118) How to Go From Burnt-Out Freelancer to Freedom Filled Business Owner

There are two main ways to make money online and become a digital nomad: being a freelancer or being a business owner.

Inside the Digital Nomad Life Academy, I help people become business owners, but I’ve been noticing a lot of people are stuck in freelancer energy without realizing it — and honestly, it’s not sustainable. Freelancing can quickly turn into a grind where you’re working for your clients instead of for yourself.

So in this episode, I’m breaking down the difference between freelancing and entrepreneurship, how to shift out of freelancer energy, and how to build a business that actually gives you more freedom, income, and control over your life.

In this episode, we talk about:

•  The difference between being a freelancer and a business owner 
•  Why freelancing can quickly lead to burnout 
•  How to stop trading your time for money 
•  The mindset shifts required to start a business online 
•  Creating scalable offers instead of hourly work 
•  Why boundaries are essential as a service provider 
•  The biggest mistakes freelancers make with marketing 
•  How to build a lifestyle-first business as a digital nomad 
•  Why predictable income matters when leaving your 9-5 
•  How to create more freedom while getting paid to travel 
•  Building a location independent business with long-term sustainability 
•  The truth about “freedom” entrepreneurship vs. hustle culture 

Resources:

• Check out next: Episode 33: How My Career Assessment Process 

Want support building your online business?

DM me on Instagram @christabellatravels with the keyword “APPLY” to start the conversation about joining the DNLA and creating your own freedom-focused business.

paid to travel, digital nomad, freelancer, start a business online, online business coach, location independent business, remote work, freelancing vs business owner, scalable online business, lifestyle busines

🎧 Ready to take action on starting a remote business? Watch Christa’s free business training “5 Steps to Work From Wherever:” digitalnomadlifeacademy.com/biztraining

Transcript

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Welcome And The Core Problem

