How These Freelancers Work ON Their Business All Year

Podcast Intro

About this podcast episode…

STRATEGIC HABITS FOR FREELANCE BUSINESS PLANNING

As freelancers, it’s easy to spend most of our time in the business - delivering client work, meeting deadlines, keeping things ticking over. But if we never step back, time has a habit of running away from us. We can be swept along on a current of what people ask us to do, not thinking about if it's where we want to be heading.

This episode is a little different from the usual Being Freelance podcast format. Instead of a single guest interview, it’s a reflection on conversations with freelancers who consistently make time to work on their business - not just once a year, but regularly.

How can the likes of a Solo Business Retreat or Weather Report help keep you on track?

By the end of this short episode you’ll have tonnes of inspiration for what might work for you all year long. Remember the basic idea though: put it in the diary first. Two or three hours, a half day, once a month or once a quarter - it all counts.

Because freelancing doesn’t have to be something that just happens to you. With a little regular reflection, you get to design it - deliberately.

Featuring the insights of these fantastic freelance guests, whose full episodes you should totally check out.
Follow these links for their podcast conversations.
- Writer Rebecca Rosenberg
- Designer Brennan Gilbert
- Writer & Editor Melanie Padgett Powers
- Voiceover Emma Clarke
- Market Research Consultant Katie Tucker

Read a full transcript & get Links in the tabs.

 
Links
 
Video
 
Transcript

Transcript of the Being Freelance podcast with Steve Folland reflecting on what some of the most strategic freelancers do to stay focused on their businesses.

Steve Folland: Hey, how you doing? I'm Steve Folland. Welcome to another one. Now, does this ring a bell?

Rebecca Rosenberg: One of the biggest challenges for a lot of business owners is you work a lot on client work, and that's your first priority, and then time runs away from you and your own planning and your own marketing, et cetera tend to fall by the wayside.

Steve Folland: That's writer Rebecca Rosenberg on the Being Freelance Podcast.

As you've probably just realised this isn't like all of the other episodes I've put out over the past 11 years where I go and interview one guest. What I thought I'd do, as I see everybody banging on about planning and goals at the start of a year, is reflect back on some of the most strategically focused freelancers I've spoken to on the Being Freelance podcast.

And think, how do they keep it up? Not how do they set the goals, but how do they keep it up? That practice of working on their business. And that's what's in this episode, really short, but really helpful. By the end of this, you could be putting time in your diary as the year goes on, so that you can work, not just what do they say in your business, but on your business?

No. On your business, but in your business. No. Which way round is it?

Brennan Gilbert: We are still businesses, you know? Yeah. We're, we're one person businesses.

Steve Folland: That's Brennan Gilbert. Back in 2024.

Brennan Gilbert: When I was in house, you would catch me rolling my eyes every week. Like, why are we doing this? What is this for? KPIs and OKRs, like all this jargon.

It's like no one cares. And like I was younger too, right? So it's like I just... I just wanna design. Well, I had the safety net of someone who would tell me what to do. And now that I'm doing it myself, it's like, okay, well KPIs aren't really a bad idea. Maybe we should do that.

Steve Folland: Yes, maybe we should. So this isn't about setting goals, it's about thinking strategically across the year.

And one person who does that is Melanie Pagett Powers, she's a writer and editor. She's also the host of the Deliberate Freelancer podcast. So it's no surprise, that when it comes to freelancing, she's, well deliberate about everything she does, and she has regular planning retreats for her business.

Melanie Padgett Powers: I call 'em my solo business retreats.

Steve Folland: Do you actually go somewhere?

Melanie Padgett Powers: Well, pre pandemic occasionally. The first one was kind of a joke. It's why I named it Solo Business Retreat because I did it in my house, I went from my office to my dining room and it was solo, of course. And we always think of big corporate retreats, and so was my solo business retreat where I went to my dining room.

And I didn't do any client work that day and I didn't check email and I got a lot of post-it notes and colorful sharpies and wrote all these ideas on paper and really stepping back and looking at my business and thinking about what was working and what wasn't working and what I like.

And so I've started doing that definitely at least twice a year. I try to do it more once a quarter, and I did in January, 2020, I actually did go somewhere. I happened to be going to Chicago for a conference and I went there a day early, and because Chicago is freezing in January, I got a really good deal at a hotel and I was able to get this hotel suite a day early and really just sort of camp out there and have my retreat there, which was lovely.

Steve Folland: Rebecca Rosenberg is another writer who's at it. Turns out writers love a post-it note.

Rebecca Rosenberg: I call it a CEO retreat.

