About this episode…

COPY EDITOR & PROOFREADER ROBYN SANTA MARIA

When Australian Robyn quit her job working in comms for a French yacht company, she wasn’t expecting her boss to be so keen to keep her that he’d offer her a 2-day-a-week retainer if she went freelance.

So she did. Finding work through her network and referrals along the way. 6 years later Robyn still has no website.

But working solo also gradually sent Robyn into her shell. So now, she’s proactively seeking out connection once more. Making online dates with other freelancers and working with a business coach - she’s enjoying life being freelance once more.

Read the highlights in the next tab.

DON’T CHASE ALL THE SHINY OBJECTS

These days there’s lots of resources out there for freelancers (like, erm, Being Freelance!) - but if you take on board everything people are saying at once, it’s just way too much…

“It's really, really, really easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer amount of advice, the amount of resources, and chase all the shiny objects, whether it's a software package or an app or a new way of doing something.

I think definitely if you're up for trying new things, go for it. But my experience was that I became very overwhelmed very, very quickly because I tried to follow too many different avenues. I tried to follow too many different pieces of advice all at the same time. And that didn't serve me very well.

Don't chase all the shiny objects.”

WORKING WITH A BUSINESS COACH

This year Robyn started working with a business coach for the first time to help her regain a focus for her business and what she wants from it…

“I'd been a little cynical of coaches up until then - my apologies to coaches... So I'd always sort of shied away. I thought, Oh no, that's not for me. I don't think I could do that <laugh>.

And then I stopped and I thought I was really in a funk there at one stage earlier this year with where do I go, what do I do? How do I work all this out? Where do I wanna take my freelance business? And feeling really frustrated.

And it hit me and I thought, well, hang on a minute. I've worked with a personal trainer in the past to achieve a physical challenge. It's the same principle, it's just this time it's not about reaching a physical challenge. The goal this time isn't the trek in Papua New Guinea, this time it's actually trying to remove some of the blocks in my mind around different things and help me with my confidence and help me get some clarity..”

CONVERSATIONS WITH FELLOW FREELANCERS

Despite being chatty and organising socials when she worked in-house, Robyn came to realise working solo, particularly after two years of the pandemic, had seen her retreat into her shell. So she’s started to be proactive in seeking out connection. Joining virtual coworking sessions and reaching out directly to have Zoom chats with other freelancers.

“You are a human behind a screen, I'm a human behind a screen, let's just sit and chat like regular people except there's a video. It's not as big and scary as probably what I'd thought about in my head. And since then I've done it with several people and I'm trying to do them on a more regular basis.

The positive is… coming out of my shell… feeling like I can just talk again to people, meet other freelancers, find out about their business, their life, what they're up to. And I think the benefit of that is I love connecting people.

You don't know where a conversation will lead.”

BEWARE COMPARISON

It’s a natural human thing to do, looking at others, comparing ourselves, but…

“Don't compare your chapter one with somebody else's chapter eight.

I'll look at somebody and think, Oh my God, wow. They look like they really have everything together and they're doing all these amazing things and then I'll stop and think, Oh yeah, but they've been doing the gig for 20 years, whereas I've been doing the gig for six. You know what I mean?

It can work well to serve as a motivator, but it can also be a little detrimental because if you compare yourself and think, Oh well I'm never gonna get there, then well, you're not gonna get there if you let it get to you too much.” 

More from Robyn Santa Maria

Robyn on LinkedIn
Robyn on Twitter

More from Steve Folland

Steve on Twitter

Steve on Instagram

Steve’s freelance site

Steve’s Being Freelance vlog

The Doing It For The Kids podcast

Transcript of the Being Freelance podcast with Steve Folland and Copy Editor & Proofreader Robyn Santa Maria:

Steve Folland:

How did you get started being freelance?

Robyn Santa Maria:

Well, I must admit I fell into it. It wasn't the goal to go freelance. I found myself in this situation where I was working full-time here in France in a really interesting job. Great company, good people, except for one person in particular who just was a little bit difficult. So I decided to leave that job, which was pretty scary, I must admit, because finding full-time work in France isn't the easiest thing to do. And it was a position close to where I live. To be completely honest, I wasn't sure where to go next because I'd always been in full-time employment in Australia, elsewhere in the world and here in France. So I worked for a company in a shipyard. I dunno if you wanna get into that, but it was interesting and I had a really good relationship with the director and most other people. And the director said to me, What are you doing next? What's your plan? To which I replied, still figuring it out. And he said, If you go and get set up as a auto entrepreneur here in France, so basically an independent, a freelancer. Get yourself a business number and I will give you a contract. And that was actually a full 12 month retainer off the bat.

