Top tips for going freelance
I’ve been a freelance sustainability communications consultant for the past 2.5 years.
During that time, I’ve worked in lots of different ways as a freelancer, consultant, contractor, remote worker - you name it.
I worked with all types of organisation from large multinational corporations and vast international organisations to small communications consultancies, and directly with small business owners.
Here’s six of the most important things I’ve learnt.
1. Let go of the idea of working 7 hours a day
As a freelance consultant working with multiple clients, unless you are working full-time on an event or another large project with a near-time deadline, producing 7 hours of quality billable work per day is very tricky.
Firstly, your reputation and ongoing success relies on the quality of work you produce for your clients. To keep your standard of work high, you need breaks and ways to keep filling up your ‘inspiration tank’.
When I started freelancing, I used to record the number of client billable hours I did per day, week and month. My aim was to keep the hours high to make sure that I kept earning more money. All it did was add to an increasing sense of exhaustion and a decreasing sense of satisfaction. Not to mention the fact that there are more ways to make money than simply trading your time for money.
Secondly, 7 billable hours doesn’t include all the extra bits you need to do as a self-employed person to keep business turning. I’d estimate that to produce 7 hours of billable work per day, I was actually spending over 10 hours at my desk.
Nowadays, a good day might look like doing two 60-minute coaching sessions in the morning and an afternoon spent head down developing a communications strategy for a client. That might be 4-5 hours of ‘billable’ work by my old standards. And I count that as an extremely good day.
2. In fact, your time isn’t always best spent on billable work
Sometimes working on your business doesn’t look like it. Working out, going for a walk, calling a friend, reading a relevant book or listening to a podcast can actually all ‘count’ as valid ways to be working on your business. Anything which for you counts as filling up the aforementioned ‘inspiration tank’ is worth your time.
3. Be nice, but don’t be a people-pleaser
As a freelancer, much of your job will be getting to know other people’s businesses and organisations so well that you seamlessly become part of the team. I’m going to assume that being nice is important to you already and is part of your professional life. And I’ve found that contrary to what people often think; being nice is great for business. However, it’s important to remember that you have your own business too and are not an employee. There is a reason you chose to be a freelancer - whether that’s for more freedom, to pursue a vision or to earn more money. Saying yes to things that aren’t aligned to what you want to do or don’t leave you time to work on your own vision will leave you feeling unfulfilled and resentful.
4. Start looking for new work at least 2 months before you need it
The fear of not being able to find enjoyable, well-paid work is what stops most people taking the leap into freelancing. When you find it, it’s wonderful. But it’s easy to relax into enjoying a great project and let time slip away. Before you know it you need more work. I’ve been lucky as a freelancer, I find that good communications professionals are always in demand and sustainability communications seems only to be growing. Whilst, I’ve never been without work, I’ve had periods where I would have ideally had more work. During this time, I start looking for more work and what inevitably happens is I find work for 6-8 weeks when another project I’m booked on starts. Which leads me to…
5. Getting the balance of work right is near impossible
No matter what you do, you can guarantee that people will want to hire you at the same time. You will have months where you are working well over capacity and other months where you are working well under capacity. Getting the work to line up throughout the year in manageable chunks can often seem like a pipe dream. Projects get pushed back or deadlines are brought forward. Try your best to be proactive in managing your availability - a simple spreadsheet should do it - but if you want to be a successful freelancer you will need to find a way of becoming comfortable with the inevitable ebbs and flows of work throughout the year.
6. If you’re not enjoying it, it’s time to say goodbye
You became a freelancer for the freedom to work on projects you love, in teams that inspire you, doing work that is meaningful to you. If that’s no longer the case, it’s time to say goodbye, and go after something that ticks your boxes.
Thank you for reading. If you’ve got any questions or comments on any of the above, feel free to reach out, I’d love to hear from you.
