Freelance Interview Series – Mastering Mindfulness as a Solopreneur

Freelance Interview Series – Mastering Mindfulness as a Solopreneur

by | Mar 21, 2023 | Blog, Resources

Jenni Gritters is a freelance writer, editor, and business coach who works with fellow solopreneurs and small business owners on writing projects and strategic business planning. Jenni also has a monthly newsletter called Mindset Mastery chock full of helpful content for those who want to prioritize their well-being and incorporate mindfulness into their day-to-day.

Mastering Mindfulness as a Solopreneur

Talk to us about what mindfulness means to you. Why is it important?

Mindfulness is one of those buzzwords that everyone seems to use, and it can mean 1000 different things to 1000 different people. For me, mindfulness means paying attention. I’ve spent a lot of my life working reactively – meaning, working on things as they land in my inbox, and responding to other people’s needs before my own. In the past 3 years, I’ve been forced (by illness and caretaking) to be much more intentional about the way I work. In this context, mindfulness means paying attention to what I need and how I feel in any given moment. It means listening to my brain, my body, and my intuition when I’m choosing my clients or planning my day.

In what ways do you incorporate mindfulness into your daily routine?

It’s going to sound cliche, but being mindful of my surroundings and my internal experiences has really changed my life. I spent so many years expecting that “success” (ie. money and recognition) would make me satisfied. It turns out, those things are hungry ghosts. What’s really made me happy is paying attention to the little things, and paying attention to myself.

I have a really chaotic life because of my two small children (who are 9 months and 3 years old). I’m not able to have a set routine, but I do have mindful patterns: I spend at least 30 minutes each day meditating and reflecting on what’s going on, what I need, and how I feel. I make it a priority to get outside every day, even if it’s just for a 15-minute walk; I try to notice the birds, the trees, and the people who walk by. I also try to take 5 minutes each morning to figure out how I’m feeling, so I can plan my day accordingly. (I recently wrote about this in my free newsletter.) And I wait 24 hours before responding to any client offer, so I can make sure the project is aligned with what I need during this season. It’s all very intentional, which is simple but not easy.

How has practicing mindfulness positively impacted the success of your freelance business?

I have a lot more control, and I’m able to take care of myself better. I’ve moved from being reactive – which means other people control my inbox and schedule – to being proactive. I’m making the choices. I do have times when I slip back into that reactive mode, and my workload suddenly starts to look like a chaotic mess. But this has happened enough times that I know how to pull myself out of the muck so I can realign. The reset is not pretty but it’s usually worth it. So much of my stress comes from working on projects or with people who don’t share my same priorities!

I also attribute a lot of my financial “success” (for years I’ve made six figures working 15-20 hours/ week) to being more intentional. I can’t work with clients who don’t pay the rates I need. Sometimes I wish I could! But when I take a moment to revisit my priorities, I can see clearly that the relationship isn’t going to be right for me. Being intentional means I stand my ground.

Taking a stand on intentionality is also why I have a coaching practice! I really do believe that becoming more proactive is a route to happiness and freedom in business ownership, which is such a tricky career path. I’ve had to do a lot of mindset work to give myself permission to step back from journalism – which was my original career path – and into coaching. I still do some of both but I would not have been able to grow both service lines without continual self-interrogation.

What are some of your favorite resources that have helped you along your mindfulness journey?

I love this question! Some of my favorites:

  • Insight Timer is a free app; you can search for short meditations + breathwork practices that slow your brain down enough to check in. Try the yoga nidra meditations before bed!
  • Stolen Focus is a great book that considers distraction and how to find moments of pause and/ or flow
  • Time Management for Mortals is a time management book that’s not a time management book! It’s actually more about what I’m talking about here – intentionality amidst the chaos that is work life
  • I love Damon Brown & Nisha Moodley’s work
  • The podcast On Being usually gives me interesting things to consider regarding the ways we work and live, and how we can integrate growth into our daily lives
  • Brad Stulberg is a cool Instagram follow; he talks about mindfulness & sustainable biz building

What advice do you have for small business owners who want to incorporate mindfulness practices into their daily routines but have limited time?

