People often ask me what it’s like being a freelance coach after 25 years in geospatial technology. So I spent some time reflecting and wrote down the key lessons I have learned so far.
By way of background, I’m based in the UK and qualified as an executive coach in 2020. I previously held leadership and consulting roles in sectors including energy and environment. I’m now self-employed as a coach, trainer and facilitator.
So here goes…!
- Switch off the autopilot. Ask yourself what you want from your career. What will you regret never having done? For me, the answer was clear.
- Prepare the ground. Thanks to a supportive employer I was able to work part-time before making the full switch to coaching. I also spent time getting a recognised qualification – this helped in many ways.
- Embrace a trigger. Sometimes we need a little push to follow our dreams. Or sometimes our hand is forced (e.g. redundancy). My trigger was the convergence of kids leaving home, downsizing, and my part-time employment reaching a natural end.
- Prioritise what’s important to you. Lockdown taught me the value of place and living simply with less. Pip and I deliberately downsized to a small energy-efficient house, with low bills, in an area where all we need is within walking distance – nature, friends, amenities. I work from home and despite earning a fraction of my previous salary, quality of life is higher than ever.
- Eat your own dog food. As a coach I believe in coaching and therefore have a coach of my own. I help people learn and therefore invest in my own learning. It’s a virtuous circle.
- You are your network. As geographers know, everything is related to everything else but near things are more related. Most of my first clients were people I already knew (thank you!) – it grew from there.
- Say YES. My motto is “Do interesting work with nice people”. But leaping into the unknown feels scary. My first coaching client, my first team gig… I said yes and jumped in anyway. Fear signals growth and learning (easy to say that now!!).
- Say NO. Don’t fall into the trap of saying yes to any work you can get. Sometimes you just have to say no to a bad fit, clashing commitments, undecideds, etc. I’m getting better at spotting the danger signs.
- Don’t undersell yourself. Don’t take your skills for granted. Your experience is worth more than the sum of its parts. You are unique. Know the market rate, set your price – and stick to it.
- Most marketing is futile. I had great fun designing my own website, logo and business card. But it was more for self-affirmation. Hardly any business comes through my website – it comes from conversations, not clicks. And sometimes LinkedIn 🙂
- Don’t work for free. Thankfully I already knew that. Offering free work in the hope of getting paid work down the line almost never pays off. It just devalues what you do. Clients need to have skin in the game – also for their own benefit.
- Pro bono means “for good”. I do pro bono work for causes I care about. It can also be a good way to get experience, so everybody wins. But it’s not free. It’s real work – with a 100% discount.
- Own your time, or lose it. It took me a while not to default to busywork during quieter times – a bad habit from many years in employment. I found that tracking my time helped (esp. billable vs non-billable hours). I am now much more intentional with my time and try to enjoy the sun when it’s shining.
- Build your community. You don’t have to work on your own. For a freelancer, associate work is a great way to partner with like-minded people (with clients already lined up). I’m also part of a learning community for mutual inspiration and support. I love being part of a team.
- Don’t force things. It took me a while to embrace the troughs between peaks. I am getting better at using quieter times for recharging, learning, and business development. Don’t make decisions out of fear or impatience. As we coaches say, “trust the process”.
- Focus on repeat business. Repeat customers don’t just sustain your business, they provide the relationships that make work satisfying. One-off engagements provide additional variety – and sometimes, more repeat business.
- Surprise yourself. I’ve had to let go of some fears and assumptions. For example, that big corporates might not want to hire a sole trader. Or that I’d have to build a clear niche. The list goes on. Keep an open mind.
- Learn by doing. Books and training courses are useful, but most learning is by doing and experimenting (and reflecting on it – which is where a coach can help). Learning never ends. Say yes and surprise yourself…
- Spot the patterns. Looking back, at some point I realised that most of my revenue was coming from a small subset of clients who had something in common. This is a hidden clue for further growth – who else fits the pattern?
- Be real. As a freelancer the product is you, so it needs to be authentic. Set your own criteria for success. Don’t hide your personality to be ‘professional’. For example, I’m a calm and reflective person – an introvert who is not naturally gregarious in groups (despite my name). But at a recent workshop, a senior leader told me he felt inspired seeing me in my element, doing what I love and do best. His feedback was like a mirror that said, look: this is the real you. You don’t need to be anyone else.
True Horizon Coaching 