I’ve always loved the idea of having my own business and for now, that consists of a handful of freelance clients who rely on me for marketing consultancy and management. Although I’d love to run my own agency one day, things take time and you’ve got to start somewhere, right? So with that in mind, I wanted to share a few things I’ve learnt since going freelance for any budding freelancers out there.
It’s hard to switch off
I’ve always struggled to draw the line between work and play. I can’t help it, I’m a workaholic and I doubt that will ever change but boy that steps up a level when you start freelancing and in fact, it’s probably one of the biggest things I’ve learnt since going freelance. I think it’s because you suddenly become solely responsible for your workload, income, successes, failures and so on, which means your brain is constantly in overdrive. Well, at least mine is anyway. Drifting off to sleep and suddenly waking yourself up because you need to add something to your to do list or pulling over when you’re driving to quickly write out a killer blog post introduction you can’t risk forgetting are pretty standard occurrences these days.
You should keep your finances separate
You’ll make life so much easier if you totally separate your business income and expenses from your regular current account. I might not have completed a self assessment form just yet but after hours of research, I quickly learnt that keeping organised when it comes to your accounts is key. If you don’t want to pay for a bookkeeper then a snazzy spreadsheet will become your best friend for tracking anything money related.
Toggl is a lifesaver
One of the first things I did when I started freelancing was post in a Digital Marketing Freelance group on Facebook asking for recommendations for tools, apps or any platforms that could help me on my venture. One which popped up several times is my saviour, Toggl. It’s basically a timer which allows you to track how long you spend on different tasks but it’s SO helpful. I’ve got all my clients, projects and tags set up in there so it’s super easy to track what I’m doing and also report on it all. Oh, and it’s free! I seriously can’t recommend it enough.
Networking is everything
When you’re a freelancer, building contacts is crucial to your success and it’s surprising how many clients on your pipeline come from friends, family or existing connections. Remember, it’s not what you know, it’s who you know.
Self motivation is required
Fortunately for me, I’m quite a motivated person when it comes to work but I’ll be honest in saying, that’s not always the case. There’s nothing worse than trying to pump yourself up to hit a deadline for your client when all you want to do is chill out in front of the TV buttttt you’ve just gotta do it sometimes. I try and be strict with myself and remember that at the end of the day, my clients are paying me for a professional service and deserved my full attention so I need to get into the right zone!
If you’re planning on registering as self-employed to do whatever you wanna do, I hope these things I’ve learnt since going freelance will teach you a thing or two. And don’t forget, the experience is different for everyone but overall, I am loooooving it!
Would you ever consider freelancing? And if you do it already, what have you learnt from it?