Freelancing is supposed to be FUN, people! #organize #processes #freedom
You started your freelance business because you wanted more time with the family, more freedom to come and go as you please, maybe even the freedom to dink around on facebook anytime you wanted to without “the boss” looking over your shoulder.
What happened? Like a goth kid from the 80s, you lost the fun. You wear all black, play Morrissey and feel cranky you spend 80-90 hours a week networking, hustling, creating, shipping and feeling like time is just not your own anymore.
Wasn’t this supposed to be fun?
YES!!! Yes, it is supposed to be fun! Yes it can be fun again!
It only takes a tiny, itty, bitty, eensty, weensty bit of up front planning and I promise you that when you actually think about this stuff, your freelance business will get more fun! Which results in more time to do the stuff you love!
1) Who do you love to work with?
When you know who you love to work with you can lovingly say “no thanks” to the people who do not fit that mold. Try it. I promise when you tell the wrong fitting people “no, thank you,” the right fitting people show up.
2) Figure out your own personal path of least resistance.
Sit down for 30 minutes and write out the steps you take to get a customer, do the work, and then close out the customer. It’s easy and could look a little like this:
- Customer Calls me/Customer gets referred to me
- I write down project details on piece of paper/on computer/scraps of napkins
- Get customer information (what – name? phone number? address?)
- Create project using (name software, tools, etc.)
- Send invoice to customer
- Deposit check
- Send thank you note
Now you now have a list – where do you get stuck? What kind of tools do you need to make it easier for you? Figure out how to make it easier on yourself!
3) Commit to fun – Get yourself a fun reminder!
I have a rubber chicken on my desk. It’s a small one, has a rubber egg in it and when you squeeze it it clucks. I have a Spider-man figurine on my desk my nephew gave me to keep the chicken company. The only purpose they serve is to make me laugh.
When there is no fun, I squeeze the chicken. It clucks. The egg pops out of its bottom. It is completely stupid and really funny to me.
Get yourself something really stupid to keep on your desk or in your desk drawer that is a mood changer. Whatever is going to make you laugh out loud (a friend of mine has one of those fart in a jar things.) Keep it near by at all times! Use it!
Starting with those three things, and your desire to come into the fun, it will be fun again!
Jessica Chapman Clark is the founder of Room to Breathe™ Professional Organizing and author of The Entrepreneurial Itch Workbook. She helps people do the second step in this list. Connect with Jessica on Twitter @Room2BreatheOrg or on facebook.com/RoomToBreatheOrganizing