Steve Folland: Yeah. A 'CEO Retreat', it's a quarterly planning session, and if you are wondering how often to check in on your business, quarterly does seem to work well, but hey, experiment, see what works for you.

Rebecca Rosenberg: There's been times in my business where I've done it monthly. There's been times in my business where I had like every Friday, or every Monday was like Marketing Monday and planning. But over time I've realized like quarterly works really well. I can't always fit it in every month.

Steve Folland: So yeah. Where were we? Quarterly, CEO Retreat.

Rebecca Rosenberg: What I do is I usually go away from my house or from my coworking, from my town. Let's say I go to somewhere an hour away or half an hour away, just gives you new scenery. Staying in a nice Airbnb or a nice hotel and it puts you in kind of the mindset of, I'm here to work on this, instead of, Hey, the laundry could be done right?

So the only rule I really give myself during these is no client work. And I do some goal setting. I do reflection on what went well over the last three months, what do I wanna do more of, what do I wanna do less of? I usually do some marketing stuff, like take time to maybe write a article that I've been wanting to write, draft up some LinkedIn posts, my email list, et cetera.

Yeah, so it's planning and implementation. No client work allowed, and I find that they're really great. You come out of them feeling like really energized and excited about your business instead of just feeling like. Okay. I am slogging through deadlines, so it's been really great for me.

Steve Folland: And wait, we have another contender if you're not sold on the name of CEO Retreat or Solo Business Retreat. How about...

Brennan Gilbert: I call them Strata Days, right? Strategy Saturdays. And I sit down and I actually think about what went well this quarter, what did not go so well, and how can I improve?

Steve Folland: Yep. Strata Days.

Brennan Gilbert: And it's very basic. You know, I never walk away with more than two or three goals at a time. You wanna make them measurable, you wanna make them achievable.

You don't wanna say, I wanna, uh, year two, I wanna make a million dollars. How there is so much between this and that, but if I say for Q2 I want to increase my followers on LinkedIn by x percent, that's more manageable. Right? That's, that's easier to figure out. So yeah. In summary, goals every quarter and financial goals I evaluate, I'd say every six weeks.

Steve Folland: For freelance voice artist Emma Clarke, she is taking a peek out of the window in a much more poetic manner.

Emma Clarke: Literally, every month I do this thing that I call The Weather Report, where I look at the world outside, what's going on in the world outside. I look at what's going on in my personal world. I look at what's going on in my world of work, and I look at what's going on in my social world.

And I look for things that I can connect in a sort of mycelial way to just create connections with things that otherwise don't exist. And I do that every month just to see the landscape of my personal life, my work life, my creative life, and just see what opportunities there are for development or even stopping doing something because the time isn't right or that season is now over and just looking at different ways of working.

Steve Folland: Excellent use of the word mycelial, by the way. I managed to get that down in Scrabble shortly after doing Emma's transcript and have her to thank for the awed expression around the table. So, that's every month, but there's still a check-in every few months. Maybe that's the long range weather forecast.

Emma Clarke: Each quarter, I do my own sort of review of what I'm doing, why I'm doing it. Is it giving me fulfillment? Is it working? Is it bringing in the money? Is it bringing new customers? Is it forward looking? And then. At the end of the year, I do a kind of annual review as well. I have quite a system 'cause I'm a massive nerd, Steve,

Steve Folland: Whether you are a nerd or not, it feels to me like this whole regular planning, regular reviewing thing can only benefit us.

And Emma's been self-employed for 35 years, so she must be doing something right.

Emma Clarke: I kind of look at things very systematically and then devise strategy around that. But if you haven't got that systematic built in way of reviewing what you do, I think it's harder.

Steve Folland: And if you are wondering how she works, that system...

Emma Clarke: I have a mind map template that I sort of follow.

And I have a reflective journal that I use as well, so I can see what's happened in previous quarters, in previous years, in previous months, whatever it is. And so I can kind of track how things have developed and if I've done what I've said I was gonna do, because I, you know, it's important that I'm accountable, even if it's just to myself.

Then it's important that I follow through on commitments that I've made to myself

Steve Folland: And Emma's not the only one doing an annual review. Here's Melanie.

Melanie Padgett Powers: Well, at the end of every year, I definitely analyze my business, where the money came from, what segments of my business it came from, did I enjoy it? I really do a lot of data that way.

I've been doing a lot more time tracking a lot more diligently. Where I spent my time, what I learned, what I'm hoping to change for the next quarter based on what I learned.

Steve Folland: And Brennan, well, he's a designer and he takes the end of year thing even further and does an annual report for his business that he shares online.

