You look at a project online and think, “I could do that.”

Then comes the harder question.

“What would I say to convince this person to hire me?”

Suddenly, thirty years of experience turns into a blinking cursor.

Do you start with your job title? Your years in the business? That impressive company you worked for? Your ability to get along with practically anybody—including the people nobody else could get along with?

You have plenty to offer.

The challenge is figuring out which part matters to the person doing the hiring.

That’s what Heidi and I explored on this week’s Tuesday Night Call. And it gets to the heart of something experienced professionals often overlook:

Before you can make a persuasive case for hiring you, you need to discover your strongest reason for being hired for this particular project.

Imagine someone who spent years helping new employees learn their jobs.

To that person, training might have been just another Tuesday.

Answer questions. Explain the process. Show someone how to avoid a mistake. Explain it again after lunch.

But now imagine a client who needs confusing instructional materials made clear and useful.

Suddenly, that everyday responsibility becomes important evidence.

You’ve seen where people get confused. You know which explanations work. You’ve helped someone move from “I don’t understand this” to “I can do this myself.”

That connection gives the client a reason to pay attention.

And you might miss it if you’re busy trying to squeeze your entire career into a proposal.

A client shouldn’t have to rummage through thirty years of your experience to find the piece they need.

Your job is to make that piece easy to see.

During our session, Heidi shared an example involving a professional with hands-on healthcare experience and responsibility for training others.

One of the important insights was that the training responsibility deserved special attention for the opportunity being considered.

Think about why.

Practical experience brings one kind of value. Knowing how to help someone else understand and apply that experience brings another.

For a client developing educational material, that combination could be especially relevant.

The person’s background hadn’t changed.

What changed was our understanding of which part of that background could make the strongest case to this client.

This is why a general description of your qualifications can fall flat—even when those qualifications are excellent.

“Here’s everything I’ve done” leaves the client to figure out the connection.

“Here’s the experience that will help you accomplish this” makes the connection visible.

We’ve developed an approach we call Your Winning Advantage—The Barefoot Method to help you make those connections.

It uses your professional background and a particular job posting to examine how well the two fit together.

Then it helps you understand what the client is trying to accomplish, which parts of your experience matter most, and how you could explain that value.

It also identifies gaps or concerns worth considering before you invest your time in a proposal.

That matters because being capable of doing a project and having a persuasive reason to be chosen are two different questions.

You might be able to do several kinds of work. Some opportunities will give you a much stronger case than others.

Finding those opportunities helps you concentrate your effort where your experience has the most relevance.

And when you do find one, you have something more useful than a blank page and a hopeful feeling.

You have a reason to lead with.

I think of this approach as having a positioning coach, a teacher, and a writer working together.

The coach helps uncover your strongest angle.

The teacher explains why it matters.

The writer helps you put that connection into words.

You bring the judgment—and the real experience behind every claim.

There’s another reason I’m excited about this.

As you understand why a particular piece of experience matters to a client, you begin recognizing those connections yourself.

You notice that one project calls for your ability to simplify complicated information. Another needs the calm judgment you developed handling difficult customers. A third makes your experience organizing a messy process especially valuable.

You start seeing your background through a buyer’s eyes.

And that can change the way you feel about offering your services.

Instead of wondering whether anyone wants what you know, you begin looking for the situations where what you know is particularly useful.

Here’s one question to carry into the next opportunity you consider:

“Which part of my experience would make this client feel more confident that their problem will be solved?”

Give that question a little room.

Your first answer might be your job title.

Your better answer might be something you did so often that you stopped recognizing its value.

Even if you bid on just five jobs a week, understanding the postings, deciding which ones fit, and writing the proposals can eat up hours.

The tools in the Freedom Vault can help you turn those hours into minutes.

The Job Suitability tool helps you understand what a client needs, evaluate the fit, and identify the experience that gives you your strongest positioning.

Then our proposal-writing tools help turn that insight into a focused draft you can review, personalize, and submit.

Less time figuring out which jobs to pursue. Less time staring at a blank page. More time available for paid work—and the life you want that work to support.

This week’s training shows how to discover your winning position. Next Tuesday, Heidi and I will show how those insights become a proposal.

Your Freedom Vault membership gives you access to these tools, along with training replays, practical resources, and guidance for putting your experience to work.

Start with one suitable job. See how much easier it becomes when you have a process to follow.

Join the Freedom Vault Here

Best,

Winton & Heidi

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