There are lots of small business owners who balance freelancing alongside salaried employment. However, there also seems to be a stigma attached to not dedicating 100% of your working hours to running your own business.

In my role as a mentor, I’ve spoken to several people who were employed and self-employed at the same time and who felt ashamed of the position they were in. They seemed to feel as though they were failing because they weren’t freelancing full time. My response to this is always the same: there is nothing to be ashamed of in having a job alongside your freelance work!

In this blog post, I’m looking at some of the reasons why there’s nothing to be ashamed of, as well as exploring how being both employed and self-employed puts you in a powerful position when it comes to pricing your services as a freelancer.

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In the past, I’ve had mentees tell me they feel guilty about charging for their services because they want to help others.

As freelancers and small business owners, many of us do start our own businesses due to a drive to help other people. We often want to run things in a values-driven way, and we can do that because we’re the ones in charge. However, our desire to help others can often result in a reluctance to charge for our services, or to charge a rate that truly enables us to earn a decent living. We can end up feeling guilty about charging people for the services we're delivering, even though we're providing value and supporting others.

In this blog post, I’m therefore looking at how to price your services when your main aim is to help others. More specifically, I’m showing you how it’s possible to help others and earn a decent living at the same time.

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A little while ago, I was talking to a mentee who was planning to move to a more expensive location. We were discussing the potential need to increase her prices as a result of the higher costs involved. However, my mentee didn’t think she could charge her customers more just because she was moving to a more expensive country. It wouldn’t be fair to pass that additional cost on to her clients. Or would it?

If you feel the same as my mentee, it’s completely understandable. You may think that your move has nothing to do with your customers, so it might feel unfair to increase your prices with them just because you’ve decided to move house. However, you’re running a business, and if your costs increase, your rates will likely need to increase too.

In this blog post, I’m talking you through the impact a move will have on your rates, as well as how to set and increase your prices so you’re earning enough at the end of each month.

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Before encouraging my mentees to raise their rates with a client, I usually get them to consider the worst-case scenario. What would they do if the client said they couldn’t afford to pay more, and how would they deal with a negative response to their price increase?

Most people consider the best-case scenario to be the client accepting their rate increase outright, which can and does often happen. However, alongside that acceptance, you might see the amount of work the client sends you decrease, sometimes substantially. In such circumstances, perhaps the best-case scenario would actually be for the client to negotiate with you to a level they can comfortably afford, and that still works for you, so the workload doesn’t reduce.

In this blog post, I’m looking at how you can reduce the risk of clients accepting your increase but sending you less work if this isn’t your desired outcome.

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Freelancer burnout is a thing, and one of the biggest causes is a consistently heavy workload. As small business owners, we have a tendency to run ourselves into the ground to keep our customers happy. And as our businesses grow and we get more clients, we can easily find ourselves overloaded with work on a day-to-day basis.

We often think it’s a good thing if we’ve got lots of work. But overworking ourselves all the time isn’t sustainable. Sooner or later, our businesses or our health will suffer (probably both!). If we want to look after ourselves and run a business that will support us in the long term, we need to be wary of crossing that fine line between loving our work and dedicating ourselves to it 24/7.

In this blog post, I’m therefore sharing 3 different approaches you can adopt if you’re experiencing a heavy workload on a consistent basis.

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If you aren’t reliant on your business to support you financially, you might struggle to set financial goals, especially if you’re not particularly motivated by money.

Freelancers and small business owners who don’t depend on their businesses to make ends meet usually find themselves in this position when they have another source of income or support. You might not rely on your business financially if you have a separate job or if your partner earns enough to provide for you and any family you might have.

If this sounds like you and you’re finding it hard to set financial goals for your business, you’re not alone. I’ve been asked recently by more than one person how to go about setting financial goals when how much you’re earning doesn’t really matter. So in this blog post, I’m sharing 5 things you can do to help you set financial goals if you don’t depend on your business to make ends meet.

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Our businesses are our babies. That’s why it can be so upsetting when something goes wrong or a client pushes back on your prices. Sometimes you might interpret that as them saying that you and your services aren’t worth the amount you’re charging.

But this is also where our emotions tend to get in the way. Far too often, I see freelancers and small business owners charging prices that are a direct reflection of their own self-worth. So it’s only normal that this leads to upset if clients aren’t willing to pay that amount.

I teach my mentees how to set prices based solely on the numbers. This way, they can set their rates objectively and take the emotion out of negotiations. Having said that, it can still feel frustrating when a client pushes back on your prices. So here are 3 things you can do to avoid these negative feelings and still get paid an amount that works for you.

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When it comes to discussions around how to increase your prices, standard advice seems to suggest that you should raise your rates at the start of each calendar year.

I like the fact that this advice encourages freelancers to think about putting their prices up on a fairly regular basis. Having said that, I don’t think increasing your rates once a year is the perfect approach.

Raising your rates across the board with all your clients at the same time is a risky strategy. You’re putting yourself in a vulnerable position if they can’t or won’t pay more.

I therefore encourage my mentees to both review and increase their prices consistently over the course of the year. In this blog post, I’m sharing 3 steps to help you do this so you can raise your rates without putting your business at risk.

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This blog post comes off the back of a question I was asked recently by one of my mentees. She was told by another freelancer in her field that some of her packages were priced too low, and she asked me if she should raise her rates as a result.

Being told by other freelancers that we’re undercharging can be upsetting. No one wants to feel as though they’re getting their prices wrong. And especially when we work in a field we care about, we don’t want to feel potentially responsible for damaging the industry.

It’s only natural that situations like these can make you question your pricing. My mentee was left wondering whether she should increase her rates and change her approach to package creation. In this blog post, I’m sharing my response so that you know what to do the next time you find yourself asking if you’re undercharging.

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