Pain in the ass

😳 I am a pain in the ass! – Really?

As CEO of a medium-sized company I got many unsolicited messages from people that wanted to sell something. I read and tried to react to most of them. However, some of them were really annoying and a few really were a pain in the ass, bombarding my inbox again and again.

Now I am a freelancer and – guess what – I am the pain in the ass myself? I hope that my own experience and learning from others about a smarter way of selling will prevent me from being annoying. However, I have to expand my network and get into a conversation with people I do not know. That costs me a lot of effort – not only time wise, but overcoming my own fears.

Here is what I learned in the past months:

💡 Many people are open and willing to connect. A big thank you to these new connections that took time to talk to me.
💡 Conversations are extremely inspiring and interesting – even though the minority was about „selling my offer“.
💡 Conversations have completely unexpected outcomes – a good hint, a valuable connection or even a recommendation to the decision maker of another company.

A big thank you to all these new connections for the inspiring exchange. I am looking forward to many more of these conversations. For sure this will help me grow and establish my self-employment.

What about you? How do you connect to and exchange with people outside your direct network? What is your experience?