Milestones, Pricing and Awesome Feedback
March 23rd 2016 was my last day as an employee.
Nine years and one day ago.
I'd already been freelancing part-time for two years at that point so technically I'm celebrating 11 years in business.
But while I know the exact date I went full-time self-employed, I don't know the exact date I started my business.
I know I bought my first domain name and set up my first website in February 2014. I know I met my first client at a networking event at some point in March 2014. And I know I hit send on my first invoice in April 2014. But I didn't keep track of exact dates.
So I'm celebrating somewhere around 11 years in business and exactly nine years of self-employment.
Last year, I wrote a "10 years in business: the highs and lows" post. I'm going to be a bit cheeky and reuse it for Wednesday's post. I'll just update the title to 11 years and add on the lessons I've learnt this year - you know I'm a big fan of recycling content.
If I'm honest, it doesn't feel like it's been a whole year since I wrote that post. It's funny how time seems to speed up as you get older. The weeks and months just fly by compared to when I was young and felt like I had all the time in the world.
Sometimes, I wish time would slow down so I have enough of it to do all the things I want to do.
I can't be too hard on myself though. I am pretty good at getting stuff done when I get my head down. And I have a good balance of work and rest.
I love my work, but I don't want to spend 80 hours a week working. I like having time to exercise and cook and read and watch TV and socialise. I like going on holiday and being able to switch off.
I think there is too much pressure on business owners to work long hours and always be available to clients. Of course, it depends on what you want from your business. If you want fast growth, then you might need to put in more hours now to get where you want to be next year.
But if, like me, you just want to earn a decent living so you can enjoy life, you don't have to spend every waking minute working. I certainly don't.
The key is structuring your business so that it gives you the money and flexibility you need.
Pricing is key. If you want to earn £2000 a week, but only want to work 20 hours a week, then you can't set your hourly rate at £30. It's simple maths 20 hours at £30 is £600, not £2000.
But I think hourly pricing is flawed anyway. I wrote about it here if you're interested:
lisa
Of course, pricing isn't the only consideration. You can't just set your prices stupidly high and hope for the best. You need to attract clients that are willing to pay those prices.
And you need to be able to keep those clients happy, manage your workload effectively, deliver value for money, market yourself consistently, be able to adapt and evolve when needed, and so much more.
Gosh it's tough being a freelancer.
But you don't have to do it alone.
I did a consultation last week with someone who needed a bit of direction. He's already taking action and emailed me to update me:
"I thought I’d get the ball rolling whilst I’m enthusiastic after our call."
Here's the review he left me after we spoke:
I had an update from another client last week too:
"I’ve been using my notes from our talks to help me get my business working for me. Because of this I’ll be going on holiday for the first time in six years in June."
Feedback like this makes me so happy because I know what it's like when you feel stuck and someone helps you out of the rut.
And I wish I'd gotten more help nine years ago when I entered the world of self-employment. Instead, I spent three years trying to figure it out alone and I ended up miserable.
I certainly don't think I'd have lasted this long if I hadn't finally got the support I needed and invested in myself.
So if you're struggling or you feel like you aren't moving forward as quickly as you'd like, drop me an email and let me know what your biggest challenge is right now. As Matt says in his review, I've been there, done it and even written the book.
Your weekly ten-minute task
The weekly ten-minute tasks are short simple tasks that should take around ten minutes to complete (although you can spend longer if you want to). The goal is to help you improve your sales and marketing processes.
Completing these tasks won't magically transform your business, but doing one small thing each week to improve is better than doing nothing. So block out ten minutes in the next few days and complete the below task.
Think about your last bad experience with a prospect
It's not uncommon for freelancers to have their time wasted by bad prospects. Calls that never lead to anything. Proposals that get completely ignored. Having to jump through hoops to win business, only for the empty promises to fall through.
This week I want you to think about the last time you found yourself in a situation like this. What went wrong?
How could you have prevented it from happening?
Is your marketing attracting the wrong type of enquiry? Are you agreeing to calls without finding out whether the prospect is the right fit? Are you letting prospects dictate how you run your business?
Reviewing your marketing and sales process when it goes wrong is a great way of improving it. Don't get hung up on bad experiences - use them as learning opportunities instead.
Weekly anagrams
Sometimes you need a little break from work or something to get your brain going while you have your morning brew. That's where the weekly anagrams come in.
And this week they are all works of William Shakespeare:
- judo on realtime
- ooh tell
- tempt these
- admired humming streams
- cavemen chorine theft
If you are unfamiliar with how anagrams work: An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of a different word or phrase, using all the original letters only once.
Feel free to send me your answers once you’ve got them all – there’s no prize, but it’s always good to share your achievements. I'll give you the answers in next week's email.
And talking of answers, here are the answers to last week's anagrams:
- fang lad = Gandalf
- do for = Frodo
- all egos = Legolas
- oar rang = Aragorn
- lo glum = Gollum
Thanks for reading
That's it from me this week but here's a quick reminder that my paid membership launches on April 1st. Members get access to my member chat, exclusive content, monthly write-alongs and quarterly Q&As for only £20 per month or £200 per year.
Lisa
