The unsexy truth: Why stability and ‘grown-up’ decisions are actually smart (…sometimes)
Living the dream
I spent two years travelling full time, whilst working remotely on my own freelance design business. My now-husband and I lived the vanlife dream in Australia and New Zealand for most of it, with the rest of our time staying in treehouses, huts, or cosy bnb’s across Sri Lanka, the Philippines and Singapore.
Sounds amazing, right? And it really was!
But the kicker? Most of that time, I was working six days a week, either chasing new work or on a client hamster wheel. I was in all of these amazing places, in the early days of my relationship with my husband, yet I wasn’t really there.
I look back now, four years on, from my little house in Portugal, working just four days a week, and on the cusp of launching my workshop The Six Hour Squarespace Site, and I wonder what took me so long to find the balance?
Sure, we had amazing adventures and experiences, and being able to park our van at the beach to cook dinner, or brush our teeth in open air looking up at the stars certainly helped me to unwind, but the plan-free life I was living was beginning to take its toll.
Screw it, let’s do it
Unlike most, who spend months or even years cooped up in a 9-5 dreaming of something bigger, my decision to travel and set up my freelance biz came only two weeks after the idea first came to me.
I’d met my husband on a last-minute holiday to Bali, and realised that - as my 31st birthday loomed over me, a mere 9 weeks away - I didn’t have long to apply for a Working Holiday Visa and join him in Australia.
I had 6 hours per week of freelance work on the side of my 9-5, but it wasn’t going to be enough to facilitate full-time travel, was it? Besides, I actually liked my 9-5, working as Creative Lead at an e-commerce agency in London. What was I thinking?!
I’ll tell you what I was thinking: Why. Effing. Not?
“I prioritised designing my own business cards over a website. Business cards!”
Rookie mistakes
But as I alluded earlier, it didn’t take long for my lack of planning to shine through. Just a few of my rookie ‘mistakes’ include:
Having no idea what to charge, and have since learned that I was charging Junior rates for my decade of experience
Taking years to finally set up a business bank account to house the pocket money I was making (- yes, my accountant was elated when I finally did)
Taking just as long to set up a business email address (allowing me to finally create some separation between work and personal life)
Prioritising designing my own business cards over a website. Business cards! (185 of the 200 I got printed are still sat in my drawer… ya know, just in case…)
Making excuses (instead of making a plan)
Even as a Web Designer, designing my own website kept being bumped down the list - I guess because no-one was paying me to do it - and it took me 18 months to finally bite the bullet.
My excuses ranged from “I don’t know how to code” (as though it was 1999 and Squarespace didn’t yet exist) to “I don’t have time, I need to spend 47386432 hours a week scouring Linked In for #WebDesignerNeeded instead” (instead of actually creating an online presence to send said future clients to).
In reality, when I think about how much potential-paid-time I wasted making excuses instead of making a plan, I could have hired another fancy designer to just do it for me!
So when did it all change?
Predictably, when we got pregnant. We were living in our self-built van over in New Zealand, and realised that we needed at least some semblance of a plan. So we made the first adult decisions that either of us had made in years:
We decided to move to Portugal. This felt like a no-brainer: as a British x German couple who didn’t want to move ‘home’, it means we are now closer to family and friends, and perfectly positioned for lots of trips away.
We decided that my husband would be the full-time caregiver. To be honest, this also felt like a no-brainer: he’s one of those amazing humans that you just know were ‘born to parent’, plus he was feeling a little stuck in his own work choices, whereas I love my job as a Designer.
We decided to create more family time. I planned like crazy for the duration of my pregnancy, and with the help of a back-up designer to hand off to, I managed to take three months off (unpaid; remember I’m self-employed) while my lovely clients waited for me.
Sure, start scrappy, but start smart
And when I came back to work after our son was born, it was working just four days per week; this was non-negotiable.
Something had to change. I knew I didn’t want to blink and the first five years of our son’s life would have passed me by while I was chained to my laptop.
And it really makes me wonder how much more free time I could have carved out if I had just made those key decisions back in the beginning.
Don’t get me wrong: I’m all for starting scrappy. Usually, there is no other way.
Tips for The Great Resignation
But if I could offer just three pieces of advice to those going out freelance during this time of The Great Resignation, it would be:
If money isn’t your strength, find the right accountant. It took me a while to realise that as a ‘digital nomad’ I needed to find an accountant that knew that world. And finding one that you resonate with means that you won’t dread the grown-up phone calls to talk about money.
Find your people. Join Facebook groups and Slack channels, take courses, and collaborate with other freelancers whenever you can. Not just for the sake of networking (- although that’s a huge benefit) but because being self-employed can be a lonely place if you let it.
Get your website done. Time for some tough love: stop making excuses, we both know that you don’t really plan to do it tomorrow. My upcoming workshop, the Six Hour Squarespace Site, teaches Copywriters and Content Creators how to design and launch a killer Squarespace site for their freelance biz in just 6hrs. Reclaim your freedom and independence by actually OWNING your own website, without spending endless time (and money) outsourcing it.
But most of all, be kind to yourself as the old saying is true: we shouldn’t compare our beginning to someone else’s middle.
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