I am always coming up with new ideas. New plans, new projects, new things to offer people. I’m always plotting, considering my next move, tinkering with the website, or setting up workshops.

Some days I consider starting a new podcast. Other days I think about launching a new coaching course.

And then, some days… well, some days I faff about and don’t get much done.

Then I berate myself. Via the inevitable detour around other people’s social media, I tell myself I’m not achieving, not doing enough, not out there enough, not selling, offering enough.

When you’re self employed, all the onus is on you to create the things you sell. Whether that’s an offering such as writing and coaching, or something more tangible, like a craft product.

Whatever you sell, you are the person who is responsible for selling it - you need to market it. To know your audience, to promote it and you as a brand.

It can feel like we are meant to do something new ALL THE TIME.

Do you feel that way?

I feel that way often!

The podcast is a good example. I’ve often wondered if I should either rename the Freelance Feels podcast or start a new one.

I’ve started quite a few newsletters which now sit in the Substack dashboard, dusty and unloved.

The reason I am sharing this is that I am sure you have had the same feelings - you are thinking ‘should I have a newsletter, a podcast, start something amazing, get on Tik Tok and do dancing….’

I am sure that you have berated yourself for not doing enough, for not starting something new.

As summer approaches, for many of us, there is holiday time, that time when we think about new plans, new beginnings, new adventures. We might be sitting on a beach, or in a park, or swimming around in a pool or the sea and considering a grand plan, and how to execute it.

But I am here to say that if you are the person who is NOT planning something, not launching something, that’s OK.

You don’t have to create new things all the time.

In one of the latest Freelance Feels podcast episodes, Sian Meades-Williams spoke about her dislike of the phrase ‘side-hustle’. She prefers ‘Side-project’. It really stuck with me, and it’s something to consider when you find those niggling ‘I should be doing more, more, more…’ feelings popping into your head this month.

First of all, a side-project doesn’t have to be a new work thing. A new idea doesn’t have to be THE NEXT BIG THING.

You might decide to create something, have a grand plan over that beach cocktail, and never see it further.

That’s OK.

you might decide to launch something and then not do it until the winter, or next year.. that’s OK.

You might have a grand idea, and start working on it, then pause it. I’ve done this with a non-fiction book proposal. That’s OK.

With everything that is going on in the world right now, it’s OK if you are just going through the freelance days one at a time, not planning, not plotting, but just ‘being’.

As Paul McCartney sang at Glastonbury last week (yep, you might have noticed I was there if you follow on Instagram), sometimes we’ve just got to Let it Be.

freelance_feels

A post shared by Jenny Stallard Freelance Feels (@freelance_feels)

If you are overwhelmed with all the freelance ‘stuff’, coaching can help. I have availability for clients to begin a course of 6 weekly sessions this month - and won’t be booking in new clients in August or September as I’m getting married in September. (People who have booked six sessions in July will of course get coaching in Aug and early Sept!).

So, if you’re thinking of coaching with me, now’s the time to set up a chat to talk a bit more about it! All you need to do is hit reply on this email.

You can also sign up to my group coaching, Freelance Fire, which will run in November. This offers the chance to dig deeper into your freelance challenges with group sessions, worksheets and a one-on-one session.

Read what other people have to say about the experience of coaching with me

Read, Listen, Subscribe…

Read: Freelance Curious - 39% of employees have considered going self-employed

Listen: What’s it like founding and running a platform for freelancers when you live in two different US states… during the pandemic? I find out from the founders of Harlow, a platform for the self-employed in the latest episode of the Freelance Feels podcast.

Subscribe: Want to get better at Twitter? I recommend following Claire McAlinden, who I recently had a session with. You can now find me on Twitter AND Insta. You’re welcome!

Share Freelance Feels: The newsletter for humans who work for themselves