Freelancing when you have a stutter
For the last five years the bulk of my income has come from freelancing as a UI developer, the flexibility is great and gives me time to work on my side projects while I try to make it as an indie hacker. However freelancing hasn't come without its challenges, namely as the title suggests, my annoying stutter.
I've had a stutter since the age of 6, I don't know what triggered it although I think a lot of children develop speech problems at some point in their childhood just that the majority overcome it, but I guess I didn't oh well.
Anyway it is what it is, everyone has problems in life and I don't like to play top trumps. I thought I'd just take some time to share my experiences and perspective on living with a stutter.
The Con's
Unfortunately for me most business is done face to face as it builds trust, I've found out that it's very hard to convince people to spend a couple of grand on a piece of work if you've only been communicating over email.
This means when taking on a new client I know there's at least going to be one phone / video call, which I normally try to schedule in the morning so I'm not sat worrying about it all day. I'd say my symptoms are medium to severe (when I'm at my worst) but it's hard to sound professional when you are blocking on every 2 / 3 words.
The overriding emotions of having a stammer are fear, shame and guilt. I desperately want to come across as a confident fluent speaker who's knowledgeable about their craft but that's not always possible.
The pros
It's not all doom and gloom, there are some pros to having a stutter.
Because I've spent a lot of years trying to avoid verbal communication it does mean that I've worked hard to make my written communication (emails, chat etc) as clear and concise as possible. If I can remove any ambiguity out of a conversation there's less chance a call will be needed to clarify anything.
I'm also lucky that I work in an industry where my output is clear to see and you can interact with it. Having a great portfolio that showcases your ability goes a long way to selling your services. Whereas someone else might rely on their sales patter to bring in work I can't do that so I've just tried to build a portfolio that sells itself.
I don't know if this can be considered a pro and I don't know how much truth there is to this but my speech impediment probably makes me stand out a bit more. Hypothetically if I was interviewing for a job alongside a bunch of other candidates, where I opened up about my stammer, they're more likely to remember my name. People love honesty and you have to find a way to turn what on the surface looks like a disadvantage into an advantage.
The solution
There's no cure for stuttering but I have come across some tips and techniques that help. It sounds so simple but what helped me the most was just accepting the fact that I have a stammer and being open and honest with myself and my clients. Previously I would never bring it up and just tried to muddle my way through calls and meetings even though it was clear to both parties I was struggling.
It's only really in the last year that I've started disclosing my stutter when I first speak with a client, it puts me at ease and no doubt does the same for them. If you're visually imparied you wouldn't carry out your life as if you had 20 \ 20 vision and it's no different for me. I'm never going to be a fluent speaker so why pretend as if I am? I so wish I could have had this epiphany 10 years ago.
Another technique I've employed is to always push for face to face meetings when seeing a prospective client or catching up with an existing one. For a stutterer the phone is our worst enemy, it gives you that deer caught in the headlights feeling when it's your turn to speak and my throat and body tense up. Conversing in person is always a lot easier, it's hard to pinpoint why but I just feel more relaxed. It's also surprising how much we communicate through our body language.
There are always problems in life, it's how well we react to them that matters.
Wrapped it up
To conclude, it's hard to know what impact this has had on my career. It's never cost me any clients, that is to say it's never put anyone off working with me that I can recall but it has held me back at times.
If you've made it this far thanks for reading! If you'd like to work together please get in touch, I'd love to know more about what you're working on, just bear in mind I'll need a bit longer to finish my sentences :). Also a cheeky follow on Twitter is always appreciated.
Much love 