How to simplify your life as a freelancer
How to simplify your life as a freelancer.
I became a freelance writer in 2021, focusing on web content, thinking it was the key to a life of freedom. How wrong I was! Within months, it felt like I went from working a 9-to-5 to working 24/7. How did I get it so wrong?
My plan to start a writing blog was shelved for two years. Two years! What makes this worse is that Five Trees Digital is a business specialising in web content such as blogs, but I didn’t have a blog of my own.
Although this is deeply embarrassing, I have learned a LOT in the past two years. I know where I went wrong and how to get it right.
First though, I need to take a step back and be kind to myself because there were two main reasons for the glaring lack of a blog. Number one was simply a lack of time. When I set up Five Trees Digital, I didn’t expect to find myself fully booked so quickly.
I literally went from staring at an empty inbox wondering if I would ever find a client, to being totally overwhelmed in less than three months. I hadn’t even finished setting up my own website properly because my first clients found me within days, by word of mouth. (Did I even need a website? Do you? That’s a topic for another day!)
The second reason is that I wasn’t quite sure what this blog would be about.
How to write? - Nah, oversaturated.
How to set up a freelance business? Nah, I’m no expert, said my Imposter Syndrome. Also, oversaturated.
How to avoid becoming overwhelmed? Um, I was too overwhelmed to write about it.
How could I ever get a blog started?
Fast forward two years...
Finally, as we head into 2024, my work-life balance is under control and I have some time to catch my breath. With a couple of years’ of self-employment under my belt, I also feel more confident in what it means to be a freelancer. I learned a LOT about what NOT to do as a new business owner in those two years.
I also came to realise that what I wanted, more than a bulging bank account or ‘freedom to work from anywhere’ - which, in the days of post-Covid remote working is now a reality for many - was the freedom to simply work less.
When you’re freelance, it feels like whatever time you spend working for clients, you can pretty much double that. So, if you’re working two days a week for clients, you’re working two days a week on your business. Or you could be.
I found that the busier I got with clients, the less work I did on my business. While I always delivered the best quality work I could for them, including working evenings and weekends to deliver excellence, I started to let my own business priorities slip. Hence, the unfinished website.
Eventually, there comes that crunch point where your life is completely swallowed by work of some kind or another. I discovered that if I was working more than three days a week for clients, I found myself without the luxury of weekends. The working week became three days for clients and, in my case, two days of upskilling, training, keeping abreast of developments in the sector, and unpaid time off for personal days, appointments (banking, training, networking, medical, etc). Paid time off is something you really miss as a freelancer!
Weekends were spent doing all the back end support work for the business: accounting, invoicing, marketing, filing, administration, compliance… the list goes on.
I wanted my time back!
Time is true wealth for me, not money.
But like many people, I want that time now, not when I’m in my mid-60s. That while I’m still young enough and fit enough to enjoy it. And I want to continue to run a small business and keep topping up the retirement funds.
There has to be a balance somewhere. And I think I’ve found it!
So, two years after the experience of starting a freelance content writing business, I’m finally clawing back my time.
The secret? - You’ll find out in later posts in the Five Trees Digital blog: How to simplify your life as a freelancer.
I don’t claim to have all the answers, so if you’ve managed to find that elusive balance, I’d love to hear your story too!
