Why Your Freelance Business Failed (and what to do about it)

No one wants to fail. But unfortunately, quite a lot of freelancers do fail in their businesses. Freelancing can be hard! It can be overwhelming and challenging to succeed as a freelancer. But success is possible! You can be a super successful freelancer when you have the right strategies and systems set into place.

Grab your free “Discover Your Perfect Business Idea” workbook now >>

Before you get to that point, however, you need to take a close look at why you failed the first time you attempted to be a freelancer. This will empower you to be that much more successful when you start implementing the strategies that are right for you and your business.

If your freelance business hasn’t quite taken off the way you hoped or expected that it would, it might be because of one of these 5 reasons…

1. You started your business without a strong, concrete action plan. 

Freelancing can seem so simple, so easy… until you get started and it all seems ridiculously overwhelming.

Where should you spend your time? How do you know if this strategy or that one is a good use of your energy? You already have your website up that lists the services you offer… so why aren’t the clients coming to you yet?

This is something I teach in my programs in the SaganMorrow.com School, but you can get a taste of it when you join the free Business Bootcamp, too!

2. You spent your time and energy on “busy” tasks, not productive work (or you tried to do everything all at once).

This is one of the biggest issues that freelancers face when they still have a 9—5 job on top of their freelancing business. Let’s face it: it’s hard to find the time to spend on your freelancing work when you already have a full-time job (and probably a lot of other family obligations and volunteer commitments) to juggle.

Unfortunately, many new freelancers who do prioritize their freelancing business and make the time for it don’t spend their time on the places that matter. You might be trying to do too much at once, to be everywhere at the same time, or you might just be spending hours of your time working on things that aren’t really contributing much to the overall progress of your business.

That’s why I created my e-courses for new and struggling freelancers: you’ll get concrete tips and strategies to help you identify exactly where you should (and should NOT) be spending your time and energy.

3. You don’t believe in the value of your services.

A lack of confidence is another one of the major barriers that new freelancers especially come across!

With so many other people out there seeming to do the same kind of work you do, how can there possibly be room for you? And if other people are charging low rates, why would any client hire you and pay you what you’re actually worth? (Come to that, how much are your services worth?)

First things first: stop downplaying your value. What you do is amazing and important and valuable! Clients hire freelancers because they don’t have your skill, or because they don’t have the time to do it themselves (or the interest to learn how to do it themselves). They hire you for a reason. Own that.

4. You have trouble articulating your value to clients so they’ll a) hire you, and b) pay you what you’re worth.

Perhaps you are fully confident in what you do, and you know that the work you produce is high quality. That’s great! But… do you know how to explain that to clients so that they will actually hire you? And come to that, if and when they do hire you, do you have any idea how much to charge for your services?

Don’t make this mistake. If you can’t explain to clients why they need your services, and why your rates are what they are for the services you offer, it won’t matter how awesome your work is or how confident you are. Being able to articulate your value to clients is extremely important to succeeding as a freelancer.

Want to get concrete information on how much you should charge for your services (and how to explain your rates to clients)? You’ll get all of that plus create a custom pricing strategy for your freelance business in the Keep Your Clients e-course.

5. You didn’t invest anything in your business.

You can theoretically start a freelancing business without spending any money… but what will that cost you?

If you don’t have your own website, clients may not take you as seriously as someone else with their own little corner on the Internet. If you don’t set up a home office that incorporates that right office supplies to ensure you can conduct your work in a timely and efficient fashion, you might waste a lot of time going to and from the store for one-off supplies or getting things printed at an office supply store a dozen blocks away. If you don’t know what kinds of strategies are right for you or which systems to set in place, you could spend months or even years trying to guess what you should do… and you’ll lose out on a lot of work and income while you’re at it.

You don’t need to spend thousands of dollars to start your freelancing business! But being strategic and investing a few hundred dollars between a website, some coaching, and a very basic home office can make all the difference between struggling and succeeding in your freelance business.

Don’t let those mistakes hold you back from being a successful freelancer!

When you enroll in my freelancer e-courses, you’ll learn exactly how to avoid and overcome those mistakes so they don’t hinder your success.