Beating the inflation blues, freelancer style

Take it from someone who has been kicking it for the last fifteen years – the inflation blues freelancers are feeling right now are real and warranted.

I don’t know if it was the new car smell on my own freelance business at the time, but I find the inflation crisis far more worrisome than the GFC. I launched my freelance business in 2010 in an oblivious and reactive haze of wanting to make a change. I didn’t think about what was happening overseas or the problems. I left my agency job with $3K in the bank– and no idea.

The landscape has really changed since I did that. It was easier to start freelancing then precisely because it wasn’t common. It was easier because the clients were still navigating the idea while all the freelancers didn’t have opinions on it. You could make it up as you went along.

These days, people have a lot of opinions on how you should do things. Especially inside the freelance tent. People tell you what works to get leads, rates you charge, when (if) it’s OK to do free work, and a bunch of other things that we’re sold because it makes them money.

Don’t get me wrong – I love the rise in education, the sense of community, and the ability to find friendship when it is hard. But we forget the lessons we learned were ones we often learned the hard way. And that sometimes, breaking stuff to see how it works is the only way forward.

Plus, we forget that inventive stuff stands out. Not the perfect positioning of your lead magnet or what plugin you use to do it. Be scared and scrappy. Muddle and dig deep. Take what you need rather than bet the farm on someone else’s lofty ideas of what works.

Inflation has a big impact on business – here are a few things to keep in mind 

From a client perspective, inflation means they they want to:

• Save money
• Get value for money
• Have less to think about
• See the work they commission have an impact

Look at every client you have right now and ask yourself:

1. How am I saving money for this organisation in tangible and intangible ways?
2. What extra add-ons do I offer that save them time and money with other options?
3. In what ways do I create things for them to think about?
4. How can I reduce this happening?
5. Is the work I do having an impact?
6. Are their ideas I can pitch to enhance the work’s impact?

Knowing this about every single client, even if you feel dread in your tummy because you realise you might accidentally be in the “nice to have” pile. Why? Because it means you can

1. make a case for the great work you do if it is moving the needle
2. pitch ways to improve your impact before the client starts asking hard questions

Also, it will help you because if you realise you don’t make an impact and you don’t want to pivot or innovate to change that, it’s usually a sign the relationship is coming to an organic end. And that means you can start looking for other more exciting ideas and prospects before someone deciding it’s time for you.

Know your business intimately

As canaries in the economic coalmine, freelancers (and creatives and casuals) feel the pinch first. It’s important to get ready. Freelancer, getting prepared means knowing your situation inside and out.

I’m a firm believer in freelancers knowing who they are and offering it to their clients.

Creatives have a set of two out of the four following skills:

1. Ability – your skill, knowledge, and ability to apply it is extremely high
2. Reliability – what you say, you do. What you brief, you deliver. When you say it will happen, it does
3. Affability – you are the connective glue in teams and have a positive, professional attitude
4. Adaptability – you can cope with change and pivots plus you can herd cats back to the project’s focus

Don’t kid yourself into thinking you have all this and more because to be honest, I have only met ONE freelancer in the entire time I have run the Freelance Jungle who has more than two (Hi Jess!). This is an honest assessment activity – and should be treated as such.

Now, look at your social media, website, and other forms of marketing:

• Are you highlighting your strengths?
• Are you addressing your weaknesses effectively?
• Are you showing the opportunities you can bring for your clients?
• Are you countering objections effectively and making a case for your services?
• Is the time you are spending on these activities going to push the envelope quickly?

This is a BIG step because to be honest, most freelancers can list their services and make a case for why Bob needs Google Analytics. They don’t know how to make a case for themselves to be the supplier.

Once you start viewing the work you do as an opportunity for other people to take a load off, it becomes easier to make a case for you as the supply. It’s the difference between outlining the theoretical and applying the practical.

If you keep cycling through this sort of information including your chosen traits of Ability, Reliability, Affability and Adaptability in your web copy and your marketing, it becomes easier to pick the clients.

From here, move into a SWOT

Look at your freelancing business and asses your best asset (that’s you!):

• What professional skills do you possess?
• Are they in demand with clients?
• Are they competitive against other freelancers?
• Do you have complimentary skills to boost your offerings?
• What kind of attitude do you take into the work?
• Can you roll with the punches?
• How well do you collaborate?
• What is your ideal working environment?
• What sorts of things do you need to make work happen?
• How well do you know the market?
• What problems can you overcome?
• What problems knock you for six?
• What ideas have you got for marketing?
• Will they make SUBSTANTIAL changes to your situation?
• What ideas have you got for expanding your revenue streams?
• How much of an impact will they make on your visibility and bottom line?
• What do you need to learn in the next 12 months?
• How much will that change the game?

Then look at your business in terms of the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats in a big old matrix and plan from there.

Time is a cost we don’t often see

If inflation is getting you but you don’t know what you can do in terms of reducing costs or raising your prices, improving efficiencies are your best bet.

After you’ve tracked your time for a month:

• Where do your inefficiencies lie?
• What return on investment are you getting on the time spent marketing?
• Are some clients proving more labour intensive than others?
• What can you do about the inefficiencies, marketing, labour spent to improve their return for next month?
• Are you looking after yourself while you work? Taking breaks? Getting exercise? Drinking water? Having fun? Exploring ideas? – track these, too because you’ll be surprised how much your productivity and mood improves if you up your self-care during this time.

Rinse and repeat. Honestly, applying gamification to these areas makes you hungrier.

Ask yourself about your current work

• Where have your leads in the last 12 to 24 months come from?
• How many converted to paying clients?
• What kinds of clients were they? Would you work with them again?
• If so, where did they come from? Where do you find more of the same?
• Am I talking about the work I enjoy, to attract more of the same?

