I'm Rubber and You're Glue

Developing resiliency as a freelancer and entrepreneur has been a fun topic of discussion for the coworkers at Cohere this week.

What is resiliency? The ability to overcome obstacles, to keep going no matter what, to have thick skin, to accept your circumstances and keep trying, to keep innovating, the wherewithal to keep on keep on-ing.

At #frankfriday today we talked about what things/feelings manifest themselves as potential areas to build up resilience.

Cohere members have developed ways to deal with rejection.  Writers, especially, have to deal with rejection a lot.  Maybe your work didn’t strike a chord with the editor or maybe you got the dreaded “it’s just okay” feedback but learning how to bounce back from this feedback will be essential for your ongoing mental health as a freelancer.  Plus, you probably have crappy health insurance, so let’s be proactive with your emotional fitness here.

Tips from the Cohere Coworkers on how to become more resilient:

  • Be confident in who you are and the work that you create.  Your work will NOT appeal to everyone.  In fact, your work might only appeal to 20 people in the whole world.  Spend your energy finding those 20 people, not trying to please the masses.
  • Feel the fear and do it anyway.  Submit your work even if you think you might get rejected.  You probably will get rejected but practice makes perfect!
  • Learn to distinguish between helpful and hurtful criticism.  Not everyone has your best interests in mind.  Finding the people who do will be critical to your continued development as an artist.
  • Your once rejected work will probably circle back around and become new and sought after at a later date.  Consider this to be your sign that you were way ahead of your time and the rest of the world is finally catching up.
  • Cry.  Sometimes you just need to feel the pain to be able to do anything about it.  As one coworker shared, “if you keep a bow strung all the time, it will lose its tension (and effectiveness).”  Unstring your bow from time to time and regenerate.  You’ll come back springier and more awesome after.

How have you developed resiliency in your freelance business?

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