Re: Marketing Yourself

[Bruce Byfield <bbyfield -at- AXIONET -dot- COM>]

Subject:
      Re: Marketing Yourself
  Date:
      Fri, 12 Dec 1997 09:13:40 EST
  From:
Cody wrote:

>I am looking for help in marketing my Tech Writing skills as >an independent contractor. My first instinct is to make cold >calls to companies who may need my expertise. I've thought of >creating brochures or packets to leave with potential clients. >Any thoughts?

Both these things are useful techniques. However, don't select one, or
even two or three techniques for marketing yourself. Try everything you
can think of. You never know what may lead to a job.

To give you an extreme example, I got my latest contract partly because,
when I was sent for an interview by a recruiting agency ten months ago,
and the vice-president discovered that, like him, I keep parrots. The
first thing one of the QA staff said to me was, "Oh, you're another of
those bird freaks."

The office is pretty much divided between cat lovers and bird lovers,
but that's another story.

The point is, there's a lot of strange paths towards a job, and, as a
contractor, you don't want to ignore any of them.
--
Bruce Byfield, Outlaw Communications
(bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com)  (604) 421-7189
http://www.axionet.com/outlawcommunications (Updated 23 November, 1997)

So I'll walk the plank
And I'll jump with a smile
If I'm gonna go down
I'm gonna do it with style."
--Ani DiFranco, "Dilate"


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