Over the last few years, I’ve seen an explosion in business coaching and mentoring – big income individuals selling us the need to go all in on our businesses to prove how serious we are about succeeding. Often though, that’s one step further than what we need right now.
Going freelance is one thing, and can feel like a big financial risk if you’re used to the steady stream of a salary. But there’s one more thing nobody is talking about. An even bigger thing than going freelance, or taking the leap into the business world.
What if you don’t have another income to back you up?
I’m talking here about the single girls, making power move after power move and desperately feeling like self employment is the right next step, but being held back by the fact that nobody else is there to pay the rent, or grab the food shop if you experience a quiet month.
I’m talking about the couples already balancing on one income after having kids, or considering going that way and stressed about supporting a whole family while freelancing.
I’m talking about people with long term health conditions that have driven them away from secure work, and wondering whether the flexibility of freelancing might just hold the answers, but can’t get away from the feeling of risk.
None of the big coaches talk about this. None of them seem to consider that, maybe, instead of five figure months, we just want to know we can do it. We want to know we can earn enough money to pay the bills month after month, without a safety net of another income.
Time to get honest…
I’m one of these people. 🙋♀️ A combination of constrained time, family life, childcare and health reasons means as a family, we’re looking at my freelance business propping up the four of us (five, if you count the cat). It’s exciting. If my partner left his full time job, the time we’d have to navigate life as a family would be more sensibly spent. We’d take away the 10 hours a week spent on commuting. We could drop off both kids at school and nursery, in opposite directions, with ease. We could even get coffee together occasionally!
It's also scary. Removing the fixed salary from our household places so much more responsibility on the freelance business to bring in enough for all our living costs – a double worry with the cost of living crisis.
But…
There’s one thing that’s been stopping us. NOBODY TALKS ABOUT IT.
I know our situation isn’t unique, I know plenty of others have considered a similar move, but those voices we go to for reassurance, motivation and drive are simply not talking about this. Maybe the people I see on my Insta feed aren’t in this position, maybe it hasn’t occurred to them. So I’m trying to change that.
I’m saying, ‘Hi, I see you. I see your concerns and I know they’re real and earning 10k a month isn’t what you need to focus your energy on. I know you need real talk. You need to know if it’s possible to freelance and pay the bills when nobody else can. You need to know how to make it happen.’
It’s one of the reasons I started mentoring freelancers. I want to provide a real voice to work through real situations to create a realistic business model that actually serves your needs. Before you get big in business, you need to get basic. You need to know what your minimum income needs to be and get it covered before you can grow.
Maybe you’re at that point. Maybe you’re trying to reach a goal that allows you to feel safer about reaching that point.
Whatever stage you’re at, if this has resonated, we should chat. My mentoring packages are affordable, set in the real world and designed specifically to guide you through the stages of your business that let you get comfortable.
Does that sound like you? Book in for a no-obligation chat today, and tell me where you are in your journey. I provide a free 30 min mentoring call to figure out your first steps. After that, it’s up to you if mentoring fits in with your plans.
Interested? Book your call here.
PS: There’s only one thing that makes freelancing harder, and that’s trying to do it alone! Get support, surround yourself with likeminded people and you’ll feel half way