I, too, have extremely limited time! My advice is this: mindfulness can look like so many things. Essentially, it’s just about checking in with yourself as a daily ritual. You’ll need to find the best way to do that in your life; it should not feel like a frustrating effort! I have clients who reflect best on walks or while exercising. Some people need a piece of blank paper and a set of colored pencils. Some of us just need 3 minutes to take some deep breaths and close our eyes. Some of us will find it useful to talk to someone (a partner, a therapist, a coach).

Find the thing that works for you – which will take some experimentation – and then implement it in a tiny way. Start with 2 minutes before you open your inbox. It doesn’t have to be big in order to change the way you work. (This framework can be a really helpful way to check in with yourself!)

Our Freelance Interview Series: Learn From the Experts

Our Freelance Interview Series: Learn From the Experts

by | Jan 23, 2023 | Featured, Guides

Working solo as a freelancer can be tough if you haven’t found a community to support you. Humans are social creatures, and even the most introverted among us need connections. So building fulfilling relationships with other freelancers who get it is a critical step in your success.

Just because you work alone, that doesn’t mean you have to go it alone. There are plenty, and we mean PLENTY, of freelancers who have been exactly where you are and have a plethora of advice to share.

We’ve compiled dozens of interviews with seasoned freelancers that are chock-full of advice, from how to navigate parenthood as a solopreneur to how to juggle your passions and everything in between. We’ve grouped these interviews into themes — like building community, protecting your mental health, and managing clients — so you can dig into the topics that are calling to you right now, and come back later to drill deeper as your priorities shift.

We hope this serves as an ongoing resource that can support you through the many twists and turns of your freelance journey!

Chapter 2: How to Structure Your Business

Sole Proprietorship, Single Member LLC, or S-Corp. Did those words send a shudder down your spine? You’re not alone. It can be tricky to understand how and why you should structure your biz a certain way. We walk you through the options in layman’s terms.

Get started.

Chapter 2: How to Structure Your Business

Sole Proprietorship, Single Member LLC, or S-Corp. Did those words send a shudder down your spine? You’re not alone. It can be tricky to understand how and why you should structure your biz a certain way. We walk you through the options in layman’s terms.

Get started.

Building and Fostering Community

Nurturing your community can quickly become an afterthought when your to-do list runneth over. But we promise — building a robust network will pay off in the long run. Learn how to do it from the pros.

Juggling Work, Passions and Community with Kimber London

Community & Connection with Elise Dopson

Building Your Personal Brand with Codi Johnson

Building Relationships Methodically with Tim Noetzel

Finding Balance and Protecting Your Mental Health

As a solopreneur, protecting your mental health, setting boundaries, and finding balance are crucial to your creativity and success. Not sure where to start?

Scheduling For Your Mental Health with Melissa King

Protecting Your Mental Health with Momina Asif

Parental Leave with  Kat Boogaard

Taking Vacation with Adrienne Sheares

Navigating Child Care as a Small Business Owner with Maria West

Finding Balance as a Freelancer with Kaleigh Moore

Mastering Mindfulness as a Solopreneur with Jenni Gritters

Being Your Own Best Boss with Corrie Oberdin

A Gentle Approach to Productivity with Genevieve Michaels

Finding, Retaining, and Managing Clients

Working directly with clients can be intimidating (and exhausting). Luckily, some expert freelancers shared their best advice for landing new clients and managing relationships with existing clients.

Finding the Right Clients with Stefan Palios

Using Twitter to Generate Clients with Rosemary Egbo

Hiring Freelancers with Jimmy Daly

Clear Communication with Brooklin Nash

Creating and Maintaining a Consistent Client Flow with Bani Kaur

Pitching to Find Work with Lizzie Davey

Upleveling and Growing Your Business

Your business is booming but you’re not sure where to take it next. If it’s time to plan for the next phase of growth, take a look at this set of interviews with some badass freelancers who have built thriving, scalable businesses.

