When I first started freelancing, I thought the hardest part would be finding clients. But guess what? It turns out that the daily grind of keeping your sanity and business going is way more challenging than I thought.
1. Cash flow matters.
One of the biggest challenges of freelancing is irregular income. Some months are slow, other times projects are delayed, and sometimes you get paid a bunch of money at once. In the early days, I didn’t have a system and didn’t realise how much I needed to save for slower months. A big change for me was making it harder to move money. I now have my money in two separate bank accounts: my current account, where my salary is paid into and my savings account as a backup for slower months. This removes the temptation to dip into my emergency fund too easily.
2. Blocks of time are your friend.
Freelancing gives you a lot of freedom, but that freedom can be overwhelming. I used to spend all day jumping between emails, working on projects, invoicing and generally multi-tasking. The result was that I was busy but not productive. Now I bundle similar tasks together and set aside specific time slots for them. Then I focus on nothing else while listening to Spotify playlists without lyrics to block out distractions. I also work with tasks in my Google Calendar, and once they’re ticked off, it’s downtime.
3. JOMO not FOMO.
One of my favourite travel podcasters introduced me to the concept of JOMO (Joy of Missing Out). What applies to travel (taking it slow, rather than trying to cram in too much sightseeing) also holds true for freelancing. When I first started out, I suffered from FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). I said yes to everything and worried that if I said no, I might never get another chance. But not all opportunities are worth taking and by embracing JOMO wholeheartedly, I can say no to draining projects.
What have you learned from freelancing? Share your insights!
