Freelance Freedom: Mindset Shifts to Make a Successful Business: Launching a Successful Freelance Business, #1

By Ashley Simpson

Are you ready to launch your freelance career but nagging doubts are holding you back? 

If you find yourself wishing you could get away from the nine-to-five that makes you feel trapped, this book is for you.

Freelance Freedom is designed to get you to the starting blocks of a new career. This book is for you whether you want to be a writer, a graphic designer, a translator, a virtual assistant, or something else entirely of your own creation. The market is ready for more freelancers, and we need you to join our ranks. 

Here, you will find all of the fundamental mindset shifts you need to make to become a successful freelancer in any existing marketplace.

Inside these pages, you will: 

• Learn what freelancing is and why companies are desperate for gig workers.
• Understand the benefits and disadvantages of launching a freelancing career.
• Take a deeper look at the connection between being an entrepreneur and being a freelancer.
• Define your why for abandoning a soul-sucking job and moving into the freedom of freelancing.
• Discover the risks of staying with your current career. 
• Figure out an accountability system that works for you. 
• And so much more!

 

These important mindset shifts lay the foundation for your freelancing career. Everything you need to know to think about the rest of your journey as a freelancer is contained within the pages of this book (and the others in the series). I've packaged up my wisdom from a freelancing career that has spanned more than a decade so that you can make the leap with me. 

If you're ready to start thinking about your future freelancing career, join me in this deep dive into the essential mindsets you'll need to be successful!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ashley Simpson
• Release date: Nov 24, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223664659

Book preview

Freelance Freedom: Mindset Shifts to Make a Successful Business

What would change about your life if you could work on your own terms, harnessing the power of the innate skills you already possess? Even if you had to learn a new skill, the draw of living life on your own terms is appealing to most. It’s why we fall under the spell of writers like Tim Ferriss who claim that we can live our dream life, perched poolside while we work a mere four hours each week. Nomadic lifestyles seem glamorous, allowing you to work from the couch on your RV or a sailboat while you travel the world.

This is the allure of working for yourself, but it may not be the ideal for everyone. Some people simply want to live life to the fullest where they are right now. They want to be there to see their child take his first steps or chaperone a middle school field trip to the aquarium. They want to meet their spouse in the middle of the day for lunch or truly enjoy their weekends, free of the stress and worry of what Monday morning will bring. In other words, you likely crave a life suited your unique lifestyle and what matters to you most. You want to prioritize the things that matter to you, whether that means a good night of sleep, a date night with your partner, or a game night with your closest friends. 

Picture what your work life is like right now. Close your eyes and think back to what your day was like at the office. You spent forty-five minutes on a morning commute, showing up fifteen minutes late to work and already frazzled from the traffic. Your boss gave you yet another unrealistic deadline that will force you to work overtime, missing out on the important moments in the lives of your family and children. The coworker who always complains stopped by your desk on the way to get coffee, burdening you with unpleasant office gossip before the day even truly begins.

If you’re lucky, you manage to work quietly at your desk until lunch time when you feel compelled to play the game of office politics. Who should you sit with? Would it be acceptable or even easier if you just sat by yourself for the afternoon and read a good book? The decision seems too difficult to manage, so you decide to work through lunch with the hopes of heading home early. You eat your cold lunch seated at your desk while you start a mental countdown of the hours left until you can clock out.

The afternoon drags by and you make your way to the communal coffee pot. The dregs of coffee drain into your dirty mug, promising the much-needed boost to work for these last few hours. You sip your bitter coffee (you were out of cream and sugar), trying to stay focused on the task at hand. When the end of the day finally does roll around, you get to look forward to another hour-long commute in rush hour traffic. You race home just in time to throw dinner together, head to the gym, and take a shower before falling into bed exhausted. Your spouse feels neglected because you didn’t have time to say two words to them. If you’re single, you certainly didn’t have an opportunity to head out on the town with friends or on a romantic date night. The chaotic schedule of your nine-to-five prevents you from doing the things you truly want to do.

Does that day sound familiar?

Maybe you worked hard to earn your place on the corporate ladder. Maybe you invested thousands of dollars in getting the best education possible, racking up student loan debt you can barely afford on the salary you were assigned. Maybe you spend hours slaving away at the daily grind for very little compensation in hopes of being noticed as a rising star by your boss or upper management. The rat race feels like the only thing this life has to offer, but what if there was a different way to get what you need from your professional life?

The good news is there might be a solution that works for you: freelancing. Freelancing is a way for you to cultivate a career you can be proud of, one where you can use the skills you already have and build up a stable of clients who pay your bills. Most people already have at least one marketable skill, though some lucky individuals will have multiple skills that the market is ready and willing to pay for. Even if you think you have nothing to contribute to society at large, there are endless resources for you to learn a new skill and start to apply it to real-world problems in exchange for a paycheck.

Think about what you would do if your work schedule was as flexible as you needed it to be. Here is a revised version of what your day might look like if you made the leap into freelancing instead of the grind you’re used to right now: Imagine waking up just as the sun starts to peek through the window. Roll out of bed and make your way to the coffee pot where you can sit and enjoy your java while reading the headlines. You have time in the morning to go for a run that will invigorate you before hopping in the shower and getting ready.

With these important items off your to-do list, you can pack up your laptop and head to the café on the corner where you will work on projects that inspire you and tap into your creative potential. Spend a few hours talking with clients (for a fee) and a few hours tapping away at your keyboard (also for a fee) before heading to lunch with a friend instead of your coworker who does nothing but complain. After lunch, you feel refreshed from your time away and squeeze in an hour or two of work. Maybe you take a few minutes at the end of your work day to edit what you did today, send emails, and proofread your copy before submitting it to your clients for approval and a steady paycheck. Because you worked from home this afternoon, you don’t even have an evening commute to think about so you can start to throw dinner together as soon as the clock strikes five. You have the rest of the evening to spend time with your family and friends and on those pursuits that fill up your creative well.

Wouldn’t it be nice if this could be your reality? Instead of leaving your to-do list to chance or the whims of your boss, you can make your own schedule that allows you to work at a leisurely pace without rushing to complete everything before the end of the day. Scheduling appointments or nights out with friends becomes far more convenient than ever before. In other words, you can prioritize your health, take better care of yourself emotionally and physically, and do it all on a more fluid schedule without sacrificing your sleep. Freelancing can give you all of this and more, allowing you to become your own boss and live life on your own terms. Start dreaming big dreams about what your life could look like because we are about to really shake things up!

How I Started Freelancing

Like many high school graduates, I had very little idea of what I wanted to do when I entered the real world. I never intended for freelancing to be a full-time career move for me. In fact, I didn’t even really know what freelancing was or what that lifestyle would look like. There are no classes on planning for the future in high school. We push kids to pursue higher education and give them very few opportunities to think beyond the parameters of the golden career: a stable nine-to-five routine that pays the bills and has some opportunity to advance up the ranks until you get a corner office. I didn’t