Hey Reader,

I had one client for years. Good work, warm relationship, and I wanted more work. After on of our business lunches, I steeled myself, and asked "Can I have more work?" I meant it as warm, I like working for you, and this is something I really enjoy doing.

Instantly, I saw in their eyes, that this was not a welcomed conversation. The relationship never got back to what it was. It cooled. Permanently.

Think about the way I asked, and the three things this cost me:

• Not sharing stories, or other connections, the water cooler talks
• Limited to transactional, logistic conversations, who what where and when, and no whys
• More work opportunities, because I was seen as hustle-y, or over-eager

But.

I see that the way I asked was what the problem was. It put the other person in charge of my career, and made them do math about me.

Making something worth having, and letting them find it, has worked better for me every time. I built the podcast because I wanted the conversations. It got me hired anyway. The book opens doors that asking never opened.

So here's the actual move, and I'll give you the sentence.

Make the thing first. Then send it to the person, finished, with nothing attached to it:

"I made (the thing you made), plus a short piece on the choices behind it. Sending it in case it's useful to your team."

That's it. No availability, no rates, no "I'd love to chat." The work does the asking, and you keep the relationship either way. If they want you, they'll write back with a question, and answering a question is a much better conversation than making a request.

Two things go with it. Hire a blind collaborator and compensate them, because if you're making something for blind audiences without a blind person in the process, you're guessing.

And pick material nobody assigned you.

That's the second half of BoothCamp. Four weeks building one piece of Audio Description that's yours, on material you pick.

In the last cohort, Maren recorded a children's picture book two ways, edited and a director's cut, plus a video on why she made both. Jason wrote a first pass of extended Audio Description for a movie whose released track couldn't hold everything on screen. Ellen described a patient education medical imaging video and used pause and resume to make the space for it. None of it existed eight weeks earlier.

Coaching in those four of eight weeks is about your situation, where you are, where you're going, and seeing what's in the way.

BoothCamp starts Wednesday September 16. $497. Learn more by clicking [ CLAIM A SEAT ] or the button below.

If you're still considering it, reply and tell me what you're looking for. That answer usually helps both of us figure out if this is the right fit.

Roy

P.S. BoothCamp starts September 16. If you're on the fence, don't click anything. Just hit reply and tell me what you're working on right now, or what you wish you were working on. I'll tell you straight whether this fall is the right time for you. Sometimes the answer might be a no, and it's best for both of us to know ahead of time rather than in week three.
​