Beginner Digital Nomad: Reach Out to Potential Clients or Build Your Skills First?

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In this short episode, I answer the following question:

So as a beginner in the digital nomad world, would you advise just going out there and reaching out to potential clients and just getting yourself out there versus maybe educating and growing your following before doing so?

Saterra Jean:

So as a beginner in the digital nomad world, would you advise just going out there and reaching out to potential clients and just getting yourself out there versus maybe educating and growing your following before doing so?

Skye:

I think the answer to this one is not whether you go out there and connect with clients or you educate and grow your following. I think the answer is you do both So a lot of the time we look for, should I go in this direction? Or should I go in that direction? And typically the answer is we need to do both.

So there's a short term and there's a long term approach, the short term approach is go out there connect with clients. That's what I would call hunting. And we absolutely have to do that. The longer term approach is educate yourself. So you can create more value for the client, and also build your following.

So you, you know, have an audience and there's also some social proof that, you know, you're a value creator in the world. And that longer term approach is what I would call farming.

So what I would tell you is you need to do both, I think absolutely start connecting with people. If you're passive and you wait for the world to come to you, often they won't. What you need to do is get as many people aware of you as possible, and that could be through social media.

But if it is, then maybe you dm people, so I dm probably about 30 people a day. And I'm not asking for anything. I'm just creating value. I'm sharing resources that are completely unrelated to my business or what I do, I'm connecting with them commenting about something that I liked. So I'm showing up on their radar.

And that's more of a hunting type thing, because people are aware of me and I know that I can create value for them once they know me. So it's really a game of just connecting with as many people as possible.

On the longer term perspective, absolutely. Educating yourself so you can create more value. And building a following is important. And it's especially important, you know, if you're going to put yourself out there as a social media manager, but you don't have a social following, then that's going to hurt your credibility.

So it does depend. I would really look at what type of Freelancer or digital nomad Am I trying to become? If I am asking businesses to let me be a content creator for them, I'd make sure I had awesome content before I started connecting with people.

If I'm a web developer, and making sure my website works really well on mobile and on desktop, and it's really gonna wow somebody because you will your highest version of your work.

So when somebody actually digs deeper and looks at your stuff, you can't have an excuse about, Oh, I didn't get to do the website yet, or it's a new social account, you're done, your credibility is shot at that point. So I would tell you do both and do them to the best of your ability.

The process for doing that is I would look at what assets Do you need to create. And these are the things that other people are going to come and look at and judge your ability to do something.

I would create those assets first, then I would start connecting with people so that when they do connect with me, the asset that they see first, maybe it's my social media account on my website, really impresses them, because then I'm established as a value creator in their mind and they're willing to engage with me on a different level.

That would be my recommendation. That is where I would start. And then it's really just a case of keep maintaining that asset. Keep creating new assets, and keep connecting with people and watch the magic happen.