“Do work and get paid once.” Build and asset and you get paid for as long as it lasts.”—Seth Godin—If you are a self-employed business owner, entrepreneur, solo professional or in the corporate world you certainly have bought assets.
But the most important assets are not the ones that you buy. They are the ones that you build because they allow you to use the ones that you buy.
Your brand. A brand isn’t a logo. It’s a promise and an expectation. When you over deliver, you earn trust, trust that can bring you repeat business, access to new opportunities and the privilege of being able to count on your customers coming back.
Permission. The privilege of delivering anticipated, personal and relevant messages to the people who want to get them. People who would miss you if you were gone.
Expertise. You might lose your job, but they can’t take away what you’ve learned. If all you’ve done is what you’ve done before, you might get paid but didn’t earn an asset.
In just three words, then, there’s the huge chasm between the trusted, experience freelancer, the one you’re happy to hear from when she has a new idea, and the newbie or the short-term maximizer. Those guys have to start from scratch, each and every time.
To be continued next week….
