#022 - Heads, Hands, and Results

#022 - Heads, hands, and results.

It's important to understand whether you're providing a head, hands, or results when you're being engaged by a client. How you position your value hangs in the balance.

The last seven months have been a wild ride.

I’ve been freelancing for a new start-up called Clicks.tech.

One of the best parts has been learning from some incredibly seasoned entrepreneurs.

This week, one of the co-founders gave me a look into how his brain works.

His insights into growing businesses, building teams, and getting stuff done offer important lessons to freelancers thinking about how to position themselves for startups

When this leader considers how to tackle work that needs to be done, he evaluates whether he needs heads, hands, or results.

Part 1: Heads, Hands & Results

Heads

Some tasks are more intellectual, requiring deep thinking and analysis. This could involve weighing different options or making one-way door decisions on strategy. Tasks in this startup that have required hiring heads may include:

• Developing positioning and messaging
• Building out the go-to-market plan
• Making decisions on industrial design

Hands

The second bucket of work is tied to tasks that need to 'get done'. These projects need doers - arms and legs to translate plans into action. This might include work like:

• Managing media inquiries
• Orchestrating a reviews program
• Creating brand assets and content

Results

The third bucket of work comes down to delivering measurable results. Examples might include:

• Securing earned media coverage
• Running a paid media campaign

It’s important to note that none of these is more important than another. There’s no hierarchy between the three. Without hands to execute the strategy, heads go to waste.

Part 2: Different engagement models

What struck me about this way of thinking were the implications of how the business evaluated engagement models and investments in different projects.

Head work might be more time-bound, so it could be more conducive to project-based engagements, fixed-fee pricing, or a retainer.

These projects may not be long engagement periods with a high quantity of outputs.

For freelancers looking to win head work, it’s important to convey the depth of your experience and the ability to bring deep insight at exactly the right time.

Hands work is tied to getting stuff done.

Hourly rates often make sense for these types of projects.

When the volume of work increases, hands work is often quite easy to scale up by hiring more freelancers or contractors to lighten the load and increase output.

Because hand work is often priced by the hour, or maybe through retainer, it’s important that freelancers demonstrate they are efficient and able to work independently.

Results work is exactly what it sounds. Paying for results and outcomes.

There’s been a rise in pay-for-performance-based pricing models in the freelance world, where service provider compensation is tied to the impact unlocked by the work.

The more of a KPI is achieved, the more the freelancer stands to gain.

What makes results work amazing is that when you demonstrate your impact, clients will begin to pour fuel on these projects to accelerate growth.

Part 3: New models of engagement

In the last 6 months, I’ve seen a growing number of freelancers blending engagement models and pricing strategies.

Take a pay-for-performance PR model, for example:

In this approach, a baseline monthly retainer covers work tied to developing pitches, building and maintaining the media list, and some of the pitching work. It's pretty standard.

But here’s where it gets interesting.

When coverage is secured, the PR expert earns a performance-based payout tied to the tier of the media outlet.

This model trades less upfront, guaranteed compensation for the potential for a larger payout on the back end when results are achieved.

It works for the client because they’re paying for results (vs. simple activity), and there’s an upside for the freelancer when they knock it out of the park!

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Heads, hands, and results aren’t siloed activities.

Head work often includes hands to get work done.

Hand work isn’t thoughtless; it takes attention to detail and doesn’t happen on autopilot.

My recent glimpse into building a business offered perspective into how startup leaders think about the jobs to be done, decide on who to hire, and how to place value on those tasks.

When evaluating freelancers and contractors, clients consider what the task requires (head, hands, results) and evaluate what YOU provide based on your brand, experience, and way of working.

There’s a huge opportunity for freelancers who can embrace this way of thinking and put it front and center when positioning their value so that the fit is crystal clear.

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Jeff

Freelance Marketing Alliance

p.s. Hey! I'm really trying to grow the subscriber base so that we can introduce some more tools, resources, and support for freelancers. Would you consider sending this to 2 other freelancers or consultants? Thanks!

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