Why every freelancer needs a best-case scenario 💫
Are you so focused on preparing for the worst that you forget to plan for the best?
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People who launch a start-up are supposed to have thought about where they want their business to be in five years, how they’ll upscale and which tasks they’ll gradually outsource over time. Yet when you tell people you’ve decided to become a freelancer, the first question you’re usually asked is: how do you plan to stay afloat financially?
I don’t have any scientific evidence to back up what I’m about to say, but I believe freelancers don’t sufficiently talk about success, whether future or present. Instead, we tend to commiserate over late-paying clients and dismal rates – so much so that we don’t even get to all the things that are going well. Failure moreover sometimes feels like a safer topic than success. No-one wants to be that person who’s always bragging to others.
That’s why it can sometimes feel as if freelancing is merely a succession of challenges and setbacks.
No wonder, then, that most freelancers always prepare for their worst-case scenarios. The following questions certainly also keep me up at night:
What if this pitch gets turned down?
What if this project takes more time than I calculated?
What if the tax administration sends me a monstrous bill? 😱
I keep a full list of worst-case scenarios and corresponding solutions in my head. They range from classics like cutting back on coffees (I keep adding this one to my belt-tightening resolutions even though I know it makes zero sense), to applying to jobs I really don’t want to do.
On the one hand, I come up with these worst-case scenarios to avoid disappointments. If you assume that nothing will work out, it’s a pleasant surprise when things do pan out. Worst-case scenarios also serve another purpose: they keep you from taking risks that are too big.
Sometimes, however, I’m so consumed by my back-up plan that I don’t consider that things could actually work out. They could go excellently, in fact.
A number of times now I’ve experienced that not being prepared for success when it comes can have just as many consequences as not being prepared for setbacks. It means saying ‘yes’ to a less-than-fun assignment and then barely having any time for the fantastic assignment that I later land against my own expectations. Or, it can mean being presented with an amazing opportunity and not knowing how to respond because I never seriously took it under consideration.
It’s why I’ve started to also consider the following questions when embarking on a new project:
Which tasks would I be willing to outsource if I have too much work on my plate and to whom?
What doors will open for me if I do this job well?
Could this article series be turned into a book or this talk into a lecture series?
Be honest – these kinds of scenarios are much more fun to consider than calculating how many times you’re allowed to work from a coffee shop this month. And maybe you’ll conclude that you don’t want your project to grow any bigger. Also good to know, right?
So start drawing up more best-case scenarios. And why not think even bigger while you’re at it, and consider what you’d do if all your stars aligned? Freelance dreams can come true  💫 Plus, next time a project of yours takes a huge flight, you won’t have to perform any back-breaking acrobatics to keep it up in the air.
Off you go!
Selma
What I’m reading, watching, listening to this week:
Jack Monroe’s budget recipes can be lifesavers when your worst-case scenarios do become reality. Last week, the freelance chef gave some invaluable tips on Twitter for anyone who’s ever been asked to work for free.
I can’t get enough of the new podcast of relationship therapist Esther Perel. How’s work lets you be a fly on the wall during therapy sessions in which people discuss their relationship with … their work.
I wrote an article for IJNet about a subject that I can’t stop thinking about: why a handful of experts dominate debates in Flemish media. You can also read this piece in Portuguese 😊