10 things I wish I knew when I started freelancing full time

How to:

13 Oct

Written by Jack Redley & Illustrated by Georgia Baldassarra
Published 11th October 2021

I’ve been freelancing on and off for the past three years but since December 2020, I’ve taken the plunge and moved into freelancing full-time. I’ve been reflecting on the last few months and thought it might be helpful to share what I’ve learnt since making the move. I believe that these lessons are applicable to any creative going out on their own.

Nb. Figure out which of these (if any) are helpful to you. Not everyone thinks the same and so blanket lessons should be listened to with an open mind but not taken as gospel. Either way, I hope some of these lessons help you question whether you should be approaching things in the manner you currently are.

01: Time blocking

As an entrepreneur, you have a million things to do. Sometimes, you feel like you should be an octopus juggling meetings, client work, social media content, accounting, blogging and then general life stuff too (plumber, shopping, social life etc.)

I used to write a to-do list at the start of the day but that just overwhelmed me because I didn’t have any idea about how long each job would take and didn’t know how to prioritise jobs.

That’s when I started time blocking. This incredibly simple method helped me realise how much time I was taking to do things, and when to do them. I recommend planning your days at the start of the week so you can put time aside for all the different activities you need to do.

02: Social media is only good when you’re giving

I used to despise social media. I thought it was vain and narcissistic to consistently post. The thought of pointing a camera at my face and broadcasting myself to followers was abhorrent and I didn’t understand why people did it apart from ego-flattery.

However, my thought process changed when I read Seth Godin’s book called ‘This Is Marketing,’ where he talks about providing value to people and sharing it with the world. He explained marketing should be about making someone’s life better. It should be a generous act where you are providing value to people who want that value.

I realised by putting together informative, entertaining and/or educational posts, I was helping my target audience. Social media wasn’t about me – it was about making content for an intended audience.

“This is the social part of social media. It’s about dialogue and starting conversation by providing value. It’s not about simply selling or shoving boring product pictures into someone’s feed.”

This is the social part of social media. It’s about dialogue and starting conversation by providing value. It’s not about simply selling or shoving boring product pictures into someone’s feed.

Tip: Imagine talking directly to an individual who is your ideal customer. What information do they need to help them improve their life? What content would engage them?

03: Lean in to things you’re not comfortable with

Since I was in set 7 maths at school, I didn’t want to have anything to do with the numbers side of running a business. It sounds obvious if you want to run a business but I thought if I just focussed on doing the client work, I would have enough money to live and strict number keeping wouldn’t be so important.

However, with taxes and increasing bills as I use different software, I wish I started bookkeeping from the get-go and even did an accountancy course.

Of course, it’s important to know where your strengths lie and it may be far less hassle to pay someone else to help you manage areas which you are not so comfortable with. However, I think it’s key to understand the rudiments of every facet of your business. At the start, you may have no choice anyway.

04: Constantly learn

I strongly believe that if you don’t feel out of your depth at least once a week, you’re not wading deep enough. Constantly pushing to develop my skillset has been invaluable for me so far in my business and will no doubt help you too.

After doing an SEO course recently, for example, I realised that I could potentially offer SEO as a service to clients if they wanted my services. I would never have considered this had I not been curious enough to do this course.

You will be surprised how things you have read or studied that may seem arbitrary at the time may be fantastically useful in your business down the line!

05: Your family and friends don’t have to agree

When you start a business, your friends and families want to offer advice about whether you should start a business and some try to dissuade you from doing it. I genuinely believe that they are doing this from a place of compassion because they are trying to make sure you will be ok.

However, I found that often, when people tried to dissuade me, I tried to convince them that I would be ok. I got frustrated trying to convince people to just support me in what I was doing but what I realise now is that it’s not my job to convince people. It’s my job to do what feels right whether I have friends and family supporting me or not.

I wish someone had told me you need to follow whatever you think is right and iterate as you go. Actions express priorities. Show your family and friends how serious you are about your entrepreneurial goals and they will stop trying to convince you otherwise!

