The Stages of Freelancing: What Are They And How Can You Prepare for Them?

"What are the stages of freelancing?"

Every freelancer has a unique journey, of course. But having worked as a coach and mentor to lots of freelancers, I know there are certain stages most will go through. I'm gonna talk about what those are here, and what I suggest everyone do to prepare for each one here.

As I reflected on this, I realized that there are really two sets of "stages" people go through as freelancers. I'm calling them Macro Stages and Micro Stages.

🦣 Macro Stages are the ones that occur over months or years in a freelance career. They happen sequentially, and once you get through one Macro Stage, you probably won't ever go back to it.

🐜 Micro Stages are the freelance c go through in a single month or year, over and over.

Let's go over Macro Stages first.

(Y'all, I've got visual aids for this one!)

Stage 1: Freelance curious

For me, Stage 1 started while I was still working full-time. I kept daydreaming about leaving my job and working for myself. But I was so AFRAID of taking the leap.

If you're in Stage 1, and you're in TOFU, then you're already on the right path. What gave me the confidence to move on from Stage 1 was doing my research - mostly speaking to other freelancers who were doing what I wanted to do. They gave me the encouragement, the resources, and the advice I needed to take the leap.

Stage 2: Taking the leap

👆 The scariest stage is stage 2. Though you can make it a lot less scary by starting with a side hustle, rather than doing what I did --- quitting my day job and starting freelancing full-time right away. Yikes.

Here's the good news: There are SO MANY good resources out there for freelancers now, even more than there were three/four years ago when I started.

In fact.... if you scroll up a little in this channel, you can see my chain from a few weeks ago, where I share tips on finding your first clients. I am far from the only person sharing this kind of info - Google is your friend, and learning from people who are already doing it is the best way to make this transition easier. Don't be afraid to ask questions, even if you think they're stupid questions. The freelance community is strong and kind, and people want to help you. They just don't know how to help you if you don't ask for help.

*Brief Commercial Break: I coach and mentor freelancers navigating stages 2 and 3. I specifically focus on people who want to build a career in SEO, and I have lots of templates, tricks, and tools to make it A LOT easier than it would be doing it on your own. Want in? Join my mailing list, boo. https://bit.ly/inkwell-email-subscription*

Or holler at me on LinkedIn and Twitter. Or just DM me cause I'm pretty much always down for a chat.

Ok, back to the stages:

Stage 3: Settling in

If you play your cards right and speak to the right freelancers, get advice, and work hard to get your systems and processes in place, you can reach this blissful stage within 6 months to a year, I reckon. Does it mean life will be easy? No, you'll still have to do a lot of marketing, and find your sweet spots around pricing and packaging your services (something I teach in my course). But it's a lot better than the hectic first two stages.

And last but not least...

Stage 4: Strong and growing

I think I've reached this stage? I'm not really sure, but I have some heroes who are definitely there. Jacob McMillen, Michal Eiskowitz, Austin L. Church, Chima Mmeje are some folks that come to mind. Look them up on LinkedIn for inspiration.

This final stage is the ultimate goal - and I'll be honest, a lot of freelancers never reach this space. The #1 thing that stops people from getting there? Your inner critic, or imposter syndrome. But you can also be stymied by a lack of organization, an inability to say no and set boundaries, or good old-fashioned bad luck.

If you ask me, those are the four Macro Stages of Freelancing. But what about the Micro Stages?

It's much simpler. The micro stages look like this:

Stage 1: I don't have enough money right now. I need to get more people in my pipeline.

Stage 2: Frantic marketing

Stage 3: New clients come in, money problems go away

Stage 4: Happy times until...

Stage 5: A client cancels or a new financial mishap comes along.

Then it's back to Stage 1.

Many freelancers would have you believe that their income is steadily increasing, month on month on month, forever.

That is usually not true.

Yes, my income has grown a lot since I started. But not necessarily in a straight line. Look here:

That pink line is my income this year. That blue line is my target each month. You can see, it's not a straight line. Some months are better than others. Last month was absolute shite.

But the good news is - each year I've been able to raise that blue line a little bit, increasing the amount I'm making each year.

How do you cope with these micro stages?

If I have one piece of advice, it's this: PREDICT YOUR INCOME as best you can*.

Unfortunately, tools like Quickbooks and other financial planners don't predict your income. They only show you what you've made year-to-date.

That sucks for freelancers, because if you don't know what your financial future looks like, you can't manage these microstages very well.

That's why I made this chart for myself (and offer it as one of the many assets I give to my mentorship students 😉)

Why is this so important? Because marketing takes time.

In my experience, it takes at least one month, usually more like 2 - 3, after I ramp up my marketing to actually get a new client across the line.

First they have to see my marketing...Then they have to contact me...Then we have to have phone calls...Then I have to quote them....Then we have to negotiate...

If you start ramping up your marketing when you're like "Oh shit I need a new client NOW" then you will have several months of horrible money anxiety.

But if you predict your income in a spreadsheet like this, you can plan ahead. In fact, I've been marketing hard the last two months, and am very close to bringing in two new clients to get that pink line up where it needs to be by the end of this month.

I'm curious:

🤔 Which Macro Stage are you in right now?🤔 Have you experienced these Micro Stages?🤔 How do you manage and predict your income, if at all?

Let me know inside TOFU!