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!

4 Tips for Breaking Up Your Day to Prevent Burnout + Maximize Productivity

4 Tips for Breaking Up Your Day to Prevent Burnout + Maximize Productivity

by | Jan 2, 2023 | Blog, Resources

One of the greatest perks of freelancing is flexibility. You get to decide when and how you work. But, without a manager to keep you accountable, it’s easy to take on way too much work or let things slip through the cracks — especially if you’re new to the game and still learning what “manageable” really means.

Whether you’re procrastinating, burnt out, or just overwhelmed by tasks, here are four simple tips to help you optimize your productivity and operate as your best self.

How to Break Up Your Day to Beat Freelance Burnout

Tip 1: Determine when you work best.

As a business owner, flexibility is your greatest tool. You have the freedom to set your own hours, so why not make your schedule work for you? The key here is to determine when you’re feeling the most energized throughout the day. Are you most creative in the morning or after lunch? Practice tuning in with yourself, and use your most productive hours to knock out the projects that require the most brain power. Daniel Pink’s novel When is a must-read if you’re looking to optimize your days.

Tip 2: Make a daily plan.

As a chronic procrastinator, one of the greatest tips my therapist ever gave me was to plan out every day in its entirety. This sounds tedious, I know, but trust me. It’s a super easy lift and it makes a world of a difference.

Towards the end of your work day, pull out your favorite notebook and write down what you want the following day to look like. Start with what time you want to wake up and continue throughout the day from there. Here’s an example to help get you started:

Wake up: 7:00am
Feed dogs and make coffee: 7:15am
Take dogs for a walk + listen to podcast: 8:00am
Sign on for work + focused work session: 9:00am
Make breakfast: 10:00am

You get the idea. This visioning exercise helps you get ahead of tomorrow by laying out a practical plan today.

Tip 3: “Eat the frog.”

Hear me out… Imagine you have to eat a frog today. Yes, an actual frog. Would you do it first thing in the morning or would you wait all day long, slowing building more and more dread? Probably first thing, right? It’s like ripping the bandaid off.

The same thing goes for your tasks. Knocking out the toughest, most annoying item on your to-do list at the start of your day alleviates stress and helps you build motivation and momentum to carry you through the rest of your day. If there’s a blog post you’ve been putting off writing or clerical work you’re avoiding, try tackling it first.

Another method we love is called task stacking — you pull together related tasks and knock them out sequentially. For example, you might tackle all of your administrative tasks first, then move to your more creative tasks, then spend your afternoon conducting outreach. We like this system because by keeping related tasks together, you’re completing an entire section of your to-do list rather than going at it task by task.

Tip 4: Not feeling productive? Step away.

Sometimes the best thing you can do for your productivity is to take a break from it. If you’re sitting at your desk and you’re just not getting anything done, it might be time to take a break. Pick up a book, take a walk outside, or make your favorite lunch.

While this switch can take some getting used to, especially if you’re still stuck in that hustle culture mindset, we promise it will help you create some of your best work. By stepping away when you’re not being productive, you’re making space for yourself to do other things that fill your cup. Your work will still be there when you get back.

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!

AMA: Taylor Harrington on Self-Accountability for Solopreneurs

AMA: Taylor Harrington on Self-Accountability for Solopreneurs

by | Dec 1, 2022 | Blog, Resources

Taylor Harrington, Head of Community at Groove, was a recent guest at one of our Harlow Office Hours sessions, which was focused on holding yourself accountable as a solopreneur. For those of you who aren’t yet familiar, Groove is an accountability club for anyone with a to-do list who wants to find focus. Our community had some juicy questions for Taylor, so we turned her answers into a post. From daily best practices to finding your community, Taylor shared her top tips on mastering accountability.

How to Build Self-Accountability as a Solopreneur

What’s your advice for those who struggle with self-accountability?

