Feel the fear and go for it. Why going solo could be your best decision ever.
Some people achieve freelance, some have freelance thrust upon them.
It wasn’t my decision to work for myself. The decision was made for me when my friend and business partner Sonja called time and went to take up a Head Office role in a big building society. I’d been happy working in partnership, and to be honest, was a bit scared of going it alone.
But now, two years on, I’m so glad that it happened.
Financially I’m much better off. My confidence has grown. I feel stronger.
That’s not to say that my working life is perfect - there are still challenges - but they are different ones. Challenges around feeling isolated, missing the fun of working with other people, and managing my time as effectively are the ones I’ve wrestled with most. But whether you’re working for someone else, or working for yourself, many of us have had to deal with those over the last couple of years.
Build a business that suits you
Finding a business model that suited the way I wanted to live was key. One thing I was determined to ditch when I went solo was the feast or famine big project cycle. It was never really sustainable for a two person business, and I knew it wouldn’t work if I tried to manage them on my own.
Some people thrive on the adrenaline of hunting the next big client, winning the work, doing a good job and then on to the next. They’re able to manage the emotional ups and downs of living like that, and they can frame downtime between projects as a positive part of the big picture. But that wasn’t a trick that came easily to me. I wanted to reduce the stress of worrying where the next project was coming from, and the stress of over delivery while in the throes of one.
Getting some consistency into my income via working with retained clients has made the freelance experience much less stressful than the previous partnership one. Take away the fears around money, and I’m able to work better and enjoy life more.
Lower stress levels isn’t just a nice-to-have for me. It’s hard to think clearly and be creative when anxiety is high. ‘Thinking’ and ‘creativity’ are what clients need from me, as well as what I need for myself. I just can’t do my best work when I’m stressed. For me, ‘feel the fear but do it anyway’ doesn’t mean ignoring the fear, it means actively working to reduce the grip that fear has over me.
And there’s a knock on effect to changing the business model. Not relying on project income has made my marketing straightforward. I blog, I write a newsletter, I post on LinkedIn and Twitter. Leads still come in via my network, and the newsletter and blogs, but I don’t feel any pressure to sell in them. (Of course that might be the reason they do work. The more helpful you are, and the less you try and sell, the more you do sell.)
And working on a retained basis with clients means building some of the social aspects back into my life. I am part of a team at Cohesive who feel like friends.
Do more of the work you love
And of course now I’m back working with Sonja Nisson again, but with my solo work running alongside it. Starting the School of Valuable Content with Sonja, (who leapt back out of corporate life into the freelance world too - yippee!) gives us the opportunity to build something better. To focus on our unique knack for helping people uncover their business sweet spot and to teach them how to use what they write to win more of the work they love.
It’s a simpler proposition for a different audience. We’re gathering a following of freelancers - consultants, coaches, therapists, designers, copywriters - and teaching them a practical way of positioning and marketing themselves that feels right and which gets them results.
Advice for new freelancers
If you’re thinking of going it alone - an idea that won’t go away, a desire to try something different - or if events conspire and, like me, you find yourself accidentally freelance, here’s some advice.
Understand what you need to do your best and most profitable work. The answer is probably not just ‘more clients.’
Explore ways of leveraging your income. What can you create and sell that doesn’t require you to deliver it personally?
Find a community to support you. Solo working can be lonely, and it’s good to connect with people who understand.
Look after yourself. Don’t overcram your calendar with work for other people. Make and protect space for yourself too.
Invest in yourself. Whether that’s a coach, a personal trainer or a virtual assistant, create the conditions where you can do more of the things you’re great at, and less of the things that drain you.
Get to grips with your finances. Set yourself good goals, and keep an eye on money in and money out.
Follow the joy. The best bit of working for yourself is the freedom to focus on work that you enjoy. Make ‘Will doing this make me happy?’ part of your decision making process.
Be a good boss. That means paid holiday and rewards for successes.
Design your time to suit you. Work with your energy. If you’re best in the morning, get up early and work then. If your brain doesn't get into gear until the afternoon, switch your working time until later. Flexible working isn’t just for people in offices.
And if you’re wavering on the edge of knowing whether to go solo or not, try writing yourself into clarity.
This is a great writing exercise to try if you feel like you’re at a crossroads and don’t know which road to take. It will help you uncover what you really want to achieve, and can help you chart a way to make it happen.
