5 Steps to Create a Roadmap for Your Freelance Business

Don’t wander aimlessly through freelance life — start out with a plan.

Image created via Midjourney

It’s really easy to forget the big picture when you’re a new freelancer.

You’re eager to please your clients, you’re learning to send invoices, and you’re trying to stay organized. All of those things are really important, but you need to think beyond laying the groundwork. Even if your goals seem like they’re on the distant horizon, you should still have a plan to get there.

Your best chance to get there? Create a roadmap.

You should think of your freelance work as a product that you’re building. I was a product manager at a fintech before I pivoted into freelance writing. Product managers always ask themselves: “Where is this product going? Are we on the right track? Do these new features meet our goals?”

You can take the same product-minded approach when building a freelance business.

1) Define your overall vision

You can’t create a map if you don’t know your overall destination.

Think about what your dream freelancing life looks like. You can start by asking yourself these questions:

Who is your ideal client?
What services do you ultimately want to offer?
Why will clients choose you over other freelancers?

Try to sum up your answers in a few simple sentences: your Freelancer Mission Statement. Keep your mission at the forefront of everything you do. Even tape it to the wall in your workspace, so you are reminded every time you think about your business.

2) Review ideas for your business

Maps include turn-by-turn directions: how you get from Point A to Point B.

In his book The Art and Business of Writing Online, Nicolas Cole says:

To get the most “return on investment” from your writing, it’s important to have a roadmap for success.

Sure, you could take a less direct route. You might even enjoy the distraction. But then you’ll need more time to reach your final destination.

You likely have no shortage of ideas. A fancier website, a newsletter, sending cold pitches to prospective clients — any of these might enhance your freelance business. But not every idea belongs on your roadmap. There will never be enough time to do everything you want to do.

You need to invest your time and energy in activities that give you the highest return on investment.

List out all of your ideas. Which ideas align best with your overall Mission Statement? Chances are, some won’t “fit” — set those aside in a “maybe someday” pile. Select the two or three ideas you’d like to tackle first.

3) Define the scope of each idea

It’s not enough to simply list out your ideas. You need to understand the effort involved. Back when I was a product manager, this was known as the “scope” of the project.

For each idea, you want to know:

What is the bare minimum to launch the idea?
What resources do you need?
How much time will it take?

Let’s say your website is your highest priority. Will it take you two weeks or two months to set up? What are the minimum pages you want your site to include? How much time can you reasonably commit to the project? (Remember: you can always “add on” to a project later.)

Make it clear what each idea includes and what it doesn’t include. It’s easy to let projects get bigger than you’d originally planned. It’s also easy to let new ideas derail your roadmap (known as “shiny new object syndrome”).

Keep your eyes on your Freelancer Mission Statement.

Chances are, whatever you plan to do with your business, another freelancer has done it before.

Your roadmap shouldn’t exist in a vacuum. While your priorities might be unique to your business, the projects themselves probably aren’t.

If you have friends that are freelancers or are part of any freelance communities, share some details about your plans. Fellow freelancers can give you a gut check on the effort involved. They may also have tips or lessons learned. For example, if you want to launch a newsletter, other freelancers might have suggestions to help you self-promote.

The more feedback you get, the more realistic your roadmap will be.

5) Put your ideas on a timeline

Your last step is to take your highest priority ideas and put them on a calendar.

This calendar will guide the business side of your freelance work for the next few months. Each idea should have a “Due Date” — when you’d like to have the project completed, based on how much time you think it will take.

Be realistic. The deliverables to your clients will always come first. You may only have a few hours per week to dedicate to these projects.

You also don’t want to plan too far into the future. You may take on a new client and have less time. Or, if you put ten ideas on a calendar, you may find yourself constantly adjusting. Your priorities today may not be your priorities in six months.

It may be tempting to create a 12-month roadmap for your freelance business, but don’t do it. You may have 12-month goals, but goals are not the same as a roadmap.

Your roadmap gives you specific steps, and those can change over time.

Adjust your roadmap along the way

When I worked as a product manager, I’d often create the perfect product roadmap, and then things wouldn’t go as planned.

There’d be a major bug in the software, and we’d have to drop everything to fix it. Or customer demands would change. Sometimes even market conditions would force a new feature onto the roadmap.

Your freelance business roadmap will face many of the same challenges. You’ll get feedback from your audience, trends on social platforms will change, or your own freelance business model may take a turn.

Whatever the reason, you should always be willing to adjust based on what’s best for your business.

As a product manager, I knew that the product couldn’t survive if there was no demand. As a freelancer, I know the same is true.

Check out my free eBook: 17 Smart Tools Solopreneurs Need to Start, Grow, and Scale.