Often being Freelance the work load can feel erratic, with extremely busy periods all coming at once. This time of year post Christmas and New Years comes the lull in the industry. January and February are challenging months for many reasons, but being freelance and not receiving work in quiet periods can be stressful. With the expectation of quiet months ahead I wanted to wright some self help tips not only for myself but you guys to utilise too.
Freelance Life & The Quiet Months Ahead
With quiet periods the first thing to do is not panic, as that can cause procrastination and bad decision making. If you remain calm and considerate then things can be planned in a more useful way. As long as you always remain in that mindset it makes this process a lot easier to manage
Prioritise time:
When things are slow on the work front it’s even more important to manage your time. It can become habit to let quiet moments turn into lazy days and thats when things can slip further out of control. List out on paper things you are working on and prioritise them first. Use any empty space on things like admin, planning and self bettering your work. It’s a great time to learn a new skill or take a course in something.
Build your future and plan for it
As mentioned above use any free time to build and plan for the future. This could be time on media kits, learning a new software and other things. I am going to continue to build my freelance media kits and events packages behind the scenes to make sure I am offering the best service possible when work gets busier.
Don’t be afraid to earn elsewhere
If you are struggling for money where work has been quiet then don’t be afraid to sell things at a carboot sale, offer your services at a slightly lower fee for a small period of time or find a temp job. Theres lots of ways to stay afloat but use your talents and initiative to get yourself in a comfortable position.
Volunteer or go to events and network
With extra time you can also devote it to networking, meeting new people or volunteering which means growing your community. It’s often the case that work comes from people you know, meet or from word of mouth. It’s so important to always meet new people and put yourself out there as a freelancer to get contacts and grow brand relationships.
Market yourself online
Lastly, use this time to work on your online marketing! Make Facebook ads on your freelance services, as well as other creative content. Get bloggers on board to work with you or share your content, you could agree on a swap so you both help each other. Start a new channel if you haven’t mastered say Instagram or YouTube and build on your community. Often quiet periods can mean you need to change up your strategy so have a go at re-planning, marketing yourself and meeting new people and take this time to start from fresh.
I hope you found this post helpful and interesting. If you are interested in these kind of business posts then let me know as I love writing them. Photos by the amazing Rebecca Carpenter Photography.
xxx