img src='http://rss.buysellads.com/img.php?z=1259904k=f7b7931ec28da9e4ff2580bfd4eddb18a=24691c=2119050922' border='0' alt='' //a/pbr /pWorking in the creative field means you are an open target for criticism. Someone doesn?t like your photography work, they think you?re a bad writer, or your prices are unfair. And as freelancers, it can be hard not to take criticism?no matter how well meaning?personally./p
pimg src="http://freelanceswitch.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/broken-pencil-sm.jpg" alt="" title="Broken Pencil" width="319" height="165" class="alignright size-full wp-image-24708" //p
pI read this blog post on a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesleadershipforum/2012/02/02/how-to-deal-with-really-tough-criticism-five-steps/"Forbes.com/a on how to deal with really tough criticism, written for people who are business leaders. While I?m not necessarily the target audience for this article, I did take away some good lessons that I?d like to share for the freelance set./p
pThe first thing we need to consider is that criticism in inevitable. But if we keep our defenses up and get overly emotional about what our critics say, we aren?t a href="http://freelanceswitch.com/freelancing-essentials/making-the-most-of-a-critique/"doing ourselves any favors/a./p
pHere?s a recent example from my own life. I am the editor of a yearly wedding magazine. We took a big risk this year and changed the paper stock for our cover. Instead of a glossy cover, we went with matte. Some of us in the office loved it and some of us didn?t?so we took the opportunity to ask our advertisers, featured photographers, and other industry leaders what they thought./p
pIt turns out, many other people didn?t like the matte cover, either, and they let us know on many different levels?from plugging their noses to smiling and offering heart felt advise. And while we were totally bummed that we took a risk that didn?t garner the results we wanted, we learned a lesson. We want to give people what they want?so next year, we?re going back to our glossy cover. Had we not asked, we may have decided otherwise./p
pHere are some tips from the article that I thought were useful.span id="more-24691"/span/p
h3Feel The Emotions, And Then Get Over Them/h3
pHave you ever a href="http://freelanceswitch.com/freelance-news/from-mark-cuban/"worked really hard/a on a project for a client, only to get a a href="http://freelanceswitch.com/the-business-of-freelancing/gig-gone-bad/"lackluster response/a with lots of edits? Yeah, me too. And I admit, I was mad. But being mad doesn?t fix the problem./p
pI usually give myself a window of time to sulk before I set it aside and get down to business. That way, I make sure I get all my anger and sadness out before starting in on a href="http://freelanceswitch.com/clients/when-a-client-doesnt-like-your-work/"fixing the project/a./p
blockquotepSanta Cruz Mayor Don Lane told a local newspaper that his 2012 New Year?s resolution was: ?I want to continue working on avoiding overreaction to criticism?and I have to keep reminding myself to remain calm and listen.? ?a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesleadershipforum/2012/02/02/how-to-deal-with-really-tough-criticism-five-steps/"Forbes.com/a/p/blockquote
pIt?s easy to overreact when you feel that you have been wronged. But if you let your emotions get in the way, you might miss out on some really good feedback./p
h3Build A Support Network/h3
pWhen you are a href="http://freelanceswitch.com/general/linkswitch-client-switch/"feeling down and out/a about a project or a client, it?s nice to have someone pick you up. Maybe it?s your mom, your spouse, a sibling, or a group of really good friends. Maybe it?s other freelancers who work in your industry./p
pI once got a rash of nasty emails and phone calls about a contest my company was running. These people were attacking my personality, my values, and my very existence?and they had never met me. At first I shrugged it off, but it started getting to me. I confided in a friend who owned his own PR firm in town. He responded by sending me some of the nasty emails he has gotten from angry people, who didn?t know him at all either. Knowing that I wasn?t the only one going through a tough situation made me feel a lot better. Plus, his emails were way more mean than the ones I was getting./p
pSometimes it feels good to complain to people who can empathize. I don?t make a habit of complaining and moaning to my industry friends?because no one likes a Debbie Downer?but sometimes it?s nice to get a second opinion on some harsh criticism to put it into perspective for yourself./p
h3Be Self-Aware/h3
pJust because someone doesn?t like the article you have written, doesn?t mean they don?t like you. You know that you are not good at everything you do, and if people are criticizing you on something you know you need improvement on, be mature enough to do something about it./p
blockquotepWhile it is necessary and important to develop a thicker skin, you should not become so resistant that you ignore valid lessons or fail to recognize a need for change. ?a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesleadershipforum/2012/02/02/how-to-deal-with-really-tough-criticism-five-steps/"Forbes.com/a/p/blockquote
pWe used to work with a freelance photographer who had no idea on how to keep his books in order. He forgot to invoice us some months, and invoiced us for other months when we had no publication. He could never keep account of his receipts and always thought we owed him money. We consistently told him that he needed to find a method of bookkeeping; that since he was a freelancer, he couldn?t rely on us to find his receipts and remind him to invoice us each time his invoice was due./p
blockquotepIf similar themes keep emerging, there is more likely truth in the complaints. ?a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesleadershipforum/2012/02/02/how-to-deal-with-really-tough-criticism-five-steps/"Forbes.com/a/p/blockquote
pHe couldn?t get his act together. Needless to day, we no longer work with him./p
pYou need to have a tough skin and lots of courage to be a freelancer. And learning to deal with harsh criticism isn?t something that will happen overnight. Just learning to be open to considering someone else?s opinions is the first step. Knowing that there is always room for improvement is the second./p
pemPhoto credit: a title="Attribution License" href="http://photodune.net/wiki/support/legal-terms/licensing-terms/"Some rights reserved/a by a href="http://photodune.net/item/broken-pencil/941464"lightzone/a/em./p
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