Perhaps you’re considering moving into 2020 with a new goal in mind. Maybe you’d like to increase your earning potential and job satisfaction by going freelance. Becoming a freelancer could be a good idea if you have a skill that you know people want, but going from working with others to working alone does have a set of pros and cons. Below, we’ll talk about the pros and cons of freelancing in 2020. Take a look:
Con: Lacking Structure/Feeling Unfocused
The first thing you’ll need to consider is how easy it is to feel unfocused. With no structure to the work day and nobody ‘telling’ you what to do, it can be tough to get everything done. You’ll probably still need to have a schedule and act like you’re at work.
Pro: Set Your Own Schedule
There’s flexibility in setting your own schedule. You can have an afternoon nap if you wish, eat lunch when you want, and even go to the gym when it’s quiet.
Con: Can Be Isolating
Many people find working alone isolating. You may need to make more of an effort to see your friends and family and speak to people in general so that you don’t get lonely.
Pro: Selectivity With Who You Choose To Work With
You don’t have to take on every client or job. Maybe you feel like you do at the start, but eventually, you can get a little pickier and do only the work you want to do.
Con: You Have to Find Your Own Work
The hustle never stops when you’re freelance, because you have to pretty much find your own work all the time. Eventually people may come to you if you build a reputation.
Pro: No Commuting Costs/Fewer Overheads
Unless you plan on going to work in a coffee shop or shared space, you will have no commuting costs to worry about, as well as fewer overheads.
Unfortunately, freelancers rarely get paid on time. In cases like this, you may need to consider Invoice Factoring to help you get the money you’re owed. Chasing payments can be a pain, so coming up with a great way of invoicing your clients is recommended.
Pro: Higher Earning Potential
There can be higher earning potential as a freelancer, and some may say unlimited. You will likely get paid more than in employment providing you’re getting consistent work.
Con: No Paid Time Off
You’ll have to plan for any time off you want to make sure you can afford it. You won’t get paid time off for vacations, sick days, or even having a baby.
The term ‘rotator cuff’ refers to a group of muscles that attach to the upper arm bone from the shoulder blade, and they have the important function of assisting with rotation movements and elevation movements while also providing stability to the shoulder joint. If you experience a muscle tear, not only can it be very painful, but also it can have an impact on your normal functionality, which can be extremely frustrating. This is one of the most common injuries that happen in the workplace.
Rotator cuff tears can occur when high force, repetitive or excessive tension is placed on the rotator cuff tendons and muscles during contraction of the muscles. There are several different causes of rotator cuff tears, with the most common being awkward lifting or heavy lifting, as the muscle and tendon experiences a force that is beyond what they can usually withstand. Other causes include a heavy pulling or pushing as well as falling in an awkward position while rotator cuff tears can also be a form of repetitive strain injury too. In the workplace, a DSE workstation risk assessment is necessary to make certain that there is not a risk of such injuries.
How can you tell if you have a tear? You may actually experience the tearing sensation, and this will leave you in no doubt of what has happened. Yet other symptoms include sudden pain, referred pain to the neck, upper back or upper arm, difficulty when elevating the affected arm and weakness. If this sounds familiar, you should book an appointment with a specialist physiotherapist as soon as possible. Also, if the issue is to do with your workplace, you need to make sure you report it as soon as you can.
When you visit a practice, one of their friendly and experienced therapists will carry out a full assessment of your condition, which may include an MRI scan or an ultrasound. If they conclude that you have a serious condition, they may advise you to see a doctor for surgical intervention, yet most instances can be solved with physiotherapy.
Specialists use a wide range of techniques to treat rotator cuff tears, including progressive exercises, ice or heat treatment, the use of a sling, joint mobilization and soft tissue massage. They don’t simply provide you with your treatment and then leave you to it; they will give you all of the advice and education you need to manage the condition at home so you can facilitate a fast recovery.
If you have any further questions about this condition, or you believe you are suffering as the result of a rotator cuff tear, you should get in touch with a physiotherapist as soon as you can. You do not want to run the risk of it getting worse.
Is it just me? I’m seriously looking forward to the holidays. This has not been my favorite year for different reasons, but I don’t want to wallow in that feeling, I rather concentrate on what’s ahead for me and my business in 2020.
I’ve been working on a few things to get ready for the coming year and I’m excited. 2020 promises to be a great year! I’ll be launching a new course in January that will help you make a huge impact in your business, but I’ll share more about that in a future email.
Keeping with the New Year’s theme, it dawned on me recently that we’re not only starting a new year but… a new decade!
