Here are seventy-one ways to love your freelance business that I could think of in an hour. I am sure there are many more, so feel free to add your own in the comments below.
- Decide what you want out of your freelancing adventure early – and check in with that on a regular basis
- Never sell out your health or mental health for financial reasons. And look after them if they need it
- Keep your values true to your heart
- Say no to overwork. Choose the hours you work and stick to them wherever possible
- Compensate yourself well for taking the risks inherent with freelancing
- Find a freelance community you can count on to share your freelance stories with
- Design your own version of success. Don’t adopt someone else’s vision of what successful business looks like
- Understand where your ethical and moral boundaries lie
- Accept that there will be days or even weeks you don’t love what you do. But make sure they are not the lion share of the days and weeks you work
- Use it as an exploration of the ideas and ideas that matter to you
- Never accept anyone as a freelance friend who makes you feel like their personal renovation project
- Always remember that accountability creates equality with your clients, collaborators and contractors
- Use the workplace flexibility you have gained to your advantage
- Be the example of a working parent you want your children to adopt with their own kids
- Automate stuff that takes your headspace, time and energy away from client management, creating work and working to your strengths
- Don’t be so caught up in saving money you forget to invest in yourself and your business
- Save money for the rainy days
- Find things that make you feel curious and spend time doing them
- Create marketing for your business that interests you. If you’re bored by your marketing, chances are you clients are, too
- Remember there is a big fat difference between being in service to your clients and being in servitude to them
- Recognise there is more to life than your freelance business
- Choose goals that not only grow your business but grow you as a person and creative, too
- Be OK with walking away from clients and projects that aren’t adding value to your life
- Respect there is a season for all things. Have the grace to move on from clients, products, services and even freelancing if you no longer feel connected to the work
- Experiment and learn by doing on a regular basis
- Don’t compare what you are doing with someone else’s (far more established) journey
- If you feel the need to bitch, stop. It’s only going to make you grumpier and more than a little paranoid about what others can be saying about you
- Accept that you are often 501 in a client’s list of 500 things to do – and proactively move yourself up their list of priorities
- That rejection? It is not personal. Ever. Even if it sounds like it is
- What we do is subjective. That declined quote, that bad feedback, and that mismatched working relationship etc is often influenced by things you have little or no control over
- It’s OK to say sorry on occasion. Even if technically, it’s not your fault
- Freelance hype is a lot like religion. What we believe and how much we invest in it is a deeply personal choice that shouldn’t be forced on another person
- Telling people blogging, creativity, social media or freelance is dead doesn’t make it so
- You have to know how much it costs YOU to sit in that chair to make your freelancing financially viable
- Make time for creativity outside of your freelance business on a regular basis
- To thrive, we all need two hobbies (at least) outside our financially driven creative work – one for exercise and one for creative practice
- It helps to learn to emotionally detach from the work, client and feedback
- Any new thing you try with your freelance business has a risk. You need to decide whether you can cope with the consequences of that risk not landing the way you wanted
- We learn as much from our fails and our fuck ups as we do our successes
- Nobody wants “I was great at invoicing” or “Everyone loved me for my referrals” written on your tombstone
- Leave the time wasting, people-pleasing mistakes of your past working life behind
- Don’t let someone else’s inability to pay their bills dictate the terms on your freelance business or your lifestyle
- No matter how crap things look, remember it doesn’t influence everything and it won’t be permanent
- Learn the difference between helping your clients and convincing yourself they can’t do without you
- Take time away from your freelance business at regular intervals
- The only prize you get for working every day of the year is a big pile of burn out
- Productivity isn’t forged in a fire of submission to time at the desk. It’s created by making sure your brain has enough rest, stimulation and invigoration for the tasks at hand
- Admire the DONE list as much as the TO DO list
- Give yourself the time, space and support to try things outside your comfort zone
- Make continuous learning your friend
- Look for the opportunity to learn things that excite you even if they don’t look like direct money-spinners at the outset
- If another freelancer’s social media is overwhelming you, it’s OK to limit your exposure temporarily – or even permanently
- Listen to the internal warning bells – but triple check them against your mood and other influences, too
- Accept that you won’t always be the fastest, smartest or most experience freelancer for the job. But know the qualities that you possess that make you the right person for the project
- Lower the project scope instead of lowering your rate. That way, you won’t resent the client or the project if things go south
- Be as playful as you need to be to make this work
- Freelancing has a lot of challenging aspects that traditional employment does not. It’s OK to compensate yourself with time, money and opportunities that make up for this fact
- Never try to monetise the part of your creativity that protects your mental health
- Establish a routine – but shake it up on occasion
- Forgive friends and family members who don’t understand or underrate your freelance business. They haven’t got the drive, bravery and/or curiosity that you enjoy
- Don’t be afraid to pay for accounting software. It’s cheaper than paying more tax or for mistakes later
- Be brave enough to go after the clients you really admire
- Instead of expecting clients to treat you a certain way, set up your processes so they do
- Never assume. Always check and recheck the information at hand
- Choose to study, learn and play with techniques, software and ideas as part of your time spent working well on your freelance business
- Invest the profit you make in your freelance business. Don’t subsidise your spending
- Set yourself three monthly goals and targets to help keep yourself motivated and on track
- Let the clients and freelancers who treat you with respect know you appreciate them on a regular basis
- Give yourself the gift of a stress-free retirement by making super contributions and sound financial choices now
- Follow your heart but take your brain with you.