I try not to bring up AI that much, as it’s covered enough. And despite the urge to roll my eyes at times, this tech is continuing to change the way we work. Freelancers must adjust their approach to reap the benefits and minimize the downsides. One way to accomplish both is by creating your own IP.
Developing IP accomplishes what AI can’t, generating genuinely new ideas. The LLMs synthesize and remix available knowledge based on what already exists.
The IP you come up with on your own is net new, informed by your real-world experience, original thinking, and the credibility you’ve earned. It can solidify your relevance for the long-term and help ensure your expertise doesn’t get buried.
IP stands for intellectual property, which is an original idea you’ve developed that’s valuable and distinct from what’s on the market. IP for a freelancer comes in many forms, like an original tagline, concept, framework, book, methodology, curriculum, podcast, newsletter, keynote, or a training program.
It should align with the audience you support and the offerings you sell. And you need to legally protect your IP or at least reputationally, so it’s clear you’re the originator.
In practice, IP from the self-employed looks like Val Ries coining “Chief Inspiration Officer” as the title of her book, signature framing on leadership, and a licenseable management course.
Other examples include the Career Season Finder assessment from Mary Jantsch, the tagline “Your Rich BFF, Your Favorite Wall Street Girly” from Vivian Tu, or the 5 Types of Wealth framework from Sahil Bloom.
Coming up with your own IP isn’t something you develop right away; it takes months, often years, to formulate new ideas through immersion in your field and testing to see what resonates.
Depending on the format, your IP can benefit others by simplifying complex topics, providing a repeatable process they can apply, or reframing a widely held belief to influence how they act.
At the same time, IP benefits you by helping you stand out, building trust in your perspective, improving your visibility, and anchoring your expertise into a referenceable and repeatable asset.
And as AI continues to commoditize information, making lots of knowledge and data more widely available, you’re better protected when your IP is a source of original insight. New, original ideas stand out as a differentiator, given these insights are more exclusive and valuable than ever amongst the sea of widely known, common knowledge.
IP acts as proof that your credibility is verifiable and you’re offering something not commonly available or recycled from other sources. Not everything you share needs to be new, but a portion should be to ensure you stand out as a freelancer, as general information becomes nearly impossible to tie back to your expertise. IP can help you become better regarded as a primary source of fresh thinking that people can associate with you for the long-term.
Speaking of the long haul, it’s not just an AI play. IP can support the continued profitability of your freelance business if it resonates with the intended customers. IP that strikes a chord can drive recurring revenue when it comes in the form of a course, program, framework, or book.
You create the IP once and do most of the work upfront, and offer it to audiences repeatedly over and over again. This is an oversimplification. There’s always effort involved, but less so when it is a concept that’s packaged in a scalable way that compounds your income.
This has played out for me in the form of courses I’ve developed with various e-learning platforms and universities. Most of the work is delivered upfront in sharing my perspective on marketing and/or career development, that’s the IP component.
From there, my POV is paired with best practices, as some of the instruction I’m providing is common knowledge in the industry. And once published, I earn recurring royalties and sales from these courses long-term. Not all of these courses took off, but from the ones that did, I’ve earned six figures in total.
In addition to income, IP can earn you continued visibility when it makes an impact and drives a response from audiences. This happens when your idea is not only strong but aligned with an important, timely challenge of a particular group. If your IP takes off, it becomes bigger than you, as people will advocate about it and share it with others on their own without prompting.
I often think of the PESO model by Gini Dietrich as the blueprint. The model is a framework used by marketers and communications to integrate four types of media into a unified marketing operating system. In other words, I’ve used it for years to organize campaigns for clients and have repeatedly taught it in the classroom as a way to make marketing more tangible.
I’m an example of someone who found her IP so useful in my work that I’ve been thrilled to share the framework with others. Suffice to say, this model has a following that builds momentum and visibility for the IP as it’s valuable and applicable to a substantial audience.
Dietrich isn’t a solopreneur as she has a team that she’s built by translating the attention from her IP into a certification program, enterprise solutions, training, and more to grow the business.
Architecting IP is a creative exercise with tangible implications for the longevity of your practice and it happens when you’re willing to design and share your ideas with the world.
[This article was originally published in my newsletter: Career Freelancer.]
