GROW YOUR FREELANCE BUSINESS: GETTING OUT OF THAT AWKWARD STAGE
Sep 13, 2024
For most people, the initial decision to step outside of traditional employment is a scary one. The learning curve is steep and every experience feels unfamiliar. It’s no wonder that so many freelancers and solopreneurs spend their earliest years thinking of their business as their “baby.”
The metaphor tracks:
- It’s this brand new, delicate-seeming thing
- We are filled with hopes and dreams for its growth
- We’re still learning how to take care of it
- It keeps us up at night
- We love it but we’re a little afraid of it
It’s such a relief to watch those early plans come together and prove to yourself that your business can not only survive but thrive — but what comes next? After a few years of stability, many freelancers find themselves at a new crossroads.
It turns out that the world is full of resources to help solopreneurs navigate the “baby stage” of their business, but so little is said about how to manage the “awkward preteen years.” This is the era you enter a few years in when you’re almost ready to take on bigger clients, expand your offerings, and add subcontractors, but failure feels alarmingly possible.
Like your actual teenage years, this growth phase can be emotionally charged. It’s frustrating to feel stuck in the middle: you’re not a brand new venture, but you’re not a Fortune 500 company. Questions around identity and risk tolerance come to the forefront, and you’re forced to define your business in a whole new way. As painful as this is, the only way through awkward growth stages is through them — remember, you can’t spell “growth” without “ow.”
So what do you do when existing business practices go the way of your old retainer and no longer fit? Let’s lean into the discomfort.
Awkward Stage 1: Growing Pains
Once you’ve established a good rhythm with your existing clients and have learned to anticipate their lulls and surges, you’re in a good position to take on bigger accounts. As straightforward as this sounds, it’s normal to be apprehensive about stepping outside of your comfort zone.
New clients come with unfamiliar quirks and demands. You may feel resistant to the idea of learning how to work with someone new or afraid they just won’t like your work. Most pressingly, you’re afraid that you’ve overestimated your ability to handle the workload and you’ll end up causing yourself some professional embarrassment.
How to Handle It
It’s an unfortunate misconception that business growth requires big “leaps of faith.” Just like that year of middle school when all the pants in the children’s department were too short but all the ones in the juniors’ section were too long, growth solutions often require some tailoring.
It’s ok to build up from your existing client list and add on new projects slowly. When you’re ready to take on more work than you can handle as an individual, start with a short-term subcontractor relationship and test the waters. Intentional, incremental growth is still growth — and it removes a lot of risk.
Awkward Stage 2: Your Services Are Going Through Changes
A critical part of growth is differentiation. Just like adolescent humans are discovering who they are as individuals, adolescent businesses reach an inflection point where it no longer makes sense to try to be all things to all people.
Some of the services you offered in the early days as a way of generating demand may be way outside of your interests and expertise now that you’ve begun to specialize. It may be easy to identify the work that isn’t generating revenue (or the work that’s just bumming you out), but the fear that you’ll lose clients if you remove that offering keeps you stuck.
How to Handle It
If you’re feeling the urge to suddenly and dramatically reinvent yourself: resist. Sane, sustainable progress is about moving forward while protecting your interests.
Start with what is already working. Approach your solid client base and propose “preselling” a new service that is aligned with your focus area. Even if they aren’t interested in moving forward now, you’ll be making them aware that you’ve updated your offerings so you’ll be top-of-mind for future needs.
The “add don’t subtract” mentality allows you to prioritize your new services when approaching new clients without dropping reliable work until you’re ready.
Awkward Stage 3: You Think You Should See Other Clients
You are eternally grateful to the clients who got your business out of the baby stage, but now you’re ready for more. The rates that they’ve been paying no longer reflect your level of experience, and you are longing to add bigger, flashier brands to your portfolio.
Over time, delaying conversations about your long term goals and needs can lead to resentment. At the same time, it’s natural to be concerned that your long standing clients will perceive you stepping back or raising your rates as an insult. The ultimate fear is that your pursuit of bigger fish will leave you utterly fish-less.
How to Handle It
Begin any potentially sensitive conversation by acknowledging the client’s help in getting your business where it is today. If you want to keep the account, it’s important to express a willingness to compromise and an appreciation for the client’s perspective.
The most neutral way to announce a rate change is to give ample notice and let the client know the update is universal. Pick a date at least several months in advance, like the end of the year or quarter for your new fee schedule to take effect. There is no obligation to offer an “existing client” discount, but if you’re in a position to do so, it can help the people who took a chance on you when you were a brand new freelancer feel valued.
Surviving your business’s gawky pubescent years requires some tolerance for failure and frustration. Don’t underestimate the value of mentorship. Reach out to a fellow freelancer who has already been through these changes and grab a coffee.
Being reminded that the discomfort you’re feeling is pretty universal won’t make it less awkward, but it will make it less isolating.
