Coaching

How working with a coach can double your freelance income, and more.

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coach for freelancersAs freelancers we can get stuck in a rut.

We find a way to make a reasonable income, and then we stick with it.

But the longer we stick with it, the deeper the rut becomes, and the harder it is to break out into new and better directions.

In fact, we soon lose sight of the fact that there are other possibilities beyond the rim of the rut.

After a while we begin to lose heart. Yes, we are making a living. Yes, we have a routine that seems to work OK. But… wasn’t there a time when we thought we were capable of much more?

It’s at this point that we need the intervention of a coach.

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Monday Spark: 4 Ways to get more done, and feel a LOT better about your day.

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get things doneYou know the feeling. At the end of the day you look back and see how little you have managed to get done. And it makes you feel bad.

Another day, you look back and see you have achieved a great deal. And that makes you feel fantastic.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have that second kind of day, every day? Of course it would. You’ll be a whole lot more productive, and you’ll feel great too.

Best of all, this is a self-perpetuating cycle. The better your day is today, the more positive you will feel about tomorrow, and so on.

We all know this, and you have probably already heard everything I share in the 4 points below.

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Monday Spark: Dogs like treats, and so do we.

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freelancer treat yourselfAfter lunch each day we give our two dogs a small treat. Just a small dog cookie each.

It’s not much, but it makes their day. They look forward to their cookie at the first sign that lunch time is approaching.

Afterwards, they get into some serious playacting, trying to persuade us that we had, in fact, forgotten to give them their cookie five minutes before. One time in a hundred this actually works. I can only imagine the level of satisfaction this gives them. Two cookies, and fooling the man, both on the same day.

The point is, it doesn’t take much to make their day.

And I think the same is true for us.

A small treat can turn an OK day into a great day. Or a rough day into an OK day.

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Monday Spark: Give yourself a break at the weekends.

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freelancer relaxing in hammockI should never have written this post.

This weekend I could definitely have used a break. The last two weeks have been incredibly busy, and I was planning on a 100% work-free weekend.

Then on Friday afternoon my laptop finally died. So off I went to the store to buy a new one. As you know, changing computers involves a ton of work, moving files and reinstalling software. (I still have half a dozen or so programs to install.)

So much for my weekend of rest and relaxation.

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Why do some freelancers say Yes, while most say No?

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say yes to opportunitiesI was talking with a coaching client earlier this week, and we were discussing an opportunity that was there in plain view, right in front of her. In fact, she had identified the opportunity herself.

When I asked her when and how she was going to grab hold of that opportunity, her immediate response was to start talking about why she couldn’t, wouldn’t or didn’t want to.

In other words, she began to talk herself out of taking action.

As her coach I asked her to stop for a moment. I wanted to explore her reaction. Why was she finding reasons not to jump forward and take action?

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Monday Spark: Have you lost your song?

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lost your songRobb Braun isn’t famous. At least, I don’t think he is.

What you’ll see in the video below is a talk he gave at Toastmasters. Not at some fancy conference.

But he has a great message. And he’s right. As kids we all had our own song, that sense of who we were, what we felt was special about ourselves, and how we saw ourselves in the world.

But as Robb says, over time most of us learn to quieten that song, because it rarely fits in with what is expected of us…from our families, our schools and our friends. We turn down the volume in order to fit in and not rock the boat.

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