Running your freelance business is one that requires a lot from you because you may be doing so alone or with very few people to help.
When you’re dealing with scope creep and fluctuating income, those two realities of being a freelance business can be bad enough. Combine that with clients who micromanage your time, and it can be exhausting at the best of times to keep on top of it all.
Agencies can command a lot of fees for the same work. However, to run a freelance business, you don’t need employees, an office or a massive budget to hand. You just need to make sure you’ve got the right systems and boundaries in place.
Transitioning from a solo order-taker to a high-value strategic partner is easy to do when you’re using the right structural, pricing and communication methods.
The Pricing Transformation (Value over Hours)
The first shift that needs to be made is understanding value over hours. If you’re billing by the hour, it often penalizes efficiency and positions you more as a commodity expense rather than an investment.
You should therefore look to shift completely to fixed-project fees, offering packaged services or monthly retainers. The language you use when pitching to clients should also change to show value in your services when offering ‘investment’ pricing.
Clients will judge the value of the outcome and not how long it took you to click some buttons. It provides a bit more stability and structure to those clients who come onto your books.
Institutional Positioning & Branding
Many clients will often worry about hiring an individual freelancer due to the risk that comes with it. For example, it may be the fear of you getting sick, running out of capacity, or ghosting them midway through a project.
A good way of overcoming this is by using the ‘we’ framework, even if there’s only you within the business. It helps give the illusion of more people being a part of the business.
From a legal and financial standpoint, it’s good to get rid of the personal bank accounts and messy PayPal links. Instead, make use of structured invoicing software and use an official trading name. It all adds to the legitimacy and professionalism of the space.
Ironclad Client Onboarding Systems
As a freelancer, an amateur approach can often happen where scattered emails and casual text messages can signal to clients a lack of structure.
It’s good to have step-by-step automation in place to make a client feel handled by an enterprise system. With that in mind, utilize these client onboarding steps:
- Implement an automated proposal approval that triggers a digital contract and a deposit invoice.
- Payment confirmation should also be auto-generated through a dedicated client portal.
- An automated asset collection form can help to gather all the necessary logins, files, and brand guides before the work begins.
Having a flawless onboarding sequence is incredibly beneficial and eliminates buyer’s remorse immediately.
Agency-Style Communication Rules
Communication is important within any business, but freelancers need to be mindful of boundaries and the rules that should be stuck to when it comes to agency-style comms.
Shift all of your project-related communication to strictly email or via the project management dashboard. You shouldn’t be texting your clients.
Replace the endless progress meetings with something briefer and less time-consuming, like a five-minute video updated via Loom.
Be sure to establish working hours, making sure it aligns as close to your client’s working hours where possible. Your clients should also respect the time you have away from your desk.
Building a “Fractional” Bench of Specialists
In order for your business to grow, you want to consider building a fractional bench of specialists. Running out of hours in the day or turning down contracts because you lack specific technical skills can be detrimental.
With that being said, look at creating an on-demand network of reliable freelance subcontractors like designers, developers, and editors that you can call upon for help when needed.
Don’t forget to continuously train yourself too when it comes to knowledge that’s important for operations, like health and safety, for example. This helps keep up appearances of professionalism.
Value Your Process as Much as Your Craft
The shift from freelancer business to an agency-like approach is entirely internal. Pick areas where you need to upgrade processes in order to become more professional in your appearance and efforts.
As a freelancer, you can still achieve agency-level goals even when you’re on your own.
