Sometimes it takes a leap into the unknown to get some clarity. And after 18 years of working for myself, it took a fulltime job to give me the clarity I needed about how I like to work, what I’m good at, and what I enjoy doing.
I took that fulltime job when I was in crisis and fearful about what the future held. It gave me some stability while I sorted my head and my heart out, but after just a few months, I realised that it wasn’t the right place for me. I was in danger of losing parts of myself I’d fought very hard to regain.
But it also gave me a gift: an opportunity to step out of my previous workspace a little and view it from another angle. So this year, I’m not only going back to doing what I’ve done for the past nearly two decades, I’m also making some changes.
1. I’m going to stop thinking of myself as a freelancer, and start thinking of myself as a business owner. My fabulous business coach made this suggestion, and there’s a subtle shift that happens when you move from one space into the other. I might wear many different hats within that business, from marketing to accounts, but it’s a business.
2. I’m going to believe in myself a lot more. I’ve always had self-confidence issues, but the events of the last 18 months have shown me exactly what I’m capable of, and baby, it ain’t bad.
3. I’m working office hours only. One of my colleagues of the past six months has the clearest boundaries I’ve ever encountered. She holds a very senior position, and she has a long to-do list, but she doesn’t take work home, and she doesn’t work on weekends. Ever. And she still gets the important stuff done. When you’re clear about your working hours they become exactly that – working hours. And you get things done.
4. I’m charging what I’m worth. You pay peanuts? Hire a monkey. I’m good at what I do, I will deliver to your brief, and you will pay me accordingly. I offer a service, and this is what it costs. And if you’re a bad payer and you want me to work for you again, it’s going to go like this: no pay, no work. I’m done with being financially abused by people who really ought to know better.
5. I’m taking risks. I’m not going to sit back and wait for work to come for me – I’m making lists of people I’d like to work for and calling them up. The worst they can say is ‘No,’ right?
6. I’ll be buggering around on social media a lot less. Social media is an important part of my marketing, but if I’m honest with myself, I also waste a lot of time on there during the day in bouts of pure procrastination. That has to stop.
7. I’ll be planning a couple of weeks of paid leave for myself. And when I’m on leave, I’ll be leaving my laptop at home. Because I don’t have to be on call 24/7/365 – I am entitled to the same downtime as everybody else.
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