Why You Should Give Back to The Community

Freelancing gives you a lot more freedom to be yourself than a traditional employed role. Instead of having to represent a company or corporation, you can proudly be yourself!

One of the best things about this is that you can choose what you do and don’t work on. You can focus on areas that you are passionate about, and use your work to do good.

Whether it’s your local community or a cause you are passionate about – it’s time to think about how you can give back – and why it can actually help your freelance business.

Why you should give back to the community through your freelance business

Table of contents:

Business Reasons Why Freelancers Should Give Back to Community:

1. Giving back to the community helps you build a good reputation for your freelance business

Having your business associated with charitable organisations and communities in your local area is always a good way to get your name out there and boost your reputation.

By doing this you show that you want to make a positive impact on the world and your local area. Being active in the community shows you are putting your walking the walk as well as talking the talk, and shows that your values are in a good place.

Of course, the quality of your work, the way you communicate with your clients, and your reliability, are all important factors that shape your reputation and you shouldn’t ignore them.

If you are not doing good work, or your clients see you as difficult to work with, your charitable efforts won’t make much of a difference.

2. You can attract the right type of clients easier

When your freelance business is committed to giving back to the community or supporting causes that you care about, you attract the attention of people who have similar outlooks and values to you. These people are likely to be the type of clients you want to work with.

Wearing your heart on your sleeve a little – and being passionate about what you believe can really help you to stand out. People hire people. So when you show that you care and support the same cause as they do, they feel a more personal connection to your business – and will be likely to support you over someone else.

If you play it safe, and avoid having an opinion, it can be really difficult to stand out at all. There’s nothing for anyone to get hold of and engage with.

In the book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, one of the principles of influence Cialdini talks about is ‘Liking’. The idea behind this is simple – the more you like someone, the more you will be influenced by them. Translated this into the business world, the more you like someone the more likely you will hire them. 

Since liking can be based on sharing the same interests and values – supporting the same cause as your potential clients is definitely something that they will like you for.

3. Networking opportunities

Charities and local communities tend to host a lot of events because that’s their way of raising awareness about their causes. These events are often sponsored by other businesses, which is why you will almost always find people from the business sector at these events.

I’m not saying you should be salesy and hand out your business cards to anyone who attends it. But don’t miss the opportunity to meet new people and create genuine connections with people who could be your potential clients.

As we discussed above, you already have something in common – the care about the same cause. So there’s no harm in explaining what you do and how your business is helping the cause.

If they don’t need your services, they might know someone who does and will be happy to recommend you because you are giving back to the cause. You never know from where the next client can come. So don’t shy away from meeting new people at these events.

4. It helps you differentiate your freelance business from others

When you support a cause, give back to your community through your freelance business, or have clear values, you can really stand out in the market.

By doing something out of the ordinary, and giving back to your communities, you can stand out and show that you are somebody who really cares.

Put yourself into your client’s shoes. If you’re choosing between a regular freelancer and a freelancer who gives free mentoring to socially deprived people – or who gives 10% of his earnings to charity – which would you choose to support and hire?

5. Giving back to the community boosts your freelance business exposure

Charities and communities don’t hold back when it comes to shouting loudly about who supports them.

A great added benefit to being active and genuine in your support of causes close to your heart is the fact that they will often give you free exposure.

Say you are a web designer and you create a free website for a charity you care about. They’re highly likely to share your name and trumpet your kind deed far and wide.

6. Give your work meaning

One of the downsides of freelancing can be that your work can all feel a little disjointed and unconnected.

By adding a mission to your work you can really add a sense of meaning.

For example, imagine you’d taken the Giving What We Can’s pledge to donate 10% of your earnings to the most effective charities in the world.

Suddenly getting more work and earning more money is literally a matter of life and death. You can make a genuine difference and have a genuine impact with what you do on a daily basis.


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Until next time,

Maja

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