You can label yourself any way you want, whether it’s self-employed, a freelancer, an entrepreneur or a business owner. You’re making an independent living by yourself and from the business you’re building. I was a freelancer for awhile as I was getting LooseKeys rolling. I knew when I left Daily Planet ltd. that I didn’t want to just be a freelancer; I had already done that for a few years and knew the challenges I was going to run into.

One challenge you face as a freelancer is that you’re going to reach a point where you can’t earn any more income. You can always be working harder but there are only so many hours in the day and your rate can only be so high. Instead, I wanted to build something and to work at starting a business that one day could run itself.

Over the last couple years at LooseKeys  things have been going well and I’m very happy with the people I’m working with, the work we’re doing and the direction we’re headed.

Maybe one day you’ll decide that you too want to go beyond freelancing at a new company every week and decide to go out on your own and start a business. There are many challenges you’ll confront when making that move. 

The difficulty I faced was in that transition from a single freelancer to a business or a brand I was selling to clients. As a freelancer you may be lucky and have a dedicated number of clients who continue to call on you because they are happy with your work. I didn’t realize how difficult it would be to explain to clients that it’s not just me doing the work, that I run a business now. These previous clients who have hired you for freelance in the past know you and trust you. So they contact you for a freelance job but you have to let them know that you would be taking the job on with your team. It took at least a year to shake that freelancer idea from my past clients; you have to educate and promote your business. Work on it everyday. 

Most of the questions I got were “Now you’re working with other people?” “Can your old clients trust these people?” “Can they do the same work that they see in your portfolio?” 

Speaking of a portfolio; when you do transition to running your own business, you have to build your new businesses portfolio from scratch. More than likely you can’t show any work you did at your previous employment because that’s not your new businesses work, that’s work you did at another company. Depending on where the work was done, you might be a able to work out a deal but usually company X isn’t going to like to see that your new company is saying they did that work. It’s a Catch-22; you can’t get clients without a portfolio and you can’t build a portfolio if you don’t have any clients. 

I’m sure the same thing happened when you first entered the working world. What did you do to build your name and promote yourself before? You sold your skills and created your own projects. You have to do the same for this new business with your team of people. You need to be getting these jobs and then have your team work on them. Sell, then delegate the work that comes in. Jump in when you can but you’re not a freelancer anymore, you have people working for you who want to do the work. Give them work to do. If you love doing the work too, then hire someone to sell. You have to be delegating the work in order to grow and build a business. 

These are different challenges than being a freelancer but nothing that’s too complicated to overcome. It takes time and I still get emails and calls asking me to freelance on jobs. I make it clear that me and my team at LooseKeys can do this yes, but it’s a team, it’s a WE not an I anymore.

If you’re interested or thinking about making the move from the freelancing life then start by getting a few bigger projects and out-sourcing some of work. See how you like managing a project rather than just being the one doing the entire project. 

The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur by Mike Michalowicz was great. Its a fast moving, funny and insightful read. This book isn’t your typical “get rich quick” or “self motivation” book. Mike Michalowicz fills the pages with small stories, tips and strategies that make you think about how you’re running your business. Some of the ideas have given me a new outlook on how I’m doing as well as the reassurance that just because this is how someone else does it doesn’t make it wrong.

It’s full of little nuggets of wisdom that anyone can learn from. If you’re just getting started or have a bit more experience, I’d recommend this book even if you don’t get anything out of it, you’re bound to get a few laughs. 

“I wonder what would have happened if….” Don’t look back and wonder. If you want to start a business, do it. Do the research, evaluate but then make a decision and feel confident with it.  It will weigh you down if you don’t! Not once have I looked back and wondered what would have happened if I didn’t start LooseKeys. Sure I miss the people I worked with before but I like the people I’m able to work with now as well. I’ve been able to meet some great connections and clients since I’ve started LooseKeys. Working with so many startups and small businesses I can’t help but be impressed and feel a kinship with these people who at some point made the leap into the unknown and followed an idea and went with their gut. I feel like that entrepreneur spirit has been catching because lately I’ve been hearing from friends who’ve decided to do their own things too. Its inspiring to see people doing what they love. So much time can be wasted if all you do is wonder and worry. It’s a one shot game, take the chance!

For years before I started at Daily Planet Productions ltd. I was a freelancer. I had no boss and I was focused on perfecting my craft. Everyday I was learning and growing as a better designer, which as a freelancer is key; you need to become one of the best in your field otherwise no one is going to hire you. As a freelancer you have a sort of freedom to work and do whatever you want since there isn’t a long-term commitment to any one employer.

When I left Daily Planet Productions ltd. over a year ago I knew I could start freelancing again and jump right back into that world. Instead I wanted to build my own business; I wanted to build something that supported the craft. I knew I didn’t want to just be a freelancer forever. I wanted to manage and organize a team that creates amazing and profitable work. Gone is the idea of having no boss and instead I am the boss. That’s one of the big differences between being a freelancer and an entrepreneur, it’s less about you and more about what your team can do. You’re thinking bigger and taking more risks.

Although the lines blur at times and I take much of my experience as a freelancer and put that towards how LooseKeys runs, I no longer call myself a freelancer. I own and run my own business. Some days it feels like its a lot of risk but most of the time I notice the rewards.

I typically don’t remember many of my dreams but I’ve noticed lately that I’ve been waking up to dreams that have a very bad outcome. Not so much a nightmare but rather just everything turning out wrong. I know I have a lot going on with building a business and a wedding just months away, so it’s no wonder that when my mind is at rest that it’s struggling with some of these issues. Being an entrepreneur you have to walk a fine line of boldness and fear. It’s not wrong to have the fear and I’m really thankful that I’m only having these thoughts when I’m sleeping because I know that this kind of fear can immobilize you. Fear is persistent. It doesn’t go away. Fear will wait for one of your weak moments and then it will strike. Which makes sense that it’s surfacing when I’m asleep. In order to succeed, you can’t let fear beat you or you’ll never move forward.

I can’t believe I’m writing a post about keeping focus. I must of been derailed a dozen times while I was trying to put this together. But I’ve embraced that a long time ago and know it’s going to happen. As an entrepreneur and creative person, I’m a bit all over the place. I have a constant stream of ideas for designs I want to explore and things I want to try to do. For the most part I try to welcome these ideas and go with it. Life is an adventure and you have to see where the path takes you sometimes. Usually it works out and the design or concept is stronger; the creative process was victorious. Far too often I have to reign myself in a bit because I could spend the entire day working on new ideas and opportunities. If one of these new ideas isn’t adding real value, I need to shut it down. Every minute I’m not focused on building my core business or brand is a minute wasted. It might seem like I have a hundred projects I’m working on but I try to make sure each and every one of them is helping my core business grow and improve. If you love what you’re doing, stay focused on that and become the best at it. Then worry about moving onto the next thing. Because if you head down the wrong path, there is someone right behind you who has just been waiting for your focus to slip. They’re going to sweep in there and take your place. Don’t let all the new opportunities that arise let you lose sight of your real focus at the moment.