Today Facebook told me that it’s been two years since I started my freelance career as a PR and Outreach Consultant. Although it’s technically been over four since leaving full-time employment, it feels like forever since I walked out on office life. Regardless of the exact length of time, one thing I know is I’ve learned a lot of lessons. Some revealed themselves quickly (you know, always agree a price in writing; never take a job for less than you want, tone is everything) and others unveiled their wisdom slowly (managing your inbox, spinning plates and realising that no, you can’t be good at everything). This may not be my first post about lessons learned in freelance but trust me when I say even two years down the line, every day is still a school day…
1. Stop emailing asking for advice, ask yourself, is Freelance for you?
If I had a penny for every email asking for advice on how to start blogging / freelancing I wouldn’t need to work anymore. Aside from directing them to this post my number one piece of advice is “it’s not for everyone”. Freelancing is hard work. While some have “cracked it” and earn much more money than they would as a full-timer, and spend less hours working, most (including myself) have not.
For me this is not a deal breaker. My work is so vast and varied I am still working more than I ever have, but would I change that? Not really. I love what I do, and the fact that everyday is different is my delicious cherry on top.
2. Define your own success.
For me, freelancing isn’t about a six-figure income (although, wouldn’t that be nice) or being able to sleep in late. For me freelancing is a way of work which supports the lifestyle I want; a lifestyle of flexibility, travel and basically only doing the things I am good at and I enjoy – that isn’t just limited to my freelance job! Take a little time to understand what success means to you but with a healthy dose of realism, there’s nothing worse than setting a unachivable goal!
3. Don’t pigeonhole your business
For the first year of my freelance career I trusted in over-delivering and impressing the client with good quality work in order to gain repeat business. This worked well but quickly I realised I was getting the same type of work repeatedly, work which wasn’t even my favourite kind. Maybe not a problem in terms of making money but basically I started to pigeonhole my abilities and my services. At the end of the day, people looking for freelancers are looking to solve a problem they can’t / don’t want to fix on their own. Understanding the client’s problem is and what they want to gain enabled me to build a more dynamic business and add more value to what I can offer.
Specialising in a Niche is great if you have one thing you love and that you are great at doing, but not if your skill set has the range. When I started off, I called myself a PR and Events consultant. Now, I like to highlight Outreach as that is a pivotal and successful strand of my business, so why not highlight it? Don’t be afraid to chop and change things as you go. YOU are your business so change, adapt and grow the way YOU want it to.
4. Not all work feels like work
Just because you are pursuing your freelance dreams doesn’t mean that they should start and stop there. Creating PR focused SEO strategies, outreach and copywriting isn’t what I want to be doing all day everyday, so I don’t. I love creating imagery, so I keep up with my Instagram, which also brings me work. I love talking business and sharing my opinions so I try to keep up with my blog, which also brings me work. If I don’t have time to blog, I try to spend a little more time on social media, again which helps bring more work. Sometimes you’ll find when you think you are not doing work, you are most certainly working (even if you are in the bath while doing so) so stop giving yourself a hard time, OK?!
5. Don’t quit your day dream
I’m not the first person to declare Dolly Parton as a personal idol, but without even knowing, Dolly Parton helped me expand my business in ways I never knew how. I have a handful of quotes saved on my phone which I read in emergencies and there’s one that always stuck with me:
“I’m not going to limit myself just because people won’t accept the fact that I can do something else.”
It may not be the catchiest but something was so poignant about it. At the end of last year, I kept finding myself coming up with new business ideas or things I’d like to pursue, which almost left me feeling guilty. I felt like I was cheating on my business and that I was secretly unfulfilled by what I was doing – which simply just wasn’t the truth!
I’ve had entrepreneurial tendencies since I was a kid and it got me thinking, why should that all stop just cos I am doing something I love? I mean, Dolly wouldn’t let anything stop her, so why should I be getting in my own way? It was this thought pattern that led me to make the moves into creating a dream I’ve had since forever; opening my own sandwich shop. And you know what? Nothing has ever felt this right. Juggling tasks and keeping busy is what I thrive on, and just because one thing doesn’t have anything to do with the other doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t be doing both. Who even said a successful person should be doing just one thing? Not Dolly anyway…
6. Find your people
Sometimes you are gonna get work that you are not going to be able to complete. Maybe you don’t have time at all or maybe it’s more than a one woman job. Who would have thought that working for yourself means also building your own army of bad asses? Not me, until last year! From kick ass copywriters, photographers, visual assistants to web developers and graphic designers, I’ve used them all these past few years, some of which I call on regular when I’m feeling pressure. Just because you are technically alone and running things, doesn’t mean you are alone.
7. Be the best Boss
I started this post as a method of self-reflection of the past few years, but after asking my Instagram followers for questions related to freelancing they all had one common thread: how to stay disciplined and motivated. The answer to this is actually simpler than you think; my boss will kick my ass. If I don’t deliver, if I’m not getting through stuff as quickly as I like, or if there’s been a job well done, my boss is there. The only big difference is that boss is me.
Being your own boss can be difficult to say the least. You can be a right old dick to yourself, more so than anyone else can so you really need to try and remember to be kind. Although I am not always good at it, I like being my own boss. I like pushing myself to get things done, understanding when things aren’t working and constantly striving to be better and do more. However, all these things also mean I get things wrong, but that’s OK too!
8. There is no such thing as “completely organised”
In my time served working out with your normal working template I have tried MANY different organisational tools. From your bog standard lists, apps, Trello’s, Pipelines, you name it I have no doubt tried and failed at it. So if you are to take any of these freelance life lessons in let it be this one: you will NEVER be as organised as you want to be. Ever. I’m not saying you should stop trying to be organised, but no matter what programme or new fangled Pintrest colour coded cuteness you find that apparently “works wonders”, just do what you can. When working for yourself, there’s always one guarantee: you will always try your best and at the end of the day, isn’t that what any client wants?
Hope you found this helpful – let me know over on instagram @foreveryoursbetty
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