Lately, it feels like I’ve been pitching my various editors and content managers a lot of articles about business development.
That’s not a bad thing — I think it’s great to spread the knowledge and share the love about what it takes to build your own business.
But it’s made me think a bit about what it was like for me to start my freelance business. I had done a lot of research beforehand, taken some online courses, worked with clients for a few months while still holding down my day job(s)…
But I still didn’t feel quite prepared for the transition to freelance life.
I think if I could tell my about-to-be-freelance self one thing, it would be this:
Expect your life to change.
Not necessarily in a positive or negative way. In a “you’ll have to think about everything from when you’re going to get up in the morning to how your budget works to how much travel you can do” sort of way.
For months after I started my freelance business, I treated everything the same as I had while I was still working two other jobs during the day. From my spending habits to how I structured my day, I stuck with the same routine.
It wasn’t until I was half a year in that I really sat down and reevaluated how my life was fitting together, and how my new work affected that.
What about you?
If you could give one piece of advice to new or about-to-be-new freelancers, what would it be?
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Need a little inspiration for making the freelance transition? Check out these great posts:
The Truth About Self-Employment from Cat at Budget Blonde
How to Create Your First Blog from Scratch from Tom at Leaving Work Behind
How to Budget as a Freelancer from Michelle at Diversified Finances
Three Email Templates that Will Help You Land Clients right here at Katharine Writes
How to Set and Accomplish Your Goals from Candice at Beauty Coated Life
Great topic! Budgeting was one of the most important things for me. It’s difficult to transition from a regular monthly paycheck to working as a freelancer. As we all know (too) well, payments can be late and projects can fall through. I’ve been lucky to always work with clients who pay consistently, but it’s difficult when you’re first starting out as a freelancer to get used to inconsistent pay days. Save your money, new freelancers! You might need it at the end of the month 🙂
Or you can have months where the money rolls in followed by months where you don’t get a single piece of work.
Learning a new way to budget was definitely hard for me too — you have to start thinking about money, and about how you spend and save, in a completely different way! If you have a spouse or partner, it’s also important to make sure they understand how inconsistent pay works as well.
Thank you so much for the mention of my article on Diversified Finances! Appreciated 🙂