Steve Folland:

So what was your role at the company?

Robyn Santa Maria:

I was in the business development team. So my background is very much in house communications, part of marketing teams, but very comms focused. So I've worked in government comms and corporate departments. And this job was a bit different because it was more focused helping their sales and business development team with a lot of their activities in English. So it's a company that refits and repairs very big yachts,

Steve Folland:

<laugh>. Oh yeah. I think I used them with mine once.

Robyn Santa Maria:

Yes, yes. I thought maybe you were a client just after I left

Steve Folland:

<laugh>. Yeah, that would be it.

Robyn Santa Maria:

Long story short, they're a French company, but they have anglophone clientele because they have people from all over the world, most of them speaking English. So they do a lot of their business development, their commercial activities in English. And I was helping with them and set a few things up for them, actually, like a newsletter and bits and bobs - I was doing welcoming meetings, orientation meetings for crew inside the shipyard and stuff like that. So it was really different, but I still used a lot of the skills that I'd built up elsewhere.

Steve Folland:

So that's what I'm wondering... so when that director said set up, I'll hire you, I'll give you this 12 month retainer - as what?

Robyn Santa Maria:

I guess it was freelance communications support. It was essentially helping Eric, the director to get a newsletter out, whether he needed some help with his emails to specific clients around the world, welcome meeting, an orientation video for crew who came into the shipyard, and then also going to some events as well on behalf of the company.

Steve Folland:

And so you've got that one client. What happened next?

Robyn Santa Maria:

So I wasn't working full time for the company. It kind of worked out to be sort of two days a week over the 12 months. So I had plenty of time to do some other stuff. And the beauty of it was that because I'd been working inside the company before I was freelance, I'd already gone to some events on behalf of the company. So for example, the Monaco Yacht Show, sounds very fancy and I was very fortunate that I continued to go to those events as a freelance as well. And through that I met other people. I met other companies working within the industry and I basically picked up some clients that way because then people asked me, What do you do? Are you still working with Monica Marine? What are you doing for them? Et cetera. Oh, that sounds great. We need that as well. Could you come and work with us? Which is pretty cool.

Steve Folland:

Very cool.

Robyn Santa Maria:

It was really interesting because I hadn't come from inside that world whatsoever, but just meeting a few handful of people and building those relationships allowed me to then turn these, that sounds awful... turn these people into clients. It wasn't like that. But the relationships led to me working with them as freelancer client. So for example, a training company, they're based in the Netherlands, I still do work with them. A financial advisory firm who are based in Spain - I worked with them for a year. So it was just all through word of mouth and having gone to these events and getting to know these people in person and then I worked remotely for them afterwards. And the wonderful thing is, I was actually just going through it in my mind this morning, that one contact the company that I left and then took on as my first freelance client. Through that one contact I counted has led to me working with four other businesses. So five clients came out of that one contact and several of those turned into long term clients, which was really fantastic.

Steve Folland:

We should probably put things in perspective. When did you first go freelance?

Robyn Santa Maria:

Yeah, so I went freelance in 2016. We had the conversation at the end of 2015 and bless his heart, Eric said, Go and have a holiday, have a break, come back in January and we'll get started.

Steve Folland:

Oh my god, I love Eric. I wanna work for Eric.

Robyn Santa Maria:

Eric was very good to me. <laugh>. Yeah, I know.

Steve Folland:

So how did things evolve then over those six/seven years?

Robyn Santa Maria:

So hat's been the sort of yachting industry experience and then through the power of LinkedIn I had someone contact me, another woman who lives in this area. She was sort of a very high powered communications manager at executive level of a really big transport company at the time. And she saw that I lived in the same area. So she contacted me and said, Hey, I've seen your profile. I like what you're doing. Would you like to catch up? So we did. Had a coffee. And that then later down the line led to me working with her at her company. Because a lot of international companies, particularly here in France who are headquartered here and then have global offices, the language of communication is English business language. So they do a lot of their comms in English. And she said, would really love your help with editing and proofreading some of the documents that are written internally. And so I said, Sure, okay, why not? Yeah, great, let's talk. And then I ended up working with her team for nearly two years and that one contact also led me to now working with another three, four companies because she since moved on to another company and she asked me to work with her there and she introduced me to two other people. And I now work with those people at two other companies. So again, it's been all through word of mouth.