Self Motivation with Michael Keenan

Long-Term Success with Matthew Fenton

Growing Your Freelance Business with Alexandra Frost

Getting Into a Business Owner Mindset with Ashley Cummings

Bringing on a Virtual Assistant with Erin Booth

Lessons Learned in Year One of Freelancing with Claire Beveridge

Freelancing Through a Recession with Michelle Garrett

Freelance Finances 101 with Treyton DeVore

We love learning from our community and sharing expert advice with all of you. If you’re passionate about a topic and interested in telling your story, reach out to marketing@meetharlow.com. We can’t wait to hear from you!

We also highly recommend following these amazing freelancers on Twitter/Instagram/LinkedIn so you can keep learning from them every day. Here’s a full list (in alphabetical order):

 

Freelance Interview Series – Finding Balance as a Freelancer with Kaleigh Moore

Freelance Interview Series – Finding Balance as a Freelancer with Kaleigh Moore

by | Jan 19, 2023 | Blog, Resources

Kaleigh Moore is a freelance writer with bylines in publications like Forbes, Vogue Business, and Adweek, and a client list featuring some of the biggest brands in eCommerce. With an impressive portfolio comes a demanding workload. Below, she shares her personal experience with burnout and boundaries, and some hard-earned tips on cultivating balance as a freelancer.

How to Find Work-Life Balance as a Freelancer

Talk to us about what work-life balance means to you.

These days, I’m taking better care of myself and trying to avoid overworking, but… there’s a lot of room for improvement. Some background: In the first year or two I was freelance writing full-time, I worked a lot. These were long days with short breaks and *maybe* a 10-minute lunch. I woke up in the morning mad at myself if I’d overslept by even a few minutes, sweaty with panic and already worrying about whether or not I’d get everything done for the day.

The reason: FEAR.

Those first few years of full-time freelance writing were 100% fear-driven.

Fear that I wouldn’t make enough money and would regret leaving the security and stability of my full-time job.
Fear that I’d look like an idiot failure to my friends and family.
Fear that I wasn’t smart enough to manage running a business on my own.
Fear that my clients would think I was a charlatan or my work would suddenly dry up.

Lemme tell you: It wasn’t a great way to live.

Turns out existing in a constant state of low-grade anxiety isn’t all that healthy, either. I got really sick. Not only was I dealing with a variety of ongoing health issues, but I couldn’t sleep well and I had terrible back pain from so much sitting at the computer (even with a nice chair). I started doing some things to regain that work-life balance thing I’d heard so much about.

What is something you do regularly that helps you achieve balance?

Getting a massage every 3-4 weeks, drinking lots of water (the secret is lemon!), going to therapy, and implementing a sleep routine. The other big shift that happened was that I finally gave myself permission to chill. I toned down the self-competition and started asking for help when I needed it. I made myself get out of the house and go be around other human beings during the day. I stopped letting that fear dictate my days.

What boundaries do you set with clients to protect your time and capacity?

I instituted office hours (kinda).

I think a lot of people are lying when they say they don’t check email around the clock. I know I do. It’s just another app I open as I’m checking social channels. But by turning off push notifications, it put some of the power over that back in my hands. No more incessant DING! at all hours of the day. Now, I use flags to mark the emails I need to respond to when I’m back at my desk. And while I read emails outside my office hours, I don’t respond until the next day. It helps me mentally prepare for what’s coming and stay on top of messages without being pulled into reacting right away.

I learned to say NO.

If you’re a people-pleasing person like me that JUST WANTS EVERYONE TO LIKE HER, DAMNIT, this is a hard thing to learn. But I did, and it helped me be more selective about how I invested my time and energy… which also made me resent my work a lot less.

What are the signals that your work-life balance may be off-kilter? And how do you course-correct?

Sleep issues, constant stress/anxiety, resentment toward your workload, and general grumpiness are some top signals. You can course-correct by outsourcing some of your work, asking for a deadline extension, and making a plan to prevent overloading yourself in future months with a project planner.

What advice do you have for freelancers who are struggling to find balance?

