Transitioning from being employed to becoming your own boss? Congrats for taking this exciting decision to go solo. Whether you’re freelancing or founding a new business, here are some tips on making a smooth move.
Start slowly
Exciting is good. Alarming isn’t. So rather than taking a leap into the unknown without a safety net, it’s better to begin gradually – creating your new business alongside your steady job or contract work. Many people jump headfirst into a solo career without a fallback (often in reaction to being unhappy with their jobs), but this can lead to anxiety and financial strain. It’s better to take time to grow your contact list and get funding, so your solo career has a solid foundation.
Build stability
Another way to make your journey less white-knuckle is to build stability with your clients – dedicating time to establishing ongoing relationships. This avoids constantly having to look for new work and feeling unsettled (such uncertainty often makes entrepreneurs lose their nerve and return to the 9 to 5).
To help lengthen and deepen your collaborations with clients, look for long-term ventures with an emphasis on quality, not quantity. When negotiating contracts, your end goal should be to bill clients based on the value you bring. Even if you start out on an hourly-rate basis, you ideally want to transition to a monthly-retainer model as quickly as possible.
Be unparalleled
To demonstrate real value to your clients, find something that separates you from the competition. What makes you so indispensable that people should continue to hire you? Why should a new customer buy into your particular product or service? If you struggle to find that one unique thing, this might be because you’re trying to target too broad an audience with one sweep. If so, narrow it down or break it into several target groups so you can offer clearer selling points to specific target groups.
Be seen
It pays to constantly invest in your personal brand: your website, portfolio, case studies, articles, LinkedIn interactions. These are all key tools to get who you are – and what you do – out there. And people will find them, so make them good.
How to get on well with your boss, when your boss is you
When you’re your own boss, you almost need to split yourself in half to be an authoritative manager as well as a conscientious worker. Here’s how:
- When you’re self-employed, you can end up working 24/7 if the distinction between your work and life blurs into one. To prevent this, decide on a routine and make an agreement with yourself to stick to it (this prevents your inner boss turning tyrant and always being on your case).
- Make those around you aware of your daily routine. This way, they’ll be less likely to distract you during your designated working hours (and you can look forward to quality time together).
- This may sound whimsical, but it can make a huge difference: assign a specific area of your home to be your workspace (a room or a desk) where you can focus and be productive. That way, you won’t feel your personal space invaded by work.
- Missing the structure of office life? Why not introduce four or five rituals to your working day – or adapt the rituals you had in your office (remember those days?) to help you stay focused. Make your morning coffee, do some yoga, listen to a great playlist – and then get in the zone.
- If you’re on your own, make use of technology to stay connected with your clients and stakeholders as well as your friends and family. Find people around you who are also working solo and facing the same challenges. It can really help your morale, motivation and wellbeing to be in touch with others in a similar situation.
- Respect your boss (i.e. you)! Switch off distractions. You wouldn’t check your phone every five minutes if you were working in someone else’s office, so don’t do it when you’re working for yourself.
Want to learn more about getting started with your own business? Feel free to plunder our Knowledge bank.
The above article was inspired by one of our live Zoom Dives with Filippos Protogeridis, an award-winning digital product designer – and creator of selfstart: a brilliant platform that educates and empowers individuals to build their own careers.
A Zoom Dive is a deep-delving discussion between our founder, Carolyn Dailey and a handpicked business expert from the creative world. Fancy catching our next Zoom Dive, live? See our Events calendar and sign up for free.