How To Go From Freelancer to CEO

A lot of freelancers out there got started because they wanted to be their own boss. Only to find out that, to be honest, you work a lot more hours and have more hats to wear as a freelancer than you did as an employee.

I do value freelancing and feel that working for yourself is a MUCH better alternative than working for someone else if that's your priority, but if you got into it because you wanted to be a business owner, entrepreneur, or CEO... then this is the post for you.

Here's the 3 step process to going from Freelancer to CEO:

Stop charging by the hour

If you're a freelancer charging hourly, you are doing yourself a disservice. Let me explain why. The longer you work doing whatever you do, you'll become much more efficient. This means your quality work won't take you as long to do which means that eventually, you'll be earning less because you're working fewer hours. RAISE THOSE PRICES and start charging for the quality of the work you do. Best way to figure it out? Think about the value of what you do (add tax, shipping fees, convenience fees), think about how many people you can work for at Max, and then divide that number by the amount of money you need to make in order to earn a full-time income. Go with THAT number. Trust me, there are folks out there who recognize your value. Let those in the lower tax brackets go to Fiverr.

Hire others

A big part of being a CEO is having people under you. First of all, hiring help on an hourly or salary basis will allow you to work fewer hours and earn even more for less. That's the dream, right? Hiring my team literally cut my workload in almost half, I cannot WAIT until we can expand the team. Hiring others also makes it easier on you to focus on the things it'll take to expand your business such as marketing, automation systems, etc. It gives you the opportunity to think about things like a business OWNER does.

Get organized

This is probably the hardest one for me. I am a very organized person but organizing a business.. YEAH, it's somethin' else entirely. So, how to do this? One. Automate as much as you can. Two. Create and schedule marketing content in advance. Three. Get a client and employee management system. I use Dubsado for clients and Asana & Quickbooks for employees. Put yourself on payroll. Learn taxes (or hire someone to do all this organizing for you).

All of these things will take a certain shift in mindset. It means you gotta stop thinking about saving money and start thinking about investing it. You can't be afraid of losses or setbacks or at the very least you cannot let these fears hold you back.

I started as a freelancer in 2018 and then decided in 2020 that I wanted to do more. I felt overworked and tired and almost regretted my decision. Then, I hired a VA and the time that freed up taught me the power and benefits of hiring someone else to do the things I don't want to or don't have time to do and I haven't looked back since.

It's a process, but it's definitely one worth going through. Comment down below if you found this helpful or inspiring to your CEO journey.