Freelancer diaries: Staying sane WFH in a team of one

On building a business alone at my dining table in PJs and a sheet mask

Here is something I believe wholeheartedly. You could be the single most talented professional in your field. The marketing muse of your generation. The Beyonce of the content world.

Yet, the minute you go self-employed and deliver your first piece of client work, there will be a moment justbefore you hand it over where you think, “what if this is crap?”

It doesn’t matter that you’ve delivered hundreds of similar pieces for similar clients over the course of your career.

It doesn’t matter that nobody has ever given you the feedback, “this is crap” before.

It doesn’t matter that you spent hours researching and perfecting that piece and that logically, you know it is not, in fact, crap.

Because this is the first piece of work you’ve delivered entirely on your own. You heard the brief. You interpreted the client’s wants and needs. You did the research. You did the work. And now you’re handing it over, saying “look what I alone have done for you. Now pay me for it!”.

And if it doesn’t hit the mark, there’s nobody around to make you feel better, or shoulder some of the responsibility, or say “we all thought this was client ready, it’s not your fault”, or “don’t worry, you’re still getting your salary at the end of the month”.

And that’s…. a bit scary.

Going freelance, I’ve come to realise that co-worker camaraderie is a massive, massive part of what has kept me going over the course of my career.

The impact of someone at the next desk or the other end of a Teams chat who can say, “yeah that’s a good idea for that project”, or “you don’t need to spiral about that, that’s fine”, or “shall we go get a cup of tea and rant?” cannot be understated.

But now I don’t have that luxury. Every decision is mine to make.

The small things — does this sentence fit my client’s tone of voice? Shall I send that prospecting email now or after lunch? But also, the big things — have I bought the right business insurance? Can I afford to pay my bills next month?

It's a lot. Freelancers have all the stressors of actually doing your job and keeping clients happy, plus everything else that doesn’t really relate to your profession, but has to be done anyway — taxes, insurance, invoicing, admin, networking, budgets (good god, the budgets).

So, I am asking, how do we stay sane and connected and confident in a team of one? How do we come to terms with the fact that we’re in charge and that’s okay, because we’re good at it? How do we stop second guessing every business decision we make?

I think, for the most part, we have to wing it and learn as we go. So, in the spirit of getting the conversation started, I thought I’d share some of the things that have helped me so far: