The New Freelancer’s Advantage: Attunement

If you’re selling freelance services, you’d do well to tune your perspective to your potential client’s. Daniel Pink calls this process “attunement” in his book To Sell is Human. When we understand our clients’ problems and goals, we can design services that specifically solve for those.

Ironically, the more success you gain, the harder this becomes. Pink references a Northwestern University study in which different people were tasked with interpreting an email. Those deemed in “high-power” positions were much worse at understanding the perspective of the email sender than those in “low-power” positions. 

The new freelancer has an advantage over the seasoned freelancer in this area. The seasoned freelancer has run many successful projects—when a client asks for something new, they’ll write it off. But the new freelancer is in a “low-power” position. They’ll try to understand their client’s goals, and create a new offering that changes the game.

Attunement is a constant battle in freelancing. The more success we gain, the harder it gets. We need to consistently set aside our success and choose to really listen. That’s the best path to another success.