Stop being so hard on yourself, and remember: You’re the boss in this situation! You set the rules.

Your Freelance Client Onboarding Checklist

Your Freelance Client Onboarding Checklist

by | Jan 10, 2023 | Blog, Resources

Bringing on a new client can be daunting, especially if you’re recreating the wheel every time. You have to gather lots of information to be successful and then organize your tasks to stay on deadline. It can be overwhelming, and we want to make it a bit easier. Here’s a list of client onboarding questions you can pull from to make sure you’re kicking off new client relationships on the right foot.

We used these questions when running our own freelance business. It made an incredible difference to collect this info upfront. Rather than chasing clients down for info well into our working relationship, we had a clear understanding of their vision and needs from the get-go. You can ask clients to respond to these questions via email or cover them all during a kick-off call. We recommend keeping the answers in a document that you can reference easily.

Your Freelance Client Onboarding Checklist

Get to Know the Product and Brand

  1. Who was your product or company built for?
  2. What are some common problems and stressors for your customers?
  3. How are you solving those pain points?
  4. How do you want your customer to view your brand?
  5. What brands, publishers, thought leaders, etc. are important to your target audience?
  6. What are some of the most common questions your customers have about your company or industry?

Align on Your Client’s Goals

  1. What are your short- and long-term goals?
  2. What is the primary goal (conversion) of your website? Do you have any micro-conversions?
  3. What are the top three KPIs you have been measuring?
  4. What is your business focus right now?
  5. What channels are you using to drive growth?
  6. What channels are you not using to drive growth?
  7. What do you want to accomplish in the next 3-6 months?

Uncover Their Competitive Advantage

  1. Who are your competitors?
  2. What are their key value propositions?
  3. What are your competitive advantages?

Learn About Their Pain Points

  1. What are your obstacles right now? (no strategy, product positioning, no resources, etc.)
  2. What strategies have you already tried to overcome them?
  3. What are you interesting in trying?

Nail Down the Details and Set Expectations

  1. What does the success of this project look like?
  2. Do you have success metrics in mind or should we build those together?
  3. Are there any additional needs that may arise down the road?
  4. Do you prefer weekly, biweekly, or monthly calls?
  5. How do you prefer to provide feedback?
  6. How quickly will you be able to provide feedback on my work?
  7. Are there any other team members who will be involved?
  8. Have you worked with freelancers before this project? What went well? What didn’t?

 

We encourage you to mix and match based on what makes sense for your own business and clients. We can’t stress enough how important it is to align with your clients upfront, gather the right information, and get organized from day one. You’ll thank yourself later!

Freelance Interview Series – Lessons Learned in Year One of Full-Time Freelancing with Claire Beveridge

Freelance Interview Series – Lessons Learned in Year One of Full-Time Freelancing with Claire Beveridge

by | Dec 14, 2022 | Blog, Resources

A year ago, Claire Beveridge left the corporate world and transitioned into full-time solopreneurship, offering marketing, copywriting, and inbound strategy services. We asked her to share the learnings that she gathered during her first year as a small business owner.

Lessons from Year One as a Full-Time Freelancer

How did you determine that it was the right time to take the leap into full-time freelancing?

Ooh, a great question! After a layoff from a B2B SaaS startup, I was offered a few full-time, in-house roles at other companies, but none felt like the best fit for me. I had a bad experience at my previous job, so I was feeling extra careful about where to place myself next.

Being candid, I had also reached my peak of receiving comments from men who told me, “You’re too aggressive, you’re too confident, you’re too direct.” In my experience, unfortunately, the tech industry has a few bad apples who think it’s okay to use language like this under the guise of “feedback.” All this does is silence women and ensure their voices aren’t heard, respected, or prioritized. I desperately wanted to avoid putting myself in a situation like that again.

So, after some soul-searching and speaking with trusted folks in my network who’d taken the leap to freelance full-time, it felt like the right time to start my own business — and I am so happy I did!

