Being your own boss: how to be nicer to yourself at work
Image via Eugenia Kozyr
Let’s have a show of hands — how many of you freelance folk enjoy working for yourself as a boss? Be honest, now.
How often do you show yourself compassion, or set goals, or give rewards?
When it comes to freelance life, most things are a journey. Learning to be nicer to yourself as an employee is one of those things (and it’s one of the most important).
At the risk of being braggadocious, I’m pretty fly at this particular aspect of freelance life. Mostly because I’m so hard on myself, I have to make a conscious effort to go equally hard on being nice.
Here are some of the things I do to make work feel nicer and more rewarding. Maybe you could choose one to do this week?
1) Book regular holidays
When you’re freelance, it seems like there’s never a convenient time to take a holiday. But we all know it’s important, so try this trick on for size — look back over the previous few years and see when your quiet periods are, and commit to booking a holiday then.
Or you can do what I do, and take a week-long break every 3 months. I usually block the dates out at the start of the year, so I’ve got plenty of time to plan ahead.
You could also try working a 4-day week, which is something I like to do every summer when things drop off slightly. It helps me gear up for the Christmas copywriting rush in September and October!
If you’re really stumped on how to take a holiday without fretting or checking your emails, get your peepers around this video I made.
2) Allow yourself self-care days
We all have those days when the words won’t come and the motivation is low. Maybe you’re having a down day or just can’t seem to shake that brain fog? We all need a personal day once in a while and there’s no shame in it.
Take a look at your schedule, see whether you can re-jig some deadlines and then take a day or half day off if you can. Try turning your OoO notification on so you’re less prone to fretting about emails and messages.
You’ll be better for it in the long run. 💜
3) Give yourself regular pay rises and bonuses
There’s a circle in hell reserved for bosses who pinch pennies and never reward hard work with higher wages.
As the head honcho, you’re in charge of your fees and finances, so make a point to check yourself at the end of every financial year. Is it time to adjust your fees to give yourself a fatter slice of the pie? Or did you hit all your targets and therefore owe yourself a chunky bonus?
Get it done, gal.
4) Book Christmas parties and celebrations for yourself
Oi, Ebenezer! Stop ruining December by denying yourself a festive celebration. Whatever your religion or lack thereof, it’s nice to do something at the end of each year to celebrate how far you’ve come and how hard you’ve worked.
Mooch this blog post for some fun ideas or snoop on what I did last year…
And let’s not forget other reasons to celebrate as a freelancer — scoring a massive project, finishing something epic, or raking in your biggest financial year yet.
From something as simple as treating yourself to fancy biscuits or a day off, to splurging on a new coffee machine for your home office. You deserve it mate, don’t be a dick to yourself!
5) Equip yourself for the job
Not being funny, but when have you ever had a job where the boss made you perch on the arm of the sofa to work? Or gave you the broken monitor to use?
Being a nice boss means making sure your staff have the equipment they need to do a good job. And you are your staff. And also your boss.
I recently bought myself a kneeling desk chair because I’ve been sitting on a £5 wooden folding Ikea chair for the last 5 years. I also force myself to spend out on software to streamline my workflow and increase the quality of my output. Shit like Xero bookkeeping, Grammarly for proofreading, and UberSuggest for keyword research and URL analysis.
6) Set career goals and targets
Freelancing is a boring and listless existence without goals and objectives. How can you ever advance on the journey if you don’t know what the milestones are?
At the end of each year, try to clear some time to sit down and plot out what you’d like to achieve next year. Make sure you’re specific enough to make the goal attainable, then work backwards, laying out a plan of what you need to do by when.
I’ve written a handy guide here, if ya need it!
I’ve also written about measuring goals when life goes tits up. Like a global pandemic, for instance.
7) Make sure you get the training you need
It’s handy to regularly upgrade your skills with books, courses, and conferences. Don’t forget to do your research before you buy, just to make sure you’re not spaffing your revenue away on junk.
The best way to make sure your money is going into the right training is to refer back to your freelance career goals for the year (them up there 👆) and the things you’ve made a commitment to focus on. Sounds obvious but it’s waaaay too easy to get taken in by sexy sales pages.
When all else fails, you can try a free course, like Sophie Cross’ Nail Your Offering for Freelancers & Creatives or Eddie Shleyner’s micro-courses.
8) Remember to sprinkle in some nice perks
It’s the little things that make the average workday more enjoyable. Nice coffee, nice biscuits, a scented candle for the office. Hell, even a new pen or fancy notebook! If there’s a small perk that’ll make your day a little brighter, get involved.
For example, I design my own mini wall calendar each year. I upload a horror movie poster as the image for each month and I pin it to the corkboard opposite my desk.
Here’s Kathryn Bigelow’s ‘neo-Western’ vampire classic, Near Dark, hanging out with my inspo fodder.
I need a work calendar to stay organised, but making it horror-themed is a nice little thing I do…just for me. 😊
Are you a nice boss to yourself? Got some of your own tips to share?
