If you are a freelancer ask yourself this question – When was my last review? – Chances are your answer will be ‘never’ or ‘review, what review?’
Employees have reviews, so should the self employed.
Employees usually meet with their manager once a year. Many fear their review viewing it as a fight for survival, a ‘I’ve already got the job’ job interview. But really it’s an opportunity for both parties to take stock, vent frustrations, solve problems, and plan for future career progression. When I was a wage slave this last point was what interested me. Where could I go within this company? What were my prospects? What was my path of progression? How could I gain more skills and experience?
I recently realised all these questions are just as relevant to the self-employed, but we tend not to ask them as often, if at all. You see us freelancers are usually so caught up with bringing in a monthly income that we seldom stop to ponder the ‘quality’ of said income.
When I began money was money.
This man definitely knew a thing or two about progression.
When I started freelancing I would accept most work that came my way. With the security of the monthly pay check now gone I was scared and if truth be told desperate. I didn’t have the luxury of picking interesting work. I didn’t turn down those ‘alarm bells are ringing’ clients. An hour was an hour was an hour right? Money in the bank. A roof over my head. Food in my belly.
(As a side point I advise starting with a significant amount of money in the bank (3-6 months) to allow you to be picky with clients and build a personal brand)
Now though I’ve worked that bit out. After two year I’m no longer scared. I know I can create my own income selling value directly to a customer. So what’s the next challenge? Where do I go from here?
Where to next? My first freelance review.
“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results” Albert Einstein
To know how to progress you need to have an idea of where you want to finally end up. Once we get to the point where we can survive the next step is to work out what we ultimately want our professional life to look like. I went to a cafe and wrote down various headings.
- Current work – Is it satisfying me? Is it challenging me?
- Current clients - Are they good relationships? Is anyone in particular causing a disproportionate amount of problems (80/20 principle)?
- Skillet – What do I want to learn? What do I want to improve?
- Work environment – Am I happy with it? What could I improve?
- Future aspirations and goals – What work do I ultimately want to do? How much money do I want to earn? How many hours do I want to work?
My first annual review led to dramatic results.
Buying the best kit is an essential investment.
New kit – I had been struggling with an geriatric Macbook Pro since the summer. A replacement costs £1500+ which I was finding hard to justify. But when I sat down and expressed my frustrations as if talking to a manager it became a no brainer. I wouldn’t put up with this dying kit if I worked at a company. I ordered a new one the next day.
Fired a client – I said good bye to my frontend CMS web build client. It was bread and butter money but I’m striving for finer things these days. You might think firing a source of income is stupidity, especially in a recession, but sometimes it’s necessary to progress. What’s the opportunity cost of this work and client relationship? More to come on this in a future post.
Action plan for new clients – I want to work with startups and tech companies. People producing a product or service. Someone who can take advantage of the business and development value I have picked up over years working as a project lead, project manager, and in three startups. A client simply can’t reap this value on a HTML / CSS / CMS build. I’m now actively targeting clients with interesting projects and vetting ones that come knocking on my door very carefully.
My new startup is a great opportunity to learn marketing.
Skillet – I’d been thinking about learning Ruby on Rails for a while. Something new, something supposedly better. But actually would that differitiate me? I would move from a PHP developer to a Rails developer. Hmm. There are many great Rails developers out there; do we need another?
So I’ve decided to get more involved in the business of software with a particular focus on marketing and sales. These skill sets are differentiators. I’m getting more involved in my latest startup Crashouts to squeeze out every ounce of learning. I’m writing more and in different capacities including a book, articles, poetry, to improve this essential skill.
Future aspirations and goals – I want to eventually run a successful small tech company selling a product or service. That’s been the goal I’ve been working towards since taking on my first job as a programmer. I actually remember telling them that in the interview. I love coding and it’s something I will always do in some capacity. But freelancing has a earning cap and selling time isn’t asset building. When you retire, other than the unused stamps on your desk, you will have nothing of value.
My first review: Well that was well worth it.
It took me less than hour but has focused my mind and forced me to make decisions which have already had a huge effect. With such dramatic results I will be doing this style of review on a bi-yearly basis. If you are self employed I urge you to get out of your office this week and think about where you are and where you want to be in 5 or 10 years. Will your current actions take you there? If the answer is no it’s time to make some changes and do things differently.
