What does a sustainable freelance business look like?
How to build a work pace you can maintain for years to come
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My new business coaching program for mid-career freelancers and self-employed creatives looking to level up is now open for early-access registration! It’s called SUSTAIN. Sessions start in September 2023. And early access registration — which gets you a free business audit — ends on August 7th. Read more about the program here:
Fancy seeing you here — and on a Thursday, no less! This month, I have a lot to say. Sometimes the words come pouring out, and for me that’s especially true after a week of vacation. So I’ll be sending out a few additional missives between your regular Monday newsletters during the month of August. I hope you enjoy them!
If you know me, you know I talk a lot about running a sustainable freelance business. I just announced that my new coaching program, called SUSTAIN, will be focused on that very thing.
But what does it mean to run a sustainable business?
What does a sustainable business look like? That’s what I want to talk about today.
To sustain means to support, nourish and provide relief in a steady manner. When we think of sustainability, we often think about the environment. Sustainable products benefit the environment, society and the economy, while protecting the environment and public health. Large companies that operate sustainably, like Patagonia, try to make sure that their products benefit the environment, society and the economy over the entire product lifecycle. In other words, they want to make sure that, from end-to-end, from raw materials to final disposal, the product has a positive impact.
When I talk about building a sustainable freelance business, I focus on how your business does or does not extract from your own energetic potential. Many of us were brought up in a work culture that says “more, better, faster.” Productivity was a game and if we could master it, we’d make more money. We’d get a promotion. We’d be recognized for our value.
And in recent years — especially after the pandemic hit — more of us than ever before have realized that this promise is an absolute sham. It leads to burnout, which is now defined as an “occupational phenomenon” by the World Health Organization. Burnout is caused by chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. It leads to you feeling depleted or exhausted, feeling distant (or negative, or cynical) about your job, and eventually doing your work less-well because you just don’t give a flying F about the whole game anymore.
For many of us, burnout led to leaving our jobs, trying to find another job, then maybe opting into freelancing instead. And so we arrive at running our own businesses with pretty screwed up patterns of working. We feel like we have two options: Burnout, or… something else? Quiet quitting? Under-working? Most of us don’t know what the other side of the coin would even look like.
A sustainable freelance business is one where you, the main resource, feel supported, nourished and relieved. It’s a business where work is steady and evenly paced. It’s a business where you feel like you are at choice, meaning you have options and can change your mind as needed to adapt to the conditions of your life. A sustainable freelance business, like a product, also makes efforts to contribute positivity to the space around it: It benefits the environment, society and the economy, while protecting your health. A sustainable freelance business is also meant to last. It’s something you could maintain for years.
As Emily McDowell mentioned a few weeks ago in her fantastic newsletter, wild growth trajectories aren’t healthy. Virtually nothing in nature grows at a steady upward trajectory — except cancer, which kills us. Healthy growth, in nature, involves cyclical seasons. It involves death and regrowth.
I still think about Ann Friedman mentioning in her podcast, long ago, that she was no longer interested in what her business was about at the current moment. Instead, she was interested in being able to still run this business in 10 years! And that meant, for her, making different decisions.
Here’s what a sustainable business has looked like for some of my coaching clients:
Instead of choosing to race toward a project that you’re excited about over the course of 6 months, you may opt to work on it over the course of 2 years alongside a project that pays the bills well, so you can also hike every few days.
Instead of choosing to take a job that would eat up all your time right now, you might choose to work part-time while taking care of your young child. And this might mean taking out a small loan that you’ll repay later. But when you get to “later,” you’ll have the energy, creativity and ideas to jump back into work with enthusiasm, versus dread.
Instead of taking on assignments that pay well but bring you no joy, you may opt to take 2 weeks to get intentional about your business plan so you don’t burn out in 6 months.
Instead of choosing to hold a rigid 9-5 schedule, you may adopt patterns and rituals that allow you to be well and work a bit less each day. But over time, this means you’ll be able to do more work because you’ll get sick less often and feel rested.
My new coaching program, SUSTAIN, is focused on building THIS kind of business. It’s a program based on support, nourishment and relief. You’ll be surrounded by other freelancers and self-employed creatives who want to build a sustainable business. These are people who prize life over work but still want both, who are tired of the hustle, and who care about the world around them. These are freelancers and creatives who are a few years into running a business and ready to move from survival into a more intentional mode of work.
Each month, we’ll talk about what sustainability looks like in terms of finances, branding, client relationships, workflow and beyond. You get monthly group coaching, too, plus live teaching sessions, and advice from experts. It’s a program I wish existed — so I built it.
So much of freelancing is focused on hustle, on sprinting until you’re so fried that you need to take a week off. It’s framed as a rollercoaster, a wild ride of finances and assignments. In this world, you’re always chasing, never quite caught up. You can’t take a vacation. You need to work at all hours, sometimes on the weekends. You might feel like you need to do it all, all alone. You might feel like there’s not enough room for you in the industry.
All of this is normal. And there’s another way. Freelancing isn’t just a stop-gap. For so many of us, it’s a career path. But for that to work long-term, your business approach needs to be sustainable.
You in? Early access registration ends on Monday, August 7th (and includes a free business audit with me). The program starts in September. I’d love to see you there.
Xo,
Jenni
Curious about my background? I’m a writer and business coach based in Central Oregon. I have two small children and I work part-time so I can spend a lot of time with them. Lately, I’ve been obsessed with non-linear business building and teaching people how to build successful businesses that support their human needs first. Check out my coaching offerings here, follow me on Twitter & Instagram, or download my free business plan for creatives!