Wobizzle

Insight, information and community for female freelancers and solopreneurs

Set SMART Goals To Grow Your Freelance Business

Take some time over the next few weeks to consider the kind of success you would like to see for your business in the coming year. It’s not enough to just say you want to increase your annual revenue or the number of clients.

Use the SMART method to help you get focused and increase your chances of achieving your goals.

SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Bound.

Let’s take that goal of increasing your annual revenue as an example.

SPECIFIC
Make it specific by stating how you are going to increase it – by selling existing clients on added services? By actively promoting your business? By adding a passive income stream to your menu of services? Perhaps you would do it through a combination of steps including raising your rates.

MEASUREABLE
Make if measurable by adding a dollar amount or percentage to it.

ATTAINABLE
But don’t get carried away. Make sure that dollar amount or percentage is attainable considering the bandwidth you can manage as a solopreneur, the marketability of the passive income stream you are considering, etc.

RELEVANT
Make sure your goal is relevant to your overall business goals. For example, if you are trying to grow your freelance graphic design business, setting a goal increasing your monthly income by starting a dog-walking side hustle may bring in some extra cash, but it’s not going to help you grow your graphic design business.

TIME-BOUND
Set a timeframe to achieve your goal. If your goal is to increase your annual revenue by 10% for example, you would be working on that for the full year. But don’t wait until the end of the year to see how you’re doing. Set some monthly or quarterly milestones so you can track your progress, see what’s working to help you achieve that goal and tweak what’s not.

One last thing – don’t set too many big goals. Focusing on one significant goal will be much more achievable and have greater impact on your business than multiple goals that spread your focus too thin.

Are you prepared for a crash?

A computer crash that is.

No matter what kind of service you offer your clients, chances are you rely on digital records to keep your business running. It’s convenient to have your client files, financial information, contracts and client communications stored snugly on your computer.

But do you know what’s incredibly inconvenient? A computer crash. Having your device stolen. Getting infected with a digital virus.

Any of the above could happen unexpectedly. Would you be prepared, or would you lose all of your data, your work, your archives in one fell swoop?

Safeguard your files by doing regular backups to the cloud, an external hard drive, or even better – both.

Keep moving forward. You’ve got this. #MoveForwardMonday

Owning the Title of Freelancer

Prevailing advice for the past decade or so has been to forego the title of “freelancer” and instead present yourself as a business owner. You are after all, a business owner. We agree that there are benefits to titling yourself publicly as such, and one year ago, we would have likely given you that same advice.

But eight months into this global pandemic, we’re seeing some opportunities for you to own the title of freelancer and gain clients as a result.

COVID-19 has unleashed a strong demand for freelancers. There’s a lot of work to be had. But for the work to find you, searchers need to know that you are what they are looking for. And you need to describe yourself in the terms that they might be using in that search.

For at least the immediate future, if you are looking for work, we recommend that you consider adding “freelance” to your title and/or profile information on your LinkedIn profile and/or other places where potential clients might be looking for someone like you.

It’s an easy change to make, and you can change it back later if you decide you want to present yourself in a different way.

Keep moving forward. You’ve got this. #MoveForwardMonday

Want Better Work-Life Balance?

The lure of the freelance life is the flexibility that comes with it. But true success comes when you implement structure and consistency in your work.

Though you have the flexibility to work when you please, you are setting yourself up for problems if you get too lenient about your work schedule.

Stay ahead of deadlines by blocking out time for your tasks and sticking to your schedule.

Keeping to a schedule will help you meet client expectations and allow you to set aside time for that work-life balance that we’re all striving to achieve.

Keep moving forward. You’ve got this. #MoveForwardMonday

There’s plenty of pie for all of us

Referrals are typically the single best source of new clients for freelancers. They often come from past clients or other people in your network.

But do you know where a good portion of our long-time, good-paying clients have come from?

Other freelancers.

Some have come from freelancers with compatible skillsets, others have come from freelancers with competitive skillsets. And, we’ve done our fair share of referring work to fellow freelancers as well.

What we’ve come to realize is that there truly is enough pie for everyone. When you shift your mindset from feeling competitive, to building community with other like-minded and similar-skilled people, you’re actually opening more pathways to grow your freelance business.

If you haven’t heard, we’re building a community in our Women of Wobizzle Group on Facebook. If you’re not part of the group yet, we’d love to have you join us.
Keep moving forward. You’ve got this. #MoveForwardMonday

Interact with other female freelancers in our Facebook Group – The Women Of Wobizzle
We’d love to have you join our community.

How many hats do you have?

We’re big proponents of identifying your “money making best” and marketing that best skillset as the “thing you do.”

But, there is a benefit to having a diverse set of skills as a freelancer, especially in lean times.

In a recent survey, 61% of freelancers claimed that they use two to three skills in their weekly work activities, while 34% rely on more than three.

A diverse set of skills can mean more opportunities across a range of projects.

So, our advice – hone in on and get known for your “money making best” but don’t discount the value you could bring to the table for clients in other areas.

Keep moving forward. You’ve got this. #MoveForwardMonday

Enjoy the rewards of solopreneurship

When you decide to strike out on your own, sacrifices come with the territory. You don’t have the luxury of a regular paycheck, health insurance is pricey and there are no paid vacations in Freelanceland.

But one thing you do have is freedom.

You do have to work, but you don’t have to stick to the rigid constraints of a 9 to 5 schedule. And if you have a laptop, chances are you can work from wherever you darn well please.

So, mix it up now and then. Enjoy those rewards! You’ve earned them.

Keep moving forward. You’ve got this. #MoveForwardMonday

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Use The 5 In 5 Strategy To Get More Visibility On LinkedIn

If your clients are other businesses, LinkedIn is a great place to bring more visibility to your freelance work. And unlike social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, the pressure to post is far less demanding.

LinkedIn has a ton of features that make it a smart place to invest your social media time. If you don’t have a lot of time to invest, that’s ok, you can gain a lot of visibility by just interacting with your network.

We like to recommend the five in five method. Take five minutes out of your day to log in to LinkedIn and take five actions. By actions, we mean “liking” a post, commenting on a post, sharing someone else’s content. That may mean that you simply hit the thumbs up button on five posts from different people in your network, or you may decide to incorporate a combination of “likes,” comments, and shares.

While you’re in there, request to connect with someone you know, or have done business with in the past.

Eventually, you’ll want to work up to sharing your own content, but five in five is a great place to start. Make it a habit. It’s just five minutes and five clicks to increased visibility for your business.

Keep moving forward. You’ve got this. #MoveForwardMonday

Find Power Partners To Grow Your Freelance Business

Sometimes a client needs more than you can provide. Nurture relationships with other solopreneurs that have skillsets that complement yours, and bring them in on work that calls for their expertise.

You’ll likely build reciprocal relationships, and it will help you provide a broader service line to your clients when they need it.

Keep moving forward. You’ve got this. #MoveForwardMonday

The Value Of Staying In Your Lane

When you are trying to grow your freelance business it can be tempting to take on projects that are on the fringe range of your expertise just to collect the paycheck.

Resist the temptation and stay focused on your “money-making best.” Those are the projects that leverage your expertise and have the highest earning potential.

Keep moving forward. You’ve got this. #MoveForwardMonday

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