SPEAKER_00 3:36

Hey there and welcome to the Digital Nomad Life Podcast. I'm your host, Krista, also known as Krista Bella Travels, on social media. Feel free to slide into my DMs if you have any questions about becoming a digital nomad or going from being a freelancer into a business owner. That is what today's episode is all about, which is in response to so many conversations that I've been having inside of my program, the Digital Nomad Life Academy, where I help people go from nine to five to you to side, aka people who are feeling stuck in the corporate rat race, trapped in their nine to five, to actually creating a location-independent business that gives them all of the time freedom and location freedom and financial freedom that pretty much everybody dreams about. I don't know, honestly, who wouldn't want to have time freedom, location freedom, and financial freedom. I feel like people that say that those things aren't priorities just um are a bit delulu. So uh, but anyway, I know you care about those things. That's why you're listening to this podcast. So as I said, there's been a lot of conversations that I've been having recently inside of my program about the difference between being a freelancer and being a business owner. As I just said, inside of the DNLA, I help people become business owners, but I've been noticing that there's some confusion around what actually makes them a business owner versus being a freelancer. And several of these conversations, I've caught my clients dabbling into freelancer energy, which really is not very sustainable. It's a grind. Um, you end up working for your clients versus working for yourself. And yeah, anyway, there's just there's a lot of differences between being a freelancer versus being a business owner. So in this episode, um, I want to go through what those differences are and how if you are stuck in freelancer energy, that you can actually get yourself out and become a business owner. And it's not that hard, actually, it really just requires a few strategic shifts and mostly um a way of thinking. Well, I'm gonna I'm gonna share with you in this episode all the things that you need to do to go from being a freelancer to a business owner. Now, if you are not a freelancer, this episode is still for you. I think if you are already a business owner and you're a service provider, I think that you will benefit from this just so that you can make sure that you're not actually in freelancer territory. Because I think sometimes people can accidentally fall into that territory without realizing it. So if you're like stressed out as a business owner, it might be because you're accidentally showing up as a freelancer or inadvertently showing up as a freelancer. And if you are someone that's quote, stuck in your nine to five and you're feeling some resistance towards starting your own business, well, you might actually be confusing freelancing with having your own business. And um, if I were in my nine to five and I thought that business was actually freelancing, I too would be scared to leave my nine to five because I think that freelancing kind of sucks. Like, I mean, that's what I it's better than nothing. It's better than it's better than like having your whole life controlled by your company. But um, at the same time, I just don't think that freelancing is very sustainable. I think it's super stressful. Um, I think it's not very strategic. I think that you end up being super surrendered to your clients beckon calls. So um, yeah, anyway, that's my take on freelancing. Let's talk about the difference between these two concepts, these two ways of making money online. All right, let's get into it. First of all, the reason why I want to draw a distinction between freelancing versus having an online business is because the two are actually not only are they super similar, but they also attract the same exact kind of person. Like the same person might be a freelancer or an online business owner. It's just that the person who's a freelancer probably didn't have any guidance in setting up their quote business. They didn't have any business coach that's supporting them, and they just clearly don't understand business that well versus someone who is a business owner does understand business, or is at least attempting to understand business, or at least is attempting to make things more systematized like a business. So um, yeah, the real difference here is that a freelancer doesn't understand business and a business owner does. Now that's kind of vague, right? Because business is a really broad topic. But I think the better way to explain this is actually with an example. And this is a real example of um a call that I literally just had earlier this morning with one of my clients. I'm gonna change everybody's names. Um, but let's call my client Jane. And um she, Jane, is someone who has a lot of skills. Okay. And just like you, whoever you are listening, I bet you have a lot of skills too. You might be like Jane, where you are really strategic in the way that you think. You might um actually be super organized. Maybe you are a systems thinker, maybe you really understand the nature of automations. Like maybe you've been playing around a lot with AI recently. Okay, so that's Jane, right? And Jane also has an HR background. So she's just a really valuable person to have on someone's team. Everybody, every business owner would want someone like Jane on their team. So um, Jane, she, I don't know what happened, she lost her job or something happened a few months ago, and that's why she joined the program. So um basically she went from having an income at her HR career to then not having an income. But because lots of people around her see her as being someone who's super competent and super valuable, she almost immediately got two clients, two different people that were like, Hey, can you help us in our business? So um basically, these people that wanted Jane's support, they essentially hired Jane to be a virtual assistant. Okay, now here's where it gets interesting. Jane got a couple of clients, super exciting, immediately started making money remotely, super exciting from her skill set. We love it. And now that she's a few months into this experience working with her clients, we realize that she's been acting and being treated like a freelancer. And as a result, she's super burnt out, she's frustrated, she's not enjoying the work, and she's not even enjoying her lifestyle. So here's what we talked about today. Jane was telling me that she's got all these skills again, as I mentioned, but um, she's and she's making some money, but she wants to be making more money, but doesn't know how she can make more money because she feels like she doesn't have any more time or bandwidth.

