Category: Blog

If you spend any time on social media, chatting with freelancers or just asking your friends and family, you’ll know already that opinions differ widely when it comes to how much money you can earn from freelancing.

There are freelancers out there shamelessly boasting about their six-figure business: how they earn thousands per month through passive income and only have top-paying clients. There are also freelancers saying how hard it is to scrape a living from freelancing.

As an online sales coach I have worked with many freelancers and also run a lot of training courses, so I’ve seen “under the bonnet” of many, many freelance businesses. I work with freelancers to help build a client base and ultimately earn more money from freelancing.

So, how much money can you earn from freelancing? Let’s dive in

Working out your day rate

Lots of freelancers work to a day rate (they charge an agreed amount for a day of their time) for their clients. If you work, or plan to work, in this way, figuring out how much money you can earn is a fairly simple sum.

Let’s say you charge your clients £300 per day for your services. You work 5 days a week. This means your weekly income is £1500 per day. Say you work 45 weeks of the year, then you can expect your annual income to be around £67,500. But that doesn’t allow any time for unbillable work. By that I mean time spent marketing your services, admin, invoicing, financial planning, intro calls and so on.

This kind of unpaid work is unavoidable for any freelance business and needs to be factored in. As a rough guideline, I would allow at least 10% of your time to be spent on unbillable work. This means your weekly earnings are more realistically going to be £1350, making your annual earnings around £60,750.

You can dramatically reduce your time spent on unbillable work to increase your profits (for example, by investing in software to speed up your processes), but it will never be zero.

If you are stuck on what your day rate should actually be, I’d advise you to look at what you’d be earning as an employee doing the same role and multiply it by 2.5. So if you’re a graphic designer and the average salary is 30k, multiply by 2.5 to get to £75k. Divide this by the number of days you intend to work in a year (e.g 45 weeks at 5 days a week is 225). 75k divided by 225 is £333 per day.

Most freelancers undercharge when they start out, often due to a lack of confidence

It’s important to remember that there will always be people charging less than you and there will always be people charging more. Your day rate should feel comfortable but exciting so you work hard for the clients you win.

Project fees

Many freelancers don’t charge a day rate, but instead work to a project fee instead. For example, a website builder might charge a flat fee to build a client’s website, rather than charge a day rate. This often suits a client more as they know the price for what they are getting, rather than getting hit with a larger bill they weren’t expecting.

Whether to charge a project fee or day rate depends on your services and how you like to work, but it’s worth considering both options.

If you are going to charge a project fee it’s important to remember that you may have clients calls, project management work, emails and so on that you’ll need to factor into your time working on the project. As you do more projects you’ll get better at estimating the true time involved.

Removing time for money

Project fees and day rates both connect time with money, i.e. you sell your time in exchange for a fee.

Many freelancers offer products that are not time-based and this can really help you earn more money as a freelancer.

For example, if you are a freelance SEO expert, you could offer courses in SEO that clients can buy. Technically the sky is the limit in terms of earnings in this case!

I would caution that there is a serious time investment into creating courses and other digital products, as well as possible platform hosting fees.

That said, freelancers who have successfully built this kind of business can earn serious amounts of money.

Scaling up

I have coached freelancers who want to scale up their business. Often this looks like taking on work and then outsourcing to a fellow freelancer. In principle this could earn you a lot of money as you can take a margin on every piece of work without actually doing it yourself.

But remember, this means finding trusted partners who will enhance, rather than damage your reputation. It also means you’ll be managing people, as well as client expectations, and you’ll need to have a strong strategy to your cashflow in order to pay your suppliers while possible being paid late by clients.

One client I had went from £20k a year to £95k by taking this approach.

To read more about how to scale a freelance business check out my post here.

How much money can you earn from freelancing?

I would advise you to flip this round and think about how much money you actually want to earn from freelancing. I’d then work backwards to how this can be achieved through your products and/or services.

Many people laugh when I ask this and say “well obviously I want to earn millions of pounds a year”! While I’m sure that is true, I would say to be realistic about your needs and other commitments!

Remember that putting in the time and effort to build that kind of business could come at a cost to other aspects of your life, and you could run the risk of burnout. If it’s the right moment in your life, though, a sky’s-the-limit approach could be right for you!

Really, you can earn as much as you’d like, but you need a strategy and a super solid business plan.

