When NOT to Invest in Your Freelance Career
I often find that when I invest in my freelance career, I experience a boost, whether it’s in ideas, time management skills, or actual, y’know, money. And there’s no shortage of opportunities to invest, whether it’s in coaching, e-courses, college courses, books and e-books, or even retreats for entrepreneurs. But not all freelancers are good candidates for these products and opportunities, and not all times are the right time to invest.
Here’s when not to spend your hard-earned cash on your career development. This isn’t to say that it’s never worth doing, but that the time may not be right for you.
For simplicity’s sake, I use the word “coach” to refer to an instructor, an author, a retreat organizer, or an actual life or career coach.
You haven’t tapped your network.
Opportunities abound for freelancers to network with other freelancers, both online and off. Before spending money to hire someone to help you, tap your networks for advice. For example, for a while in the past I ran a mastermind group of four freelancers to chat weekly and brainstorm ideas for one another. I also have a “goal buddy” — a writer friend who helps me sort through issues that affect my freelance career. When I run into a problem that these professional freelancers can’t help me with, only then do I schedule a session with my life coach.
You don’t want to do the work.
The best candidates for any kind of career development are those who are willing to put in the time and effort needed to follow the coach’s advice. But many freelancers are looking for a quick fix: they want to talk to someone or read a book or take a course and suddenly have clients banging down their door. It doesn’t work that way.
The best that a coach can do is give you action steps and motivate you to do them. But the actual doing is up to you. I’ve found that about a third of my e-course students are highly proactive and motivated — they do the assignments, ask questions, and get their work out there to potential clients. Those are the ones who come back later with success stories. A smaller percentage read the lessons but don’t do the assignments at all. If they don’t put in any work, how can they expect to benefit? So before you shell out cash on your career development, make sure you have the time and motivation to actually do the work.
You need a miracle.
A good coach can push you in the right direction, but if you’re desperate for a miracle cure to your freelancing problems, you’ll probably be disappointed. For example, if you’re in major debt and need to get clients like right now — that’s a lot of pressure to put on a coach. A coach can help you brainstorm ideas for getting clients, but nothing will bring in money as quickly as you need it. You would need to find clients, complete the assignments, and then wait for the contracted amount of time to actually get your checks.
You haven’t done the preliminary research.
A writing coach once told me that she sometimes gets clients who pay for her expertise, and then ask questions like, “How do I get started in freelancing?” The client could have saved his money and found information very easily himself online or in books. Before you even consider hiring a coach, make sure you have questions and concerns that you couldn’t answer on your own with a little legwork. Save the coaching for when you have more specific questions or issues.
You don’t know what you want.
It’s tempting to throw money at a problem especially when you don’t know what your problem is but you have a vague feeling that you could be doing better. But if you approach a coach with “I’m unhappy with the way my career is going but I’m not sure how I want you to help,” you’re wasting your money. Before you invest in professional development, be clear on what you want: motivation, brainstorming help, tips on time management, specifics on how to implement a career move? That way your coach can give you what you need.
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Hi,
Great advice! It’s refreshing to see a post such as this, which says ‘When NOT to Invest in Your Freelance Career’. I guess some people do invest in it, just to get away from their real problems.
Hi my name is Heather and I’m an info product addict. “Hi, Heather!”
But seriously – you can read ebooks ’til the cows come home but what freelance success comes down to is ACTION.
Thanks for an awesome, honest post.
Heather
Thank you for your nice comment, Heather!
Oops, I see my bio didn’t go up so I’ll post it here:
Linda Formichelli has written for more than 120 magazines and is the co-author of The Renegade Writer: A Totally Unconventional Guide to Freelance Writing Success. She teaches an e-course on breaking into magazines and mentors writers — but only if they’re ready.
http://www.writeformagazines.com
You’re welcome, Linda!
I’m going to check out your site! (Your name sounds so familiar to me!)
Thanks again!
Heather
Very good article, it’s important to remember that your skills are your greatest asset as a freelancer, but sometimes a little discipline can grow your abilities just as well or better than online courses or coaching. The hardest part of learning on your own is just keeping yourself on track, so you have to make up your own structured system with goals and some kind of routine.
As always, Linda, you advice is top-notch.
Yep, solid advice. I’d say most is common sense, but these days
Thank you for posting…
really great post! The best ROI i get is hands down from books, i have a habit of going to the half price book store and buying every programming and design book i can get my hands on and they have saved my butt at 2am on a Saturday night countless times!
Seems to me that the problem is spending money on things (like courses, DVDs, books, etc.) to avoid doing something.
Which leads to one of my favorite questions. I pose it to myself quite often:
Q: Know what you need to do?
A: You need to DO!
In short, I’m telling myself to take action. And that doesn’t mean buying something.
Thanks, everyone, for your nice comments! Martha, that’s the trick — it’s difficult to take that *first* step; it’s easier to read about how you *should* be taking that first step than to actually do it. Once you take even the smallest action toward your goal, it’s like a stone rolling downhill, picking up momentum as it goes.
Great advice, Linda! Although I’m usually a go-getter, even I am sometimes guilty of losing momentum with an eBook or course I’ve taken. Fortunately, you can usually revisit those materials later when you have more time and are in the right mental space to follow through. I think it speaks well of you and other coaches or instructors when you’re so honest about what’s necessary to get results. The student has to want it and put in the work.
Yep, the best investment is in yourself.
Great post, Linda! It’s so true – what it all really comes down to is taking action. One thing that has really helped me is to define specific goals for myself each week, and then tell them to someone so that I feel more accountable. With that being said, I’d better get back to work.
Great post! I love to see people who have realistic and positive attitudes. I have met so many people who aren’t wanting to do the work and are waiting for their miracle.
I have to admit, though, that I briefly considered casino gambling to be part of a viable business plan that also included lottery tickets and entering football pools. For some reason, it seems to happen on weekends when my friends are off from their jobs and I am preparing for the coming week.
Thanks for your comment! EJ, ha!
Sarah, I do that same thing…my writer friend and I call it “boot camp”: We call each other on the hour every hour to talk about what we accomplished in the last hour and what we plan to do in the next hour. It gives us accountability. I get more done on four hours of boot camp some days that I would get done in a whole week!
Very solid advice!
Great advice Linda. Some of the best ROI I have gotten is in reading books like Crush It, Delivering Happiness, and other business books like this. Good to Great is a good one too. Going to industry conferences help as well.
The inspiration and new ideas that one can receive from great books like these and going to an industry conference or well worth their initial investment. They usually point out a new client sector to go after to help you develop new skills that you can sell to your current client base.
Haha – when “You need a miracle”.
True. I am sometimes contacted by some clients who two seconds later start throwing at me 100 unfinished logos and documents, user and password details for 40 sites and hosting, wishes, plans and so on. When I tell them “let’s take it one a time” 90% of the times I don’t hear back from them