06: Intrinsic vs Extrinsic reasoning

Be sure that you want to start a business and for the right reasons. If you want to be an entrepreneur to quit the 9-5 and have more free time, don’t quit. You work so much more than a 9-5. If you want to be an entrepreneur because you want to get rich quick, I would also advise against starting a business.

Some fascinating advice from Seth Godin is ‘What would you do if you knew you were going to fail?’ He says that you are more likely to truly love what you do even if failure is inevitable. You are less likely to do something for extrinsic reasons if you are going to fail for sure.

And finally, he argues you are more likely to succeed if you would do it even if you knew you were going to fail because most people wouldn’t do things if they knew they would fail – the space would be less crowded as a result.

07: Work-life balance

I think it’s so important to recognise when you’re a freelance creative you are the business. You may have a partner doing the business with you, but the likelihood is, if you have just started, you don’t have employees. This means that if you get ill or feel drained, your business suffers. This is why I think it’s so important to treat rest seriously.

When I first started freelancing in 2019, I was getting up at 5 am and working until late. After a few weeks of this, I felt burnt out and drained. I had listened to too much Gary Vaynerchuck who said '“Do the work. Everyone wants to be successful, but nobody wants to do the work.” I narrowed in on working all the time and I was completely miserable.

I personally have one day a week where I don’t look at any screens and I try and be outside as much as possible. I also try and exercise at least every other day. It’s hard to run a business without feeling rested and clear so at minimum take a day off!

08: More success doesn’t equal more happiness

It's cliché but my ambition was to get higher-paying clients. When I reached my goal, I didn't feel happy though. I didn't enjoy the job all that much and realised I needed to re-evaluate my metric for success, and take jobs that were satisfying rather than just well paid. The job where I got paid the most, I felt the least fulfilled. I thought when I was charging substantial amounts of money for work, I would be happy but that wasn’t the case.

“When I reached my goal, I didn’t feel happy though. I didn’t enjoy the job all that much and realised I needed to re-evaluate my metric for success”

‘Be clear what your ambitions are’ is well-known advice. What no one told me is what to do when you reach your ambitions and feel unfulfilled. I wish someone told me that you should constantly check in with your ambitions. Check if they still make sense in the context of your lived experience. Don’t be afraid of admitting how you feel to yourself.

If when you achieve a goal and it doesn’t feel right, ask yourself why and reflect. Then, you can truly learn from it.

09: Seek out other entrepreneurs in your niche

I find that often you get so caught up in your entrepreneurial world that it’s easy to forget there are plenty of other people facing the same challenges you are. It’s so important to remember that plenty of people are also feeling like you and that it is easier than ever to connect with them.

I try and organise a weekly call with designers that I have simply messaged on Instagram. There are things you can learn from people that are ahead of you but I think it’s great to simply have a conversation with someone that understands what you are going through!

10: You’re never as ready as you want to be

When I studied languages at university, I thought I would become fluent and I would then go out to the Hispanic world speaking to everyone in imperfect Spanish. The truth was you can’t learn Spanish in a classroom of English speakers all reading a textbook. You need to just throw yourself head over biscuit into the Hispanic world whether that is dance classes in Madrid, working as a barman in Lima or going out with an Argentinian in Buenos Aires. I firmly believe the same is true for starting a business.

You need to throw yourself into it and iterate as you go. With a minimum viable product, you will get real-time feedback and learn so much as you go. You will earn more from trying and failing in business than you will on a business course. You’re never going to be ready and so accepting that is a profound step that encourages you to just go for it.

Be comfortable in the uncomfortable and you will learn to take on greater challenges with less anxiety.

About the author

Jack is a brand identity and web designer based in Newcastle, and he is a massive failure. From being rejected from multiple agencies (including one he brought a cake to in a desperate attempt to get a job), he has dotted from project to project learning from mistakes and is a gold mine of resources of what not to do as a freelancer. He now works as a freelancer full-time so maybe those rejections were for the best (or that's what he tells himself anyway).

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