Summary: How much money can you earn from freelancing?

https://youtu.be/mQcKOxMKobY

I’ve worked for myself since 2019 and my prior knowledge in sales and marketing gave me a huge head start in my own quest to build a client base, but I still had a lot to learn! Whether you’re just starting out or a few years into your freelancing journey, here’s my inside knowledge on how to get clients as a freelancer.

Niching down

To niche or not to niche is a question many freelancers ask themselves. Personally, I swear by it. Having a niche helped me to not only be really clear about what I was offering but who it was for.

It also helped my to focus my time and highly limited marketing budget. I joined specialised groups, created free industry-specific masterclasses and got to know key industry experts.

Social media

Social media originally did very little for me. I posted sporadically and didn’t have much of a plan. But after a few years I took it much more seriously. I enrolled on a couple of courses and learned some basic design skills. My LinkedIn followers grow to over 4k and played a key part in my client acquisition process.

An important part to remember is that social media is social. Sounds obvious, but salesy content doesn’t work too well here. It’s more about showing people who you are and what you can offer. Those interested will follow you and want more content from you.

Content

People need to know, like and trust you before they will buy from you and content plays a key role in this. When people ask me how to get clients as a freelancer, I always say content is king. Whether you want to host free classes, a blog, a newsletter or videos, your content will help educate and remind people about what you do – and why you’re good at it.

The type of content that will be most effective depends on your audience. For example, if you’re a freelancer wanting to attract the MDs of large corporate businesses in London, your content approach won’t be the same as a freelancer who wants to attract HR managers in small businesses. MDs of large corporates and HR managers in small businesses won’t have the same interests or behaviours.

Before spending a lot of time and money on content creation I’d look at where your audience hangs out and what kind of content would be best suited to them.

Ability to sell

Freelancing has become a crowded space. To be on of the freelancers winning work you need to be able to sell yourself. That doesn’t mean adopting sleazy tactics! But you should be able to confidently discuss your expertise, write a professional-looking proposal, and posses pitching abilities that will drive engagement and conversion rates.

The majority of freelancers shy away from “selling” because they don’t like the thought of it. But it is part of the job and being able to sell is the single most important part of how to get clients as a freelancer.

If you’re struggling with this, check out my online sales coaching and I can help you learn the basics and build your confidence.

Referrals

Word-of-mouth is really powerful and many established freelancers need to do very little marketing, because they have so many clients through word of mouth. As you gain more experience (and clients) this will happen to you. But in the early days I’d recommend you tell everyone you know what your services are (friends, old colleagues, previous bosses, local neighbours). Literally everyone! Even if they don’t need your services, they may know someone who does.

If you want to make a giant leap forward, why not invest in some coaching with me? I specialise in working with small business owners as well as larger sales teams and can help you fast track your way into building a client base.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgaJAsQ7eug

As a sales trainer I have had close contact with many different sales teams. Before I became a trainer and coach, I spent fifteen years in sales and business development roles. As such I experienced working in different teams. If you’re a business owner or manager with a sales team, it’s crucial to remember that their performance is directly linked to company growth and profitability. A high priority, therefore, should be to continuously assess their performance and skills, and crucially, figure out how to actually motivate them.

How to motivate your sales team

Sales professionals often share a particular set of personality traits. Often they are extroverts, good communicators, intelligent and highly competitive. To truly motivate your sales team you need to understand the drives of your people and what will make them feel energised and keen to succeed.

Here’s my top 5 ways to provide motivation.

1. Company brand and culture alignment

I have seen many sales managers hire excellent staff without taking the time to integrate the new hire into their business. If you want your staff to represent your business to the best of their ability and demonstrate passion and enthusiasm for your products or services, they need to feel a strong emotional connection to the business.

To make this happen, you should have a well-structured induction programme for new starters.  This should include meeting fellow employees from other teams, product knowledge sessions, and a chance to get to know their close team members.

It’s also important to include your sales team in discussions, new ideas and growth conversations on an ongoing basis: after all they will be the ones selling your services!

I would always recommend two-way feedback in which a sales executive can voice his/her thoughts. They should feel listened to and respected and will, in turn, feel much more confident and involved when selling.

2. Targets

Almost all sales team will have sales targets. But to truly motivate your sales team to achieve these, they need to buy into the whole idea.

I have witnessed managers plucking a figure seemingly out of thin air, and then expecting their team to work tirelessly to achieve it. I have also witnessed business owners changing the goalposts by increasing sales targets without consultation, which is highly demotivating.

