#workinpjs

Now, it’s time to knuckle down. Ditch the ideas of lounging round in your PJs all day watching cat videos on YouTube (although to be fair you can do this a little bit, wooo sweet perks!) and start preparing to work in the real world, the actual real world. The world where you do your own accounts, your own marketing and you find your own clients. The world where you are literally responsible for every single bit of your income. Eeeek.

Start by prepping your little socks off.

Before you tell the boss to take one and run out the office skipping with glee seriously start to map out what you want your freelance career to look like. Think about things like:

How can I make sweet, sweet money?

Don’t think you will walk into amazing money straight away. Awesome if you can, but you may need to consider different options at the start. Maybe you want to start off part-time or perhaps you can hook up with an agency to get some work in at the beginning for a few days a week.

What does freelancing mean to my life?

Freelancing provides a lot of freedom to work how and when you want to, but it can also place a lot of stress on you as well. You still have all the same bills to pay, you still have to front with the mortgage every month, but now your income isn’t going to freely flow into your account. Prepare for more budgeting, for more forethought but also for more flexibility. Oh and prepare for all the outside influences that you can forget in a 9 to 5 job to start hitting you left, right and centre – nagging kids and playful pets are just the beginning.

How do I even run a business?

Yes, you are now a business! It may be you by yourself but you are still a fully-fledged, legit business. IRD, ACC, GST, just a few acronyms you will need to get your head around, and then there’s the dreaded word – retirement. So much to think about.

Don’t fear, we’re here.