I’M SELF-EMPLOYED…NOW WHAT?

Aaaahhhh self-employed life, I’m ready for you! No-one telling me what to do or when, no more long commutes or stuffy suits. My time is my own and I can work on my terms. Bliss.

And then reality sets in.

What do I do first? And what comes next? I’m flopping from task to task and at the end of every day I’m wondering where the time went and what I’ve done for the last 8 hours!

I just don’t get it – when I was employed I was super-efficient and ploughed through work faster than anyone else on my team.

What’s happened??

Yes, self-employed life is absolutely incredible – but it also takes more mental resilience, clarity, discipline and focus than you can shake a stick at!

I’ve been self-employed for 8 years now, and in that time I’ve learned some techniques that keep me on track, my mental health in check, and my business growing on target.

Here’s how I survive and thrive with self-employed life…

ENERGY FLOW

This one took me YEARS to figure out!

Over time I realised there were certain times of the day I was more or less creative, focussed, productive and even confident.

When I started out I worked the traditional 9-5, cause that’s what I’d always done and it’s just how I thought it should be.

Then I started waking up at like 4am with loads of creative ideas doing a crazy dance in my head. I had to get up and get them all out – so I did. I started getting up mega early and using that quiet, dark time alone to be creative.

These days it’s more like a 6am start, but paying attention to when my creative energy flowed and actually working with it, changed everything for me.

I’ll share my exact schedule below, but now work from around 7am to 3pm and the first two hours are completely dedicated to my creative flow. It’s the time I write blog and social media posts, create content for my website, review my packages and offers, and do some creative work for my clients.

Pay close attention to your energy flows and see if you can schedule the tasks you do each day around them.

SYSTEMS

Again…this took me years to figure out (!), and I’m still not exactly where I want to be with this, but I know for sure that having great systems in place can be the difference between success and failure when you are self-employed.

Being a very creative person, and a stationary addict, means I have notebooks EVERYWHERE – all filled with cool stuff I’ve learned, mindmaps of ideas I’ve had, notes of incredible conversations I’ve had…they are literally everywhere!

I realised something had to change when I was spending precious time searching through various notebooks to find THAT specific idea I knew I’d written down.

The online systems I use are Asana and I’ve just started using OneNote. I also use LastPass for password storage and OneDrive to store and share files with clients.

I use Asana to store all my templates and to keep a track of ideas I have for future developments. I like how orderly all the information is and you can actually select different formatting options so your information displays in the best way for you – ie charts, lists, work flows etc.

I use OneNote to store my Daily Routines, Content ideas, To Do Lists and it’s also where I keep my precious Vision and my monthly Affirmations. It’s on my desktop AND on my phone, so my thoughts, vision and affirmations follow me everywhere now – which is ace!

I’ve just levelled-up on the systems I use and introduced automation into my business with ConvertKit and Calendly – these have been total game changers for me when it comes to nurturing my coaching clients through a customer journey.

PLAN & PRIORITISE

When you are self-employed it’s absolutely vital to have a Plan…and to have the discipline to stick to it! I know…it’s not easy, but if you can master this life will get so much better!

I have plans in place for every aspect of my business – from social media to financial targets and everything in between. I break my plans down into bite-sized goals so that I’m constantly achieving something and feeling like I’m moving forward.

Prioritising your plans and goals is also critical. There is a freebie on the home page of my site where I’ve shared exactly how I prioritise my workload, so feel free to pop over and grab that if this is something you are struggling with.

ROUTINE & SCHEDULE

This has been a biggie for me, and again it’s something I’ve been working on for years!

I spent some time tracking how much time I was spending on each type of activity and figuring out if I was spending my time on the right things to accomplish my goals.

Based on that, I decided how much time I’d spend each day on critical tasks so that my day had more routine to it (I’m a very creative person and actually because of that I thrive on routine!).

I also set-aside certain days of the week and times to day to dedicate to my coaching clients, because I want to make sure they get the best of me each and every session.

Pulling all of that together, and based on my Energy Flow, Plans and Priorities, I’ve come up with Daily Routines that I now stick to. Don’t get me wrong, some days shit happens, but what it’s enabled me to do is allow myself the time and space to give one task my complete and undivided attention, safe in the knowledge that the other stuff that needs to get done is on the schedule!

Here is one of my daily routines:

As you can see I cut out any access to social media from 11:30 – 3:30 because it is just WAY too distracting for me!

So, that’s it…that’s what has taken me EIGHT YEARS to figure out!

I hope sharing this helps you transition into self-employed life and remember – always schedule time to celebrate your victories and get out into the fresh air.

Lots of love,

Sally x

If you found this useful you may also enjoy reading When Will I Feel Like A Real Business Owner.