When setting targets, I would always encourage the person setting them to explain to the team why the sales target is what it is and how you expect them to be able to achieve it. I have seen that a narrative around previous years’ sales, industry changes, company investments and staff recruitment really helps a sales professional to feel motivated. The reason is that they have a much greater understanding of what their role is and why they are being asked to hit a certain target.

3. Incentives

Harvard Business Review published an article about some research which indicated that people’s satisfaction with their salary is mostly independent of their actual salary.

This isn’t to say that this applies to everyone, but sales team incentives are generally highly focused on monetary incentives (such as commission and bonuses).

And while these can work well, there should be other incentives to motivate your sales team. Schemes such as additional days off, vouchers, or employee of the week can seriously boost motivation, wellbeing and job satisfaction.

4. Training and investment

Many salespeople are expected to perform at a high level with surprisingly little training or educational resources. The way people buy and want to be communicated with has dramatically changed in recent years. I have seen how much sales and refresher training courses can significantly boost motivation and skill. Furthermore, the actual act of being on a training course boosts motivation. Employees feel invested in. And they are given an opportunity to mix with their team and share ideas. The cost for training is comparatively small given the results it can bring in terms of motivation.

5. Resources and software

Many salespeople I have trained are not given appropriate resources to do their job effectively, which results in feeling overwhelmed and demotivated.  This includes a CRM (plus appropriate training on how to use it effectively), sales materials, a company phone, laptop and car (if necessary). This kind of support seriously motivates sales professionals to perform at their best.

All materials should be regularly reviewed with input from the team, so they feel they have the best resources to do their job.

In conclusion, it’s important to make your team feel empowered, valued and understood. And that is how to motivate your sales team.

If you’d like some help and support with your sales team, please contact me.

Looking to make money from a hobby?  Welcome to the world of being a business owner!

If you’re looking to make money from a hobby, the good news is that it is more accessible than it has ever been before – but that does mean you may be facing more competition. Let’s dive in

The digital age

You may not be a fan of every aspect of the digital age that we’re in, but a serious advantage is that there are now many platforms and sites that offer ways to make money from a hobby.

Whether you’re looking to set up a creative shop (check out Etsy), sell your books (Amazon could be for you) or turn your hobby into a paid service (think Instagram), there are countless ways to get started.

It’s well worth spending time researching what others are doing, what is popular, and what sells, to try and gauge how much market demand there is for what you do. This will really help you to establish whether you can make money.

Think local

I have coached small business owners who started offering their products and services on a very local level, whether through selling crafts at your local fair or setting up a local Facebook page. You don’t have to go international from Day One! This is also a great way of finding out what people think of your services or products and, really importantly, how much they are willing to pay.

Thinking like a business owner

Having a hobby is fun and a leisure activity (that’s what a hobby means!) But making money from a hobby becomes a different ballgame altogether: to be profitable, you’ll need to get your business brain into gear.

If you need supplies, it’s important to cost these out. You’ll need to consider how much time you’ll be spending and how you intend to sell.

If you’re opening a website, a physical shop space or online store, there will be running costs involved that will have to be covered before you can make money.  

Making a profit

If your hobby is baking pastries and you’re looking to make money from it, you’ll need to consider whether you will enjoy doing this over the long term. There’s a big difference between making pastries as and when you have friends over, versus making them day-in and day-out. If you aren’t sure, then take a week off and spend it doing your hobby continuously. If it has sucked the passion away, maybe it’s best to stick to the day job!

How much money can you make?

For many people, their hobby can turn into a neat side-hustle that gives a monthly employment salary a good boost.

But it is entirely possible to become very wealthy from your hobby and have this as your sole source of income.

The people that are really success will begin to think like a business owner and put together a business plan.

If you’d like to do this, you’ll need to consider your branding, target audience, financial plan, marketing strategy, and what you will do when you’re on holiday or sick.

If you’re earning money from your hobby you will also need to ensure you’ve registered your new business or organised your personal taxes. It’s best to check your local area and what you need to do.

There are many rewards to starting a business which go beyond just financial gain – check out my blog post on the rewards of starting a business.

Learning to sell

Learning to sell is something that really differentiates hobbyists from business owners and if you’re serious about making money, you’ll need to get comfortable with it. Whether you’re selling at a local fair, managing online sales calls or heading into meetings, the ability to negotiate, build rapport with clients and sell at the price for you will all make a huge difference to your business success. Check out my online sales coaching if you’d like to get some 1:2:1 support with this area.

