Ever wished you could get experienced freelancers to give you their top tips on running a freelance business? You’re in luck! As part of my Freelance Insights series, I ask freelancers from a range of industries the same five questions, including what one tip they would give other freelancers about running a freelance business. I’ve compiled some of their answers here. Happy reading!
Read MorePreparing to contact your clients about a rate increase can feel daunting, especially when you want your working relationships to continue in a positive light.
To reduce the risk, and the fear, I always recommend that freelancers and small business owners raise their prices with one client at a time. However, even then, I know it can be hard to find the courage to take concrete action.
One thing that often helps my mentees is to consider all the possible outcomes of the negotiation before starting a conversation about raising your prices with a customer. By doing this, you feel better prepared and already know how you’re going to respond to whatever your client says.
Here, I’m sharing the 4 most common outcomes of raising your prices with existing clients to help you prepare for your next customer negotiation.
Read MoreWhen it comes to raising your prices with existing clients, I always recommend increasing your rates with one customer at a time. This is because communicating a price increase to all your clients all at once is a risky strategy. But how do you decide which customer to prioritise increasing your prices with first?
The obvious approach to raising your prices is to start with the client who’s currently paying you the lowest rate. However, I'd say it's far more complex than that. The client you’ve agreed your lowest rate with might not actually be the best customer to increase your prices with first.
Here, I’m sharing 4 factors for you to consider that might encourage you to prioritise raising your prices with a customer other than the one paying you your lowest agreed rate.
Read MoreMany freelancers and small business owners feel as though they can only raise their rates at the end of each calendar year. But while the new year is a great time to increase your prices, it isn’t the only time you can take action, nor is it necessarily the best strategy to raise your rates all at once.
Raising your prices with existing clients is always a risk because they could say no to your new rates. However, there are certain things you can do to reduce the likelihood of this happening so you can continue to work with them in a more profitable way.
In this blog post, I’m taking you through the process of how to increase your prices with existing clients step by step. I hope you’ll find this guide helpful if you’re one of the many freelancers and small business owners who realise they need to raise their rates but aren’t sure where to start.
Read MoreManaging finances can be a huge challenge for freelancers and small business owners. People don’t usually set up their own business because they love dealing with the financial side of things. More often than not, they do it because they’re passionate about their work and they want to develop their passion into something meaningful for them.
As a result, I sometimes get asked about how to manage your business finances as easily as possible. A lot of freelancers and small business owners feel overwhelmed when it comes to their finances, so keeping things simple is often the most effective strategy if you want to see results.
In this blog post, I’m sharing my top 5 tips to help you manage your business finances simply and effectively so you can feel in control of your small business.
Read MoreAs freelancers and small business owners, we often find ourselves jumping from one project to the next with no time for anything in between. Developing our own business and working on our marketing can easily get left until last as we prioritise our clients’ needs over our own.
However, this can hold us back and can cause our business to grow at a slower rate than it would have done otherwise. One of the most common pitfalls I see among my mentees is not finding the time to ask their clients for testimonials. The problem with this is that they’re missing out on all the benefits testimonials can offer. Customer testimonials can be really valuable, not just for our marketing but also to provide us with support when we want to increase our prices.
Read on to find out why testimonials are beneficial and how we can use them in a way that maximises their value.
Read MoreI’m often asked by freelancers and small business owners what kind of accounting system I use in my business. The truth is that I incorporate a variety of methods, systems and techniques to do my accounting in a way that works for me. I discuss many of these in depth during my Charge with Confidence mentoring programme.
Having said that, one accounting system I do like to use, and that I recommend to others, is the Profit First method. This is because it encourages you to focus on and prioritise making a profit in your business rather than leaving your profit until last.
In this blog post, I’m running through what the Profit First system involves before explaining how I use it in my business. Click here for ideas and inspiration for things to try in your business to help you feel more in control of your finances and ensure you’re always earning a profit.
Read MoreWith the current economic climate, I know that a lot of freelancers and small business owners are wondering whether they should be lowering their prices. In truth, you should be doing the exact opposite. Rather than lowering your rates, you ought to be raising them to account for inflation and the higher expenses you’re facing in your business.
Having said that, I’m aware that things aren’t always this black and white. If you need all the work you can get, raising your prices might not be the right thing to do. What happens if your customers can no longer afford you or you end up scaring off potential clients?
In this blog post, I’m talking you through when it might make sense to lower your prices as well as when you might prefer to stand your ground. I’m also discussing how you can set your prices in a way that will enable your business to be viable and always allow you to earn enough money at the end of each month.
Read MoreI’ve heard it said that the people who don’t suffer from impostor syndrome are the ones who are the impostors. While this is a very general assumption, the likelihood is that if you aren’t suffering from impostor syndrome now, you’ll probably have experienced it at some time or other during your career.
Impostor syndrome can be particularly harmful for those of us who run our own businesses. This is because how much you charge tends to have a direct correlation with your own feelings of self-worth. If you aren’t feeling very confident or are questioning whether you might be an impostor, you’re likely to charge less than you could be charging for your services. Experiencing impostor syndrome usually has a direct impact on your income.
That’s why, in this blog post, I’m sharing some mindset and practical tips on how to overcome impostor syndrome so it doesn’t negatively affect your pricing.
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