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Matthew Fenton, founder of Winning Solo, shares his 10 major fails as a freelancer of 25 years:
- Lack of initial planning: Make a clear plan and income goals before you begin.
- Pipeline neglect: Continually seek new clients and advance your business every week to avoid income gaps.
- Sales aversion: Approach sales as a conversation, not as a pitch. Listen to understand. Sell them what they need.
- Poor positioning: What does “marketing consultant” even mean? Be specific. It’s okay to lose the sale because they don’t need what you do, but not because they don’t understand what you do.
- Neglected network: Don’t allow professional relationships to go cold.
- Verbal agreements: Relying on handshake deals will come back to bite you. If there’s money involved, get it in writing.
- Reading deficit: Set a yearly reading target. The ROI of a good book can’t be measured.
- Delayed journaling: Start routinely reflecting on your work wins and personal gratitude now.
- Unwritten projects: Make time to write the book you’ve been meaning to write.
- Late support network: Join a community, workshop, or accountability team of freelancers early on.
Read the Winning Solo blog to find out what he did right.