Congratulations! You’re thinking of starting your own business, which is an exciting thing to do. Whether you’re in the planning phase or up and running already, there’s so much to think about. But what will your new venture bring for you? Let’s look at the rewards of starting a business.

Profit

Income is the driving force behind many business start-ups. Financial independence is without doubt one of the major rewards of starting a business.

Many freelancers and business owners find themselves earning a lot more money than if they stayed in employment.

As with all new businesses, there’s never any guarantee of success. Money will often need to be re-invested into the business for months or even years before the profits start to come in.

Lifestyle

Whether you want to work remotely, around childcare, or part-time, a major bonus to being the boss is that you get to pick and choose your hours.

Millions of people have gone into freelancing in the UK because of the lifestyle it brings them. In fact, it’s often the primary reason for starting a business. If you are employing a team or managing staff you’ll have to plan your routine to fit the business, but in principle you can build the lifestyle you want.

Business skills and success

Starting a business comes with a steep learning curve. If you’re starting a business alone you’ll need to acquire all the basic business skills, such as sales, marketing, financial planning and management. This can be really daunting and so getting to know other business owners is beneficial.

The ability to run a business opens up many opportunities for the future including scaling up, selling your business, or taking on other senior roles in the future.

Personal development

Launching and running a business is a major achievement. For many business owners it is highly rewarding. Many new business owners choose to hire a sales coach to help them navigate the initial months and create a strategy that will help them to achieve goals. If you’d like some support check out my online sales coaching to see whether it may be a good fit for you.

Is your business too broad? Do you find yourself unsure of where to start looking for clients, or find yourself thinking that technically anyone could be a client? If you don’t have a strong visual image of your target audience or a typical client, it will help you to niche down your business.

Here’s a few pointers to help you.

How to niche down your business

Before we look at how to niche down your business, let’s look at what it actually means. Quite simply, the definition of having a niche means a specific area of the market that your business is orientated to. Your marketing, vision and goals should be aligned to the niche you serve.

In my experience as a business coach, there are a few areas to consider when niching down your business:

Experience

What sectors or areas do you or your team have prior experience in? Even if that experience comes from a previous role or further back in your career, it can be a huge head start to have industry knowledge. This was something I based my business on, before becoming a sales coach, and it played a huge part in the success of the business.

Competition

Is there already an oversupply of your product or service for your target audience? What are your competitors offering? What are your USPs, and how can you differentiate yourself?

Taking some time to analyse the competition will help you to define your niche and figure out where you sit within the market.

Ideal customer profile

Understanding your ideal customer is key when it comes to niching down your business. Once you have chosen an industry and understood your competition, you can then build a client profile. This should be a deep consideration of their needs, wants and preferences.

Branding

Once you have identified your niche you can then build a brand that will appeal to your target audience. Your brand guidelines, marketing and tone of voice should all be designed to resonate with your ideal customer.

Why it can be challenging

My clients will often struggle with niching down their business. This is because it can feel quite counterintuitive to effectively turn down industries or groups of people. But the reality is that with a niche there is a chance to really market your business specifically and build deeper relationships with your target audience.

There are over 5 million small businesses in the UK and for many people, starting a small business from home is a dream come true. If you’re looking to go self-employed and start a business of your own, then here are 8 steps to getting started.

1. Decide what your business will offer

There is a lot to think about when starting a business from home, but the first step is to decide what your business will offer. If you are offering services to your clients (such as dog walking, writing, or social media management) it can be beneficial to gain some experience before starting out.

If you will be making products (such as food items, crafts or clothing) it’s vital that you think of the space you will need and what upfront costs you will have (like materials or tools).

Once you have decided exactly what your business will offer you’ll then need to think about the price you will charge your clients. Make sure you consider any running costs, staffing, rent or other supplies.

2. Research your target market

People will often start a business without considering the needs of their target audience, or really understanding who their target market is.

If you will be offering dog walking services in your local area, for example, it is important to consider how many dog owners live nearby. Also, would they would be willing to pay for your services? If there are already many dog walkers in your area then how will you stand out?

It is a good idea to imagine your target market and consider the kind of problems or challenges that they face and how your business can solve these.

Researching your target market will help shape your business and win sales.

3. Registering your business

Before you start invoicing clients or earning money it is important to consider whether you would like to start a limited company or register as a sole trader. Read more on the different options here.

