6 things I’ve learnt about my freelance business during lock down
Two months ago I wrote a blog reflecting on the first week of being in lock down.
I’ve just reread it, anticipating finding different words on the page.
Two months seems like an age, and I feel more grounded now, so I was expecting to find something more naive and jittery. But actually it’s pretty sound. I surprised myself.
Although it’s fair to say that the lessons I outlined right back at the beginning are still ones I’m wrestling with every day. I definitely hadn’t learned them then, and maybe still haven’t now. But I’m glad that I noted their importance and have stayed true to them. Even if I had forgotten that I had written them! Writing is funny like that. If you write it down it goes in deeper, so even if your frayed busy mind can’t remember it, it’s locked in somewhere safe.
‘Living with fear’, ‘navigating vulnerability’, ‘connecting with why I do what I do,’ and ‘keeping on writing’ remain big features of lock down life for me and my business.
Still living with the fear
Fear comes in all shapes and sizes. Fear of the virus, fear of death, fear of getting ill, fear of family and friends getting ill... fear of what’s next, fear of what this means to my children’s lives, to the country, to the world.
Then there are the specific business fears. Fear of losing clients, fear of losing money, fear of making the wrong decisions, fear of failure. They’re all still there, but they’re dialled down. A white noise background hum rather than a sickening deafening roar.
And I think what’s dialled them down are these business and life lessons.
Don’t pivot. Package.
I hated all that ‘pivot’ advice that was flying around a few weeks ago. Maybe because it gave me terrible netball flash backs. Me, frozen, clutching a hard orange ball being screeched at by a woman in a blue tracksuit with a whistle.
But maybe because there’s not actually much different I can do, or want to do. I write and I help people share their ideas with the world so that they can build businesses that they love. I tell stories. That’s it.
During lock down I’ve been selling that service in smaller packages. Most of us are feeling financial fear, and are uncertain of our next steps. I’ve been helping people take one small step to getting back into marketing, or making a change in their business. Selling blocks of two hours of coaching/writing time to help a client write that blog or make that plan has kept me ticking over and regenerated a sales pipeline.
Some of these one-offs have had some big results (I’m looking at you Sonja Nisson) and others have turned into retained clients.
2. Collaborate + experiment
An experimental online collaboration with Henneke Duistermaat a few weeks ago really shook things up for me. We taught a simple writing exercise to a big online group of 250 people from all over the world. The response was amazing. It was fantastic to collaborate with someone I really like and admire, but who I rarely get to see in real life. It made perfect sense to do it during lockdown. And it opened my eyes even wider to the potential of online teaching. About 950 people have watched the recording so far.
I’m still working on my first course, but if I can teach people the things they really need to know, and bottle that warm feeling of connection and inspiration I’ll be on the right track. The market for online learning is huge. And leading on from that….
3. My clients aren’t just in the UK
During my first year of being a freelancer the majority of my clients have been in the UK. With a couple of notable exceptions (Belgium and the US), most people are in the SW of the UK, more specifically from Bristol. Even more specifically, a sizeable number know me from Pub School, a business school Sonja and I used to run in our local pub. (The Pub School legacy is another reminder of the power of teaching to build a reputation.)
Now, while local matters more than ever when it comes to everyday life - I’m loving all the local food shops and delivery services that are springing up within walking distance of my house - it doesn’t matter at all when it comes to solving a business problem.
All my meetings are via Zoom these days, so it works the same if you’re half a mile down the road or five thousand miles away.
My niche lies in the problems I solve for my clients - how can I articulate my ideas and and what’s the story I can tell - and there are lovely people who want help with that all over the world.
4. Nurture your newsletter list
Vastly underrated as a marketing tool, I think newsletters are seriously useful. The reason people don’t like them is it’s really easy to get them wrong. They can look salesy or irrelevant. Fill them full of your own ‘news’ and people will quickly stop bothering to open them. But make them useful, and personal, and they’ll be welcomed. I’ve had some really lovely and unexpected conversations through my newsletter, and I love the direct one-to-one connection they foster.
They’re great, too, as a drumbeat to make you keep on marketing. Commit to sending one every week, every fortnight or every month, and you’ll find yourself miraculously finding the time to write the content to fill it.
It’s all too easy to let your own marketing drift, whether you’re busy working, or busy worrying about not working, but committing to staying in touch with your newsletter list gets you out there.
Maybe it’s a little like the way having a dog forces you to walk every day, even if you don’t feel like it. And then you find it keeps you fit and you always enjoy it once you do.
Okay, maybe not quite the same, but dogs and newsletters both get you into great habits.
5. Keep writing
Blogs, ideas, plans, notes to self. I do my thinking on paper so my desk is covered with scrawling handwritten notes. Sparks of ideas start coming to life once you put them into words and can see them in black and white. Until you can pin an idea down and shape it can just float away. And a good idea can become a brilliant one if you can express it beautifully or succinctly enough.
Whether it’s the writing I do for clients, or the writing I do for myself, it’s the writing I need to nurture. Which leads me to the next one...
6. Look after yourself
I’m lucky enough to be working for a couple of days a month with the brilliant Cohesive team, and it’s reminded me of the power of having work colleagues who are looking out for you, even if it’s via Zoom or Slack and not face-to-face these days. Working from home means I’m away from my gorgeous office family at the Forge, so I’m missing the chat and the cups of tea and just the soft edges that make work fun.
Over the last couple of weeks I’ve got better at walking away from the screen and at managing the weird lock down exhaustion. Exercise, getting out into nature, being mindful, proper sleep, all those things you’ve read in a thousand self care articles are true, and you need to take them seriously. Especially if you’re a one woman band and there’s no one else in the business to say it to you.
So what’s changed for you over the last couple of months? Is your business still the same shape? And if you’re a one man or one woman band, and you need permission to look after yourself, consider this that call.
And here’s a link to the article I wrote at the start of lock down. Seven things that have made this crazy week slightly better.
