Mistakes Freelancers Make

A freelancer who is looking to remain relevant in their industry must search within themselves from time to time, assessing what they are doing wrong as much as what they are doing right.

In his latest column, Ande Schurr outlines three common mistakes that freelancers make and some tips on how to avoid them.

1. Not maintaining the business

Unless we are the superrich, who play with businesses like we play with our pets, we are not in such a fortunate position that we can let the business look after itself. When we are not on a job then we must be making use of the limited business hours to contact a few pertinent people, catch up with the news of our industry and tidy-up the inbox.

When it comes to a modern lifestyle, simplicity is very difficult. The simple life is a distant reality for the urban freelancer. Keeping life uncomplicated requires us to be extremely clear on what matters to us the most. Family time, exercise, study and play - all of which must fit around our work schedule, which takes precedent.

We must become like the drill instructor on the Sky TV 'Get Match Fit' ads. The next time we say "I wish I had time for yoga" or "I really want to start running each day" then we just have to damn well go and do it. We have to listen to our desires to improve. Keep ignoring that voice and it may eventually stop talking to us.

The most practical thing we can do to work on our business is signing up with a few online freelance sites so at the very least, people can see our profile. You probably know about the paid ones, but here is a free kiwi site: freelancemarket.co.nz - bare in mind that you will need to renew your listing every 2 months in order to keep it active.

2. Spending more than you earn

Learning to save your income has to be the simplest concept in the entire universe. It's even easier than learning the alphabet which has 26 parts you could screw up. We all know how impossible it is to save. If we get a few extra thousands in the bank we immediately plan our next trip to Fiji, because we have to holiday, you know, or shout an extra few too many beers when out with our mates before our eft-pos card declines.

This is how you should conduct your accounts as a freelancer: you get the business and do what is required with a good attitude. You invoice the client, keeping a hard copy and an electronic copy for yourself. You spend what is absolutely essential: rent/mortgage, phone, water, power, food. You save the rest. Every single penny. Of course you spend some on a night out but while you are saving that is the exception, not the rule. This way, you can save up to 50% of your income and even more if you are not living beyond your means.

The grasping of this simple concept will itself revolutionise your life. Like my business coach often tells me, there is nothing magical or mystical about success. It is simply the logical outcome of committing to what is in front of you. And if, in front of you, there is the goal to pay off your student loan, your credit card, your car or your house, then logic would have you implement certain austerity measures, so that before too long, you can be free from being owned by the bank.

3. Waiting for things to happen

The Film Commission is the cornerstone of our film industry. It nurtures talent, and funds that talent. However - if you are in a perpetual state of applying then being turned down, then waiting, then applying one year later, then being turned again - please consider stopping this cycle. Persistence and pig-headedness has its place. Before it gets to the stage where you have nothing to show after years of funding-applications, try another tact: get a job or two or three, work your butt off for two years, learn to save, as described in the above section, and make the $100,000 you need for your film. Then you have 100% creative input, along with a killer work ethic that you have developed by having such a full-on working schedule. In short, do not rely on money and favours from other people.

This important change of attitude is necessary in order to grow your business. If your entire strategy relies on funding then you are on shaky ground. Speaking in TV terms, such a funding-model is possible for those companies that get all, or a portion, of their income from NZ On Air, but those companies are generally well established and have acutely honed their budgeting methods and production workflow. As a newer freelancer or freelance company, careful thought should be given to any application for funding because it is the hidden green-monster of time, gobbling up our weeks and months as we try to produce something that may be incredible, yet not on the 'must fund' list of those who make the decisions.

To summarise, every freelancer who wants to grow their business reveals a healthy ambition and self-belief that one day they will be financially free. When we maintain our business carefully, spend a lot less than we earn, and make things happen ourselves without entirely relying on any one source, then such a reality may come to pass, for all of us.