Navigating the Transition: How to Turn Your Freelance Work Into a Small Business

Your particular form elation does not in any way have to be as whimsical as this gentleman’s seen here.

Image via Freepik

Guest Writer: Shauna Friedman

Transitioning from a freelancer to a small business owner is an exciting yet challenging journey. While you've honed your skills as a freelancer, you should consider several crucial steps to make this transformation smooth and successful. This FreelanceMikey article explores the key points that will help you leap from freelancing to running your small business.

Get Covered

As you make the transition from freelancing to running a small business, it's imperative to consider the importance of insurance coverage. Protecting your investment means safeguarding your business against unexpected challenges.

This includes obtaining liability insurance to shield yourself from potential legal issues, securing health insurance to ensure your well-being, and covering your equipment to safeguard your valuable tools. Being adequately protected provides peace of mind and ensures your hard-earned work and assets are secure, even in uncertain times.

Learn New Skills

Pursuing an MBA degree is essential when evolving into a small business owner. While your freelancing skills are the foundation of your business, it's equally crucial to understand the intricacies of business strategy, management, leadership, self-awareness, and self-assessment.

Consider enrolling in an online MBA program or specialized courses to better understand these critical aspects. Investing in your education will empower you to make informed decisions, navigate challenges, and set your business on the path to long-term success. You might also benefit from meeting with a consultant who can guide you from freelancer to entrepreneur!

Make a Business Plan

Creating a comprehensive business plan is the cornerstone of your small business's success. This plan serves as a roadmap, clearly defining your objectives, strategies, and goals. It outlines your business's vision, mission, and core values while detailing your target market, competition analysis, and financial projections.

A well-thought-out business plan guides your day-to-day actions and is a powerful tool to attract potential investors or partners. It demonstrates your commitment to your business's success and provides a clear direction for growth.

Plan Your Marketing Initiatives

Your marketing plan is pivotal in effectively reaching your desired audience. Transitioning from freelancing to a small business means branding and promoting your services or products more comprehensively. To achieve this, tailor your marketing efforts to align with your brand identity and objectives.

This personalized approach allows you to connect with your audience on a deeper level, creating a stronger brand presence. Identify your unique selling propositions (USPs), select the most suitable marketing channels, and craft compelling messages that resonate with your target market. A well-executed marketing plan is essential for attracting and retaining customers and driving business growth.

Prioritize Your Network

Networking is a powerful tool that can significantly impact the growth of your small business. Building relationships with peers, clients, and industry professionals opens doors to numerous opportunities, collaborations, and referrals. As you transition to a small business owner, invest time in attending industry events, joining online communities, and engaging in meaningful conversations.

Establishing a strong professional network increases your visibility and provides valuable insights, support, and potential partnerships. Networking is a continuous process that can lead to a steady stream of clients and business growth.

Stay Legally Compliant

Before fully operating your small business, it's crucial to research and obtain the necessary permits and licenses. Compliance with local, state, and federal regulations is essential to avoid legal complications that can hinder your business's progress. This step ensures that your business operates smoothly within the boundaries of the law and reduces the risk of fines or legal disputes.

Depending on your industry and location, the required permits and licenses may vary, so it's essential to research and adhere to all applicable regulations thoroughly. Legal compliance provides a solid foundation for your small business and fosters trust with clients and partners.

Wrapping Up

Transitioning from freelancing to a small business is a significant step in your career journey. By following these key points, you can protect your investment, enhance your skills, and set your business on the path to success.

Crafting a solid business plan, developing a marketing strategy, networking, and ensuring legal compliance are all essential components of this exciting transition. Embrace these steps, and you'll be well-prepared to thrive as a small business owner, enjoying the benefits of independence and growth in your entrepreneurial journey.

How to be happy (in business and in life)

How to be happy has always plagued us, but the search for how to be happy ultimately comes down to a being and not a searching. How to be happy in business or in everyday life is a discision you and I must make. The only way to be happy is to be being it as much as possible. Be the thing that makes you happy by doing the thing that makes you happy! The following excerpt is from a several-decades-old lecture from the late Alan Watts. It's called "Why you're not Happy."

A Manifesto of Sorts on Achieving Your Dreams, Failing, Being Adaptable, and Going for It

Dear Dreamer and Innovator, 

I haven't really known what to write about specifically due to all the "busyness" of business going on in my own life, but I wanted to touch base with you regardless as a means of reaching out to anybody patiently waiting for a reason to comment or contribute to the blog. FreelanceMikey is the culmination of a decade plus of tinkering, cultivating and conversing with all that has been inside my life: from the grand visions to various intermittent ideas and all points in between. Yet, most of all, everything I do for you and all of our clients is out of the belief in the dreamer, the doer. It is a realization that we have but one life to do everything we want to do in that life and that I want to help you do that thing, the special, superlative, awesome thing inside you and help you to reach for those things which bring you the greatest joy for your creativity and your business. From the screenplay in your heart that you may need some guidance on, or that multilevel website that seems too big to even know where to start—or that small woodworking shop that you want to open on the side because your heart calls you to it—FreelanceMikey was created for and to these ends. It is these things that make us human: they make a strive to be self-actualized and self-made (in so much as we can be in is that no person is living on a vacuum-sealed island away from the oxygen of other humans).

In creating FreelanceMikey, all involved strive to take your ideas and make them less scary and more exciting to you, to inject the verve, passion, creativity, and ingenuity that you feel you have been shouting into a void and to make them real and help you to realize that dream or something even better than your original dream: to boldly go where you haven't gone before in order to know that you can go there and grow even more confident in that dream and in that vision and clarify it.

We created this platform of FreelanceMikey because my colleagues and I wanted to bring more joy to the projects, to the purpose, and to the passions that you feel and give them a boost if they should need it. You've had people tell you all your life that your dream is going to be hard, that it's unrealistic and unmanageable; people have told you that the safe route is the best route, but that route has left you dead inside. Your best dreams keep you up at night with excitement and zest for life! I want to cultivate that zest, that power, and that flame inside of you that refuses to be extinguished. I want to do everything to make you feel that your idea is doable from concept to execution, or if it isn't doable, I want you know that you can fail, try again and try something else. FreelanceMikey aims to show you that, as Twitter co-founder Biz Stone says, your creativity is a renewable resource. What you do and what you want can have an audience and can be viable to a very willing group of people. I believe you were very likely born to be your best you and the only thing that can keep you from it is your willingness to go for it with a sound mind and a courageous heart.

So without further ado, please allow me and all of us at FreelanceMikey to welcome you to your sanctuary, your laboratory,  your motivational center. Welcome to a safe place that encourages experimentation and the willingness to fail and try something new and adapt to whatever comes to you in life—because you only get one life to be awesome, and it helps to have somebody along the way to have your back. Welcome to FreelanceMikey.com!

Keep tinkering,

Michael LaPenna, Founder and CEO