Marketing tips from Bas Rutten
Keeping with the tradition here at Guerrilla Freelancing, I am going to show you another strange place you can find inspiration for your freelance marketing. Bas Rutten is a MMA legend, so if you’re not a fan of MMA, you might not know him all too well, however, I assure you that you can definitely learn a lot from him.
Maybe you’ve seen him acting in the King of Queens television show? Maybe you’ve seen him in the movie Paul Blart Mall Cop? However you know him (or don’t know him), at the end of the day you can learn some great marketing lessons for your freelance business from him.
Today’s person came at the request of Leonard Burton on Twitter (his account is @atomworks). If you have someone you’d like to see featured in our Marketing Tips From series, feel free to contact me or send me a twitter message and I’ll see what I can do 
And now for the freelance marketing tips!
Embrace your crazy side
Any MMA fan who’s seen a video, picture or report on El Guapo will know that this guy is nuts. He doesn’t just act nuts though, it’s more of a controlled branding experience when you’re listening to him talk or watching him fight and/or instruct you on how to win street fights. If you’ve got a crazy side and you want to connect with other people who are a bit off, make sure you’re showcasing your ‘other’ side – people are tired of the same tired and boring suit & tie types anyways.
Be damn good at what you do
If you’re great at what you do, the rest of the work just seems to fall into place. Without being amazing at your job, you’ll just be another kid in the pool peeing when you know you shouldn’t be. Bas Rutten was a 3 time undefeated King Of Pancrase, an undefeated Heavyweight champ in the UFC & holds an impressive overall record of 28-4-1. If you’re going to do something, you better do it better than everyone else and constantly improve your skillset.
Branding, Branding, Branding
An MMA fan will know that when they see a t-shirt with the silhouette of the guy jumping in the air and doing the splits, it’s a Bas Rutten t-shirt. Also, whenever anyone mentions the name El Guapo, they’ll instantly know who you’re talking about (unlike the many Spiders in MMA – but that’s another story). Building a solid brand around your business will take you from being ‘just another freelancer‘ to ‘holy shit did you see that freelancers work?‘. Make sure your logos, slogans and promotional material are top notch and stand out from the crowd.
Know when to expand your business
Besides being dubbed the King of Pancrase, Bas Rutten also knew when to expand his empire and release instructional DVD’s that teach you how to defend yourself in a street fight (not your average MMA instructional videos, that’s for sure), star in television shows and movies, host an MMA show on HDnet & various other business ventures. When you’ve built up a solid, sustainable freelance business, make sure you’ve got your ears to the street and know where you can move next in order to capitalize on opportunities to expand your business and make some passive income & grow your freelance business.
More from this series
This is the eighth installment of our “Marketing Tips From…” series. You can read the previous articles below, listed in order of when they appeared on this blog.