There are two things I want to point out. But, before I do that, I can’t stress enough how important it is to figure out the WHY — as in why you’re struggling with self-accountability in the first place. Nailing this down will help guide you through your internal struggle.

My first and biggest piece of advice, having worked with so many freelancers who are working solo, is to figure out what your ideal to-do list looks like. Not everyone wants to have a big, sparkly to-do list or system. For example, some may use Notion or Evernote or even a pen and paper. There are so many different options, so nailing down what works for you when it comes to a to-do list is a very important step in knocking out the items on it.

My second piece of advice is to seek out support. You don’t have to do self-accountability alone. I work from home and use Groove, but before I joined the team, I was working solo and joining different online communities hoping to find my fit. Connection was hard to come by, especially during the height of Covid.

So many freelancers who are a part of our Groove community find a ton of value in that little burst of social connection and the accountability that comes with the commitment: “At the end of this 50-minute Groove, I have to tell someone whether I got that done or not.” As folks who work for ourselves, we don’t typically have that.

How did you figure out what time of the day is most productive for you?

I don’t necessarily have one time every single day that I feel productive — which I think is just the human answer. I know I’m not a morning person, and some of my teammates are on the other side of the world. So the morning is usually when I’m checking emails and Slack while catching up on what’s happened since I last signed off.

Around 10:30 am, I start to get into that flow. I’m caught up, I know what’s on my to-do list, and I’m ready to conquer it. After some afternoon calls, I pick back up on that flow. But I try to listen to my body. I’ll look at my to-do list and say, “Okay, I have some writing that needs to get done, some deep thinking that needs to get done, and some other small tasks.” Then I do my best to determine what is energizing for me by thinking, “How am I feeling and what can I tackle first?” That’s how I structure my days so I’m writing and doing creative work at a time that’s nourishing for me.

Are there any habits you implement into your daily routine that help you keep yourself accountable?

Thanks to my small team and co-founders at Groove, I plan my week in sprints. It’s quickly become a practice for some of the freelancers we work with too. Planning sprints that I know are visible to other members of my team helps keep me accountable. I have a designated time to evaluate last week’s progress and plan ahead, which helps me manage my time more efficiently. I open my sprint every single morning. It’s how I intentionally plan out my day.

Using a sort of personal prioritization system is another tool I use to keep myself and my deliverables in check. For example, I mark the items I must get done that day in green (or use a green emoji), the items that can wait in yellow, and the items that aren’t necessarily a priority and can wait until the following week in red. Using color and emojis signifies what my priorities are for that day and is something that really works for me.

I’m also a big believer in monitoring your energy levels throughout the day and doing your best to maintain them by filling your cup and holding firm on your boundaries. As someone who does a lot of social on-camera work, I try to balance that with some self-care. For example, I practice “No Plan Mondays” — I refuse to make plans after work on Mondays. Instead, I have a day to re-energize myself, set up my week, and get things done for me. This weekly ritual is outside of my work hours, but it sets me up for a productive week. And I look forward to the quiet!

How do you keep yourself from over-committing? How do you communicate this with clients/colleagues?

If your work is somewhat repetitive, get super clear about how long those repeating tasks take you. And if you’re trying something new, bake in additional time. As you continue to commit to new projects, you’ll get better at estimating the time commitment — and at saying no when needed.

Whether you’re working with clients or a small team, it’s important to communicate how long something is going to take you. The more often you do that, the more powerful; it helps people realize that the “little silly task” they’re throwing on your plate last minute is not actually little or silly — it’s going to take you two hours.

Are there any tools you use that help keep you on task?

I’ve tried to create different boundaries around signing off of work at a decent time, and it’s not always easy. One of them is setting daily reminders in Slack that remind me to log off — it’s like a little gift to myself every day that reminds me to check in and see what I need to accomplish in the next few minutes to make sure I’m offline when I want to be.

I also log completely out of my work account on my computer and into my personal account at the end of every day. Then, I’m not logged into anything work-related which creates that additional boundary. Once I’m off, I’m off.