Why Freelancing Feels Like A Trap

SPEAKER_00 11:09

And I'm like, Jane, you only have two clients. Like, how is that possible that you don't have more time? She's like, Well, for example, I told both of my clients that I want more hours. So now they message me whenever they have a new project. And I feel like I have to say yes to it. And if I just have so many clients messaging me asking me for new projects, I'm going to be so overwhelmed. Like, this is a silly example, but you know, yesterday I was laying by the pool and then one of my clients messaged me and said, Hey, do you want to work on this project? I need it done by five. So Jane said that she felt like she had to leave the pool and go work in that project because she had already expressed to her clients that she wants more hours. So what you are probably noticing here is that Jane, even though she's freelancing, so she kind of technically is working for herself, she actually is really working for her clients. Her clients are the one that is dedicated dictating her schedule. Her clients are the ones that are dictating whether Jane has free time or not. And and because Jane wants more hours, genuinely, she wants more hours, she wants to make more money. She kind of feels like she's stuck between a rock and a hard place, accepting this work. So um here is what we talked about today to get her out of that freelancer energy where she doesn't have control over her time or income and it's fluctuating based on whatever her clients need, how to get her out of that freelancer energy and into being a business owner. Okay, so I said, Jane, imagine this. What if instead of your client saying, Hey, I have at least five hours a week for you, but maybe 10, I'll let you know. What if instead Jane went to her clients and she said, Look, client, here's how it's gonna go down. We're gonna meet for three hours the first week of every month. And in that three-hour window, we are going to do a total inventory, a whole diagnostic summary of your business. And we are going to mark all the places that need improvement. Then we're gonna prioritize them. And based on the priorities and what you think makes the most sense, I will choose one to two projects and I will dedicate 20 hours in the month to completing that project. And if I complete the project before the 20 hours, amazing, we can start on the next project. But 20 hours is how much I'm working this month, and I commit to finishing the project by the end of the month. So in that situation, what Jane has done is she has created an offer that is repeatable and easy to understand. Not only is it easy to understand, but it's easy for Jane's clients to go tell their friends about it too. So now word of mouth can actually start working more easily for Jane. Um, word of mouth referrals. Okay, what is great about this is that Jane gets to now look at her calendar and find 20 hours in the month to work on the project. And if she wants to go hang out by the pool or the beach every Friday, she can do that because from the very beginning of the relationship with the clients, Jane is never saying, Yeah, message me anytime you need me to put out a fire. Jane is saying, Look, here's what I can commit to doing this month, and you can expect this result by this date. And Jane gets to do that on her time. What she's also doing, super importantly, is she is setting expectations and establishing boundaries with her client from the very beginning. There is um this great quote that I heard, or a saying, a phrase, or whatever, but it's that boundaries are not putting a wall up, it's just showing people where the door is. It's not preventing people from loving you, it's just showing them how to love you properly. Um, so that is really what's happening when at the beginning of the professional relationship, Jane or whoever the service provider is, is saying, Hey, client, here's how it's gonna work. Here's how I can best serve you. I'm committing to serving you. I'm committing to helping you get a specific transformation. And here's how it's gonna go down. And what that is not doing is saying, yeah, call me anytime, or yeah, like give me more work, or yeah, like let's leave room for interpretation, let's leave room for random spontaneous projects. Let's leave room for you to feel like it's okay to message me in the middle of the day and ask me for something that I don't actually want to be doing at that time because I made plans. So the offer

