Why You Struggle With Self Promotion And What To Do About It

Matteo Cassese is a business storytelling coach who has freelanced for 13 years. At Freelance Unlocked 2024 he argues that self-promotion feels bad because of fear, and that the way out is to stop thinking "I must sell" and start thinking "people can buy from me": be generous enough to let clients choose you.

**What the talk covers**

- The audience names the blockers: looking desperate, imposter syndrome, risk to your reputation, a culture that frowns on promoting yourself, fear of not delivering. In his view our image of a salesperson is the sleazy one from films.
- Two ways to handle fear. Adopt someone else's sales framework, which by his account only works if you can act like a machine. Or treat it as a practical problem: clients need to know you exist.
- "How can I be useful?" is the wrong question, he says. After leaving a corporate job in 2011 he built what looked useful, such as marketing campaigns, and neither he nor his clients were happy. The harder questions are who you are and what you are worth.
- Nobody sells, someone buys. His example is a headset that makes you sweat: even Apple fans in the room would not all buy one. A strong brand makes it easier, but the principle holds for everyone.
- Your relationship with money. He asks whether you treat it as a necessary evil, and says that attitude can keep you from showing your value. Before changing direction he needed months without money pressure.
- Conflict: when a pitch is questioned or turned down, he says, that is where the work starts.

**From the Q&A**

People sense whether you tell the truth, so be yourself, although he calls that a journey. Clients in the social sector need not mean lower pay if you are strong at what you do.

**Who it's for**

Freelancers who dislike selling themselves.