I’m just back from Amsterdam after an amazing weekend with my niece. Never been before and it exceeded every expectation. On the train on the way back we were looking at old photos on our phone and this one popped up. I took it 6 years ago at the very beginning of my freelance journey.
Look at me in my thick socks and comfy clothes (breaking one of my now golden rules of working from home). But it made me reflect a bit on how far I’ve come…
- 25 clients – from very small charities to big multinational companies and research agencies
- 102 projects – from face-to-face depth interviews to brand trackers to whole sector surveys to pasta sauce segmentations
- Revenue growth of 350%* (which says a lot about how scary that first year was!)
It’s been a whole load of trial and error but, for all the new freelancers out there, this is what worked for me:
- I have a terrific coach – I think of her as the best line manager I ever had (https://www.chaplincoaching.com/).
- The quality of my work is all I have so I work on one project at a time so that I am completely immersed in that client (obviously there’s a bit of overlap at times but only when it’s manageable).
- Outsourcing the stuff I don’t have the skills for. The big things that I could never learn like accountancy, web design and IT and the small things I could do but hate doing like data tables.
- Celebrating success so that when times are tough and I’m scared that pipeline won’t fill I can remember what it feels like to succeed.
I’m often asked if I’d ever go back to being employed by someone else and, although there are some things I miss about my old life (colleagues, paid holiday, a regular pay cheque) I can’t imagine walking away from the only job I’ve ever had that I truly love.
*First 12 months vs latest 12 months
