Two years ago, X started her own company, grew it internationally and invested all her effort into it before she chose to shut it down. After an experience that had brought her so much responsibility and knowledge in a short time span, she didn’t want to return to a different company as an employee. Instead, she became a freelancer. With a Masters Degree under her belt and a PhD in Organizational Behavior underway, Gutnick now offers services in founder consulting, management diagnostics and business development.
In the following post, Gutnick gives valuable tips based on her freelancing experience for anyone who is currently self-employed or considering it.
Although not all of us are aware of it, we’re in the middle of a dramatic change towards a “naked economy”.
Life-long employment is an artifact of the old (but not necessarily
better!) days. In the EU, 14.5% of the workforce fell into the category
“self-employed” in 2010. In the US, every 3rd person was self-employed
in 2006, and forecasts
predict this will increase to 40% by the year 2020. Tuning into this
trend, my experience as an entrepreneur pushed me to become a freelance
business consultant. In the following, I summarize the most important
takeaways I gathered as a freelancer. I hope they’ll give you a good
idea of what to expect when you “run wild”.
1. Be entrepreneurial
Although lots of people don’t seem to think that way
especially in Berlin, when you’re a freelancer, you are much more of a
small business owner than you are an employee without social benefits.
Thinking that I am the CEO of my own little company helped me to
understand my areas of action and to focus my energy on what ultimately
matters most for a business: to create value and to generate revenue. As
a freelancer you’re responsible for the whole value chain from lead
generation and sales, to accounting and operations, to customer support
and overall strategic direction of the business. Letting one of the
areas slip your attention for too long can lead you into a critical
situation that impacts your whole existence. That is both the beauty and
the difficulty of being a freelancer.
TIP: Customer acquisition is crucial to
keep your pipeline of projects filled. When you start out as a
freelancer (or better before!), spend 80-90% of your time approaching
potential clients. A potential client is everybody in your network that
could buy your services or somebody that might know somebody that could
buy your services. Approach them via email, via social networks (no, not
only Facebook but LinkedIn, Twitter, Quora, your blog, Medium and
others) or at networking events. Talking to people about you and what
you do is crucial. For freelancers, a random chat with a new client can
turn struggle, self-doubt and existential fear into an awesome
opportunity. I try to spend at the very least one day every week on
customer acquisition. I love contactually for organizing all my leads and contacts and spotting new opportunities on time.
2. Be creative
Since you’re now competing with millions of freelancers on
the open market, you need to be at the cutting edge and tap into your
creative spirit. As a freelancer, this should come naturally, since your
specific skill set is already unique. Your creative task already starts
with defining your profile and your services. Don’t try to copy the
webpages of other freelancers. You should, however, study your
competitors carefully, try to understand how your offering is different
and work on your unique selling points. As an independent worker, there
is no boss to dictate what you should do, and there are no brand
guidelines that determine the style of your presentation. It’s all about
your talents, your brains and your ability to utilize them. Take a
piece of paper and draw out the concept of your service, the value
you’re creating for your clients and how you can communicate that in
everything you do.
TIP: When looking for new projects, try to
approach the task from a different perspective. Instead of thinking of
how you can find companies that want to work with a freelancer, approach
companies that are already looking for somebody to take on tasks.
They’re just not aware yet that their best choice is a freelancer – you!
A friend of mine recently gave me the idea of going through career
pages of prospective clients and other job boards and to write to those
that are looking for an intern or an employee in my field of expertise.
3. Be determined
All the romance of working from home with the cat on your
lap aside, by now it probably occurred to you that being a freelancer is
primarily running a small business with you being the CEO, COO, CTO,
CMO, CFO and all interns. There is probably one principle that all
freelancers would agree on: You need to hustle. Just as running a
startup with multiple people filling several roles, running your
freelance business is a marathon with euphoric moments and stretches of
despair and helplessness. And when the latter come, you need to be
prepared. Before making the decision to freelance, think carefully about
why you want to do it and analyze how functional your motivation is.
Personally, I don’t believe one should freelance for any other reason
than personal and/or professional growth (which can also mean financial
improvement of course, but statistically speaking it usually means the
opposite, at least in the beginning).
TIP: Growth mindset
is a good tool that I found very useful when running behind leads for
days without closing even one of them. Although the financial aspect of
rough patches in a freelancer’s life is very troublesome, the hardest of
all can be the psychological effects of the rejection. Don’t take a
“no” as the evaluation of your skills and self-worth. Carol Dweck’s
theory of fixed vs. growth mindsets helped me to understand the
motivational losses I was experiencing when facing long phases of
without success. I developed a healthier approach to challenging
situations and saw them as an opportunity to learn and grow.4. Don’t isolate yourself
As I already mentioned before, you are part of a globally
growing group of people that face similar challenges. Connect with this
group. Other freelancers know the challenges you’re going through,
because they’ve been there and know a couple of war tricks that you
might use for your own battles. So, put your party hat on and befriend
some freelancers. Furthermore, just as with every other challenging
situation, one of the most important resources to keep you going is
friends and family. Although they might not understand all of your
challenges, they will support you no matter what.
TIP: In Berlin you can find multiple freelancer meetup groups, for instance the Freerangers or the Freelance Power Girls Group
that meet regularly and serve as a platform to exchange experiences,
insider infos and tips, as well as to support each other in the daily
battles of the freelance existence.
5. Take breaks
Most of my friends react to my freelance life with the
following words: “I don’t know. I would not be able to motivate myself
to get out of bed in the mornings. And then all the working alone. I
need the team and the social aspects of an office.” Funny enough, I work
longer hours, since becoming a freelancer and have no issues motivating
myself. Especially in the first weeks as a freelancer, I got to my desk
in the morning and did not get up until late in the evening. Working
alone makes you fully responsible for everything you produce and all the
mistakes you make. Most of the time there is no final check-up before
sending materials out to clients. It is important that you’re fully
concentrated and bring your best game all the time. For that, taking
regular breaks is essential.
TIP: There are different ways to build
your own healthy schedule. I know successful people that work with an
hourglass. I personally prefer concentrate and online window shopping, travel planning or exercise during my breaks.
6. Kick ass!
And last but not least: Keep your head up high, push aside
your fears, be bold, always be professional and kick ass in everything
you do.
Find more info on how to get up to speed as a freelancer in an entertaining article by Emil Lamprecht, the CMO of Careerfoundry.
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