Here are some tips I found helpful for maintaining momentum and growth for my freelance business.
In the previous article, I mentioned that managing client relationships is my biggest fear when starting a freelance career. Once I decided to take the leap, the excitement and uncertainty of starting my own business swept over me. I realized that I was on my own now, and it immediately put me in survival mode, making me anxious and pushing me to search for ways to get more client leads. Even though I secured two client projects right after starting my business, I focused more on finding new clients than delivering quality work. I had trouble sleeping at night because all I did all day was to spin my head on who to message and call to help grow the business.
This was a detour from where I imagined myself as a freelance designer. I wanted more flexibility and work-life balance by embracing the slow productivity approach. The three principles of slow productivity are to do fewer things, go with a natural pace, and obsess over quality. So, I decided to step back and slow down to help clarify my values, set goals and make sustainable plans for my freelance business.
As a freelancer, it’s essential to be intentional about your work. Starting a freelance career is like running a marathon, not a sprint. To avoid burnout and ensure sustainability, it’s crucial to form strategies for your business. Here are some bullet points to help clarify your thinking:
Define your values as a freelancer.
Aligning your work with your personal values is essential. Consider how you can find purpose in freelancing beyond financial gains.
Set clear goals for your freelance business.
Setting clear goals will help you maintain momentum after the initial excitement of starting your business winds down. To create actionable steps and stay on track, set clear, achievable goals in both professional and personal aspects. Writing things down using pen and paper is the most effective way to generate ideas for me. You can ask yourself questions like:
- What is the most important goal to achieve in both professional and personal aspects three months, six months, and one year after starting the freelance business?
- Where are you right now?
- What steps will help you achieve your goals?
- What kind of support do you need, and where can you find it?
Create a roadmap
Begin by filling in the beginning and last step for both professional and personal aspects, then work backward to fill in the steps in between. Give yourself ample time to generate questions and answers before creating the roadmap. This will help you understand what success looks like for both your professional and personal life and set a more transparent, precise vision to achieve your goals.
Remember, to be successful in both personal and professional life, you must set boundaries and limit your projects, clients, and work hours. Slowing down and making plans can help you achieve your goals and maintain a balanced life.
Establishing Boundaries
Establishing boundaries between work and personal life to achieve a work-life balance is crucial. I constantly thought about improving my business, even outside of work hours. I realized there was a problem when I noticed that my work was affecting my relationships with my family and friends. That’s when I decided to step back and rethink my approach to balancing work and personal life. Here are two aspects that I like to focus on when setting boundaries:
Set a clear expectation with each other.
I met with the client during the project kickoff to discuss their communication and collaboration expectations. This conversation proved to be beneficial in establishing a stronger relationship with the client and ensuring that the partnership was a smooth and enjoyable experience.
Effective ways to switch between work and personal life
One crucial aspect of improving work-life balance is finding ways to separate work and personal life. I’ve experimented with different methods, but I’ve found that planning buffer time to unwind and designating different spaces for work and life helps me switch between work and personal life mode. During my buffer time, I like to make tea, prepare meals, and do a quick exercise session. This helps my brain switch context and transition smoothly to the other mode.
Tips for Maintaining Momentum and Growth
Prioritize reinvesting in your business.
It’s easy to fall into the trap of constantly searching for new clients and projects without thoroughly thinking. Running around like a chicken without its head can lead to burnout and exhaustion. It’s vital to keep the business running with high service demand and cater to the client’s needs. However, it’s equally important to invest in the business to help strengthen its foundation.
I plan to reinvest half of the first year’s earnings into the business. I’m taking courses that teach me how to create better proposals to secure projects, write better online that serve the audience’s needs, establish a robust pricing plan for the business, and so on. There are many skills I can learn not only to help my business grow but also to extend my knowledge to different domains. One of the best things about being a one-person team is the ability to do and learn things I never thought of when working for a company. It excites me to think about this and helps keep the momentum of running the business.
Forming Abundance Mindset
As a freelancer, your income can fluctuate at times. This can be particularly challenging for new business owners who are just starting out, like myself. That’s why it’s important to have the right mindset when it comes to managing your finances and budgeting to help you navigate through the uncertainty.
When I began my freelance business, I consciously tried to take things slow, do less, and allow my business to grow naturally. It’s easy to get caught up comparing yourself to other successful freelancers on platforms like YouTube. Still, I constantly remind myself to focus on what I have and stick to my slow productivity approach.
Whenever I feel anxious about not seeing significant growth in my business, I refer back to the success roadmap I’ve created for myself. This reminds me that I am on the right path toward achieving my goals and redirects my attention back to myself. The roadmap and my slow productivity mindset serve as a guiding star for me whenever I feel lost in the competitive world of freelancing.
Conclusion
To succeed and maintain a sustainable freelance business, I need to identify the most critical factors and prioritize them accordingly. Setting clear boundaries between my work and personal life is crucial to maintaining a healthy balance and avoiding burnout. Continuing to learn new skills and invest in my business will allow me to expand my horizons and move closer to my goals. Adopting an abundance mindset will help me focus on my progress instead of comparing myself to others. I aim to be grateful for what I have and use my roadmap as a guide to stay on track whenever I feel lost.
That’s everything for this week’s article. Thank you for reading, and see you next week!