From Corporate to Freelance: 5 Mental Shifts for Success

Leaving a 9–5 job means going from “someone telling you what to do” to “nobody telling you what to do.”

Sounds great, right?

But too often, freelancers maintain the mindset and habits of corporate life. It’s only natural: that way of working becomes ingrained.

But as a freelancer, you’re now the boss. Your day-to-day activities no longer have the neat, tidy boundaries of a corporate job.

The sooner you can shed the mentality of corporate life, the more you’ll be able to flourish as a freelancer — because you’ll operate in a way that serves you best.

1. You’re not bound to a specific schedule

It’s tempting to maintain 9:00–5:00 hours if you’re just getting started as a freelancer. After all, that might be what you’re comfortable with. And if you stay within those hours, it can prevent overworking.

But the best freelance schedule is one that optimizes your most productive time of day. Do you work best at 5:00 a.m.? Great! Work during that time and take the afternoon off. Need to run errands on a random Tuesday? Do that.

In the beginning, do some time tracking for certain tasks — just to figure out how long it takes you to complete them. Then block off time on your calendar to complete those tasks at your optimal time. Don’t schedule client meetings or any other interruptions during that block of time: you’ll want to protect it so you can do your best work.

You’ll also want to communicate your schedule to your clients. If you don’t want to work on Fridays, let them know.

I do some deep work early in the mornings and typically don’t work after 3:00 p.m. I’m also working with clients across multiple time zones. My email signature has a very simple line so that clients don’t expect an immediate response:

Because I work flexibly, my working hours may not be the same as yours. Please only respond during your working hours and I’ll do the same.

I’m also in several clients’ Slack channels. I have notifications turned off so that I’m not constantly distracted by a badge showing me that I have unread messages. Slack sends me an email once an hour for mentions and DMs, and then I reply to those when I’m available.

You can have a flexible schedule and maintain your boundaries by clearly setting expectations with your clients.

2. You can only do one thing at a time

Contrary to what many of us try to do, multitasking is bad. We’ve been conditioned to think that bouncing from task to task gets more done, faster. (The constant barrage of notifications from different apps doesn’t help.)

In fact, the opposite is true. Research shows that it takes an average of 9.5 minutes to get back to a productive workflow after switching between apps. The reason for this is that your brain doesn’t “automatically” switch like a computer: it takes conscious effort to switch between tasks. If you’re switching all day long, you’re losing a lot of time.

Make this your mantra: I can only do one thing at a time.

Time blocking can help you stay on track. Block off time on your calendar to reply to emails, work on client deliverables, or interact with your audience on social media. Avoid the temptation of working on these tasks outside of the block.

You may also need to push back on clients who try to drop last-minute requests in your lap. If you’ve planned out your day, a distraction can derail your focus.

You’ve already set boundaries around response time and your schedule, so you’re clients should expect an immediate response. When you do reply, let the client know when you can address the request. It might be first thing the next morning, but then you’ve planned the time to work on the request, rather than letting it interrupt your flow for the day.

3. You can say no to clients

Maybe you pushed back on clients in your corporate job. But more than likely, the client boundaries were not set by you: you were simply enforcing the company’s contract or service agreement.

As a freelancer, you have to enforce your own boundaries. The easiest way to do this is to have written expectations in your freelancer agreement, including:

• A clearly defined scope
• An expectation for the delivery date
• Fees that you might assess for overages or rush delivery
• Who will pay for expenses you may incur

If a client asks for something that isn’t written in your agreement, you can still push back. Let the client know that the situation/request isn’t covered and you’re happy to talk through it. But don’t let the client rope you into additional work that you hadn’t planned to do.

Here’s an easy email template you can use to address such requests:

Hi {first name},

That sounds like a great idea! Right now, that’s outside of the scope of the agreement we signed. Happy to chat through the specs and provide you with an estimate for the additional effort on my end.

Or, if it’s not something you want to do, you can use this template:

Hi {first name},

That sounds like a great idea! Unfortunately, that’s not something I’m able to take on because (outside of my expertise / don’t have the bandwidth / other reason). I’m happy to connect you with (another freelancer) who might be able to do this for you. Would you like me to make an introduction?

Even if you can’t help the client, show that you’re willing to help with an intro to someone else. That will save the client time and energy in searching for a resource.

An alternative is to subcontract the work to another freelancer. You might want to do this if the freelancer you’d recommend is also a competitor to the work you do and you don’t want that person to directly interact with your client. The other freelancer would do the work, the client would pay you, and you pay the other freelancer. This is a way to still say “yes” but not do the work yourself.

4. Clients choose you for a reason

If your corporate job was in sales or marketing, you might have had a lot of insight into why clients chose the company or product. Positioning and messaging are crucial, even for freelancers, from the copy on your website to the way you talk about yourself in discovery calls.

You also have full control over the impression you give as a freelancer. Remember that you’re an entrepreneur with a product or service that people are choosing to buy from you. No other freelancer is exactly like you, and clients are paying for the expertise you bring to the table.

It’s important to evaluate similar freelancers so that you can position yourself correctly. What do you offer that they don’t? Maybe you have a better portfolio; maybe you have niche expertise; maybe you’re more reliable. Whatever the reason, make sure clients know the benefits of working with you.

And make sure that clients are aware of the full range of what you offer. You may expand your business over time with new products or services. Maintain an email list of your clients so that you can send an occasional campaign and keep them updated. This is part of ongoing client management: you want your clients to see you as a trusted resource.

5. Repeatable processes are your friend

Companies often have tools and processes that are built into their workflows. As a freelancer, you’ll need to establish these for yourself. The difference? You’ll get to make decisions about what’s best for you versus what’s best for all employees that companies contend with.

As much as you can, standardize the deliverables between your clients. While every project is unique, you likely take similar steps after a new contract or identifying the tasks you need to complete.

I keep a folder for each client in my Google Drive. Each folder has the same series of subfolders: Contracts, Drafts, Collaboration (shared with the client), and Resources. I also use Trello for project management and track deliverables through the same process every time, even if the deliverables themselves are unique.

Use templates if you can, either client-facing, or for yourself, or both. If you’re using any project management tools, automate any steps that you repeat with each project.

I’m not manually creating new folders in my Google Drive for each client: Zapier is doing that for me based on a new contract being signed. It saves me a few minutes of time (and context switching!) and ensures that my folders are consistent from client to client.

I also use Google Forms with my clients. I am a freelance writer, and clients let me know when they want me to work on a new article via the Google Form. This also maintains standardization so that I’m not bouncing between requests that may come in via email and Slack. Zapier automation adds the new request from the Google Form to my project management tool (Trello).

Do what’s best for you

Being a freelancer breaks down the rigid barriers of corporate life. Don’t be trapped by a corporate mindset in your day-to-day life as a freelancer.

You want to design a freelancer life that meets all of your goals: income goals, client goals, and lifestyle goals. The sooner you can let go of a corporate way of working, the better off you’ll be.

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