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The Man on the Promenade
In one of his books on screenwriting, William Goldman tells the story of the time he was having lunch outside a hotel at the Cannes Film Festival. He was surrounded by the great and the good of the film industry, all having lunch and immersed in Meetings. He noticed an older man, sixties or seventies, across the road on the promenade. He was obviously a street performer, dressed in a leotard and doing somersaults and gymnastics and acrobatics worthy of a man half his age. After about half an hour of this activity the man crossed the road and went among the diners, passing his hat around for money...and was ignored by everyone, absorbed in their own little worlds. \
Thisis sometimes the way I feel about freelancing. When you go to a meeting or go networking, you’re affable, friendly and good humoured and you put a lot of effort to give the best showcase you can of yourself and your services. You explain how these can benefit businesses.You hand out brochures, send emails, do follow-up emails, phone calls… and get ignored. Or brushed off. Or you get a flicker of interest but they want it for peanuts. Occasionally, you get a decent looking prospect and then it falls through because of budgets/ new person in charge/ change of mind and you’re back doing your gymnastics.
Anyone else feel like The Man on the Promenade?