4 top tips to find your Freelance Feet!

A disclaimer to start.
If you’re here for talk of 10k months, working 3 hour days or heavy repetition of ‘grind,’ ‘hustle’ and ‘lets gooooo’ not said in a Super Mario voice, I’m not your guy.
If you’re here because of your love of truth, words, learning, and have a genuine desire to put a shift in to improve your freelance Brand Voice, whatever your niche, then let’s a-go.
This new series of Blogs will delve deep into my archive of experience, tips and tricks to try to help you find some practical ways to kick off your freelance journey and help you find confidence in your voice.
Although I’ve chosen to focus on ‘getting started,’ don’t let that put you off if you’ve been running your business for a while. Whether I’m on a networking call or coaching aspiring writers, my experience is most are still finding their feet, whether they’re 2 months or 2 years in. Because we never stop learning.
That’s the tough part about building your own business. But at the same time, that’s the beauty of building your own business.
So here we go, let’s get into my four tips to find your feet or at least get them moving in the right direction.
Number One: Write more
Whether you’re a writer, social media, VA or any other kind of freelancer, this advice is universal.
The more you write, the more comfortable you get with your own voice. The more comfortable you are with your own voice, the easier those captions and Blogs feel.
Put some time aside each working day for you. Your own personal CPD slot. 10 minutes is plenty.
Task: Open up your notes or a word doc. Pick a topic. Make it something simple. Something already in your brain that day. Your morning routine. Your favourite snack. Don’t edit it. Just flow. Nobody is going to see this anyway so leave all the errors in. Get those ideas in your head onto the page.
Writing in short bursts like this helps for a few reasons.
It makes us more comfortable with our style.
It asks us to get creative with ‘normal’ topics.
It reminds us we have a Story to tell.
Number Two: Connect with more people
So many people I’ve networked with during my time as a content creator have said how tricky they find talking about themselves. You might think that’s just face to face, but it really isn’t!
Plenty I’ve met hate talking to their screen too. My advice, do it a bit more. Don’t get comfy posting about what you do, talk about it. Out loud.
I meet at least 1 freelancer every week. I do this because I love meeting people. I love hearing their ambitions. But I also know it’s part of a bigger picture. A picture that boosts confidence and drives me to keep doing what I’m doing. My task for you is to give it a go. Pinging a LinkedIn connection request doesn’t cut it either. I mean actual conversation. Set one up this week.
Struggling to think of someone? I look forward to our call.
Bonus points for any of you that try it in person! Next time you’re at your favourite coffee shop, ask them who wrote their website copy. Next time you’re getting your hair cut, ask them about their socials. It’s not a pitch. It’s finding confidence talking about what you do.
Number Three: Pitch to prospective clients
Because it’s scary.
At least it feels that way at the time.
We spend so long posting and commenting, we get lulled into thinking that’s enough. That the inbounds will just come flooding our inbox. This then makes reaching out and offering our services all the more difficult. Suddenly, sending a message in a real effort to land a client slips to the bottom of our to-do list.
In truth though, it’s just an email or DM.
What’s the worst that can happen? I don’t want to put a magic number on it for you, because the truth is you just never know when reaching out can result in a win. But let’s say you commit to contacting 20 businesses this week. If that’s 20 more than you do currently, that’s a win. Try it!
The chances of you getting replies to 20 emails is really slim, let’s be honest. This isn’t about that. It’s about forming good habits you can build on and reminding yourself it’s ok to put your services out there.
Number Four: Know when to switch off
This one is the biggie.
I want you to do it straight after reading this. It’s switching off.
Phone away, laptop closed.
Now and again, I need time to recharge. So do you.
My eyes are heavy, my thinking fuzzy. I can feel the cloud forming in my head. Then I know it’s time to stop.
I try really hard to take daily breaks from my business.
Sometimes it’s half an hour, sometimes it's an hour. Sometimes it’s the gym, sometimes it’s the guitar. It doesn’t matter what it is. What matters is that you have something. Something in your day that makes you get away from the laptop. If you need to write it down to ensure you do it, write it down. If you need an alarm, set it.
Yes, running your own business demands lots of you, all the time. There’s no getting away from that. But you have to make pockets of time for yourself. And that’s ok. If you’re going to find your feet, you need the energy to stand.
So there you have it. 4 top tips to help you find your feet and remain balanced when it comes to your business. I’ve tried to cover a few bases there for you, from honing your craft to organising your outreach. There’s plenty more to come in the Blogs to follow!
Like what you read? Thanks! Once a week I can send quickfire tips and tasks like this into your Inbox if you like? Head here to find confidence in your voice.
If you’re really up for some tasks to push you out of your comfort zone, go download my free interactive guide to find your Brand Voice!
Oh and if you’re considering writing Content or Copy, but can’t quite decide which is more you, check out my thoughts on the decision.
Until next time…
Phil
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