3 Unexpected Tips To Help Your Career

I ran headfirst into freelancing without much of a plan, I made lot's of mistakes and had to dig myself out of some pretty deep holes! It's all about perspective and despite going through some difficult times, I reflected, read books, asked questions, used coaching and various other means of development.

It all helped me to learn from my mistakes and develop ways to improve my business and process.

I’ve picked three practices that made the biggest impact on my freelance career.

It's worth noting at this stage that we're all in different circumstances. I'm sharing what has worked for me in the hope that you find it useful. By all means, use it or ignore it...

1) Make yourself a design proposal template

This is useful to your client and a huge time saver for you! Use your skills as a designer to personalise it and make it enjoyable for the reader.

Ensure the project objective and deliverables are clear.

Break down the process of what it's like to work with you. Keep it short, informative and clear.

Pro tip: Make sure it's easy to tailor for each project as not all are equal!

2) Learn to align your values with your goals

The last thing you want to do is climb a mountain and then realise you climbed the wrong one.
If you can identify your interest, your skill and a trend - The sweet spot is where these things meet.

Ask yourself:

"Am I interested in this, do I love it?"
"Am I good at this? Do I produce quality work?"
"Have I seen this in the world? Will people find this useful? Will someone buy it?"

This is a great way to identify the services you should be offering and the clients you'd like to be working with.

Keep it simple and remember why you started in the first place.

3) No matter what. Dedicate time to your personal and professional development.

We've all sacrificed "me" time for a looming deadline. Making yourself miserable because you are overworked, underpaid and have no time for the things you enjoy!

Hold up, didn't we quit our jobs to avoid that lifestyle?

An alarming discovery I made when I asked myself why I started to freelance in the first place. From that point on, mornings became about play, personal and professional development.

Client work starts at midday. How did I achieve that? I told my clients I work differently now because this new way of working keeps me more motivated, more energised and more creative! Surely everything every client looks for?

This has had the most impact on my business because I made this promise to myself and I'm really grateful to myself for it! It's also the most personal so think deeply about how you could make this change!

Did you find this useful? Please give it a share!