4 steps to boost your freelance business in 2023

There is no miracle solution to develop your self-employed business. So before going headlong, it is important to organize your ideas in order to define a solid angle of attack. We invite you to discover 4 key steps to build a solid strategy and get your business off the ground.

Summary

1. Defining your 2023 trajectory

2. Identify your missing resources

3. Building your action plan

4. Anticipate plans B

1. Defining your 2023 trajectory

The first question to ask yourself to define your guideline is this: for you, what does “boosting my business” mean? There is no “right answer” since each self-employed person has their own ambitions. To help you see things more clearly, here are a few examples:

• achieve profitability
• have a positive cash flow at the end of the year
• Nesting your expertise
• increase your sales
• Delegate more
• get more free time
• gain visibility
• build lasting relationships with your customers
• gain serenity in your daily life
• ...

There is no need to switch gears if you do not already have a more or less precise idea of your goals. Use your assessment of the past year and what you can learn from it about your successes and failures. These will be the foundations of your action plan.

If your business objective is still complicated to define, take the time to question your desires and to take stock of your limiting beliefs. To define a sustainable objective, it is important to align your desires with your values and the reality of your business. For example: you want to change the typology of your customers by orienting yourself in particular towards those with a higher budget. Instead of prospecting larger businesses directly, it may be more appropriate to nest your expertise. If you specialize in a sector of activity or towards a specialization that is very rare on the market, your profile will become particularly attractive and companies may well redouble their efforts to collaborate with you.

2. Identify your missing resources

To boost your business, it is likely that you will also need to call on external resources. Some tasks are in fact so time-consuming that they are likely to slow down your progress. Here are some ways that can support you in your growth:

• to save time, delegate your administrative tasks to companies like Acasi, Indy or LegalStart that offer the automation of tasks related to the accounting, administrative or legal management of your company
• to change your type of customers, focus on prospects that really correspond to your target customers. To avoid dispersing yourself with incoming requests, transfer them to freelancers who will be happy to welcome these requests
• to build on your expertise, train yourself to develop new skills

Ask yourself what resources you need and how to acquire them. You will certainly not need many external resources but some will have a considerable impact on your evolution. Don't multiply them too much, a few may be enough.

Then, identify the pros, cons, and why these resources would be ideal for you. This way, you will already have an idea of the next actions to take.

3. Building your action plan

This is perhaps the most dreaded step because we often think we are starting with a blank slate. But thanks to the previous steps, you can already list your first actions to take. To build your action plan, you will need to take into account various parameters:

• the definition of the action, as clear and precise as possible
• The objective (s) of this action
• the priority of this task and the consequences if it is not carried out
• the steps necessary to carry it out
• Completion time, start and end dates
• The expected result (s)

Although very varied, these actions will all be guided by the same trajectory and will offer you visibility over the year. Some examples of actions: increase the number of your references, maintain customer relationships, improve prospecting, diversify its channels for acquiring new missions or reposition its offer according to the market and competition.

In order to optimize your efficiency, we advise you to follow the principles of Pareto's law: 20% effort for 80% of results generated. By doing so, you already know which actions to prioritize and which to postpone, because they are too energy-intensive for results that will not have enough impact.

4. Anticipate plans B

The action plan gives you a major advantage: foresight. You get an overview of the coming months. Very useful for identifying in advance the actions that will be likely to put you in difficulty and that require more effort. So define a plan B for these, you will feel more serene if necessary.

Moreover, some actions can only work if they are anticipated sufficiently in advance. For example, your current mission has the advantage of being a long-term contract but the unexpected can happen. You must not forget that your business will be constantly challenged. Maintain regular contact with former customers, build relationships with professionals in your sector, and be receptive to opportunities. If your mission stops, you will then have other options available.

The time has come to get your business off the ground! Your action plan is ready, you have identified the resources you will need and above all, you know where you want to go. No need to project yourself with exceptional results at the moment, be pragmatic while trying to keep the spark of the challenge alive. Remember that you want to increase the potential of your business. Each small step will bring you closer to the success of your business!