This year, it will be 5 years of freelancing. It has been (and continues to be) quite the journey! After 15 years of creating a corporate career from virtually no real-world experience and barely any training, it was a transition to this digital world.

Some tips I’ve learned to make life easier as a freelancer and an entrepreneur include:

1. the importance of taking breaks for eating, resting, and relaxing
2. ensuring your clients know and respect your schedule
3. including administrative, marketing, and business-growing activities like networking and cultivating relationships with like-minded entrepreneurs as part of your schedule

What does this look like in the real world? Especially in the beginning, some people need to include in their schedule their break times and reminders to eat. It is very easy to get wrapped up in what you’re doing because you’re so excited but, you have to think long-term. Will you be able to sustain this heavy workload and schedule, or will you burn out?

Let your clients know you are available between certain hours and which days you take off. I’ve seen many entrepreneurs (and corporate people) have no meeting Fridays. Some take these days to have relaxation time, and others like to do their administrative and content creation on those days.

This idea ties into the working “on” your business as well as “in” your business. Working “on” your business are those tasks that help you maintain and grow your business.

Maintaining tasks include:

1. following up/checking in by email with existing clients
2. managing your bookkeeping (whether you manage it yourself or have a bookkeeper or accountant)
3. reviewing your analytics – ads, social media, etc.

Growing your business tasks include:

1. attending networking events
2. creating engaging content such as social media posts, video content, and more establishing various joint venture or collaborative relationships
3. establishing various joint venture or collaborative relationships
4. speaking engagements
5. guest posts on large traffic sites like Medium.com
6. publicity like connecting with reporters, podcasts, guest teaching for other businesses

Working “in” your business includes:

1. client meetings
2. teaching sessions with your existing clients (1:1 or group)
3. creating client-specific content such as a presentation for your group coaching program

Some people struggle with the idea of a schedule after a corporate job transitioning to freelancing and entrepreneurship.

To overcome this struggle, it is a mindset thing. When you think of it as a business and treat it like a business, right from the start, it makes that schedule word easier to swallow.

The advantage is that you get to decide the schedule. If you want to work with clients in the afternoons and take Fridays off, that’s your schedule. Now, this may not be as easy to pull off, especially at the start, because you’re focused on creating a steady income stream. This schedule could become something you grow into after you’ve been in business for a while.

Deciding to move into freelancing and entrepreneurship is a giant step. With strategic planning and keeping your work and life balanced, you can accomplish your goals.

How do you keep yourself balanced as an entrepreneur?

Right now, stop and think. What is your why?

1. Why did you start a business?
2. Why do you go to work each day?
3. Why do you want to write a book?

Whatever your answer is, the next question is, Why is that important to me?

If you say you want to write a book because you know you have a way to help people differently, why is that important to you?

If you say, you need to go to work each day because you have to support your family. A noble reason, but again, why is that important to you?

If you say you started a business because you want financial security, why is that important to you?

Keep asking why, why, why, until you know for sure. Sometimes it only takes 10 minutes; sometimes, it takes 10 days or 10 months. Keep exploring what your why is until you realize it’s The Answer.

Are you struggling to figure this out? Let’s chat!

Once you have it, it will stick with you. You’ve nailed why it’s important to you, and you can keep going, no matter what happens or tries to get in your way.

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