Finances can cause anxiety. It’s a fact. Whether we’re talking about your business or your personal life, if you’re worried about your finances, you’re likely to suffer from sleepless nights, tension, low mood and a lack of self-confidence.
We already know that it’s impossible to be everything to everyone, but when it comes to life as a freelancer, you have to be everything to your business. You are your business’s managing director, salesperson, chief marketer, customer service advisor, IT support, admin assistant, and accountant. And yes, even if you outsource some of these tasks, you need to have a basic understanding of them to have a complete overview of your business.
This includes your finances. As freelancers and largely creative individuals, the financial side of things is usually our least favourite part (I think I must be the exception to this rule!). But if we want to run a sustainable business and make strategic decisions that feel good moving forwards, we have to understand and keep on top of the numbers.
The problem is that, since client work and other more enjoyable things always seem to come first, the numbers often get pushed to the bottom of our to-do lists. And the more you keep putting them off, the more insurmountable they can feel to deal with.
I recently appeared on an episode of the She Be Red Podcast where I spoke with host Maddie about why taking care of your money and finances is so important for your mental health. Some interesting things came up in our conversation, so in this blog post, I thought I’d summarise some of the key points we covered when it comes to creating a business that feels good for you and your mental health.
Financial self-care is so important for you and your business
Keeping on top of your finances both in your business and in your personal life is, essentially, an act of self-care. If you don’t look at the numbers regularly, you can end up feeling overwhelmed and not wanting to look at them at all. It’s a bit like cleaning your house. If you keep on top of it and do a little bit every day, it’s fairly easy. But if you leave it for weeks (or even months!), it becomes a large, overwhelming task that can feel too hard to face.
Staying on track with your numbers is essential when it comes to running a business that is capable of supporting you in the long term, without you having to work all hours. Ignoring your finances and pretending they don’t exist will only lead to lingering doubt, and you may end up discovering certain things about your business (such as that you’re earning too little for the amount of time you’re dedicating to a certain client) too far down the line.
Feeling anxious about tackling your finances, and lacking the confidence to do so, is a completely normal phenomenon. But I always tell my mentees that familiarity breeds confidence. And it’s true because the more you look at the numbers, the more familiar they’ll become, and the more confident you’ll feel.
So start off small. Start by tracking your time, then put together a budget for your freelance business. All these tasks will build up over time, and by doing them little and often, they’ll end up accumulating to the point that you’ll feel fully in control of your business finances.
Your sense of worthiness can have a direct impact on how much you earn
Unfortunately, nobody else can make you feel worthy; that’s down to you. But in my experience, I’ve found that feelings of worthiness tend to reflect how much a freelancer (or anyone else in business for that matter!) will end up earning over the course of their lifetime. Feel as though you deserve it, and you’re more likely to charge your worth; feel as though you don’t, and the probability is that you’ll end up undercharging due to a lack of confidence.
Particularly when starting out, freelancers tend not to feel worthy of charging that much because they’re new to the industry. But being new to the industry doesn’t necessarily have an influence on how good you are at doing the job. And when you start off by charging a customer a low rate, it’s really hard to increase it significantly once you’ve acquired more experience.
Always remember that you get to decide how much your time and services are worth, no one else. I often use the analogy of the plumber with my mentees. You wouldn’t call a plumber and tell them how much you’ll pay them to fix your sink. The same goes for a dentist or a mechanic, or any other professional who you wouldn’t tell how much to charge. If they were to give you a price that was too high, you’d simply look for someone else to do the job whose service you could afford. The same goes for your services. You decide your prices, and you shouldn’t let customers dictate your rates.
Mind and money are intrinsically linked
Whether you like it or not, your business finances are inextricably connected to your mental well-being. When you keep on top of them, you are more likely to feel calm, confident and in control of your own destiny. So many of my mentees have said that getting to grips with their finances has made them feel happier in their businesses in general, not only from a financial point of view but also in terms of knowing what they need to do to reach their long-term goals.
And at the end of the day, that’s why I do what I do. I love knowing that I’m helping people and that the knowledge I’ve passed on to them is making a difference to the quality of their day-to-day lives.
Through my mentoring, I help freelancers and small business owners get on top of their finances so that they no longer feel overwhelmed and burdened by the weight of the numbers in their business.
My signature programme, Charge with Confidence, will help you get your business finances in order if you aren’t sure where to begin. I’ll explain what you need to do to build financial familiarity, get to grips with your finances and ensure you’re making enough money to earn a decent living.
My aim is to empower you and show you how to deal with the financial side of your business. As you can see, money really does tie into all areas of your life, and it doesn’t have to be scary. Just by making an effort to get familiar with your finances and build up your confidence, you’ll see so many benefits to your business and mental well-being!
