How These Freelancers Work ON Their Business All Year
Everyone talks about planning at the start of the year - but how do freelancers actually keep it up? In this short audio blog post episode, Steve reflects on conversations with strategically minded guests from the Being Freelance podcast, exploring simple, repeatable ways to regularly check in on your business throughout the year.
Being Freelance · Rebecca Rosenberg, Emma Clarke, Katie Tucker, Steve Folland, Melanie Padgett Powers, Brennan Gilbert
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Show Notes
As freelancers, it’s easy to spend most of our time in the business - delivering client work, meeting deadlines, keeping things ticking over. But if we never step back, time has a habit of running away from us. We can be swept along on a current of what people ask us to do, not thinking about if it's where we want to be heading.
This episode is a little different from the usual Being Freelance podcast format. Instead of a single guest interview, it’s a reflection on conversations with freelancers who consistently make time to work on their business - not just once a year, but regularly.
You’ll hear how different people approach this in their own way:
Some take themselves off on solo business retreats - sometimes to a hotel, sometimes just to a different room in the house — with no client work allowed. Others hold quarterly CEO retreats, stepping away from day-to-day delivery to review what’s working, what isn’t, and what they want more (or less) of.
One even does a 'Weather Report', seeing what's on the horizon for their work, personal life, creativity, and the wider world - treating their business like something that moves in seasons.
What they all have in common is this:
They don’t leave their freelance business to chance.
Regular reviews help remove mental load, bring clarity, and often make client work feel more enjoyable - because you’re no longer carrying half-finished thoughts about marketing, pricing, direction, or next steps in the back of your mind.
You’ll also hear a very practical reminder: if you want thinking time, you usually have to put it in the diary first. Two or three hours, a half day, once a month or once a quarter - it all counts.
This episode isn’t about grand five-year plans or fancy frameworks. It’s about creating space to ask better questions:
Is this still working?
Am I enjoying this?
Is this profitable?
Is this taking me where I want to go?
Because freelancing doesn’t have to be something that just happens to you. With a little regular reflection, you get to design it - deliberately.
Featuring the insights of these fantastic freelance guests, whose full episodes you should totally check out.
Follow these links for their podcast conversations.
- Writer Rebecca Rosenberg
- Designer Brennan Gilbert
- Writer & Editor Melanie Padgett Powers
- Voiceover Emma Clarke
- Market Research Consultant Katie Tucker
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Being Freelance is hosted and created by freelance podcast editor Steve Folland.