4 Min. Read

Ten Valuable Tips for Being Successfully Self-Employed

July 11, 2022

Learn to Roll With Setbacks

Are you tired of the daily grind and want to work for yourself? Follow these ten tips to becoming successfully self-employed.

1. Be Prepared

Before you start anything new, you should always be as prepared as possible. With self-employment, this is especially true! Depending on the nature of your business, you’ll need an appropriate area in which to conduct your work and meet clients. You will need space to store necessary items as well as a budget and a clear idea of how much your setup costs will be. You need to know how you will secure these funds if you don’t have them already. And above all else, you need to recognize that it could take time for your business to gain momentum. Be prepared to be patient and to work extremely hard to achieve your success.

2. Be Organized

You have your workspace, budget and mindset all prepared. Now it’s time to get organized! The next step is to keep records of all the details related to your budget and workspace. You’ll need to know exactly where every cent of your budget is going—and why it’s going there. Recordkeeping is the key to a successful business, so you should quickly get into the habit of monitoring every dollar that comes in and goes out.

3. Learn Your Field

If you want to work for yourself within your chosen field, it’s essential that you learn the business inside and out. Beyond building up a base knowledge of what you do and how to do it, you also need to be able to investigate trends and patterns in the relevant market. You need to know who the big players are. Who is your biggest competition? Who are your potential clients? It pays to be in a position of having clear and up-to-the-minute answers to these questions.

4. Have Strong Plans

Every self-employed person should have an overall business plan. But what you also need is a daily, weekly and monthly plan. You should get yourself into the position of knowing exactly what you want to achieve and when you want to achieve it. Plans should consist of goals that are SMART (specific, measured, achievable, realistic and timed).

5. Stick to Them

Once you have your plans in place, you need to stick to them. Be prepared to review your progress so you can make adjustments accordingly. Check in with yourself to see how you’re doing, and don’t be afraid to make changes to plans if they’re not working, no longer achievable or not the best direction for your business.

6. Learn to Roll With Setbacks

Patience is absolutely key when you’re self-employed. It’s inevitable that you will experience setbacks, regardless of how diligently you’ve followed this list so far. Life is full of the unexpected—and you can bet that you will experience this in business. The trick is to stay motivated, no matter how many setbacks you encounter. Do not give up! Roll with the disappointments and crises and turn them into opportunities.

7. Use Smart Tools

Being self-employed can generate an enormous amount of work. Why not make things easier on yourself by using tools to relieve some of the burden? For example, a good mileage tracker app can save you hours of time in calculations and counting. Learn the best tools for your business and make them work for you.

8. Be Safe

Success feels great, but keeping yourself safe when conducting your work is essential. As a self-employed person, you’ll find that a lot of your communication will be with strangers either online or over the phone. Make sure you’re cautious about where you agree to meet people and what information you provide. Your safety should always be your number one priority.

9. Be Open-Minded

To run your own business, you need to be willing to accept feedback, criticism and other people’s viewpoints. Most people don’t enjoy conducting business with those who are closed-minded. Instead, stay calm, positive and open your mind to what others have to say. You just may find yourself getting even better at what you do without even realizing it.

10. Tell the Truth

Reputation is everything in business. No matter how brilliant your work is, if people think of you as unreliable or untrustworthy, earning the favor of new clients will be a struggle. To prevent being seen negatively, just tell the truth. Do not over-promise and commit to things you can’t deliver. Be realistic about deadlines and upfront about costs.