FREEDOM.
Isn’t that one of the reasons you decided to go into business for yourself?
Freedom to:
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- Work with whom you want
- Work when you want
- Work the hours you want
- Work where you want
- Charge how much you want
- Grow as much as you want
Did you say ‘yes’ to any (or all) of the above, yet your reality tells quite a different story?
Perhaps you’re making great money, but you work ALL the time. Or maybe you work all the time and still don’t make the money you desire.
If either of these rings true, it’s possible you’ve got caught in that oh-so-easy-trap of working IN your business rather than ON it.
The good news is we can all turn things around at any time if we’re prepared to shift our mindset and take inspired and consistent action. If that sounds good, I’d like to share 3 ways to bring the freedom you want into your life and business, without sacrificing income.
1. Identify where you should be spending your time
Have you ever run around all day (or week or month) only to wonder what you achieved at the end of it?
The first step to identify where you should be spending your time so you maximize money generating opportunities and minimize unnecessary crap is to create a mind map.
You can do this with a pen and piece of paper, or if you’d like it to be digital (and pretty) as I do, I’d recommend Coggle. Here’s how you do it:
- Write your name/business name at the center. As thoughts come to mind, draw branches from the central point and write them down (in as few words as possible). For example your branches might be: design, website, branding, marketing, speaking, networking etc.
- Now create sub-branches, each being an action you need to take. For example, action items for your website might include: interview and get quotes from three web designers/programmers, work on about page copy, create services and/or packages, sign up for on-line calendar, book head shots etc.
- Once your brain is deliciously empty, assign a number (based upon priority) to each branch. And here’s the trick – assign the priority based upon what will BRING INCOME INTO YOUR BUSINESS MOST QUICKLY. Now, take action on those sub-branches every-single-day. When the task is complete, move onto the next priority.
2. Only work with ideal clients
Just so we’re clear, ideal clients are those who love what you do, respect your process, and happily pay what you’re worth.
After 15 years in creative management and over nine years as a business coach, I can unequivocally say that the cheapest clients are always the ones who make your life most miserable and ask the most of you.
Create your ideal client profile, let go of the clients who no longer serve you, and watch your business exponentially improve.
3. Outsource everything you can afford to
One of the challenges my clients face as they grow their businesses is getting stuck doing everything themselves (and getting burned out in the process).
Luckily, you don’t need to be a fully-fledged business complete with a full staff to get the help you need. Here are some ways to create the space and freedom you need to do your own brilliant thing:
Write a list of everything you do on a daily/weekly/monthly, even yearly basis. Include everything from bookkeeping and accounting to creating mechanicals and marketing.
Now, go through the list and put a star by everything you hate to do/are not good at.
What could someone else do just as well, if not better than you? For example, I outsource many of my operational tasks to my whizz of a virtual assistant because she’s INCREDIBLE at them, freeing up my time to focus on my talent helping people like you build a better freelance business.
I would highly recommend that you find a great virtual assistant. Mine is worth her weight in gold.
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