If you are registering a limited company you will need to have a name for your business and a registered company address.

4. Winning clients or work

For many businesses owners, the prospect of finding customers or winning work is the most daunting task when it comes to running a business from home. Without sales and marketing experience it can be difficult to know where to start and how to find the right clients.

Before launching your business it is important to think about this and how you will approach your sales and marketing.

Whether it’s emailing, social media, calling, or working off referrals, having a strategy for finding clients is essential for long term success. As an online sales coach I help my clients to find ways of selling that not only work, but work for them – essential for long term success.

5. Starting a small business at home

While the prospect of working from home is appealing, it can cause lifestyle challenges for many business owners. Without a routine and structure to the day it can be easy to work very long hours or feel overwhelmed as you take on many new tasks.

Loneliness can be a major challenge for people working from home and it’s important to consider how you will feel spending time alone.

Many new business owners join communities to work with other freelancers or entrepreneurs where they can not only learn business skills and network, but also socialise and connect with other like-minded people.

6. Creating a financial plan 

If you have dependants or bills to pay it’s essential to create a financial plan so that you know how much you will need to earn in your business.

If you’re not sure how to go about this, a good start is to build an understanding of all your personal spending (e.g. each month). You will then know the minimum amount you will need to earn to pay your bills.

Remember that getting money into a new business can take time. Finding clients, payment terms, and becoming established can make the first few months as a business owner quite rocky.

7. Personal development

As a new business owner you will need to make sure you are investing in yourself and learning all aspects of your business (unless you intend to immediately start hiring staff or outsourcing).

Whether that’s learning the ropes of social media marketing or qualifications in food preparation, you’ll need to ensure that you have the time (and budget) to complete any training courses or qualifications.

8. Mindset

Running a business can be mentally gruelling and being prepared for this will help you grow your business.

People will often start out with lots of ideas, passion and excitement. But after several months of long hours and often failed attempts at winning work, it can become very tough to maintain a positive outlook.

To help overcome this it’s a good idea to find a buddy or mentor that can be a sounding board for advice. It should be someone you can work through problems and challenges as they arise.

Many business owners work with a coach to help them stay motivated and accountable. Check out my business coaching if you would like some one-to-one support.

You’ve probably heard this before, but when it comes to building a business and attracting clients, trust really does matter. People buy from brands, businesses and people that they trust – and personal branding is a highly effective way of building trust.  So what is personal branding and why is it important?

What is personal branding?

Simply put, is the process of creating a brand identity for yourself or your business. It isn’t about marketing your business, but about marketing yourself as the leader or owner and becoming known for your expertise, values and insights.

Many refer to Tom Peters as ‘the father of personal branding’ following his article in 1977 called ‘The brand Called You’.

 The phrase ‘personal branding’ can sound vain. When I first heard it, I had a mental image of endless self-promotion or vanity posts. However, that isn’t necessarily the case (see below!).

 Done effectively, it can be highly powerful when it comes to attracting and retaining clients.

 People buy from people they know and trust, and having people feel as though they know you and your business, will deepen your connection.

Standing out from the crowd

With the rise of social media, digital content and online content, it is harder than ever for a business to cut through the noise and be found by the right people.

 But I have witnessed how business owners have the power to build personal relationships, gain followers and attract clients, all through having a strong personal brand.

 How you can build a personal brand

Before you start, it’s important to think about who you are as a person and the kind of clients and audiences that you want to attract. Then you can create content that is authentic and genuine.

 A good place to start is creating social media accounts and posting consistent content as well as engaging with your audience.

 Putting yourself forward to speak at events or on podcasts will also help you to raise your profile and become trusted.

Having a personal website, a newsletter in your name or a YouTube channel are all great platforms for building a loyal audience of people interested in you and your content.

 It is important to stay consistent in your tone of voice and topics so that people feel they get to know you over time.

What to avoid when it comes to personal branding

If you’re at a party and always talking and never listening, people will quickly switch off.

 The same applies in personal branding.

 Many assume it’s all about talking the loudest, promoting their latest achievements and being an expert all of the time.

 In reality, personal branding is about building connections with an audience, becoming known and being trusted. That means asking questions and getting involved in discussions. It also means asking others for advice and ideas all play a part in personal branding.

 If you’re building a personal brand, try to avoid relentless self-promotion and instead focus on genuinely useful content and engaging with those who follow and respect you.