"Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear." – _{Mark Twain}

Happy Monday!

It’s the last week of July.

How is it that the moment you feel like you are getting a grasp on the month, the next starts knocking on the door, yelling to be let in?

(That said, here’s hoping you’ve sent out your invoices!)

We had a friend over recently helping us paint our nursery for our daughter (Yeah, October’s coming fast.)

He asked if I could run up and grab some extra paint to finish the job, and when I got to the hardware store, I couldn’t believe my eyes.

The firework trash has barely been blown away by the summer wind, and you’re telling me it’s time to break out the Halloween decorations?

Nope. I won’t be forced to live 3 months in the future while there’s summer to be lived today.

But seeing those freakish yard atrocities got me thinking - we often spend so much time living in the what if’s of the freelance future that we fail to enjoy the moments we are living today.

More on that idea below!

In Today’s Edition

• The Scariest Part of Freelancing: It’s not the money, nor the clients. It’s not even the fear that it’ll all fall apart overnight. It’s worse.

• Tweets Of The Week: A few tweets (you’re telling me it’s “X” now?!) that caught my eye, made me laugh, or made me think!

• August Hath Arrive-eth: That client who hasn’t paid for June is gonna love getting that August invoice!

The Scariest Part of Freelance

I recently had a friend ask me what the scariest part of freelancing is.

The thought struck me in the moment.

The easy answer, of course, is, “Well, everything could just dry up overnight!”

After all, when you wear ALL the hats, it’s easy to feel like your brain is (to steal from a favorite Hobbit) “like too little butter spread across too much bread.”

But at the end of the day, I don’t think that’s the scariest part of freelancing.

No, it’s the idea that we fall victim to the same scarcity mentality that we left the 9-5 to escape from.

Gaining The World, Losing Your Soul

In the early days of my freelance journey, I was so desperate to make it work that I took any job, any price, any deadline.

Just give me the work, and I’ll get it figured out later.

But a year into that lifestyle, I found myself burning the candle at both ends.

• Late nights working on projects.

• My nose buried in my phone all day and night, emailing clients and looking for gigs.

• A grumpy, irritated attitude from lack of sleep and unreasonable stress.

I soon realized that I was less happy being a freelancer than I was in my regular role!

Sure, I had found a passion in my work, which is a balm that can heal many aches and pains in life. But the neverending hope that “next week would be better” was leaving me exhausted - dragging myself from job to job.

“But what if I don’t have enough work next week?”

“What if the market crashes and companies back out?”

“What if I’m discovered to be a fraud and can’t hack it?”

In other words, I had lost the plot on why I was doing this in the first place.

I was so concerned about what could happen in the future that I was wasting my days preparing for a silly hypothetical future.

Don’t Fear the Ghosts of Tomorrow

It took some soul-searching to remind myself of why I was a freelancer in the first place. It wasn’t to make a ton of money by working all night and day for clients who didn’t pay me enough or respect my boundaries.

I became a freelancer to chase what I loved doing - writing online and meeting exciting new people and brands. To spend more time on what I wanted to do - when I wanted to do it. To spend time with my kiddos and wife and enjoy the moments we have today.

As freelancers, we must create boundaries and build walls around our lives. If we don’t, every single second of our available time will be sucked up by the work.

So…What does that mean, practically?

• Raise your rates if you have too many current jobs running at the same time.

• Get serious about your daily schedule and how you want to spend your days.

• Learn when you work best, and work hard at those times. Then rest - really rest - when you are logged off.

You’ll find that small steps to optimize your life will bring rest and refreshment to your soul - and spark even greater creativity and entrepreneurial spirit. Best of all? Your clients will get it.

So what’s the scariest part of freelancing? Chasing unrealistic expectations for your career that make you miss the beauty of today.

Don’t fear the ghosts of tomorrow. Live today, and enjoy the moments.

After all, isn’t that why we freelance?

Freelance Gems From The Bird (X?) App

A weekly roundup of my favorite tweets from friends (and maybe some foes.)

Raise your hand if you spend more time working on solutions to procrastination than just doing the gosh dang thang. 🙋

Sam gets it - balance matters in freelance life. If we don’t actively (and aggressively) protect our time, it will escape on its own. And we can’t get that time back.

Lord, have mercy on us all.

I won’t spoil Amy’s tips here - but you should click on them. They’re 💯

I’m a big fan of things that reduce friction in life. Josh’s “More Than 3 Rule” is perfect.

Tuesday’s Coming…

We’re cruising into the end of July! Are you caught up and ready for August?

Remember - don’t give into the scaries of living in the “what ifs” and burning yourself out trying to meet unrealistic expectations.

Do what you can to prepare for tomorrow (or next month) today - and let the process do its thing.

It’s gonna work out. And hey, you might make enough money next month to put a 20-foot scarecrow in your yard!

Until next Monday, may your coffee be strong - and your deadlines be few.