Ditching your 9-5, becoming your own boss, spending your time doing what you love, for many this is the dream job. Freelancing. But how do you make sure that you are going to be successful in your dream endeavour? To make sure that when you take this leap of faith, you set yourself up for success.

Prepare financially:

Before you jump all in to your passion, take into consideration the cost of your lifestyle along with the cost that comes with your new business. You will need to be able to pay your own bills along with the cost of any supplies that you need to complete each new project for your new business. Put a financial plan into place to create a cushion for yourself. This will make the journey less stressful and will make sure that you have what you need to succeed.

Set a goal:

To achieve your dream job you have to map a path for yourself to follow! Taking your finances, time commitments, and how much you can devote to your passion into consideration. Decide how many new projects or clients you will need to see profit. Set this goal and utilize your time wisely in order to achieve this.

Network, Network, Network:

I cannot stress this enough. Networking is how you can create a marketing team for yourself and for your new business. Take the time to get coffee with others in your field, pick their brain. They will be flattered that you consider them to be successful in the field, and they may be able to refer business to you. Gain professional connections with those who can introduce you to potential clients. Putting the sales cap on may not come naturally to you, and that is fine! By networking you can allow others to be your sales team and utilize the warm introduction to discuss your passion and how you can help them.

Stay Organized:

For the creative mind, organization may not be your strong suit. You are going to need to keep track of invoices, expenses, deadlines, schedules, etc. From the beginning it is important to keep organized to ensure that you complete projects on time, never miss a coffee date, and speaking of that coffee date, keeping every expense receipt for tax time! Invest in a system that can track your invoices and expenses, so you can focus your time on what you love.