Steve Folland:

When you say, so it's been through word of mouth - have you initiated that at all? Have you said, Oh, if you know anybody else who needs any work, blah blah, blah. Or is it simply they love you so much that they talk about you to people?

Robyn Santa Maria:

It's a bit of both. I mean, they've come to me, which is fantastic. And then I've also had the conversations with each of them saying, Oh look, if you know of anyone who needs support in a similar way, can you please recommend me or put forward my name if you're comfortable doing so. And that has led to other projects as well, which is fantastic. But yeah, I mean from a marketing perspective, have I gone out and really heavily marketed myself? No, I haven't. Much to my disgrace, maybe I should say, because I know a lot of freelancers are very good at doing that. But I find that hard. I find that really hard to do to be honest.

Steve Folland:

But equally it sounded like things were going well anyway.

Robyn Santa Maria:

That's the thing, Steve, I must admit, I know that I hear a lot of people say, don't just rest on your laurels and make sure that you're doing your marketing and have things in place because nothing lasts forever. And it's true. I mean some of those contracts that I had are no longer contracts because people have moved on or they've made a shuffle in house and they've changed the resourcing and those decisions are beyond my control and I'm aware of that. But at the same time, while things were working and working really well, I didn't feel the need to go and chase other work. So I don't know, I don't think there's a perfect way to do it. But for me so far it seems to have worked quite well.

Steve Folland:

So I introduced you as a freelance copy editor and proofreader, which is work that came out of that coffee with that lady from LinkedIn, it sounds like now that's what you've decided to hone in on.

Robyn Santa Maria:

Yeah, that's where I definitely feel most comfortable and where I feel like I could provide the greatest value. And I also feel like it's a job that I find easier to do remotely. For example, I think I've done a little bit of strategy work in the past, but I just found, I feel like I'd rather be really part of the team and in house when I'm working on strategy. That's just me, that's how I work. And to be honest, I again fell into more editing and proofreading. Even when I was in house, when I was part of marketing and comms teams I was often the person people would come to and say, Okay, we've just finished this report, or somebody else had just finished writing something, Robyn, can you please check it? Because we know that you're a bit of a nerd and you're happy to sit and do that <laugh>.

So I embrace my inner nerdiness and I just, yeah, the process of editing and proofreading, I find I like it. I really like it. Just taking something that somebody else has written and trying to make it even better. It is my comfort zone editing, proofreading. And then again, it's sort of like, okay, this is what I like to do. And then that's matched the need from a lot of these clients as well. For example, when I was saying about when the woman who at the transport company, she has a team and a lot of these companies do, they have people who... and they could be French people or German or Dutch, and they're already working in English and actually producing a relatively high level of written English content, but it will always need some work. I mean that's just normal. It needs some work to take it up another level. So that's where I guess my skills have met their need and we've come together and made it happen.

Steve Folland:

You said you don't particularly like marketing yourself to the point where, correct me if I'm wrong, cuz I tried finding one, you don't have a website?

Robyn Santa Maria:

No, I don't. So... I did have a website. Just very briefly when I started freelancing, so back in 2016 it was a bit of mad phase of thinking, right? Oh my goodness, I have to have everything set up. I need to look legitimate. And I really thought, okay, I need to have a website because that will make me look legitimate. I need to have a business name because that's what I thought you did. Because when I went freelance, I didn't know a lot of people who were freelancing. All my colleagues back in Australia all work in house maybe except for one. So I was feeling a little bit lost at the start and I just sort of thought, okay, I need to do this, I need to do that. So I quickly set up a business name, I set up a website, I went under Red Robyn Communications to start with, which I thought was kind of cute. Even got a graphic designer friend, I paid her to come up with a really great logo and I got a little website up and running and all that sort of stuff.

This is where I didn't think ahead. It was a little tricky. People going, Red Robin <laugh>, what does it mean? It was a little bit, not that it's that difficult to understand, but there were some people sort of questioning me on it because in English it just made sense straight away. Whereas for some people in French, it didn't quite make sense and I had to explain it and there were just all of that happening in the background <laugh>, Do you know what I mean?

Steve Folland:

You had to go, No, I'm sorry, but it's really clever. <laugh>.

Really clever.

