UPDATED SEPT. 7, 2022: I’m restarting this newsletter and changing the name to The Freelance Business. The focus will be — you guessed it — the business of freelancing.
My name is Mark Tosczak. I’m a freelancer.
No, wait, I’m a consultant. No, that’s not it … I own a marketing agency. Hmm, is that right?
Here, at least, it doesn’t really matter how I describe it. Since Sept. 1, 2013, I’ve been self-employed. My company — Flying Car Communications — is one of about 3.8 million microbusinesses in America.
Yes, microbusinesses are a thing; the Small Business Administration defines microbusinesses as enterprises with less than 10 employees. Most of us, in fact, have less than 5.
If you’re a freelancer or have just a handful of employees, you own a microbusiness. Congratulations!
I also have an MBA (from Elon University). MBAs are designed primarily to help people succeed in large organizations. Nevertheless, a lot of what I learned in business school has been useful, especially once I reframed it for the unique circumstances that microbiz owners face.
More than six years into this adventure, I’ve been pretty successful. As of this morning, my microbusiness has pulled in more than $784,000 in revenues since launching.
I think I’ve learned a few things about what it takes to be successfully self-employed. I thought it might be useful to share some of those lessons here once or twice a week.
This is for you if
You’re thinking about going freelance — or are being pushed into it (perhaps due to the coronavirus-induced recession).
You’re already moonlighting or freelancing part-time (or want to start).
You’re self-employed fulltime already, but you’re not doing as well as you want to and it still feels hard to earn enough money.
You’re happily and successfully self-employed — and maybe even have others working for you — but you’re interested in new tips and ideas, or just want to see how others do it.
Because I work primarily as a writer and marketer, this will probably tend to lean heavily in the direction of creative services — writing, PR, digital marketing, web development, design, photography, video, etc. But everyone who works for themselves is creative. Even if you are an accountant, lawyer, real estate agent, doctor or work in some “noncreative” field, I hope there will be some lessons here for you.
Thanks for reading.
— Mark
Friday, March 20, 2020