You’ve heard people speak the phrase “treat your business like a business.”

It’s a term you hear a lot from the network marketing world.

But what does that phrase actually mean? And why should you care?

 

 

Catch the video version here

 

What ‘Treat Your Business Like a Business’ Means

If you have a freelance business, you have a real business. I think a lot of freelancers don’t realize this. Or maybe they’re intimidated by owning their own business. But truth is, if you freelance, you own your own business. And it doesn’t have to be scary.

It’s empowering.

It’s fulfilling.

And it’s not as scary as you think.

So, let’s talk about what it means to treat your business like a business.

 

Mindset

What it means to treat your business like a business is to act as though your business is important and you take your clients’ needs seriously.

What it means to not treat your business like a business is to approach business with the “I’ll just dip my toes in the water and see if this works” mindset or treat it like a side project that you’re not too serious about.

Even if you are still in corporate, and you really are just trying to see if freelancing works (it does!), you can still treat it like a legit business. You can still show up like a person who is serious about their efforts.

Think about what you expect when you walk into a business. You expect the owner to care about their customers, to deliver on their promises, and to be in it for the long run. You can do the same, even if you’re unsure. Every brick and mortar owner has doubts too, so that’s okay. You can have those doubts and still be serious about your business.

The thing is, your clients don’t want the casual fly-by-night freelancer to work for them. Their entire brands and businesses are far too important to them: too important to gamble on a mediocre freelancer who’s “testing the waters.” They want a writer who’s good and dedicated to their work.

Train your mind on being a real business owner.

 

Logistics

If you own a real business, you have to take care of all the logistical elements, such as registering it. Think about what you need to create an actual business, and then do them. (Be careful to avoid spending time anguishing over them though).

If you’re in the US, get an EIN number.

Do it right now, if you haven’t yet. I’ll wait.

Apply here. It only takes about 38 seconds.

Congratulations, you have a business!

Let’s keep the momentum going. Now, name your business. You can use your name, create a business name, or even create an agency name.

Then, you may wish to register your business name, if your state/local government requires it. Again, this usually takes a matter of minutes. We were able to register my husband’s LLC completely online.

Next, set your prices. No, really set them. Your clients don’t get to tell you how much they’ll pay you. You don’t walk into Target and tell the cashier you’re going to pay $0.50 for a new pair of sunglasses. You’d be referred to the door (or security). Be the same way with your prices. Stand firm on what your work is worth (of course, this could be a topic for a whole ‘nother post or 6).

That’s pretty much all you “officially” need to do to create a business.

But, let me ask you…

When you’re looking for restaurants to try, boutiques to visit, or furniture stores in your area, what’s the first thing you do?

You pop on your phone and look them up, right?

If you’re looking for a landscaping company in a new area, the only ones you probably consider are the ones that show up on Google. (No-name businesses have to rely heavily on word-of-mouth if they don’t have a website. You wouldn’t know about them otherwise).

If you don’t have a website today, it’s like your business doesn’t exist.

Freelance businesses are no exception.

I’ve seen a rare freelance businesses do really well without a website, but I wouldn’t leave my success to that chance. I want people to see that I’m damn good at what I do and that I’m serious about it. I want them to feel good vibes about me. And my website gives me a place to showcase my work and build my clients’ confidence in me.

What I’m saying is: make sure you create a website for your business.

Your clients can see you’re serious when you send them to a legit website.

If you’re not tech-savvy, I know that might sound complicated.

But here, I can show you step-by-step how to start a website in like 5 minutes. 

And here’s a free no-nonsense design tutorial.

You could have a freelance website up and running by tonight.

 

Customer service

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been told I’m a favored writer of a company because of how I hand in what I agreed to, on time. Yes, seriously. You’d think these common courtesies were just a given for business owners, but apparently so many freelancers don’t even pass the first round.

Good customer service is key to a successful business. To treat your business like a real company, you need to set some basic standards of customer care (or risk damage to your reputation).

For a freelance writer, all that entails is being courteous, treating people and their businesses with respect, handing in good work, and submitting work on time. I’d encourage you to set your standards even higher than that, but make sure you get those right first.

You can even go so far as to outline your customer service strategy, if you want to. You might set precedents such as, “all work is to be turned in on or before the due date” or “we never speak negatively about our clients online.”

Remember, your clients care deeply about their businesses and you can honor that by the way you treat them.

Build the type of reputation you want through your customer service.

 

Approach

When you send a cold pitch or jump on a client call, do you present yourself on their level as a fellow CEO or as an employee?

The employee mindset is damaging to your career.

The employee mindset tells you you’re working for someone else, your position is inferior to theirs, your viewpoint is inferior to theirs, they’re your boss, they tell you what to do, and you have to put up with outlandish requests because it’s your job.

With that approach, you’d be treating your business like an entity someone else owns.

Does that even make sense?

Nope.

You’re the CEO of your business. Your clients are your equals. You’re in charge of your work.

This takes practice though, especially if you’ve been an employee all your life. But I encourage you to practice being in the ownership mentality. Remind yourself of your position before your phone calls. Don’t be afraid to take the reins during your conversations and let your clients know how your business works rather than wait for them to tell you how they’re going to proceed.

Practice holding your position. Don’t be arrogant, but don’t relent to appease a supposed “superior.”

Also, part of having a real business owner approach means jumping in and giving your business your all.

You can’t “sorta” run your business or hide and pretend you don’t have a business. You want to give it everything you’ve got.

When a proprietor opens their doors, they do everything in their power to keep their doors open. They use sales and marketing to bring in new customers, they tweak their inventory, they adjust their budgets, and use every technique they know about to make it work. They don’t open a business thinking they’ll “just try it out.”

If you really want your freelance business to replace your income and support yourself and your family, you need to do the same. For it to work, you need to make it work and not rely solely on fate to intercede. It’s your responsibility to find your customers and it’s your responsibility to keep your business profitable.

 

Other ways to treat your business like a business

Use this (non-exhaustive) list of business practices to get the ideas rolling and build your business mentality:

• Set scheduled office hours
• Track your finances
• Set sales projections (goals) and try to meet them
• Market your business
• Outsource when you need to
• Keep learning: listen to business podcasts, read business books and articles, etc
• Make sure your heart (not your wallet) is in the right place
• Never stop with lead generation (finding clients)
• Expand your network
• Implement a social media strategy
• Promote your business every day
• Put systems in place for everything (and hone them)
• Support causes in your community
• Ask for testimonials and reviews

 

Anytime you wonder what “treat your business like a business” means, just think about how your favorite businesses are run and treat your business likewise.

I hope this video and article have given you some valuable insight into how to treat your business like a business. And more than that, I hope they contribute to your success in your business pursuits.

 

Let’s talk about this more in the comments. Did I miss anything? What other ways do you treat your business like a business?