Run a marketing assessment

• Am I marketing what is special about me – or what is special about the skills I provide?
• How can I inject more of why I am able, reliable, approachable or adaptable in the mix?
• Am I tracking who responds to my content via analytics to know what works?
• Am I getting engagement and interest from my marketing?
• Choose five peers/competitors you admire. Open up their marketing. What do you like about it? What could you do better?
• Are your posts accessible, relatable, on trend, applicable, actionable?
• Who likes your marketing? What’s the split between peers and potential clients?
• What can you do to skew it more towards clients?

Client questions worth answering

• What challenges are they facing at the moment?
• What workarounds are they using to overcome them?
• Are you a smarter, faster, easier solution they could use?
• Are you talking about that within your marketing?
• Why do you care about the challenges your clients face?
• What do you see as a sector wide solution for their issues?
• Is there something you can do in advocacy or a practical sense (e.g. research, content creation, classes, help files etc) that could aid them?

Business development questions worth answering

• What industries and sectors are booming right now?
• What services and products can you offer to attract their attention?
• How good are your relationships within that industry?
• Where can you network and be to be front of mind?
• What problems do you see that you can discuss on social media, content and at online seminar level?
• How good is your referral network?
• Are you getting work directly from job boards and memberships?
• Are there untapped overflow opportunities you are missing?
• Do you have people that offer complimentary services (instead of competitive) that you can team up with?

Services and pricing questions worth asking

One of the plusses that has come out of the price rises from inflation is that it has normalised larger increases. I know that sucks when you are on the receiving end, but it also poses an opportunity for your business to review your own pricing.

Look critically at your business and ask yourself the following questions:

• Has it been 12 months since your last price rise? When was that exactly?
• What are you subsidising for your clients? E.g. you’ve absorbed the cost of the hosting, plugins, scheduling software, etc. Can you show the client that this has occurred
• What services are you offering that make you less money? Can you update the offering and relaunch?
• What services are costing you too much time and labour? Can you replace them with something better?
• Are you charging the same rate for all clients? Have you considered adding extra project management hours for clients needing more attention?
• What choices do you have to increase efficiency in client, project, or lead engagement?
• Is there an automation investment you’re postponing that could lead to long-term improvement?

If the inflation hits keep coming

The inflation blues roll downhill into our favourite products and services. This too can put stress and pressure on what we’re doing as freelancers.

That’s why it’s important to ask yourself:

• How much money are you spending each month to keep your business afloat?
• What software, memberships, plugins, and niceties can you downgrade or get rid of?
• Of the ones you are keeping, have you reached out to them to ask about discounts, deals, and ways to reduce the costs?
• Where can you negotiate a better rate on things like insurance, professional memberships, and other big-ticket items that often attract a loyalty tax?
• Can you get the same benefit from expensive professional memberships or courses via free blogs, podcasts, videos, and other forms of content instead with a bit more legwork?
• Are there cheaper alternatives you can use in the short, medium, or long term?
• What investments could you make in the next 12 months to make more money?
• Use a time tracker for a month. Where is all your time going?
• What can you cut down on? What can you do with greater efficiency?
• How much time do you spend on admin? Marketing? General customer service?
• How long does it take to secure a lead from an enquiry?
• Can you spend money going to a conference or event that includes your clients instead of your peers and transform it into networking and lead gen?

If inflation really has you stretched for money, have you:

• Tested paid and ticketed events to see if you can sell your knowledge in new and different ways?
• Repurposed and updated old offerings to see if you can sell them, too?
• Repackaged content as lead generation activities and/or off-the-shelf for sale items?
• Considered what you can invent or build to sell quickly and easily to get money in the door right now?
• Looked at forms of side income that might assist at this time, such as pet minding, pet transportation, Uber driving, market research participation, market stalls, garage sales, TV extra work, yard work, busking etc?
• Investigated quick response payments, grants, funding, and crowdfunding to help?

Also, (and I want to stress this a lot!), there is nothing wrong with:

• Taking a contract
• Having a part time job
• Taking a full-time job in your freelance field
• Taking a job that has sod all to do with your field
• Applying for assistance payments
• Retooling via NEIS

The inflation crisis is hard and it has impacts in a lot of different ways. Not wanting to carry yet another hard task is a perfectly reasonable response to it.

Plus, freelancers leave freelancing for a variety of reasons. Sometimes, there’s too much going on with life, let alone taking on freelancing. Other times, it’s not the head space but the constant business development, the financial precarity, or the need for change that drives it. Choosing your mental health or energy going into study, family, health, and other things is also a worthy choice.

If you’re beating yourself up, here are a few other things to keep in mind:

• Taking the pressure off the hustle and the grind might allow you to zoom out and plan your next move better
• Having the time to go back inside a traditional workplace might also help you grow skills or take advantage of training and opportunities you can’t balance while freelancing
• Many freelancers pop into traditional work and leapfrog into a role they may not have been able to have had they stayed, and grab the reward that way
• Accepting traditional work and reflecting on the freelancing can help you come back later wiser, stronger, and feeling fresher
• The launch pad you need to acquire the cash and connections to come out in a new phase of freelance, as your own agency, or running a startup

Never forget, you are building a career here. Not just a freelancing life.

More inflation battling content

A few blogs you may want to check out include:

• Overcoming client price sensitivity 
• Boosting your marketing when inflation hits 
• Potential areas of opportunity for you in 2024 (video – previously Patreon, now released)
• A big rundown of client types and how to meet their challenges head on (previously Patreon, now released)

I’ll tackle inflation specific business development in another blog but for now, I hope this helps.

Need more help beating the inflation blues or have ideas of your own? Leave a comment below.