We all have big dreams when we start freelancing, and that’s a good thing. However, during my years of providing business advice to start-ups, I realised that a lot of the things that I took for granted weren’t obvious to those just starting up. In recent years that seems to have exasperated as my TikTok feed is full of people giving out incredibly bad, unrealistic advice.
So here’s my reality check for you.
Not all of this advice will apply to everyone, of course, so take from it what you will, and you’ll be better prepared to start your freelance journey.
1. It will take longer to become established than you think
A lot of people I worked with thought that as soon as they’d done the basics in setting up the business (see my free new freelancer toolkit and checklist) they would immediately start attracting customers.
Your potential customers first need to know of you, then they need to learn to trust you, and – ideally – like you. Some of this trust can be obtained with a well-produced website and great social media presence, but there’s nothing better than cultivating strong relationships by meeting in person.
Persistence will be the key here. Keep yourself visible to potential customers. Position yourself as an expert by sharing knowledgeable blogs and social media posts, and arrange follow-up one-to-ones with people you meet at networking events. If you’re new to networking, I’ve written a blog post about how to get started.
If you are planning to work with clients that you have previously had a relationship with while in employment, they will still need assurances of your professionalism now that you’re on your own. Listen to their needs and requirements and try not to get frustrated when they point out something that you may not have thought about – it’s a valuable learning experience. You’ll also need to be constantly expanding your networks because those customers can be gone as quickly as they arrive.
After a while you’ll have a portfolio of clients, but there’s no telling whether that will take three weeks, three months, or three years. A lot will depend on your marketing strategy.
2. You’ll probably change your services (and your prices) a lot
Part of the reason that it may take you longer to become established than you think is that you may need some time to fine-tune your offering. There’s nothing wrong with changing your services and prices as often as you need to – there’s a lot to consider when starting up and it may take some time to find your niche.
The world is in a constant state of flux and you’ll need to be able to respond dynamically. Trends change, recessions come and go, budgets expand and contract – these will all play into your thinking at different times.
One way to guarantee failure? Refusing to accept that something isn’t working.
3. You can’t rely on social media shares from family and friends
A lot of people that I have supported previously thought that if they set up a social media page and asked their friends and family to share their posts, they would instantly attract customers.
While this can work in the short term, your friends and family will have limited reach and it’s highly likely that a lot of their posts will fly under the radar. Success on social media is based on engagement – if your friends and family share your posts but no one comments or interacts with them, they will only be seen by a handful of people.
Plus, your friends and family will inevitably get bored of sharing your posts and its (already low) effectiveness will decrease further.
You’ll need to come up with a social media strategy to reach new people. Which leads me to:
4. Social media algorithms change every-frickin-day!
Social media is not a guaranteed quick win. I subscribe to the newsletter from Later.com and follow a few significant experts on various platforms to keep up-to-date with the latest changes. Annie-Mai Hodge from Girl Power Marketing is a person that I strongly recommend you follow on LinkedIn as she posts regular updates on changes in the social media world.
For instance, a couple of years ago the advice was to use 25-30 hashtags on Instagram. Now the advice is to use 3-5. There is even talk that hashtags are now completely ineffective anyway.
The key to success on social media is to create content that is useful, entertaining, educational, and/or interesting. It’s something I’ve yet to master, so I focus my marketing resources elsewhere.
Learn what you can about social media strategy (google it!) and then decide where that fits within your marketing plan. You’ll then know how much time to put into creating and crafting posts.
5. Your friends and family won’t understand boundaries
This was another common challenge that people I was supporting faced, particularly when working from home for the first time.
You’ll need to spend some time reinforcing the idea that just because you’re there, doesn’t mean you’re accessible all the time. You may need to reiterate on multiple occasions that you need to spend your time working without distraction. Eventually, they’ll get the message.
Apart from the cats. They’ll never learn.
Of course, you may have moved into self-employment to have more time at home or spend more time with the family. If this is the case, make the most of this time. You’re in charge now – you can work whenever you want to!
6. You’ll spend a silly amount of money on coffee
Or tea. Or fruit juice. Or Monster. Or Prime. Whatever’s your tipple. NO! LEAVE THE GIN ALONE. At least until after 5pm. Actually, sod it – like I said – you’re the boss now!
Personally, I spend a lot of money on coffee. Networking event? Coffee. One-to-one? Coffee. Working late? Coffee. Mid-afternoon slump? Coffee?
The great thing is that a lot of networking events include your first drink in the entry price, so you’ll be able to claim that as an expense. Likewise, if you’re meeting someone for a one-to-one, you can legitimately claim the coffee as a cost for the use of the “meeting room”*.
7. It could be the best thing you’ve ever done
Personally, I went self-employed back in 2011 and it’s the best thing I’ve ever done. I love being in control of who I work with, what my working hours are, and where I work. I love being able to take time off without answering to anybody.
Even if you decide that self-employment isn’t for you, you’ll learn a lot from it, and you can always come back to it at a later date.
This doesn’t have to be permanent – if it’s not working out, you can always close the business and go back to employment.
Bonus tip – it can be difficult being authentic when you’re starting out
Remember when you were a kid and you walked into a group activity full of other kids that you didn’t know? Remember that feeling of moderating your behaviour until you worked out what was acceptable?
I used to have that feeling every time I walked into a new room full of other professionals. It took some time, but now I am unapologetically me in all environments.
Depending on your personality, it might take some time for you to get there too. And that’s absolutely fine.
And if you want some help putting your authentic self across to potential new customers – why not check out my Personal Branding packages? Most packages include a couple of planning meetings where I can help you figure out who the real you REALLY is – and therefore attract the clients that YOU want to work with.
*this is not tax advice, it’s just what I was told once and no-one has ever corrected me so I assume it’s still true. Don’t sue me if HMRC come after you. Speak to your accountant.