Today’s post is about goal planning for the new year and what I do to make my goals happen.
I have a method when it comes to goal planning… I start writing them down in broad terms.
For example, in 2020 I want to buy a house. Then, I start breaking the goal into chunks…
How much do we want to spend on the house?
What neighborhood do we want to live in?
How many floors do we want?
We need a backyard for the dogs.
The list goes on…
I try to get as clear as possible because when I’m clear things happen… When I’m not clear things don’t happen, they just stay in my head…
For instance, maybe I like the idea of owning a house BUT… I rather rent because…
Less responsibility.
More money to travel.
I can leave when the lease is up and change neighborhoods.
You get my point.
As long as I’m clear in what I want and break it down, I can work towards making that goal happen.
I can go on and on with examples about goal clarity and its importance. If I’m not clear stuff doesn’t happen, plain and simple.
Naturally getting clear on your goals is not going to automatically make them happen, once you get clarity, you have to work towards them and that’s when I do my second set of chunking, I look at what are the things we need to do to make this goal happen.
Making sure we have a deposit to put down towards the house.
Get pre-approved for a mortgage.
Start visiting houses in different neighborhoods.
and the list goes on…
There’s one more thing I do… I imagine myself living the goal… I’ll use my new house as an example.
I close my eyes and imagine how it will feel when I’m there in my new house sitting on the patio outside on a sunny summer morning, the birds chirping and my husband and I are eating breakfast laughing while the dogs play outside and the cats are sleeping in the sunroom.
or… I imagine what it’s like to sit on the porch at night with my husband talking about the day’s events and hearing the crickets sing.
I could go on… but I think you get my point…
Get clear on your goals, make sure you really want them, break it down and take action… and envision what it would feel like if you had attained that goal…
Do they whistle as they work, welcome you with a cheery smile, and go above and beyond what you ask of them?
Or could it be that you have unhappy employees on your hands?
Hopefully, it’s the former, but if any of the following signs relate to the employees in your workplace, then they might not be very happy at all.
The signs of an unhappy employee
Low productivity When employees have high morale, they will typically work harder for their employers. However, if you have noticed a downturn in productivity, then unhappiness may be the cause. It might be that they don’t care about the work they have to do, or the unhappiness they feel could be reflective of their overall levels of stress, and so their performance might be affected as a result.
Extended break times A happy employee will enjoy the work they have to do, and might even skip over their break times because they are passionate about what they are doing. On the other hand, an unhappy employee will take longer breaks than they should, as the thought of getting back to work will be unappealing to them. You might also have employees who turn up for work late in the day or leave for home early, as with that ‘anywhere but here’ mentality, the less time they spend working, the better!
Whispered complaints Those hidden whisperings in the corner of the break room could be about something that isn’t work-related. On the other hand, if you notice your employees looking at you when they’re whispering, or if you hear anything that is clearly related to your workplace, then you need to take heed. Whispered complaints can quickly spread, as when an unhappy worker talks about their feelings, there might soon be motions of solidarity from other employees.
Complaining customers When an employee is unhappy, the quality of their work is going to suffer. As a result, you might see a rise in complaints from your clients or customers. It might be that your customer-service employees perform poorly too, as if their feelings are reflective of their attitudes, you are bound to see a rise in complaints from your customers. This will be bad news for your business, as not only will you see a drop in existing customers as a consequence, but you will also lose prospective customers when the word gets around online about your business.
Obvious signs of unhappiness While you can make educated guesses that your employees are unhappy, it might be that it’s clear from how they appear on a daily basis that something isn’t right within them. Hunched shoulders, furrowed brows, sensitive outbursts, and a tendency to cry are obvious signs that your employees aren’t happy.
What to do? As an employer, it’s your duty to both improve the morale of your employees and reduce downtime in your business. The two go hand-in-hand, so take the necessary steps.
Through 1:1 and group meetings, employee engagement surveys, and break room conversations, you will be able to learn more. When you discover the source of your employees’ unhappiness, you can then take the relevant next steps. We don’t know what these might be in your business, but you will be able to research what to do when you are able to pinpoint the struggles your employees are having.
By taking action, the morale of your employees will improve, and in line with this, so will the happiness of your customers and your own morale when your business starts to make a profit.
While the Holiday Season means people might need to scrimp, save, and seek out extra funds hidden down the side of sofas, you can say the same of small businesses, too. It’s a time for overindulgence and merriment, but with one thing seemingly always after the other, the costs pile up too quickly for your liking.
