Your future is in very capable hands--yours. If you have made the decision to become a freelance professional, then it's time to make a plan. Even if you're only ready to venture out on your own part-time, from the safety of your 8-5 job, you still need a plan.
Freelancer Professionalism
The key word to remember is professionalism. In a freelance career you may be your own boss, but in order to succeed you must remember that you are a professional, with a valuable service to offer. Before you can offer that service, you have lots of work to do. The following ideas are intended to help you take a realistic look at your goals and commitment. This mini-plan will not replace a full business plan which, depending upon your circumstances, may be absolutely vital to your start-up business.
Successful small & home-based business owners start with a business plan.
A successful freelance professional should do no less. Formulating a business plan helps you clarify your goals and determine the steps you must take to reach those goals. Yes, you have all this in your head, otherwise you wouldn't have taken this bold step, but actually getting it down on paper will allow you to see all those great ideas in logical order. Thus, helping you identify any areas that need to be worked on. A business plan is made up of many sections, here are just a few to get you started.
Develop a small business mission statement.
Many successful businesses articulate a mission statement--their reason for being. Notice the following example: "Our mission is threefold: To deliver top quality compassionate care to our patients, to provide much-needed healthcare education to our rural community and to support the vital life-saving research of our Cardiac Center. " The reader, and potential patient, immediately knows that this hospital not only cares for its patients, but also conducts research and sees health-related community education as one of its important services. Take this approach and write a two or three sentence statement that states your mission. Perhaps, "My mission is to enable each of my Internet customers to present their special message to the world by creating a professional, easy-to-navigate website." Your mission statement is the place to concisely convey what is important to you and your business and how you see yourself in the context of your career.
Lay out a 5-year small business plan.
Be realistic, but optimistic. Determine what your career goals are. Start with a general long-range goal, then formulate the steps you will need to take to reach it. What do you see as an attainable annual income after pursuing this freelance career for five years? Will you reach this goal by serving more clients or by charging more per hour or project? Add this to your written plan. Then do the same for four years, three, two and then one year. By formulating your 5-year plan and working backwards, you are able to get your overall goals in mind and determine how to reach them by gradually working towards them. Remember don't let your dreams carry you away, but do challenge yourself. Make sure each annual goal pushes you to accomplish a little more than you did the previous year.
Make a schedule of the time you are willing to commit to your freelance career or small business
This time commitment must be enough to help you reach your first annual goal. If this is going to be your full-time job, treat it as full-time. Determine how many hours you will work each day to reach the income level you expect for this first year. If you still have another job, then schedule the amount of time you can realistically devote to your freelancing. It doesn't matter what time of day you work, it just matters that you work the number of hours it will take to meet your goals.
Be totally honest with yourself about your commitment. How hard are you willing to work to make this new career a success? In the beginning, unless you are extraordinarily lucky, much of your scheduled "work" time will be devoted to learning about this new adventure and simply looking for jobs. Just be sure you use each committed hour to further the goals laid out in your 5-year plan.
With these three areas defined, you have a good start on your plan. You will find that your plan will evolve as you learn and gain experience. Update it as your career grows and your goals expand. Be sure to keep a copy of this first plan so you can look back and see how you "started out."
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Marilyn Crain is a freelance writer with an extensive background in human resources, information systems and performance improvement. Most of her writing has been in these business fields, but she is now expanding her horizons into other areas.
She has had a lifelong love of reading and writing. Among her many passions is sharing history with children through her developing series of children's historical fiction soon to be out on www.ezetta.com.
She is a partner in the e-newsletter/e-marketing site http://www.evoicenewsletters.com/, as well as, the soon to be launched eZetta.com, author's site devoted to e-book publishing and decodiva.com, a site filled with beautiful living resources. She is co-publisher of two newsletters, The eVoice and The Freelance Life. You may contact her: marilyn@smartwriters.com.
