Are You Stuck In The Creative Freelancer Grind?

If you clicked to read this then you are probably stuck in the freelancer grind (as in, if you think you have a problem, you have a problem.)

Luckily it’s not all doom and gloom. After all you are great at something, and you turned it into your business and livelihood. So congrats, you should pat yourself on the back for that!

But after years of working your butt off providing your service at an increasingly high level, if you can’t believe or understand why you are still experiencing frustration, feeling overworked, underpaid and often unappreciated, you are not alone.

While grinding can be useful (and is seen as a virtue for students and startups who need to first prove themselves and get a business on its feet), for those that have been at it for awhile the grind becomes crushing and unsustainable.

There are always only just enough clients. The bills manage to get paid, hopefully, but the prices stay low. You seem to work harder and harder, yet there’s no extra profit, savings or free time to show for all of your hard work.

This “treading water” or “hamster wheel” business existence is a danger for all freelancers (individual service providers), but I've found creatives are especially at risk for getting stuck. They are mixing business and pleasure, which can cause an internal confusion that perpetuate the problem. It’s not hard to see that the more you love what you do, the more likely you are to overwork and undercharge for it.

Since you enjoy the work, you will do almost anything to win the business and then please your clients. But this approach works against the success of your business.

But before analyzing the creative business owner’s psychology any further, first answer the following questions with a simple “yes” or “no” to find out if you are, in fact, stuck in the freelancer grind:

1. Are you doing free work to win the business? Such as custom proposals, strategy sessions, assessments, audits or anything that delivers value without pay?
2. Do you have trouble ending projects that seem to drag on and on as the client continues to contact you with ongoing questions and requests?
3. Are you doing more edits and revisions than what was agreed on, or as outlined in the contract?
4. Do your projects start off with excitement and enthusiasm, but inevitably come to a anticlimactic end, with both you and the client feeling “over it”?
5. Are you not charging what you think you deserve?
6. Do you see competitors that are less skilled, knowledgeable or experienced than you are charging more for the same service you provide?
7. Are you merely breaking even in your business with no profits or savings to show for?
8. Do you feel you have to price your service at the same, or even lower than, the competition in order to win projects?
9. Do you agree to cutting deals and discounts if prospects ask for it?
10. Do your clients come exclusively from referrals and/or networking?
11. Have you had any nightmare clients recently?
12. Do you ever have to chase payments? Harass clients to get paid? Not get paid in full? Or sometimes not get paid at all?
13. Are you working 24/7? Burning the midnight oil with no weekends or vacations?
14. Have you created a business that is technically sustaining, but you can’t seem to raise your prices or reduce your workload no matter how good you are at what you do?
15. Are you questioning why you started your business, or how you are going to keep it up?

If you answered “yes” to half or more of these questions then you probably already know that you are suffering from being stuck in the freelancer’s grind.

If you only answered “yes” to a few questions then your case of freelancer grind is not that bad yet, but don't get excited. Even just one “yes” is a sign that you are operating in a way that guarantees you will be answering "yes" to more of these questions in the near future because all of these issues are interconnected and results of your approach and process.

In a sick twist of irony the creative freelancer’s passion for their work is what leads to many of the problems they experience in their business. Enjoying one’s work often makes it harder to value one’s time and charge accordingly.

The desire to please, be respected and be appreciated often leads to (1) discounts, (2) endless revisions and (3) constantly overworking. All of these end up eating up all your profits.

Do not worry though, because the hardest and most important part of getting out of the freelancer grind is to be aware of it (i.e. the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem). Now that you know, it's time to ask yourself if you are fed up enough to actually to do something about it.

Charging more, working less, attracting warmer leads and choosing to work only with clients you love that rave about you to everyone they know requires doing something different than you are currently doing now; a framework you can follow that will counter the self-sabotaging behaviors creative freelancers are naturally susceptible to.

Whether you’re deep in the grind or it’s just starting to get to you, don’t wait any longer to take action and watch my free Masterclass where I walk you through a proven 4 step method to achieving freedom and profit in your service business.