So, I quit my job as a senior product owner/product manager/agile project manager and went freelance.

After 10 years of working my way up the career ladder, I made the decision to ‘go it alone’ about 2 months ago. Since then I have jumped through bureaucratic hurdles, filled in a (small) mountain of paperwork, signed up to a variety of online tools and resources, added a new certification to my resume, created my very own website, and, most importantly, signed my first client who I have now been working with for a few weeks.

Here’s some advice from a freelance newbie in the world of product:

Give yourself some time to get set-up

Give yourself, at minimum, one month to get set up before you plan to bill anyone.

• Taxes/VAT
• Online presence (social media, portfolio)
• Software (time tracking, banking, invoicing)
• Hardware (laptop, phone)
• Deductible expenses (expenses!)
• Rates and availability
• Contract templates
• Health Insurance
• Pension options
• Financial planning/budgets

Being self-employed means that you become responsible and accountable for things you didn’t have to think about before. Things you were somewhat aware of suddenly become things you need to actively manage. Research online, understand, fill in the forms, do the groundwork, and don’t rush it- mistakes, especially the financial and bureaucratic ones, can be costly.

Set the right rates

Rates are important to get right because, as a self-employed person, you will need to cover expenses and costs employees don’t. Furthermore, in most freelance contexts, you are probably selling yourself as a specialist or expert and this assumes a more senior level of training and/or experience - so don’t charge junior rates.

There is a ton of content online about how to work out your hourly rate, so I won’t attempt to detail out the different ways of doing this, but my basic advice here is to work out your hourly rate and then work out daily, weekly, retainer (etc.) rates around this.

Work things out and double/triple-check what it would mean for you after the more ‘immovable’ costs such as taxes, insurances, rent, etc. Think about the hours you plan to/want to work and understand what this would mean for you based on the rates you are thinking of.

Organic is better, but not everything

My first client came through a recommendation, and my second client is probably going to be someone I worked with before. Gather recommendations at every turn, make connections, attend events, leave comments, reach out to people you know, update online profiles, etc.

So far I am finding more interesting leads via organic activities than I am via any paid channels.

This is not to say that I will abandon paid channels, but simply that, for me at the moment, organic channels are working better. Maybe this will change at some point in the future, who knows- either way, I would advise to utilise and maximise the path of least resistance :)

Document to remember

I am currently working on an MVP-stage product, so I am knee-deep in product discovery processes at the moment. As part of this, I am creating templates that I could absolutely re-use for other clients, with similar needs, in the future.

I imagine, at some point, I will need to create an initial development workflow for the starter project team: something which, again, could be reusable for other clients in the future.

None of these things are new to me, and I have been doing them for years, but I haven’t necessarily been keeping a diary!

As a freelancer, I aim to deliver value faster and faster as I progress on my new career path. So, I will document to remember.

A small note on this: be careful what you document- some details could break GDPR/confidentiality rules, etc. Generally speaking: don’t document anything related to the specific client or project- just focus on the high-level structure/method being applied: this is the gold, this is YOUR gold!

Save resources

I have a ‘freelance’ bookmark folder that is bursting at the seams. If you come across something which helps you do your job- save it. Don’t make the mistake of closing the window and having to refind the thing again a week later. It’s just annoying and a waste of time. Focus on efficiency!

Plan your time

I have core client hours blocked out in my calendar. These are the hours in which I am happy to do client work and which I protect from interferences and distractions.

I also have other blocks of time and reminders in my calendar:

• business development (for activities related to leads and growing the business)
• writing (for this story!)
• admin (for paperwork)
• hours/budget (for pre-empting the hours I expect to work in the next 1–2 months and doing budget planning as needed)
• check events (to check LinkedIn events and sign up to a couple)
• development (for reading and learning activities)
• invoice deadlines (when I need to send the invoice, payment deadlines, etc.)

Think about the things you need to do to thrive as a freelancer and organise how and when you will do them. It is unbelievably easy to randomly spend hours anytime ‘doing freelance/business’ stuff, and before you know it you are working 12 hours a day- probably unnecessarily. I could spend hours each week doing a million things, but I realised I didn’t need to, and that doing so degraded one of the main reasons I went freelance in the first place: to have more time and flexibility for myself and my family.

On a side note: so far I have no regrets about my career change :)

That’s all for now folks!