You don’t want to go overboard with your spending, but you do need to look for some extra funds and cash to help you get through the rest of the year and into the new decade. If you’re a small business owner who wants to treat their staff, throw a party, or feel a little more comfortable heading into 2020, here is how to find extra funds to help accelerate growth.
Invoice Finance If you sell wholesale goods and services and are always waiting for clients to pay up, you should take a look at what is Invoice Finance and how it can help you. With invoice finance, you can borrow money from the invoice while it is still owed.
This saves you waiting around for payments that are late or may not even come at all without risking your business growth because a client is negligent with paying you on time. It prevents any payday panics and ensures that you can continue business operations as usual.
Outsourcing Tasks Even though outsourcing still costs you money, the difference in cost between a full in-office team and one that works remotely is staggering. If you’re looking to save some cash to put towards further growth either now or in the New Year, it could be worth investigating your options.
The great thing about outsourcing is that you can apply it to most of your business operations, but the most common include payroll, IT management services, and marketing. Using these services does not mean you must put your current staff out of a job, though. Instead, you can reposition them within the company and give them a more significant role that can make them feel more valued as an employee.
Savings Account Your business savings account is something that you are keeping separate for a rainy day. However, when it comes to growth, dipping into the account here and there could prove highly beneficial for your business.
If you’re currently struggling for funding to take that next big step, a small withdrawal from your savings account to push you over the finish line could be useful. You can focus these extra funds on processes and plans you’ve had your eye on for a while, and then pay the profits back in once it proves fruitful. However, you must be responsible and ensure you do not make a habit of doing this whenever money seems tight.
Uncovering Hidden Cash Okay, so it’s not technically hidden, but this cash is something that you can easily forget about when running a business. You mustn’t rely on this hidden cash too often, but using it for things that will benefit the company, your employees, or customers rather than yourself (like buying a yacht) means you will reap the benefits.
Remember when you first ignited your passion? You were excited about it! You probably talked about it all day and thought about it all night. You were bursting with ideas for how to work through things, setting goals and aspirations for the future!
Passion is inspiring. It drives you. It gives you endless energy. However, sometimes in life we end up losing interest in that thing we used to love more than any other thing. That might happen because we’ve outgrown our passion and found a new one to fill its place, but more often than not, there are other reasons for our deflation in motivation.
We might have had a busy season at work. We may have been slammed with discouragement or bad reviews. Perhaps things aren’t working out as we expected. We might struggle with anxiety, worry, depression, doubts. Soon we might realize that we’ve lost sight of our passion completely and are overwhelmed with many different emotions.
Before you give up on what you’re building and the business you’ve put so much effort into, realize that everyone has these moments. Everyone has times where they question themselves, doubt their vision, and wonder if they’re doing it all wrong. Everyone loses sight of their passion.
Here are four things to do if that happened to you.
4 Things to Do When You’ve Lost Sight of Your Passion
1. Examine What Made You Lose Your Passion
Are you not passionate anymore because things are harder than you expected them to be? Have you encountered a lot of negativity about your goals? Do you need more rest, more help, or more learning? Are you disorganized or overwhelmed? Have you found something else to be passionate about?
Don’t just give up on what’s been driving you. Try to pinpoint exactly why you don’t feel passionate about it anymore and consider ways to overcome these things and find your momentum again.
2. Allow Yourself Time to Do Other Things
It’s hard to be passionate about the same thing 24/7, and sometimes you’re so busy with sidelining things that you lose track of your actual passion; so be intentional about it. Allow yourself time to do things you enjoy. Your schedule might be busy, there might be too many tasks on your plate, and you might be overwhelmed, but still: make room for what you love in your life. Make it a priority. Even if you don’t “feel” like doing anything, do what you know you love and let it ignite your joy.
3. Talk to Your Peers!
There’s nothing quite like talking about your passions to get the flame of inspiration going again! Find someone who knows and supports what you do and talk to them about what you’re going through. Let them know how you’ve lost track of your passion. Get talking about it. Listen to what advice they have and start bouncing ideas off of each other for how you can do better in the future!
4. Don’t Give Up
Everyone has seasons of doubts. As with anything in life, there are highs and lows. Neither are permanent stages. Learn from the season you’re in and just try to do the best you can! If you keep chasing after your passion, putting in the work, and being willing to ride through the ups and downs, you won’t likely regret it.
Leave a comment and share with me what your passion is! I would love to learn more about you and what drives you!
Have a great week! Robyn
PS: Are you looking for support in your business? Click here and schedule a call with me where we can discuss how I can help you take your business to the next level.