Freelancing has allowed me to work with companies like Hootsuite, ConvertKit, Picnic, Pilothouse, iPullRank, Graphite, and Headroom on various projects related to content marketing and inbound strategy.

A massive benefit of freelancing is it allows me to focus on myself, my family, and our well-being. I don’t have to sacrifice those areas of my life for office stuff like commuting, meetings that could have been an email (we’ve all been there, right?), and the constant ping of Slack.

Having the gift of time has been a game-changer. I’m now someone who goes swimming in the afternoon, takes long walks in the forest when inspiration and creativity are lacking, and devotes time to hobbies such as cooking, hiking, and cycling — without any guilt or anxiety. There’s no one to answer to except me, and that’s incredibly freeing.

What was the process of transitioning from part-time to full-time freelancing?

I’ve been freelancing on and off since 2011, so I felt more than familiar with best practices that would set me up for success. I moved quickly to establish a separate bank account, invoicing and accounting software, a contract, proposal, and SOW template, and Google Workspace.

The transition itself was very simple. I reached out to a few trusted contacts in my professional and personal network, went for some IRL and virtual coffees, and got my first contract a week later.

Fast forward 12 months, and on average I bill $15,000 monthly, sometimes more if I take on ad-hoc projects outside my recurring, long-term contracts. I think sharing information about rates and income is super important — especially as it opens up conversations in the freelance community that help ensure people who are typically underpaid (women, Black folks, disabled folks, LGBTQ2+ community, etc) actually get paid their worth.

Additionally, I choose to work a four-day week and take six weeks of vacation a year. I’m fully booked until Jan 2023 and have a continual business pipeline. I think it’s safe to say that I have zero regrets about my decision.

In what ways did you lean on your community for support during your first year?

The Superpath community has been instrumental in giving me the confidence and tools to go freelance. I value and appreciate the conversations and community that Jimmy Daly has worked so hard to build. I also got more active on Twitter and used the platform to engage with other marketers and small business leaders.

A team of Vancouver-based marketers, including Ali Cameron, Haley Cameron, and Jesse Ringer, were also very supportive and helped rebuild my confidence, along with my good friend and senior PayPal manager, Marin Nelson.

Additionally, Dani Stewart, ConvertKit’s content lead, and Rebecca Staffel, Picnic’s director of marketing, have been inspiring leaders to work alongside during my first year of business, and I value our relationship immensely.

What is the biggest lesson you’ve learned during your first year of full-time freelancing?

Without a doubt, always include a late-payment clause on your invoices. After adding a line about a 5% compound interest charge for every seven days an invoice remains unpaid, I haven’t been paid late once.

Also, figure out when you work at your best. For me, it’s between 8am-2pm. I’m usually up at 6am to workout, drink tea (I’m English, so this is a non-negotiable!), and then dive into my day.

Between 2-4pm I struggle to focus, so I spend this time doing hobbies or seeing friends for coffee. Then, I regroup around 5ish for another hour or two to wrap up the day before shutting down in time to enjoy the evening.

Additionally, I don’t work a full four days in a row — I usually do Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and then either Friday or Saturday depending on my mood and what needs to get done. So take the time to figure out a schedule that works best for you, and remember that everyone is different.

What advice do you have for freelancers who are just kicking off their journey?

Apply for the thing even if you’re not sure you can do it. Teach yourself. Take risks. Take on lots of different projects. Build your portfolio. Learn not just how to be amazing at what you do but how to work with clients and earn their trust.

Don’t just meet client expectations, smash them. Deliver consistent value. Learn how to manage a small business (that’s what you are!). Study negotiation tactics. Work hard. Like, really fucking hard — especially if you’re not a cishet white dude. Trust yourself. You have the ability. Don’t be afraid to cut clients or people who mistreat you. Learn the power of “no.”

Use your voice. Support Black women, women of color, trans folks, disabled people, and other marginalized groups. Don’t put people down. Don’t compare yourself to others. Shake off the shitty feedback. Focus on you.

And, lastly, take time off when you need it. Absolutely nothing is more important than your physical and mental well-being. Good luck!