Trust me, it's really good <laugh>

Robyn Santa Maria:

You'll really love it once you understand it after 25 minutes of explaining it. And I was like, I can't explain. It's too hard to explain why I used to dance around the living room to Red Robin when I was a kid thinking it was about me. I thought that was kind of cute. Anyway, long story short, I ended up dumping the whole Red Robyn communications, bless it. And I just went - Get rid of it, Get rid of it all. Just go back to working under my name. Because from a paperwork administration perspective here in France, everything's just recorded under my name anyway, so I know that's boring, but that's just what happened. So I dumped the website and I didn't get around to putting up another one because I just got busy doing the work.

Steve Folland:

So you've stayed busy the whole time?

Robyn Santa Maria:

The first couple of years were really consistent. I was really happy. Like I said, my very first client was retainer that got signed up for a second year. So for the first two years I had a level of stability that was really nice. And then other projects around that. And then even into the third year I signed up another retainer. Things went really well. And then the big P came along. For me the pandemic actually meant the busiest time ever for my freelance business, which I'm very grateful for because I know it wasn't like that for everybody. Very busy indeed. Because a lot of companies doubled down on their communications, particularly internally. So I had a lot of people saying, We need to get these messages out, we need this, we need that, we need this collateral. Can you help us write, can you help us edit? Et cetera. So I was just like, Sure, bring it on. Yep, let's do it. So I was incredibly busy all of 2020 and 2021 to the point where I said yes to too many things and it kind of came crashing down like house of cards, if I'm gonna be brutally honest

Steve Folland:

In what way?

Robyn Santa Maria:

I feel hesitant to use labels... but I probably burnt out late last year. I got really overwhelmed because I had said yes to everything - I was trying to do too much. And then also my husband who had been working in an office five days a week, all of a sudden was at home five days a week. And the two of us working out of the same space, which I know this is a fact for other people as well. And I love him dearly and we're still married, surprise, surprise, <laugh>. But I mean Steve, the thing is, it got kind of challenging... I'd gone from working in my corner of the room, havin g my own space, my own little bubble to work in, to my husbabd literally working on the other side of the room on calls all day every day for five days a week.

And let's just say that proved to be incredibly challenging. So on top of me going, Yeah, I'll just take on all the work. Trying to do it in that situation was really, really challenging. And I mean, yeah, we've got a garden, we can go outside and take breaks and I mean it was a novelty at first. 'Oh, let's stop and have a little coffee together.' And that was all lovely. And then a couple of months down the track I was like, Oh my god, I'm about to throw him out of the window. <laugh> that's terrible. Cause he spent so much time on the phone. So I actually, I ended a few of my contracts late last year.

Steve Folland:

And that did the trick?

Robyn Santa Maria:

Yeah, I mean it did the trick in so far as it took that immediate pressure off - of going, oh, okay, now I can just stop and breathe for a minute. And then I think this year, early this year, I started the year going, Oh okay, now I don't have as much work as I did. It's that classic swing, isn't it? Where you go, Oh hang on a minute, oops, now I don't have as much. Which is a little bit scary I guess because then I think, well financially we all need to pay the bills. And I was a little bit worried about what would happen. But also it gave me the space to stop and think, hang on a minute, is freelancing really what I wanna do? If it is what I wanna continue to do, how do I want it to look? Am I working with the right kind of client for me? Is it the work that I really wanna be doing, etc. Hence my 2022 has been doing a lot of that digging deep, so to speak.

Steve Folland:

And what did you find when you dug deep?

Robyn Santa Maria:

Ooh, it's been really interesting. I've been reflecting a lot on the types of projects that I guess inspire me and light me up - the areas, the subjects that I'd like to work around. So alongside my paid work for the last few years, I've been voluntarily writing grant applications and funding applications for an NGO in Papa New Guinea. And I do that for a couple of reasons - because Papa New Guinea and Australia have a long history - geographically, they're close. I went to Papa New Guinea a number of years ago and I've always wanted to help. I've tried to donate some of my time over the years to different NGOs and different causes. And this NGO in particular they do a lot of great work in helping to raise awareness about violence against women. And they've got some really interesting campaigns on the go and they need money to do that.

So I started volunteering for them a few years ago through a United Nations volunteering programme. And I really enjoy doing it. I really like helping them. It's resulted in them getting some money to implement some projects. And it's not paid work, but it's something that I would potentially like to turn into paid work and working with more NGOs and charities because those things are near and dear to me. So I've done a lot of reflecting this year on just the sort, ideally if I could work with those sorts of causes and charities and NGOs. And it's not to say that all my other work has been... I've got a couple of other projects on the go with paid client work and I'm not about to dump them because I really like the people and the subjects are still interesting. But if I could align more with my interests and my values, that would be something that I would really like to do

Steve Folland:

And do you know other freelancers that you talk to about this kind of thing? Have you been figuring it out all alone?

