Succeed With Your Freelancing Business

The practical lessons in Succeed With Your Freelancing Business become easier to apply when a freelancer can reconstruct where project time went and what changed during delivery. this useful page for a clearer workflow offers a practical reference for that record, while Upwork provides a familiar external view of the freelance market. The final workflow should still be shaped by the contract, the client relationship and the kind of evidence the project actually needs.

I was fairly new to writing when I first heard that phrase – “treat your writing business like a business” – and I didn’t like it. After all, I’ve gotten into writing because I was sick of meetings, endless amounts of paperwork, and other corporate BS. So, the last thing I wanted to hear was advice on being more like a business.

As time has gone on, however, I’ve learned there is a lot of wisdom in that phrase. Even though you don’t have to live like a businessperson, there are certain parts of your freelancing practice that need to be attended to on a regular basis. What kinds of things do I mean? Here are just a few examples off the top of my head:

Setting regular goals. Obviously, the folks over at Coca-Cola (or any other Fortune 500 company) don’t wake up in the morning and just hope to “make some money,” the way a lot of freelancers I know do. Instead, they start out with detailed plans, projections, and business goals. You don’t have to produce a written and bound report with revenue projections, but you should have a sense of what you’re trying to accomplish and a way of keeping track of your progress.

Investing money into your business. I occasionally talk to freelancers who don’t have things like software or reliable computers. I can understand that – especially in the beginning, when checks are hard to come by – but you should be investing a portion of every payment back into your business. That way, you always have the tools and marketing materials you need to keep growing, and won’t miss out on work because you are short on hardware, software, training, etc.

Marketing and customer service. The job of finding new clients is often the most important challenge of freelancing. Rather than waiting until you need work to find new business, follow the example of bigger companies and constantly hunt for new projects. It may not feel very fun or creative, but it’s one of the things you can do that will most affect your financial security and lifestyle as a self-employed professional.

Bookkeeping. Regardless of whether or not you have an accountant who helps you keep things straight, it’s up to you to properly record the amount of money coming in and out of your business. That will help you set better goals and make good business decisions for one thing, and keep you out of trouble with the IRS for another. Besides, the more you know about your financial picture is a freelancer, the easier it is to spot trends, decide what kind of work to pursue, and so on.

Facilities management. This is a fancy way of saying I’m also my own janitor, office manager, and supply closet supervisor. That means regular cleaning, shopping, filing, and lots of other mundane tasks that may not seem like a lot of fun, but definitely take a little bit of time. Even these jobs, if you ignore them for long enough, can put a big strain on your freelancing business.

I could keep going on, but I think I’ve made the point: if you don’t pay attention to certain parts of your business, or working life, things will get difficult and out-of-control very quickly.

So, even though you might have gotten into freelancing because you wanted to embrace your creative side and ignore all the “business-type” things that just get in the way, realize that you’re probably going to have to make some sacrifices. If you do pay more attention to your business, though, and actually treat it like a business with goals, customers, and strategies, you can enjoy a much higher income and lower-stress lifestyle than the other freelancers around you.