I had a great day on Friday at the BECTU Theatre Festival in central London. I was running two workshops, both for theatre freelances - one on setting up a web site to sell yourself and the other on business skills.
I meet a lot of freelances in the course of my training, and am always struck how many are reluctant to think of themselves as any kind of business. Some seem to view self-employment almost the same way as having a job, just without the security and with lots of 'down time' (aka poverty).
I don't believe you can be a successful freelance without taking on the mindset of a business. Of course that's different from being a 'company' and perhaps too many people confuse the two terms.
If you think I'm splitting hairs, consider this example: take two identical self-employed people, one a freelance and one a small business. When they're not working on a contract what are they doing?
Whenever I ask people this question the freelance is usually getting up late and watching daytime TV. The small business is out getting more clients or updating his publicity.
It may be just mindset and perception, but that can make all the difference.
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