Is Your Freelance Business Built on Passion or Profit?

There is a moment in every consulting business that has a major turnaround point, I commonly referred to this as an “A-Ha” moment.

Have you had yours? I did.

Mine happened during an online freelance business training session. The host of the webinar could or would not answer (I am not really certain which) any questions that I asked him.  To be honest, in some ways I truly doubted that he could.  Clearly, I was miles ahead of him in terms of knowledge and experience.  Not to embarrass him or myself any further, I smiled, found a reasonable excuse and existed the session as fast as I could.

It was during that webinar that I finally realized, the only thing that was stopping me from furthering my own career, was me.

I am glad I attended, it answered the only question that I really had which was, am I ready?

My  “A-Ha” moment was a welcome boost of confidence. Sometimes that is all you really need to get started.   

When I look back now, I realize why I had doubts.  My work is my passion and I was worried that I was only hoping I was going to be successful.  After all, it is not every day that you get to do the thing you love and get paid for it.

That moment of clarity made me realize that I already was successful and there was nothing stopping me from turning my passion into profit.  Twenty years later and I am still here writing.  

The same thing can be said about marketing and the way you manage your business.

A marketing turn around point takes a business from a negative flux state into a more positive and profitable one, unfortunately, it usually happens after a disappointing downswing. The survival of the business depends on being able to keep your head afloat and rebound.

The current COVID-19 crisis only further proves this point, we are at a moment in time when most businesses are on a downturn and many will not survive.

A turn around point in marketing is considered to be the proverbial difference between the success or failure of the business. It is during this period when business owners start to give up, lose faith or sell themselves short in order to regain the loss.

Don’t do it.  Hold on and do not give in, things will turn around otherwise you will no longer need to worry.

SOME GOOD NEWS

Businesses that are able to turn things around during this time usually emerge as industry leaders.

How your company adapts during this time is often what will decide its fate.

Business success literally happens in three stages:  Investing, Rebounding and Securing

•  Investing takes a great deal of time and money and takes place during the initial start-up stage.

The risk factor is very high at this point because everything is new and unstable and it is likely that the business is still developing a model.  During this stage, things may change direction several times.

Ask – how useful and different is the business from everyone else and use this to create your model. 

If a business cannot answer the 5 W’s, it’s probably not ready to move forward.

When the model is developed and a plan of action is in place it is then that the business can move on to the next stage.

• Rebounding to turn your business into a profitable one.

The turnaround point is what usually sets profit in motion, it can happen at any time but often it takes years.  This phase is determined mostly by a realization that either you’re heading in the right direction with your business and you need to continue on this path, or you need to make a huge change in the way you’re doing things.

It is here where most businesses fail, they did not analyze the data properly.

Confidence plays a huge role in this part, do you have what it takes to be a leader and take your business further?  Can you question the data and accept that things are not always positive?  People who cannot accept failure, fail.  

Digital Marketing consultants can help to find better solutions.  They help integrate SEO and Social Media into your website and mediate between the Web Developer and the client to help make sense of things.  

A good business owner knows when it is time to call on an expert.  

• Securing your business so growth can begin.

When you finally have all of your plans in motion and are moving in a positive direction in terms of finances, you can begin to secure your future and create growth.

You cannot run before you learn to walk otherwise you will fall flat on your face when you run out of breath.  The same thing can happen to your freelance business, if you’re not making a profit and you try to grow too quickly, you will run out of steam and money too soon.  You may have to spend a few years doing things yourself or paying for cheap and not so great services that you can modify until you are able to expand.

You need to be making a reasonable profit before that can happen. This is a catch 22 phase because often the only way to make a profit is to grow.  Learning how to create a balance is what will help you to succeed during this time.

Remember, marketers do not view Key Performance Indicators (KPI) results as either negative or positive and you shouldn’t either. They use the information gained from a variety of different analyses to modify strategies in order to achieve results and it can take a very long time.

The fact is, no matter how much time or money you invest in your business or career, if there is no desire or passion for succeeding you will fail.  A positive attitude goes a long way to achieving success and sometimes this is the only way to move forward and ride the waves towards business and career success.

How successful are you going to be? That depends on you. 

 I can help lead you in the right direction to achieving your financial goals with a few tips and tricks I have learned since my A-HA moment, talk to me fostermad45@live.ca: