Think of the best employer you’ve ever heard of. It might be a job you had, or maybe a parent, or a friend.
As a freelancer, you can do better. All of us can. That starts with changing how we engage with ourselves as workers. I’ve talked about role-based freelancing before in terms of your day-to-day, but what does it mean at a higher level?
This level—one in which we take proactive responsibility for the outcomes of our business—I think embodies our most important role is that of an employer. We are self-employed, right? We might be one-person shops, but there’s still someone responsible for everything.
But if we’re being honest, a lot of us default to pretty questionable behaviors as self-employers.
We require too much work for too little pay. We allow terrible schedules. We don’t make adjustments to respond to market shifts and economic downturns. We don’t offer a salary or we don’t provide PTO. We ignore signs of burnout. We don’t provide retirement savings.
Ask yourself this…based on how you operate as a freelancer, would you voluntarily work for you as an employer? If the answer is “no”, don’t feel bad. Most of us start off as freelancers with some really toxic habits we picked up from employment (or even just school experiences and seeing people around us work.)
But this is an opportunity for change.
The best thing about freelancing is that you have a chance to be the best employer you ever had. What it takes, more than anything, is commitment.
…commitment to running a better business that doesn’t extract from its employees and instead adds to their quality of life—your quality of life.
Now, this is a process. It’s an exercise in personal development. It’s something you can get better at with study, practice, and some mistakes. It’s also something that’s incredibly useful if you plan on bringing on assistants or employees later—especially if you eventually evolve from freelancing into entrepreneurship.
The two- freedom perspective of freelancing
I believe that looking at freelancing from the perspective of enabling freedom will take you a long way. And I believe that freedom exists in two ways—“Freedom From” and “Freedom To.” To help you get started, we’re going to work through a few examples and how you can enable them as your best employer ever.
You start with freedom from
No one starts freelancing with a blank slate. We have years, if not decades, of programming from school, jobs, and our cultural attitudes about business, careers, and work. I’ve talked before about the things I’ve personally had to say “no” to as a freelancer. Your list might be much different.
But these are negative freedoms—things that might be a cultural, industry, or personal norm that you do not want to carry into your life as a freelancer. Things like:
- Overwork
- Location dependence
- Working with toxic people and high stress levels
As a self-employed person dedicated to being the best employer you’ve ever had, you will need to take deliberate, tangible steps to enable each of these.
Enabling freedom from overwork
Most freelance problems come down to marketing, and this is one of those problems. To break cycles of overwork, you’ll need to do two things:
- Pay yourself more
- Set clear revenue targets
Paying yourself more comes down to niche choice and positioning that are aligned with value (so you can pay a reasonable rate for your labor). This article is a good place to start in understanding value. This one will help with setting minimum revenue targets. Also, remember to take clues from employer behavior instead of trying to reinvent the wheel. This workbook will help with that.
Enabling freedom from location dependence
If you don’t want to chain yourself to one location, it will likely mean avoiding work that’s too local and turning down clients who insist on meeting in person too frequently. The COVID-19 pandemic has made this much easier to do, but if you’re in an industry that’s highly local or that requires frequent in-person work, you might need to rethink your niche and look for new opportunities.
Enabling freedom from working with toxic people and high stress levels
One of the greatest perks of freelancing is that you don’t have to put up with anyone you don’t deem worth it. Sure, you might run across an annoying contact at a client, but you have immense amounts of leeway in navigating that.
To make this real as a self-employer, be vigilant on discovery calls and during contracting about how contacts make you feel. People who are rude or talk down to you (or their own employees or subordinates) are huge red flags. Be willing to walk away at the first sign of mistreatment. (Include a path out in your contract. Mine mentions the right to terminate the relationship for any reason with 30 days’ notice.)
The same goes for scattered decision-making or high-pressure timelines. Very few of us work jobs that have true emergencies and most deadlines are manufactured. If this is something you want to reflect in your business, prioritize clients who match your energy.
You work toward “freedom to”
These “positive freedoms” are what you’re working toward—ways to enhance your life through your freelance business. This is where you need vision and have a chance to really get creative with your lifestyle design. Consider some options like:
- Living where you want
- Excellent health
- Advanced career options
Enabling these as a self employer will require an even higher level of strategic planning and application. That’s something you can build over time. Here are some options for taking action.
Enabling living where you want
This is a higher level of location independence, and it’s where things can really get interesting. You can start prioritizing proximity to community and family, moving to areas of increased safety, and taking advantage of geographic arbitrage (making the most you can while prioritizing areas with lower cost of living…responsibly of course. It’s easy to tread into neo-colonialist practices here.)
Pulling this off means being strategic about your industry and positioning to afford flexibility, taxes, etc. It also requires prioritizing long-term business continuity as a freelancer.
Enabling excellent health
Beyond meeting the basics of insurance coverage, you might want to go above and beyond what’s typically offered by your government or employer sponsored health insurance (especially in the US.)
“Perks” like executive health screenings, concierge doctors, private insurance, medical tourism, functional medicine, gym membership, and mental health retreats are all things you can provide for yourself. Accessing them generally means simply bringing in the revenue to cover the cost, which is a function of marketing and strategy.
Advanced career options
Freelancing and career growth aren’t in opposition to each other. This is especially true if you engage with freelancing from an employment-based perspective.
There is little to no reason your freelance career can’t provide significant career growth and progress. I’ve seen people do this not only as pure freelancers but also leveraging freelance and indie work strategically to grab positions and pull higher titles with full-time employers.
This, again, goes back to strategy—mostly being intentional about aligning the value you provide with clear career paths, staying focused on a niche dimension, and funding the education and professional development that aligns with your goals. There’s no reason a freelance business can’t cover tuition, enable unpaid internships, or even support a sabbatical.
Becoming the best employer you’ve ever had
I’m going to keep saying this because it’s deeply true—this is a process.
It’s a long-term exercise in personal growth and development that requires empathy, self-reflection, education, time, and effort. It requires commitment to a way of work and a way of being that’s uncommon, but necessary in today’s world…and I believe that’s what makes it so amazingly valuable.
If you want to take steps forward, I invite you to join the BlackFreelance Discord.
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