Happy Birthday to me!

October 16th 2019 was officially the first day of running my own company – Coracle Consulting – and here we are, 60 months later, we survived two years stuck in Vietnam during COVID working online, our bills are still (just) being paid, and overall we’ve afforded to travel as often as possible, which is where most of the spare change goes.

So far, so good.

I was in Melbourne the day I set up Coracle (as I am today, as I type this) however that day I flew up to Canberra to visit a friend and old work colleague. It was a lunch date mainly, but she convinced me to spend the morning sitting in on a departmental meeting she was chairing, to provide some observations and pointers. That was technically my first – unpaid – assignment. Since then I’ve worked a lot for my old employer, CARE, and various other INGOs, as well as bagged some larger contracts with UN agencies and a few private companies.

Has it all been worth it? 100%. The work-life balance, for me at least, has trumped any previous full-time position I took on for the 23+ years prior to setting up Coracle. The thrill of working more flexibly is offset at times by the inevitable lumpy cash flow patterns, but the change of pace and focus has been rewarding.

Were anyone to ask about any lessons learnt, here are a handful to share for good measure (take them or leave them, they are obviously unique to me, but perhaps some of them will resonate with others in my position):

Be as ‘strategic” as you care to be, but make sure you follow a process to ensure you deliver on time and on topic.

Within the jargon of my (non-profit) sector, many have stopped using the words ‘strategic’ or ‘strategy’ for fear of finally losing the will to go on any further. So much air-time can be consumed by organisations in the writing of strategic plans, or the facilitating of strategy workshops. In the end, having a clear process for getting things done is more important than devising the perfect strategy.

As a freelancer, I don’t have a strategy on paper for my business, but I’ve learnt to enforce two solid pieces of process: 1.) always deliver on what you have agreed to for a customer, and do it on time and then 2.) always have your eye on who your next customer will be 3 months from now.

Variety can be the spice of freelancing life

Talk to new organisations and new contacts as much as you can, and never turn down the prospect of trying something different. In 5 years I’ve probably had a hit rate of around 10%, in terms of the number of tenders I’ve applied for, and positively converted (to be honest I haven’t done the math, but it feels about that).

The lion’s share of my work is referrals and word of mouth, and I’ve tried to stay active in terms of keeping in touch with people. I post on LinkedIn regularly enough (although I could do better with this for sure) and attend webinars and in-person events where I can. Such past-times typically end up with low returns, however the importance of having your ear to the ground on topical issues, and what your particular ‘marketplace’ is talking about, is a habit that I’ve found pays off in the end.

Say yes upfront and then find a way of making it work

Whilst most of the work I’ve completed has been within my wheelhouse of experience, now and again things pop up that don’t quite fit. I’m not sure this is a water-tight tactic but my experience has been that it’s worth saying ‘yes’ in those situations, and then investing the time and the means to deliver the work, however outside of one’s normal parameters it might sit.

Fix your rates but look to give your customers value for money

One formula I was lent from a friend at the start, to determine my day rate, was to divide my final salary (from my last full-time job) by 250 (approximately the # of working days in a year) and then multiply it by 30% (to cover all additional costs of freelancing that are usually paid for my employers).

Whatever formula you use, stick to your rates as much as you can, but also don’t be greedy. Whilst there can always be different rates for different types of customers (NGO vs corporate for example) I would suggest it’s fair to drop prices for longer assignments. Be open to this, and find a compromise on these occasions that gives your client a sense of value.

There we go. 5 years of open source “wisdom” for you to digest, delete or disregard, depending on how your day is going!

I’d love to hear from others in similar positions, so please do get in touch if you have questions or want to share your experiences with me.

And a big thanks to everyone who has helped me get this far. I keep trusting the process, so let’s hope in 12 months I’m still around to look back on Year #6!

TB