The Freelancer's Starter Kit: Pt. II
A Business Strategy
Solopreneurs are the quintessential one-person band—responsible for not only fulfilling contracted work, but also marketing, networking, managing projects and finances, all the while providing a flawless customer experience. We’re constantly switching focus from the deadlines at hand to planning ahead for the future, and back again. When I first started out, this double vision made me feel a little cross-eyed. I needed a guide to help me set priorities, manage my time, and cultivate a sustainable, profitable business.
Enter the Rule of Thirds. This tripod strategy comes from my dad who’s consulted businesses and creatives throughout his career. The Rule of Thirds is a guiding principle that divides the total time you give to your freelance business into three categories:
One third for marketing and networking—connecting with potential clients, social media management, advertising, following up with previous clients
One third for proactive project development—brainstorming, creating project proposals, even learning new marketable skills
One third for actual billable work—fulfilling contracts and completing the jobs you’ve been hired to do, invoicing, customer relations
For me, this means that a third of my time is spent attending book events and conferences, pitching my services to editors, talking with authors, connecting with other publishing professionals, posting on social media (still a work in progress for me), and teaching workshops. Another third of my time is dedicated to market research, brainstorming, writing project proposals, and crafting and following up on pitches. The last third of my time is spent on actually writing and editing contracted work.
It often feels that the last third is the “real” work and that’s true in a sense—it’s what we get paid to do. But without the first two thirds, I would never get new projects or clients. If we’re not proactive, we freelancers are soon dead in the water.
Applying this rule looks differently depending on your industry and personal work style. For me, I’ve found that certain weeks lean more into one of the three categories. Some are packed full to capacity with billable work and it’s all I can do to meet my deadlines. Whereas other weeks are annually slower and I have more bandwidth to plan ahead, network, and create. But you might find it more helpful to split each day into thirds, or each quarter. The key is to find a system that works for you, and watch your business grow from there.
Here’s a tip:
We freelancers tend to be really good at working really hard and not so good at knowing what we spent our time on. If this rings true for you, I suggest keeping a log of the tasks you completed each day for a week or two. This could be as simple as collecting your to-do lists, reviewing your inbox and sent file, or looking over your planner. Spend a few minutes taking stock of how many tasks fell into each of the three categories. Where are you strongest? Where are you weakest? And what is one simple step you can do today to build up the weak category?
Whether you find yourself in a busy, chaotic time or a slow season, the Rule of Thirds will give direction to your daily tasks and help you shift from merely treading water to strategically growing a thriving business.
Photo credit: Aaron Burden on Unsplash
