When freelancing or running your own business, if not kept in check, it can be easy to start comparing yourself to others and thinking you’re not doing as well or making the progress you should. The trouble is, this kind of thinking can have an impact on your freelancer mindset – there’s a reason for the saying that comparison is the thief of joy!
Here are 4 strategies to break free from the freelancer comparison trap:
1. Realize that everyone is at a different stage of their journey
The first thing to consider is that everyone is at a different stage in their freelance journey, even those who started at the same time as you. Nobody has the exact same background; people have different experiences, skills and goals to bring to the table.
Perhaps the person you are comparing yourself with wants to scale fast or become an agency, or they may want to niche down or go for high-ticket work. They may even have other people in the background helping them. All these factors and more need to be taken into account. While this may sound trite, there is nobody exactly the same as you, and you can use this to your advantage as nobody will offer the exact same client experience.
In any event, success isn’t linear. It’s typically a series of ups and downs. You might be comparing your down to someone else’s up.
2. You don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes
Outward displays of financial success, especially when shared on social media, don’t always show what’s really going on behind the scenes.
That ‘6 figure month’ might be a one-off, or they are sharing turnover instead of the actual profit and income they receive, so you are not being presented with the whole picture.
If you find yourself scrolling social media and falling into the comparison trap so often that it becomes a problem or impacts your mental health, consider taking a break from social media or at least turning off notifications. The key is to be intentional with how you spend your time on social media.
If you market your business on social media, consider using a scheduling tool to post your updates so you don’t have to actively go into your timeline or outsource your social media marketing.
3. Look (and appreciate) how far you’ve come
A good exercise to perform to put things into perspective is to list all your achievements so far; you’ll soon appreciate what amazing progress you’ve made.
Celebrate all your successes. List everything you’ve done, including some of the seemingly minor things that have allowed you to progress, such as putting in place a slick workflow that enables you to use your time super effectively. List the clients you’ve worked with, projects you’ve worked on, the pitches you’ve won, and what you’ve learned from them.
Also, how much did you charge? Is there scope to increase your prices? Now might be a good time for a review. You’ll be surprised at the gems this simple exercise can uncover.
4. Get motivated (and take action)
Obviously, some people will be ahead of you, and others won’t be as far ahead of you. It’s all relative. If you find yourself comparing yourself with someone else, use it positively to motivate you and set goals. You could even reach out and ask them for tips or follow them on social media to see if they are doing something that you could also apply to your business. Turn this perceived lemon into a positive lemonade.
Also, don’t discount that you could be making some simple money mistakes that can be rectified (take a look at our blog post here). For example, maybe cash flow could be better, but you’re tied up doing routine repetitive admin tasks manually, so you can’t see the wood for the trees. These types of tasks could be automated to free up your time so you can focus on more profitable activities in your business.
One of them is invoicing. This can be time-consuming, especially if you manually compile invoices yourself.
Invoice Ninja is a leading free invoicing software for small business invoicing, online payments, tracking expenses and billable tasks. It also includes attractive, professional invoice template designs you can customize with your logo and brand colors.
Try it for free here.
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Ultimately, rather than comparing yourself to other freelancers, it’s better all around to adopt a more positive attitude and celebrate other people’s wins. Opportunities forged by others also mean there are potential opportunities and new pathways that can open up for you, too.
Success leaves clues!