Author: Carrie
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How to Overcome Uncertainty as a Self-Employed Business Owner
When you’re the boss and running the show, insecurity and uncertainty are a fact of professional life. Sadly, no one provides you with a crystal ball or your personal psychic that can help you understand what to expect from month to month. You could lose a major client, deal with an unexpected internal issue, or get off track due…
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How Creatives Can Successfully Deal With and Recover from Burnout
The month of May 2020 was my busiest — and therefore craziest, most hectic, most stressful — yet for my side business. While trying to manage my full-time job and my freelance business, I’m up to working about 80 hours per week. A typical day has me working either at my day job or on…
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What to Do Before Hiring Your First Assistant
Hiring your first assistant (or even employee) is an important milestone for any creative solopreneur. Up until now you’ve been the sole person doing all the work for your business — aside from the occasional contract work. And if you’re anything like me, you’re a control freak who likes to control every aspect of your business….
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7 Creative Ways Your Business Can Save Money THIS Week
One of my pet peeves is having to full retail price just because my business needs software, equipment or other stuff to keep it running smoothly. As a small business owner you should apply this same kind of thinking to your brand. Yes, you should buy quality items versus purchasing cheap things, but that doesn’t mean you…
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Why Building a Successful Business Requires Embracing Permanent Beta
I’m a natural bookworm, but while balancing a full-time job and a fledgling digital business, simple things like reading too often fall by the wayside. So one of my New Year’s Resolutions was to get through at least one book a month. Setting little goals like this, along with much larger, more ambitious ones, helps me…
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10 Simple Hacks for Earning More Money With Less Work
As I’m coming up on the 2-year anniversary of quitting my job and taking the leap into entrepreneurship. It’s been quite a journey over the past couple of years, but I’ve discovered a lot. One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is to be more thoughtful with my time, and to make life more productive and less busy…
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How to Protect Your Business With Solid Terms and Conditions
As a small business owner, it’s important that you’re protected when it comes to doing business online. You want to make sure that what you expect from your customers, and what your customers can expect from you, is clearly stated on your website. This is essential as marketing your business. This is where drafting solid terms and…
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2 Major Warning Signs Your New Freelance Client is Big Trouble
There comes a time in every freelancer’s life when they get a really difficult client. Oh, come on. It’s not a secret. We all have them from time to time. In fact, I would go as far as to say, you haven’t really “made it” as a solopreneur unless you’ve lost sleep over an issue with a client….
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5 Signs it’s Time to Make the Switch From Employee to Freelancer
A few months ago, I set a goal to become a full-time freelancer. There are a few reasons I chose this date: My goal is to be so confident in my abilities as a business owner, that I don’t feel the need to look for a 9-5 job the second I get back to the States….
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Life Insurance: What to Consider as a Self-Employed Business Owner
As a self-employed freelancer you already know the importance of health insurance, and to look at it as investment in your future (and your family’s future). We no longer have the luxury of a boss who can help pay our premiums. We are responsible for protecting ourselves in case of emergencies and health issues. But what about…