The one thing that makes a huge difference when you start freelancing

As a mentor to freelancers and small business owners, I have this firm belief that if you’re reading something like this, whether you’ve launched yet or not, you will make it work.

That’s it. Reading posts like this reinforce the idea that you’re putting your time, thoughts and energy into a business. You might not know everything yet (I’ve been going ten years and still don’t know everything). You might not have really defined everything your business does or doesn’t do, or who your audience is. But if you’re researching, learning and growing when you could be watching Netflix, there’s a good chance you’re going to be alright.

But. There’s always a but, right? Let me ask you something first. Can you picture where you want this business of yours to take you? Is it financial freedom, a flexible lifestyle that lets you work when your brain is at its best or do the school run? Maybe it’s the ability to work more when you want to and less when you want or need to create more time in your life for other priorities.

The thing is, this is the bit you do need to know before you start. You’ll hear other people calling this your Why. Once you have this, you have the motivation you need to do the hard work, and actually know what you’re working towards.

Me? If we rewind ten years, I was hoping to start a family and I was working in a job I knew I would absolutely hate going back to after having a baby. There was no way I could do it. So, pretty proactively, I quit. I set up a freelance business without really knowing what a freelancer was. I had my daughter 14 months later and took the kind of maternity leave that suited me and her (basically, I worked when she slept a lot at the beginning and took a more flexible approach later on when she needed more from me). Now, with one most of the way through primary school and her younger sister about to start, my reasons for running a business are different. I still want the family flexibility I set out to create, but I also want to set an example of what self-employment can look like.

Back to you, though. Can you identify that Why? Journaling to help discover it can work well, but I also like just throwing random words or ideas down in a random order on a piece of paper (or more likely, that fresh notebook you’ve bought for your new venture). Is there a pattern or theme that links your ideas up? Your Why might be one fierce idea or it might be lots of joining ones. Whatever it is, hold it in mind at every stage so you keep that focus when niggling thoughts of an easier or more conventional path creep in.

Everyone I have mentored over the last ten years has come to me with one of the following three reasons to get a mentor:

·      To build confidence

·      To gain knowledge

·      To get accountability

100% of them also want to increase their income – who doesn’t? I’m really pleased to say out of everyone I’ve mentored, 95% of them are still working in their chosen business.

Once you start building those three things, you’ll create the path to your Why. So the next question is, how long do you want it to take to get there?

Because like I said at the beginning, it’s likely you will get there.

But the difference between going it alone and working with a mentor for freelancers and self employed is how quickly you get there.

That’s it. Do it on your own – study all the stuff, watch the YouTube videos, get clients, build processes and practices – over time you will reach your goals. But with someone who’s been in the thick of it for over ten years, experienced the highs of client wins and the lows of managing personal crises with a busy workload amongst other things, I will work with you to skip the bad bits, get really efficient and create the processes that might take you a while to figure out on your own. In essence, getting you to your Why faster.

If you feel ready to find out more about mentoring, you can find my info pack here.

You can also reach out via email, on LinkedIn or Instagram to get to know me better.

I make a fairly big effort to be known specifically for not selling mentoring. There’s no sales talk or pressure from me at all – I want everyone to make an informed choice. But I think the best way to do that is by trying it out.

To book a free, no-pressure mini mentoring session, reach out here.