Caitlin Nelson / Event Producer at Working Not Working
On Friday, April 1st, First Fridays Host Elyn Kazarian and Brand Strategist, Copywriter and Founder of Freelance Founders, Carolyn Bothwell, got together to talk about a topic that is no joke: financial literacy and security.
They covered everything from shifting your mindset from freelancer to founder, handling negotiations, and having your rates reflect your value.
Here are the takeaways and full conversation below:
1. Build As A Business.
“My biggest piece of advice to new freelancers is to take the time to set up your business: get a business bank account, get an EIN. Just make the time to do it and start to pay yourself in that way. I think it reframes your mindset a little bit, and as a business owner, you think, ‘I can't afford to take that on,’ or ‘I can't afford to lower my rate for this person.’” - Carolyn Bothwell
2. Seek Abundance
“When I went off on my own, it was: ‘I can't say no to anything.’ It's taken a long time to flip the switch and get back to a sense of abundance. I think a lot of creatives have a similar sort of trajectory. They're able to build [a certain support system] and they're able to switch their mentality from scarcity to abundance, and then they see their whole careers just change from there.” - Carolyn Bothwell
3. Show Your Value
“When clients negotiate and try to get your price lower, never just say ‘yes.’ Remove things from the scope, so that you're showing that your value is really tied to each deliverable.” - Carolyn Bothwell
4. Founder Over Freelancer.
“Yes, you're a freelancer, but you also own this business. Put yourself in those founder’s shoes: ‘I need to make sure that I'm profitable and I'm making enough money.’ There are a lot of great tools out there—some awesome tech tools that have launched in the last couple of years like Catch.co, which helps you with saving for retirement and benefits, and Wingspan, which makes it super easy to save money again and also to invoice your clients.” - Carolyn Bothwell