5 Subtle Reasons Your Freelancing Never Grows Into a Business
The best way to predict the future is to create it yourself — Peter Diamandis
Freelancing is extremely tough. In the beginning, you may only land either harsh clients or low-paying jobs. This was the case for me too. While reading “Think and Grow Rich,” I began to understand how my approach to the whole freelancing world was off.
Freelancing is more like entrepreneurship; one identifies a market gap and fills it using their services or product. But, you might be thinking that freelancing is doing jobs for people in exchange for money. Everything will shift when you realized it is more about creating value to fulfill a demand. It’s not a project hunt.
The prompts I will provide in this article will help you figure out what you need to do to convert your freelancing into a business. Because that should be the real goal of a freelancer.
#1. You have no clear goal but too many ambitions
When I started freelancing, I felt like I could do almost everything. I applied for any projects that had a tiny bit of a skill that I thought I had. That was a big mistake, and you probably are doing it too.
We all heard the term “diversification” and its great benefit. We think diversification means doing many things to have more chances at a high income. But this doesn’t work.
What works is finding one outcome that your skills will focus on and figuring out you can represent your skills in that area. Because at the end of the day, if you want a business, your brand will be about one thing but taking various forms to reach your clients.
Ask yourself these questions.
- What is one problem that I will focus on solving?
- What is one outcome common to the services and products that I put out as a freelancer?
#2. You have no target clientele
I used to get bad projects because I did not specifically write down the criteria for the clients I was looking for. I vaguely had an idea of what clients I wanted. If you never intentionally defined my ideal client, then your approach is vague.
This way of thinking will make you jump on every occasion but with no direction. It only leads to pain and frustration. And you will lose track of the true reason you started freelancing. Which I guess is providing services as a private contractor.
Getting paid is good and attractive. But every freelancer should have a target ideal client that they want to attract into their business.
Do you wish you could land big clients? That doesn’t just happen. Be intentional. Quit being foggy about whom you want to provide your services for.
To reap the benefits of defining your target clientele, answer these questions:
- What is the quality of your work compared to the standards of your target clientele?
- How will you start tuning your work to meet the standards of your target?
- When and how will you learn from people who work with the type of clients you want?
- What is your plan on getting your desired type of clients?
#3. You can’t say “no.”
I couldn’t say no to any project. I thought I could be flexible and try to fit the needs of every client. My approach was very wrong, and you might be doing the same too.
One can’t grow a business, i.e. make it bigger and better, if they don’t have one definite set of values. It is essential to know what you say yes to and what you say no to.
Refusing the cash flow is hard. But if you think about it, you won’t have a business that comes up with different values as clients present their projects.
Choose your lane. Every business has a code of conduct. Clearly define your terms and conditions that set you apart in the marketplace. This will also help your schedule and bring order in the way you provide services.
#4. You are always freelancing and never networking
This one is a major problem for most freelancers. Most freelancers make sure the assigned project is done, and that’s it. But, for you to grow into a business, you needed constant demand for what I supplied.
How could you have constant supply if you don’t create professional relationships beyond the scope of project details?
“Your network is your net worth.” — Porter Gale
- Learn how to network in your marketplace.
- Figure out how to reach markets outside your contacts that want your skills.
- Put yourself in positions to be required or recommended for projects.
#5. You have a worm’s eye view
To navigate the forest, you can have a worm’s eye view –where you only see the big tree and a few paths in front of you. Or a bird's eye’s view where you see the many trees and different possible pathways from the top.
If you only give all your attention to the clients and their projects, you have a worm’s eye view. Yes, you get paid, but your skills and tactic can only get you so far.
You need to grow. And growth happens when you improve yourself and your skills. Your business is as big as you. You have to evaluate more options for you to tap into a bigger clientele. To do that, you have to dedicate time to analyze your skills' relationship to your market.
- How can you grow your skills to supply more clients?
- What can you automate?
- How can you upgrade your skills to supply higher standards of demand?
- What else can your client get if they already hired you?
TAKE AWAY
Freelancing is highly in demand. And if you are a freelancer, you should grow into a great business. Everything is in your hand as a freelancer.
Use the above prompts to clarify what you need to change to start growing into a business. Become intentional, and your growth will surely happen. You can do the shift. It is only a matter of getting clear on what you want to do.
Consider the questions and go through answering them and taking action on what you figure out. You will get a clear path to start moving in the direction of a business model in your freelancing career.
