Freelance professional growth is beneficial, but not always necessary. You don’t have to earn more each month than the previous one. You don’t even have to have more and more orders to be successful. When is the right time to think about growth and maybe even stop it for a while?
While some people have a career, others prefer non-work activities. As long as there is some balance, both are fine. Therefore, do not let yourself be pushed into the fact that every day you need to be better than the previous one. Are you happy where you are? And are your clients satisfied? In that case, there is no reason to change it.
When does professional growth not pay off?
When you become a VAT payer
The increasing monthly remuneration is pleasant until you approach the threshold for mandatory VAT payership. If you provide services mainly to non-VAT payers and your industry has only minimal costs, it may not pay off at all.
To avoid losing, you will have to increase prices by 21%, which many existing non-payer clients may not fully appreciate. On the other hand, you will be more advantageous for larger clients who are also VAT payers. It is always up to you to consider whether you want to take this step. Maybe you will get bigger clients and better paid contracts, on the other hand, you will lose smaller and interesting projects that have grown close to your heart and working on them fulfills you more.
When you are not in time and have to delegate work
If you have a job over your head, it is offered to outsource it to other freelancers. But this brings with it a new job role – someone has to manage these freelancers, which is not a job for everyone. If you rather appreciate your peace of mind and managerial work in the form of delegating tasks and resolving any disagreements does not attract you, you better increase the price and do not try to take on more orders. Of course, then you can again get to the previous point regarding VAT.
If you hire employees, you significantly increase stress in that you are no longer responsible for yourself, and even if you have a less successful period, you will still have to deal with paychecks. Cooperation with other freelancers on the ID is easier in this respect, but beware of possible fines for it that can be quite unpleasant.
When you feel you can’t do it
Do you feel that the company is trying to derive your value from work performance? Don’t compare yourself to others. When you feel that you are so overwhelmed with work that it actually slowly ceases to fulfill you, there is no need to add more. It’s just a successful recipe for burnout. Remember why you went freelancing in the first place. Did you want more freedom, more free time? And do you have them? Perhaps, instead of growing, it’s time for a career restart.
Find out why you don’t want to grow
But before you decide to suspend your professional growth, find out if you really want it and if you are not just held back by fears, insecurities and most freelancers well-known impostor syndrome. It is one thing not to desire growth on the border of VAT payership, or to get stuck in the (uncertain) certainty of barely covered costs because you are afraid to get more expensive and lose existing clients.
Just because you don’t grow doesn’t mean you atrophy
But we are certainly not trying to convey that you should fold your hands and do nothing. There is always time to devote to personal and professional development. Many fields are evolving so fast that all it takes is a slight nap to see the career train slip away. So if you want to be competitive all the time, you can’t do it without self-development.
