If you’re reading this then chances are you’ve occasionally fantasised about ditching your day job, starting a business, and working for yourself.
And I don’t blame you. Freelancing has many perks.
But freelancing isn’t all sunshine and rainbows – if it were simple, we’d all be doing it.
So before you dive into self-employment, it’s important you understand what you’re letting yourself in for. Here are my tips to help you get started…
Be prepared to work
If you’re one of those people who likes to coast through life, freelancing isn’t for you.
Working for yourself requires an investment of time, effort, and money.
You can’t do the bare minimum and leave others to pick up the slack because there are no others to pick up the slack. If you don’t work, you don’t earn. It’s as simple as that.
Prioritise the right things
Catchy company names, fancy websites and logos, glossy brochures, and prestigious offices are all nice to have, but they aren’t a priority.
There’s no point throwing money at those things before you’ve even had your first sale because if you can’t get any clients, it’ll all be for nothing.
Don’t waste time trying to create the “perfect” business before launching – focus on getting your first clients. Everything else can come later.
Learn the basics of sales and marketing
I’ve seen too many highly skilled, highly talented, highly qualified people fail as freelancers for one simple reason.
They suck at sales and marketing.
Being good at what you do isn’t enough – you have to be able to find people who need what you’re selling, and then you need to convince them to buy it.
So if you don’t have a plan for getting your first few freelance clients, do yourself a favour and learn the basics of sales and marketing.
Get comfortable selling
When you work for yourself, you are a business. And a business needs to make sales – that means getting people to pay you in return for your products or services.
Sounds obvious, I know, but it’s amazing how many freelancers feel “icky” about selling.
And if you can’t get comfortable with selling, you’re really going to struggle at running a business. So get comfortable with it.
Be resilient
When you work for yourself, you are accountable for everything. Every decision. Every sale. Every achievement. Every mistake. Every success. Every failure.
You will get knockbacks. Things won’t always go to plan. You’ll have days when it feels like everything is going wrong.
It can take some getting used to so be prepared for the first few months to feel like a rollercoaster of emotion.
Resilience will be your best friend.
Set realistic expectations
Overnight success doesn’t exist.
Even the businesses that seemed to appear out of nowhere have years of work or huge amounts of investment behind them.
So be realistic about what you want to achieve.
It can take time to build up a steady income so what’s the minimum income you can live on while you get things going? How long could you survive without making a single sale?
If there’s no urgency to going freelance, build up some savings before handing in your notice.
Set boundaries and don’t be afraid to say no
I don’t think a day goes by when I don’t see a post on social media from a freelancer who has been wronged by a client or potential client in some way. Getting ghosted, being haggled down on price, not getting paid on time, getting phone calls in the middle of the night – the list goes on.
You don’t have to put up with it – you choose who you work with. Learn how to spot bad clients in advance and you can avoid them altogether.
Set boundaries and don’t be afraid to say ‘no’ – you don’t have to accept every ‘opportunity’ that comes your way.
Invest in learning and development
Working for yourself doesn’t mean you have to do everything by yourself. Don’t be afraid to ask for help and never stop investing in your personal and professional development.
Learn from other people. Read the books, get the newsletters, sign up for training, work with coaches or mentors. Find people who can help you get where you want to be. It’s much faster than trying to get there alone.
Buy my book
Yes, I’m biased on this one but my book, The Freelance Fairytale, is the book I wish I’d had in my first few years as a freelancer.
It’s written for freelancers who want to earn decent money doing the thing they love for great clients. It’s full of practical advice – stuff I know works because I do it in my own business.
And it covers everything from setting boundaries and overcoming self-doubt to pricing your services and marketing your business. You can get your copy here.
Just do it
Going self-employed isn’t something you should do on a whim – it’s a big lifestyle change – but equally, if you know it’s what you want, don’t put it off.
There will never be a “perfect time” to start a business and you don’t have to have it all figured out before you start – I certainly didn’t.
So if you want to find out whether freelancing is right for you, just do it. You’ll never know if you don’t try.
If you’d like info on things like setting up as self-employed, choosing your trading name, or paying yourself, check out: How to Start a Freelance Business in the UK
If you’d like advice on getting your first few clients and marketing your business, check out: A Guide to Marketing for New Freelancers
And if you’d like advice on how to build a freelance business that works on your terms, grab my book here: The Freelance Fairytale: How to Create Your Happy Ever After
By Lisa Slater
