There’s no getting away from it, freelance training can be very lonely. It’s vitally important to build up a group of people who you can call on. who you can open up to, talk honestly about how you are feeling, get ideas and support from. And obviously that goes 2 way and you can do the same for them!
You can do it on an informal basis, just identifying who those people might be and making sure you call them or go out for a coffee with them would be good. Little and often is the key here. I always find that just by picking up the phone to someone in my informal group and having a chat about how business is going works wonders for motivation. I’m always much more energised as a result.
Or you might want to go for something more formalised. You could try setting up a Mastermind Group by identifying a 4 people in your network who you think would work well together and asking them if they would like to join a group. You could meet face to face or via Skype once a month or quarter to help each other out with business issues.
I’d be interested to know what kind of support networks you have already created and what benefits you get from them so please comment below.
May 23, 2011
Andi Roberts
Great article.
I have found that the network and the way I have used the network has evolved over time.
Initially it was a couple of mentors.
It then went to a formal meeting of peers.
More recently I have an ad-hoc group of peers and we connect as and when needed.
My other key resource is my partner – always positive and providing a great deal of energy!