I’m also (obviously) a huge fan of Groove, for when I need a nudge to get working, and Harlow, which helps me manage my tasks and keep track of how much time I’m spending on each one.

How to Discover the Ideal Name for Your Consulting Business

How to Discover the Ideal Name for Your Consulting Business

by | Nov 22, 2022 | Blog, Resources

Grant Polachek is the head of branding for Squadhelp.com, 3X Inc 5000 startup and disruptive naming agency. Squadhelp has reviewed more than 1 million names and curated a collection of the best available names on the web today. They are also the world’s leading crowdsource naming platform, supporting clients from early-stage startups to Fortune 500 companies.

How to Name Your Consulting Business

 

Consultants have always played an important role in the market as one-stop shops for top-level industry advice and proven strategies that can help any business navigate extremely difficult and challenging circumstances.

Although consultants understand the powerful effect of good branding, they often struggle to come up with brand name ideas that capture their skills and services. Today, we’ll be showing you how to find the best name that can help you establish a solid reputation for your consulting brand.

3 Steps to Creating the Best Consulting Business Name

1. Get clear on your brand identity

Flipping through dictionaries in search of a cool word isn’t necessarily the sure path to finding the perfect business name. The process starts with recognizing and defining the foundational elements of your company’s brand, then building a name from there.

Your brand name should ideally convey value and evoke a response from your core audience, helping them connect to your brand’s identity.  Deciding on the brand experience you want to create and intentionally working to build it is the first step to finding a name that lands.

Think of the most iconic consulting businesses like Accenture, Cognizant, Infosys, and McKinsey — these brands took the time to cultivate a vivid and distinct image, from their brand name to the way they communicate, the values they represent, their brand culture, and their unique approach to solving clients’ problems. Their uniqueness strengthens their brand identity, making them memorable and boosting their perceived value.

As a consultant, you can do the same, tapping into the core energy of your brand to come up with a powerful name that leaves a lasting impression.

2. Generate name ideas

After honing in on the fundamentals of your brand identity, you can start brainstorming name ideas. Remember: This isn’t a one-and-done process. It will take time, effort, and feedback from others to find the right fit.

The key goal of brainstorming is to make space for creativity rather than scrutinize every name you come up with. Ensure you write down every idea, even those you don’t particularly like. One of those could easily end up being the winner.

Use the following tools to make the process easier:

  • Thesaurus: Look up unique synonyms for the words you’re playing with.
  • Business name generators: Pick a starting point then let AI do the work for you.
  • Industry terms: Incorporate keywords that will resonate with your audience.
  • Rhymes: It never hurts to add a little flair.

Don’t be afraid to generate up to 200 names, then filter them based on your branding criteria, selecting at most ten words that resonate with your company’s identity. From there, you can whittle it down even further to come up with a truly unique name.

3. Evaluate your name choice

Once you’ve come up with some final contenders, you can filter and validate them. Pay attention key factors that might negatively impact the quality of your brand name, like trademarks, domain and social handle availability, and potential blunders like misspellings or dual meanings. Consider what’s working for similar folks in your industry or niche. Are there any similarities between the brand names that seem to perform well?

At this point, it would be smart to get feedback from others too. Don’t name your business without vetting it with real people. Reach out to a mix of clients and/or peers from demographics that represent your target audience. Ask them for their initial reaction to a few different names. Get their honest input on how they would perceive your business based on each brand name alone.

Keep Building Brand Credibility

Choosing a brand name isn’t the end of your brand-building process. Remember that a great name must be matched with great service to really have an impact. Your goal should be to stand out both in your branding and the quality of your offerings. Keep your business values top of mind as you set out to find new clients. What do you want to be known for? How can you achieve that? By consistently prioritizing your brand’s reputation, you’ll build credibility — and develop a brand name that can stand the test of time.