Brennan Gilbert: From a marketing lead gen standpoint, brilliant idea. Any designers listening or freelancers do an annual report, build buzz, make it look slick, right? And like that was probably one of my best lead gen pieces of content that I've ever put out there. But it was a great process. It gave me a lot to sit back and evaluate and think about.

It gave me a lot to reflect on. It helped me understand what was working and what wasn't. And it was a cool way to connect with the community and, and talk about these behind the scenes things that a lot of people don't talk about. What is the true business side? Why are you doing this? Like how do you think about literally structuring clients and payment models and all these little nitty gritty things where it's like, I love 'em, I have buddies who only post, here's my latest logo.

But it's like, I know for me it's very helpful to understand like, okay, but like, like you say, go out and get brand clients, but like... how? Like how do I do that? And so that's what I try to speak to both in things like annual reports or I'm trying to be more thoughtful about content on LinkedIn these days.

But yeah, it was great. It was a fun project. It took a lot. I'm trying to evaluate every quarter now, so I don't have to do it all at once, but it was a cool one.

Steve Folland: But remember, once a year isn't enough.

Melanie Padgett Powers: Because when you're in it. You might do a project and realize you didn't really like that project, but at the end of the year you forget and you might keep doing those types of projects.

And then if you really step back and look and think, well, why am I doing this? It doesn't pay very well. I don't really enjoy it. I have only a couple of clients, like I could drop this whole service from my business, or I could fire this client, or I could raise my rates. I don't think on a day-to-day basis, we either don't think about those things or we're too busy to sort of deal with it in the moment.

Steve Folland: That's Melanie again, 'Deliberate Freelancer' reminding us why it's great to be deliberate.

So how about you? How about me? Doesn't it make sense? And not just for the long term, but also it can make a difference in the short term.

Rebecca Rosenberg: I mean, I come back from it actually more excited to do the client work and I feel less stressed about like, these things, these marketing tasks or this planning, this strategic thing is still sitting on the back burner. You need to do that. You know that mental load is gone and, and just gives you more clarity.

I mean, sometimes I end up changing some messaging on my website or I'm revamping my packages and what my offerings look like. So yeah, it's really a great way to make progress in your business.

Steve Folland: And maybe you are thinking, okay, but how do I find the time to check in on my business? Well, Katie Tucker finds time and she gave the most wonderfully obvious tip on how to make it happen for yourself, something that you could do as soon as this episode finishes.

Katie Tucker: Literally open your calendar today. In two months time, your calendar is highly likely to be free or have some free spaces, and then book yourself half a day in a coworking space, or make sure you don't have any kids around, and even if you just have like two, three hours just to, just to think. I just feel like, you know, especially if you are a parent and you're running your own business, it's a lot, you know?

There's not much time to think, uh, unless you literally make it happen. Make the thinking time happen, and you have to put those boundaries into say, right, actually I need to stop like for half a day. And just think about what's next.

Steve Folland: As a freelancer, you can end up creating a business that is what other people want.

That is what happens to come your way. But what about what you want? Because it won't just happen. We have to plan, collect our own version of the data, regularly check in on what is profitable, where we're spending our time, how we feel about stuff. What is happening in the world around us? Where would we like to be?

Emma Clarke: By taking that approach and working in a deliberate direction rather than just being caught up and just like flotsam and jetsam just going in a particular direction. This way I can choose and I can design my work, my business, in the way that I want it to go in

Steve Folland: Weren't Flotsam and Jetsam, the Evil Sea Witch's pets in The Little Mermaid?

Am I making that up? Little Mermaid? She had those evil, weren't they called Flotsam and Jetsam? Anyway, that's besides the point.

Good luck with the year ahead. Remember, open your diary now. Put time in to check in on yourself as the year goes on. Uh, maybe a little short bit each month. But definitely at least each quarter and in your annual review as well, it seems to make sense.

And maybe you wanna do it with a freelancing friend who gets what it's like. In which case, come join the Being Freelance Community. You know where we are.

Now of course, if you've enjoyed listening to these guests, you can find their full episodes at beingfreelance.com. I'll put links in the show notes as well. Of course, check your favorite podcast app.

Beingfreelance.com is where you want to go to sign up for the newsletter, to find out all about the community, the course I have for new freelancers, and to find the links. You can join me on Instagram, LinkedIn, and the like. Don't worry, I've not neglected the whole premise of this podcast, which is finding out what it's like being freelance for different creative freelancers around the world.

There's new episodes coming very soon indeed. In the meantime though, do come find us online 'cause you're not alone being freelance.

Steve FollandComment