Everyday Cool Tips: What Freelancers Can Learn From John Mayer

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

What Freelancers Can Learn From John Mayer

The fact that you can learn anything from John Mayer might surprise you, but I learned a lot about how you can ruin your reputation through social media and interviews in this NPR interview with the musician on All Things Considered this afternoon.

I have to admit, I am not a John Mayer fan. He bothers me. I can?t stand to watch him sing. And after a couple of nitty gritty interviews in 2010?one for Rolling Stone and one for Playboy?I didn?t like what I heard, either.

In Mayer?s interview with Playboy, he made racial comments, talked about his sex life with his famous exes, and made homosexual comments?all of which made the public scream Too Much Information!

In a 2010 Rolling Stone feature, we got six full pages of crazy Mayer?s…

?stream-of-consciousness ranting, in which the reader learned that the “Daughters” singer has a $20 million watch collection, owns a bulletproof vest, can’t resist “poop Twitters,” believes he has “masturbated [himself] out of serious problems” in his life and describes how even in his sex dreams, he has to stop his virtual mate from grinding on him because he’s distracted by a phantom paparazzo. These were all very personal, TMI-style utterances that the average guarded modern pop star would never reveal.?MTV.com

Can?t this guy shut up? Well, after all of this, he did. For about two years.

Mayer didn?t know when to shut up. His choice of words were his demise. But it didn?t have to be that way.

Be Strategic About Your Path

The salient problem was that I saw anything I wanted to do as a road worth taking. As if I was an exception to every rule.?John Mayer on NPR

You can?t be everything to everyone. Have a focus. If it?s writing, be the best writer you can be. Have a knack for creating snappy ad copy? Focus on that! What you don?t want to do is go 100 miles per hour in a direction that doesn?t make sense for your business. You need to take calculated risks and be honest with yourself.

I recently got a brand new camera. And I love it. But just because I have an awesome, high quality camera doesn?t mean I should forget my writing and try to become a photographer.

Having great equipment doesn?t automatically mean you are good at using it. I can learn about my new camera and practice with it, and even supplement my stories with some great images, but it?s not something I can master tomorrow. And I can?t give up my bread and butter.

Boring is a State of Mind

I didn?t want to be boring. I got in the worst trouble ever over and over again in my life from the time I was four until two years ago because I didn?t want to be boring.?John Mayer on NPR

When you are your brand, living a ?boring? life isn?t terrible. It keeps you out of trouble! Mayer shot his mouth off using offensive language and profanity, spilling intimate details about his relationships so he wouldn?t look ?boring.? But guess what? He lost more than he gained.

You have to be so careful about what you put out there on your social media sites because it cannot be erased. Post drunken naked photos of yourself? Make a sexist comment? Whine about a current client? You never know whose hands these juicy tidbits of information will fall into. They could cost you embarrassment and future work.

Be Yourself

I remember thinking to myself ?this is Rolling Stone, you gotta to give a Rolling Stone interview. And that?s the miscalculation. All you have to do is be honest.?John Mayer on NPR

Don?t treat people different, no matter who they are. You should give the same level of service to every client, no matter their status or what they are paying you. That?s called being professional.

Of course you will have to tailor your work for each of your clients, but you don?t have to be a different person for each. For one thing, it?s exhausting! There is nothing wrong with just being yourself?especially when you are the sole person representing your work. People like consistency.

Don’t Make Excuses

When you think you can correct your way out of anything, you will eventually learn you cannot just correct your way out of everything.?John Mayer on NPR

There is nothing that annoys me more than when someone keeps making the same mistakes over and over again and thinking that apologizing makes up for it. It doesn?t.

Learn from your mistakes so that you don?t make them again. Focus on doing the job right the first time, instead of fixing all of the mistakes you made after you hand in the assignment. Excuses are just that?an excuse. And excuses get really old really fast.