets, is to help evolve their mindset from order taker to strategic partner. Which is something you can do as an employee too. And that’s what we’re here to talk about today.
Let's talk about the two attitudes you can bring to your work, whether you are self employed or have a traditional J-O-B:
- Order-taker: You see yourself as an employee with a boss who tells you what to do and you do it as well as you can. You are dependent on them and their whims and generally have to do what they say because you need their money.
- Strategic Partner: You see yourself as a professional with ideas and creativity who wants to be a part of something. You think for yourself, you use your brain and you ask questions. You are not dependent on the client and if they don't like your ideas or your questions, you can use your proactive energy to go find someone who does appreciate what you bring to the table -- they are indeed out there.
Whether you are employed by the company or hired as a contractor, you can choose between these two attitudes. It is your choice.
For more on this:
- Listen to my podcast about what to do if you yearn for your clients to love you
- Read "Want to be valued for your brain?" -- a Quick Tip from earlier in the year about how to go from "order-taker" to "strategic partner"
- If you want to receive future posts on this blog via email, sign up here.
- Take advantage of the free 30-minute mentoring session to pick my brain.