Freelancer Mental Health - Susie Jackson

How to overcome the fear of not having client work

The fear you feel as a freelancer and small business owner when you have no client work is real. Even if you’ve been really busy in the lead-up to a few days without paid client work, you might find yourself worrying and even spiralling. Will you ever get any work again? And if you do, how long are you going to have to wait until the next project comes through?

If this sounds like you, know that you’re not alone. It’s completely normal to feel this way because if your business isn’t making money, it means you’re not making money to cover your personal expenses. Your business needs to earn you enough to allow you to meet your rent or mortgage payments, pay the bills and put food on the table.

Fortunately, more often than not, the situation usually resolves itself quite quickly. You’re likely to find that as soon as you get concerned about where your next client project is coming from, so much work will pour through the door that you won’t know where to start! And in the meantime, instead of making the most of those rare days without client work, you’ll have wasted them worrying.

In this blog post, I want to help you embrace those days when you don’t have any client work so you can make the most of your downtime and enjoy it rather than wasting it.

Freelancer mental health and overcoming your fears

The first thing to say is that as a freelancer and small business owner, you’ll never have a constant stream of work. There will be times when you’ll have lots of paid client work and times when you’ll have far less.

You probably already knew this when you started out and you decided to take the plunge anyway, so the part you need to focus on is not letting the uncertainty have an impact on your mental health.

Your client workload will always ebb and flow. This is why small business owners often talk about feast or famine. But personally, I like to think that if you have the right structures in place within your business, you don’t have to suffer during periods with less client work.

When establishing the right structures for your business, it’s important to remember that as a freelancer and small business owner, you shouldn’t be spending all your time on paid work anyway. Besides client work, you should be dedicating time to your finances, admin, continuous professional development, and staying up to date with your industry and areas of specialisation. You also need to make sure you’re consistent in your marketing so you have a good flow of new prospects that will allow you to grow or improve your client base.

I encourage small business owners to build time into their days for these tasks. In Charge with Confidence, we look at how many hours you can realistically spend on paid client work each day before calculating your rates to cover all those unpaid hours too.

It’s also important to remember that you probably became a freelancer so you could take advantage of the flexibility of running your own business and managing your own time. This means you don’t always have to be operational during ‘normal’ working hours. Just because most businesses are open 9 to 5, it doesn’t mean yours has to be. That’s the beauty of being a freelancer; you get to choose when you work.

In fact, you have the freedom to work longer hours when you have lots of client work and shorter hours when you don’t. This makes sense in terms of using your time wisely and managing your individual resources so you don’t burn out.

But if you do find yourself worrying when you aren’t booked up with client work, here are a few ideas to help you use the spare time in the best possible way.

1) Productive tasks

When you’re feeling energetic, it’s a good idea to make the most of the extra time you wouldn’t normally have by doing something productive.

If you want to use the time to focus on your business, my 3-part series on how to spend 2 hours of your freelance finance time will give you some suggestions. In these blog posts, I look at all the tasks that are likely to benefit you and your business but that I often see freelancers and small business owners putting off. From creating a budget for your expenses to looking into pension options, there’s plenty you can do if you find yourself with an unexpectedly free afternoon.

Alternatively, there might be lots of life admin tasks that you’ve been postponing recently. Maybe you need to go through your personal finances, make a delivery or buy a gift for a loved one. Would getting through some of these tasks help you feel happier and more organised?

2) Rest and relaxation

At the same time, there are days when you simply aren’t in the mood for being productive. And that’s OK too!

Days when you have no client work are a great opportunity for rest and relaxation, and you shouldn’t feel guilty about using them for that. Take advantage of the lack of client work to look after yourself and fill your cup. By replenishing your energy levels, you’ll be better equipped to provide your best work the next time a project lands in your inbox.

If you have a free afternoon, you could also consider spending time with family and friends, especially if you feel as though you haven’t been very present recently.

So many freelancers and small business owners I speak to feel guilty or like they’re missing out if they aren’t working full days. But it shouldn’t be this way because a successful business is a sustainable one that allows you to dedicate time to yourself and what matters to you.

Especially at times like these, we should all be giving ourselves the space we need to take care of our mental health without beating ourselves up about it. You’re being kind to the people around you, so remember that it’s OK to be kind to yourself too!

Being a small business owner can be really stressful at times, especially when there are things going on in the world that you can’t control. There will always be uncertainty and unexpected moments in life that will have an impact on your ability to focus entirely on your business. This is why it’s important to build time into your working schedule and into your pricing calculations to account for these unforeseen circumstances.

Building time into your schedule might come in the form of setting aside a certain number of mental health days per month or building a holiday allowance into your pricing calculations so you can take time off without feeling guilty. Often, it’s comfort enough to know that nothing bad is going to happen if you don’t have any client work for a little while.

In Shift to Success, I help my mentees shape their business around their individual needs to limit their stress and make sure their life looks the way they want it to. If you’d like to make changes in your business so you can enjoy your downtime and look after yourself while still feeling rewarded in your work, read more about my ongoing mentorship by clicking the button below.

Find out more about Shift to Success