Why freelancers must be forward thinking and specific when setting goals

The perception of freelancing in the marketplace is changing and you must be aware of where it is heading before you commence your freelancing career. Starting your freelancing practice without being 100% clear on what your goals and values are, along with a concept of how you might evolve will simply guarantee disappointment and frustration in the future.

Don’t be limited by the old definitions of ‘freelancing’

Our career choices are wider than ever before and accompanying that are a number of work styles offering varying degrees of flexibility, financial compensation and work-life balance. Freelancing was traditionally chosen by those wanting greater work flexibility with an outlook to achieving a better work-life balance compared to that perhaps experienced by an employee in full-time employment. Freelancing was not intended to provide someone with greater wealth rather the benefit was to come from a better quality of life. However with trends in the workplace seeing organizations replacing full-time employees and requiring more project oriented labour freelancing has the potential to become quite lucrative for those willing to seek out the opportunities.

Creating goals for the present and the future

Today’s society is all about breaking down the barriers; there is nothing to say that you cannot work as a freelancer and have it all: greater work flexibility and the opportunity to increase your financial earnings. How you can achieve both is all about managing yourself effectively and ensuring your freelance practice is a well-run machine.

I now coach a number of freelancers who are simply not satisfied with working as freelancers because they want to increase their earnings capability and are unsure as to the best way to go about this. The challenge they face is (1) they haven’t created their business model to be capable of increasing earnings in any meaningful way and (2) their mindset and focus is still that of a small self-employed operator who never expected to be focusing on money and has never made it a priority for one reason or another. What I recommend to most freelancers is that they first must open their mind to the possibility that they can be someone whose career and professional aspirations are not limited to earning through the old time and materials approach. The second recommendation is to consider freelancing as a professional business venture with the same requirements as any small business.

Be specific when it comes to identifying your professional goals

Being specific in your professional goals means that your actions will be more specific – leading to the greater possibility that you will achieve what you set out to do. If you’re a freelancer that might like to run a business in the future don’t start off by thinking you can change the way you work at a later date to accommodate your business goals – it is better to establish a framework early on that you can leverage at a later date with minimal effort. Specific goal setting simply reduces unwelcome surprises and unnecessary effort at a later date.