Robyn Santa Maria:

So yeah, I mean I know some really great freelancers because as you know, more than anyone, there are some pretty fantastic people around who are willing to help and listen. And I do have a freelance friend in the UK who I talk to every week and swap ideas. And we've delved into this a little bit. But a few months ago I started working with a coach, which I never thought I would do <laugh>. I'd started following a coach, Matt Saunders, he's in the UK. And I really liked what he was putting out because I'd been a little cynical of coaches up until then - my apologies to coaches listening, it's not everyone. So I'd always sort of shied away. I thought, Oh no, that's not for me. I don't think I could do that <laugh>. And then I stopped and I thought I was really in a funk there at one stage earlier this year with where do I go, what do I do?

How do I work all this out? Where do I wanna take my freelance business? And feeling really frustrated and it hit me and I thought, well, hang on a minute. I've worked with a personal trainer in the past to achieve a physical challenge. It's the same principle, it's just this time it's not about reaching a physical challenge. The goal this time isn't the trek in Papua New Guinea, this time it's actually trying to remove some of the blocks in my mind around different things and help me with my confidence and help me get some clarity. And so I started working with Matt a couple of months ago. I meet with him every week and we have a session. And I really like the psychological safety of the space that he provides because he provides this environment in which we can talk through different topics and subjects and help me to shift some of the blocks I have and working on building back up some confidence that I've lost. And so for me it's a positive experience and I come away from each call with things to think about. I feel more energised. I'm starting to feel a bit clearer about maybe where to go with my business.

Steve Folland:

I'm also intrigued about the freelancer calls that you have. Not with a coach but with a fellow freelancer.

Robyn Santa Maria:

So that I just did off the back of going to the Freelancer Magazine virtual co-working sessions, which are great. And I thought I just need to start pushing myself to meet people because I'd climbed into a bit of a hole actually and started to hide away a little bit and just not getting out and meeting people. And also being on video, I'm not entirely comfortable, but I was watching all these other people do it and these people talking about how they just had a Zoom coffee with someone and even if it was just 30 minutes, 45 minutes or whatever, and just talking about stuff, if it's business, if it's life in general. And cuz I hadn't been going to a co-working space in person for quite some time - that the big P had kiboshed that as well. So on the back of one of those co-work sessions, Katarina, she's a content writer currently in Bulgaria was like, I'd love to have a chat. I said, All right, let's do it.

So we jumped on and we chatted for an hour and then the next week it was with somebody else in another country. And then these are just sort chats that I just organised with different freelancers and it was really nice. You go, yeah, I mean you are a human behind a screen, I'm a human behind a screen. <laugh> let's just sit and chat like regular people except there's a video. But you know what I mean? It's not big and scary as probably what I'd thought about in my head. And since then I've done it with several people and I'm trying to do them on a more regular basis.

Steve Folland:

Cool. And do you find that all of this sort of channels back into your work and life? Cause you're not necessarily discussing business like you are with your coach for example?

Robyn Santa Maria:

No, no. I mean I think right now for me it's just getting me outta my shell again, which I always think is really interesting because when I worked in house, I was pretty outgoing and not the most extroverted, but I was the one often organising social events and pretty outgoing. And then all of a sudden I found myself sitting at home at my computer not wanting to really talk to anybody because it's just circumstances had led to me just going, Oh gosh, it's too overwhelming. I'm gonna hide away. And I thought, This is crazy, Robyn, you know how to talk to people. So long winded way of saying yeah, the positive is that just feeling like I can just talk again to people, meet other freelancers, find out about their business, their life, what they're up to. And I think the benefit of that is I love connecting people. Now I know that, okay, Sam, the sustainability writer who is working on these fantastic ocean related projects if I know that Dave over in this corner is looking for someone to work on such a project, then I would probably link the two.

And I think that's a big thing for freelancers is we talk about connection, we talk about community and that's what it is. It's like conversations... you don't know where a conversation will lead. And I love doing that. I love being able to connect people and say, Oh, I know someone who's looking for what you might need. You need to talk to this person. And having these conversations is helping me do that, which is cool.

Steve Folland:

That's nice. Yeah, it's funny. So it sounds like you went into your shell by accident when you went freelance because you were working from home. Because you were doing it all yourself.

