Being self-employed can feel like the best thing in the world and also the worst. The freedom is wonderful, but it can also cost you a lot of sleep. Let’s take a look at some top tips for self-employed success.
Keys to self-employment success
Being your the boss can be fun but also stressful. Here are some proven tips to help you be as successful as possible.
Put limits on your time
Maybe you have a home office, or your office is your smartphone. That’s fine, but it doesn’t mean you can’t shut up shop. Nobody’s forcing you to work through the night. Instead, be more realistic with clients about deadlines. Explain to them that if you were instantly available, you probably wouldn’t be great at what you do.
Give yourself and your clients a schedule and stick to it. Call it a day at a reasonable hour. Switch off your email and consider getting a smartphone for work only. That’ll stop clients invading your space all evening.
Self-employed success: Manage your money
What? You mean all this money is mine? Yes, it’s yours to keep when you’re self-employed. But don’t go wild. You need to put away at least a month’s ‘wages’ to cover any lean times. You’ll also need to budget for paying your taxes and National Insurance Contributions to HMRC.
Make sure you maximise your income by claiming for everything you possibly can against tax. That includes things like uniforms, heating and lighting, and travel. You can keep a log of your business mileage using MileIQ.
Keep goals in mind
You might work your socks off and have all the talent in the world, but you’ll also need an overall direction for where you want to take your business. That way, you’ll achieve your full potential.Set a goal for where you want to get to and look carefully at every step to ensure it will take you there. If it doesn’t? Maybe consider re-evaluating those steps and going a new direction.
Be you
When you’re self-employed and a one-person band or partnership, it might be tempting to pump yourself up and come across as a much more impressive outfit than you really are. This self-righteousness can be a mistake.In these days of overly corporate blandness, a little personality and individuality can take you a long way. People like to deal with people. So sell yourself and your skills.
Never stand still
Never stand still. When you’re self-employed, it’s vital to keep on learning and improving. The market doesn’t stand still, and neither should you. Let’s imagine you’re an SEO consultant. Google’s algorithm is changing all the time. Five years ago, articles were the way to go. Now you’ll get heavily penalised for such blatant backlinking.
Try to sell the same stuff you were selling five years ago, and you’ll get left behind. You need to learn and adapt continually, whatever your sector.
