Diary of a Business Owner is a collaborative blog series sharing the inside stories, thoughts, and experiences of other business owners. Owning a business is hard. There’s no manual or secret handbook to success. Diary of a Business Owner is here to help you gain an insight into life as a business owner and to remind you that you are not alone on this journey.
Katie McCade is a freelance Digital Project Manager, mum and coffee lover navigating freelance life one thoughtful, strategic step at a time.
Name: Katie McCade
Business: Digital Project Manager
Location: Newcastle upon Tyne
Business Owner Since: January 2021
Go-to Coffee Shop Order: Caramel Latte
Where we can find you: You can find me on Twitter and LinkedIn
Navigating motherhood, redundancy and going freelance in a pandemic
Being on maternity leave and then being made redundant sucks… throw in a global pandemic and well, you lose all sense of normal...
Everything you used to define your life is gone.. a career, financial freedom and independence, socialising, wining and dining, lying in on the weekends.
All of that changes when you have a small human totally dependent on you. Now don’t get me wrong, our little boy is so very loved and I love being his mum but that’s not all that I am.
I was fortunate enough to be able to take the full year off for maternity. When I started feeling like I was ready to use the work side of my brain again, I wasn’t sure how I wanted to do that.
You see, just as the pandemic hit we’d moved up North to be closer to family, which meant I no longer had the role I was in pre-baby to go back to (never mind the fact that they made me redundant anyway). I’d be starting all over again in this new city that I wasn’t overly familiar with because we’d spent most of it in lockdown.
I flip-flopped between getting a new role in an agency where I’d be given the chance to get to know the city better and make some friends but since most agencies were working from home, it wasn’t as attractive anymore.
Then, an old colleague reached out with a freelance opportunity that would be totally flexible and meant I could dip my toe into the freelance world whilst still working out how I’d even be a freelancer.
That first opportunity made me realise that I’d definitely like to see where I could take freelancing and now I’ve been doing it for 8 months all flexibly around my little boy and my husband’s work (plus all the usual home life responsibilities).
Some things that have really helped me get going include:
This is a real business
Treating my freelancing as a business helped me get out of the mindset of this just being ‘something I do’. It’s a business that affords me the lifestyle I want and gives me the flexibility a full-time role never could.
Working to a routine
This is something that I’ve had to work hard at since my time for actual work is around my son napping, when he’s at nursery or in the evenings once he’s gone to bed. Switching my brain from mum mode to work mode can take a little time but when I get my rhythm going, it’s so nice to be working.
Know your worth
Sitting down and really working out what I wanted to earn each month after all expenses, helped me decide on what my minimum day rate could be – anything over that minimum is a huge bonus.
Keep things separate
Setting up a separate bank account so work and life are separate makes things very clear – I chose Starling bank because it’s online and was super straightforward to do.
Save for that tax bill
Immediately saving 30% of any paid invoice into a separate pot for when I need to pay tax. I don’t know what my tax bill will be yet and I’m dreading paying it when it does come but this definitely helps alleviate some of the worry.
Previous relationships
Don’t burn bridges as you never know where you might pick up work – thanks to Will and Dan for being my first clients and helping me get going on this path.
Network
Create new relationships through social, newsletters, podcasts and Discord; I’ve reached out to people to connect, thank them for putting together great content and just chat.
Be organised
You wear so many different hats freelancing so keeping track of everything is a must! Using tools like And.co for managing my business, invoices, proposals, Todoist for keeping me organised and Monday.com for project management.
Going freelance can be daunting especially when you’ve always had the safety net a full-time role provides. That said, nowadays, no one’s role is 100% safe (as my second redundancy shows).
Having control over how I work, when I work and who I work with is wonderful and means I still get to be there for all the firsts my little boy is still yet to experience – and that is totally priceless.
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