Robyn Santa Maria:

Yeah, very much so. As I said to you, I'd always been in house and working, cuz I've worked for a few years now, Steve, we don't need to talk about ages, do we? But I'm not 21, let's just say <laugh>. So for a number of years, yeah, I'd worked in team, I'd gone into an office and I've been part of a team there all day, every day. And I had a lot of positive in-house experiences. This is what I find kind of sad when I hear a lot of freelancers saying that they left full-time employment because they had really bad experiences. And I do preface that with, yes, I realise I left my very last job because of a person, but prior to that, all my in-house jobs, I mean nothing was ever a hundred percent perfect and sunshine and flowers every day. But on the whole, I'd been part of some really great dynamic teams working with really intelligent people on fantastic projects.

And so there was a lot of energy, there was a lot of idea sharing. Anyway, so jump forward to going freelancing all of a sudden. Yeah, I was at home, sitting in front of my computer all of a sudden going, Whoah, hang on a minute. This is a bit disorienting. It, it's weird. I mean there's a lot of positives that come with freelancing of course. But I don't think it's necessarily easy. That's my experience. And over time, yeah, I mean there's been a lot of positives, but I found it really challenging and I think that's why. Yeah, after burning out at the end of last year, I did really go into a shell.

Steve Folland:

How have you found the business side of freelancing?

Robyn Santa Maria:

Oh look, let's just say I struggle with it to be honest. Cause, I probably shouldn't say this out loud, but I'm just gonna say it. I don't have an entrepreneurial mindset. I would love to say, Oh yeah, I'm this great entrepreneur and I have all these fantastic ideas and I'm gonna make a million dollars. I don't. But at the same time, I know I'm running a business, I have responsibilities. I need to make sure I tick boxes and set up processes and systems. But even when I say that I don't have anything too shiny and bells and whistles, it's all pretty simple behind the scenes <laugh>. So that probably didn't really answer the question, but...

Steve Folland:

But you know what, that answer is great in itself because equally, I might speak to lots of people on here who do have just a natural love of the entrepreneur side, which you can't escape. So hearing somebody who's having a successful career who doesn't feel that feeling is good.

So I mean, it sounds lovely, other than when your husband was permanently in the same room talking all the time. How is work life balance outside of a pandemic in your freelance life?

Robyn Santa Maria:

It's pretty good I must admit. I try to stay fit and healthy. Not as much as I'd like to be right now, but if I can get in at least an hour to two hours of, if I go for a run or go out cycling, that's not every single day, but at least a few sessions a week. If I want to stop early, I really feel like I can use the flexibility of freelancing to ensure that I'm looking after my health. My husband and I do try to make sure that we book in time off and really get away and go off and do what we wanna do. So I try not to work into the early hours, I've never really worked late. I've never worked crazy long hours. I don't tend to work weekends. I guess that's a pretty nice thing to have. <laugh>.

Steve Folland:

If you could tell your younger self one thing about being freelance, what would that be?

Robyn Santa Maria:

I would say don't chase all the shiny objects. Stay in your lane and don't compare your chapter one with somebody else's chapter eight

Steve Folland:

That feels like it's based on something

Robyn Santa Maria:

<laugh>, Because it's just so easy when you're starting out and you start to discover all of the amazing resources that are out there, because there are incredible resources out there, including what you do, Steve, there's so much good stuff and so much good advice. But it's really easy to get overwhelmed by that because when you're starting out and you know, you have a lot of well-meaning people saying maybe think about this and think about doing this and maybe don't do it like that or do it like this, or whether it's client relationship management or the actual work that you're doing or the type of clients that you wanna go after, it's really, really, really easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer amount of advice, the amount of resources, and chase all the shiny objects, whether it's a software package or an app or a new way of doing something.

And I think definitely if you're up for trying new things, go for it. But my experience was that I became very overwhelmed very, very quickly because I tried to follow too many different avenues. I tried to follow too many different pieces of advice all at the same time. And that didn't serve me very well. And the other one about comparison - I think it's a naturally human thing that we do, but it's just so easy to... I still do it... when I'll look at somebody and think, Oh my God, wow. They look like they really have everything together and they're doing all these amazing things and then I'll stop and think, Oh yeah, but they've been doing the gig for 20 years, whereas I've been doing the gig for six or something. You know what I mean? And I think it can work well to serve as a motivator, but it can also be a little detrimental because if you compare yourself and think, Oh well I'm never gonna get there, then well, you're not gonna get there if you let it get to you too much.