Soon it will be cucumber season again. Probably a quiet(er) period for many freelancers, unless they are ice cream sellers. ProLinker therefore asked me to write a blog this month about how to get through the quiet summer months. I have some ideas about that, which I would like to share with you using an appropriate acronym : SUMMER. Z (the Z of: Sun, Sea & Business) Relaxation is important, so you should definitely make time for it! However, many freelancers find it difficult to find a balance between work and relaxation. I myself am no exception. When the weather is nice, I often catch myself that nothing comes of the jobs I had planned. Or I just go to the other side: finish everything first and only then can I enjoy the sun. I usually only come out when the sun is setting. Although I am in favor of spontaneity, my advice is to plan work and relaxation in your agenda, in order to find a good balance between Sun, Sea & Business. Because when the summer season is over, you want to have enough assignments. What works well for me, for example, is to schedule work in the morning when the weather is nice and then chill out at lunchtime on a terrace, with family on the boat or by the sea. O (the O for Development) The O stands for personal or business development. Make time to read that freelancer literature or that one interesting book (which is great on a terrace or on the beach). Take a course or think of other ways to develop yourself as an entrepreneur. Make sure you become even more THE expert in your field. You can also think about business development: perhaps you have an idea for a new product or service and you can now devote plenty of time and attention to it. For example, last year during my maternity leave I developed a personal branding course. M (the M for Marketing) This is the ideal time to take a closer look at your marketing. Is your website still up to date? And can people even find you online? Do you have enough business cards and promotional material? Is the information on it still up to date and does it still meet your needs? I also often hear from freelancers that they want to blog more often, but don't have time for it. This is the time to write a number of blogs in advance, so that you can then place them on your website without much effort. Many CMS programs offer the option to prepare content and publish it at a later time. This way you no longer have to worry about it during busy periods. A final tip on this subject: if you do not have sufficient marketing knowledge yourself, you will find plenty of fellow freelancers, such as myself, on prolinker.com who are happy to help you with this. E (the E for Evaluate) Many freelancers resolve to evaluate their business goals at the end of the year and make resolutions for the new year. I am no exception, but due to the traditional end-of-year hustle and bustle, those good intentions usually fade into the background. That's why I do that nowadays in the quiet summer months. An additional advantage is that I still have six months to make adjustments. What I evaluate: am I still on track in terms of turnover targets and do I have sufficient assignments in the pipeline? Am I still working for the customers I would like to have as customers and am I satisfied with the type of assignments I do? Other things you can evaluate are the balance between work and private life, the amount of time you spend on preparation, implementation and acquisition, etc. Another nice idea is to make your vision visible on a mood board and hang it above your workplace. R (the R for rotten jobs) The proverb 'lest best' may not apply in this case. Yet the fall season is also the perfect time to tackle all those rotten jobs. Administration, cleaning up your workplace, updating your customer database and so on. Everyone has those chores that you would rather leave behind. But look on the bright side: once you've done them, you'll get a lot of satisfaction out of them.
