Four years of freelancing: what I would do differently
Mostly about money, calendars and saying no. The honest version.
John Doe - - 1 min read
I went independent four years ago. Here is what I would tell myself at the start.
Charge by the day, not the hour
Hours make clients count minutes and make you feel guilty for thinking in the shower. Days are honest. Two or three days a week, booked in advance, is the shape that has worked.
Keep one day a week unbooked
For writing, for learning, for the inevitable client emergency. The weeks I booked five days were the weeks nothing got better.
Say no faster
Every project I regret, I had doubts about on the first call and took anyway. The doubts were right every time.
Write things down in public
This blog has brought in more work than any portfolio piece. People hire the person whose thinking they have read.
Keep a now page
It answers "are you free?" without writing the email fifty times. Why I keep a now page says more.
Put money aside on the day it arrives
Tax, slow months, the laptop that dies. A third of every invoice goes to a separate account before I look at the balance.
None of this is original. All of it took me too long.
