Thursday afternoon, I was just done.

I’d been hitting the gym harder, new clients were calling like crazy, and I hadn’t been sleeping properly. Thursday, all my natural freelancer juice just called it quits.

Since working for yourself means it’s even more important to pay attention to signs like these, I just sat and let things be for the rest of the week and thought about how I’d get moving again on Monday. It took a lot of thought because honestly, sometimes it’s just crazy hard to get yourself moving.

It hit me though, just how important knowing how to start yourself in your work is as a freelancer, and that’s why this week’s tip is…

Don’t believe that this skill is in-born. It’s stronger in some of us than others, but all of us can work on developing it. Personally, what helps me most is viewing myself as my own employee…one whose productivity, well-being, growth, and satisfaction are my responsibility. That’s been highlighted a LOT this month getting clients (since I’m an awful sales person), but it’s teaching me about how I treat myself and how I can keep myself motivated to continually do all the “starting” necessary as a freelancer.

So what about you? Are you a natural starter? What do you think holds you back the most?

Getting clients month is moving right along and we just published part 2 of How To Get Your First (or better) Freelance Clients. Spend a few minutes reading it and working through the short exercise…it’s one that can change your freelancing career.

(Our premium members will be working through the exercise together for the rest of the month in the forums, so now might be just the time to claim your free trial month of premium membership.)

We also have two additional posts…one on getting inside the heads of your clients, and a second on using H&M’s awful Twitter response as an inspiration to get new clients of your own.

Have a great week, and if you’ve got any questions on how to get new clients yourself, just reply to this email and let me know…talk to you soon!

Megan.