Jane’s Burnout And The Pool Text

SPEAKER_00 16:22

that Jane and I talked about today, what she can do, literally immediately takes her out of freelancer energy and into being a business owner. Now, she kind of has a couple of options in her particular situation. One, she could go to her clients, the current clients that she's working with now, and she could say, Hey, look, like I'm growing in my um in my profession and I'm changing things up. And here's how it's gonna work from now on. And she could just establish that from the very beginning, or like from the beginning of next month. She could totally do that. Um, and you know, her current clients may or may not like that. Her current clients are used to being able to message her and have her put out fires whenever, whenever they need someone to put out a fire, you know? So her current clients might have a little bit of resistance around Jane's new way of operating her business. And um, if you're in this situation, I just want to validate that like having that conversation with your current clients of like, yo, this engagement isn't working for me anymore. I need things to change, and I hope that you like it. Um, and I hope that you agree. That is a tough conversation, and it might not get you what you want. That client might be like, um, yeah, that doesn't work for me. I actually really need you to be available, and I don't want to pay you a retainer, I only want to pay you hourly. So, like, there's kind of this sticky period going from being a freelancer to being a business owner. But it might just be that now it's time for you to go out there and get a new client that never ever saw you as a freelancer. Your new client sees you as a business owner from the very beginning. Um, and then, you know, the boundaries are able to be established and you get to set expectations and maintain those expectations through your whole professional relationship. Now, speaking of boundaries and the offer being established from the very beginning with a new client, this is another thing that separates freelancers from being a business owner. And it is the way that you communicate to the public what it is that you actually do. In other words, how you market yourself. Okay, so the way that a freelancer markets themselves is again this whole, hey world, I have a skill. Does anybody need this skill? Look at how skilled I am at this skill. Look at my portfolio, look at all this stuff that I know. Let me show you that I know things, let me educate you, let me show you that I am an expert in this field. Okay. So that is the way that a freelancer is marketing themselves. Again, they're portfolio based, and um, they're really just trying to show off their credibility, experience, and capacity. That's what a freelancer does to market themselves. What a business owner does to market themselves is it's less about me and who I am and why I'm good and what I know. And it's more about you, the client. Hey, are you this kind of person? Hey, do you have this problem? Hey, would you like this transformation? Would you like to experience this particular kind of dream? If so, I have a method that will help you go from pain to dream. I have a solution that will take you from A to B. First of all, it's much more appealing to the ideal clientele. It's also much more targeted. If you are a freelancer, um, it would be hard for you to run ads, for example, about your portfolio. Like your portfolio, let's say you're a graphic designer, your portfolio has um content that's like for wedding, wedding industry people, and your portfolio also has content for people that are in the BMX industry and also for um colleges, like three super different industries, businesses, niches. So if that's your portfolio, who are you gonna advertise it to that when you advertise it, the person seeing the ad is like, oh my God, this is for me. If the person seeing the ad is in the BMX industry, they're gonna be like, cool, this person does BMX, but they also do weddings and they also do college work, like, huh? Like, I don't get it. Like, is this person really an expert in in what I need? And here's a phrase to remember forever a confused customer always says no. Russell Brunson. Um, yeah, so what someone who understands what it is that you do and they can clearly see how you can directly help them, that person is much more likely to say yes. So when you have a business, instead of saying, yo, this is my portfolio, look how good I am at what I do. Here's what I do. Does anybody need me to do this thing that I do? A business owner, again, instead will say, wedding businesses that have beautiful graphic design tend to attract more customers and higher paying customers than wedding industry businesses

Boundaries And A Clear Monthly Offer

SPEAKER_00 22:03

that don't have good graphic design. Here's why graphic design is so important for wedding industry jobs or for wedding industry businesses. And um, you know, in the wedding industry, this kind of graphic design tends to work really well and da-da-da. Now, when you have content like that, well, it's pretty obvious who we're gonna advertise it to. We're gonna advertise it to businesses that are in the wedding industry. And those businesses that are in the wedding industry, even if they weren't looking for a graphic designer, they're gonna see that message of, oh, wedding industry businesses that have really beautiful graphic design tend to make more money. Oh, maybe I should hire a graphic designer. And you're gonna put the idea in their head about why they should hire you as a graphic designer. Versus again, when you're just saying, hey, does anybody need a graphic designer? The only people that will find you are the ones that are actively looking for a graphic designer. And that's a pretty small percentage. And frankly, when people are looking for someone, they don't have time to wait to see who advertises to them most effectively. They just think about who do I know that can complete this job? And they're gonna hire the first graphic designer that they think of versus the one that's most relevant. So by you having a business where you are advertising or marketing to a very specific kind of person that has a specific problem, they're way more likely to think of you for their needs even before they realize that they need it. And therefore, you're gonna get more customers, you're gonna get more people paying you. So that's another huge difference between being a freelancer versus being a business owner, is your marketing strategy and your positioning and the way that you are talking about the um yourself versus talking about the client and what the client needs. All right. So up until this point, I've mostly been talking about the practical differences between being a freelancer versus being a business owner. And in summary, if you really had to boil it down, I would just say the key differences are a freelancer doesn't have a defined offer, doesn't have a defined audience that they are sharing their offer to. They are instead saying, Hey, I have the skill, who needs the skill, let me do the skill for you, and is allowing the clients to dictate the nature of the work. Whereas a business owner is very strategic and structured in what their offer actually is, who it's for, and how they market it to that specific kind of person. Now, while those are the, again, the practical differences, what I think the important, really important part of this episode is, and the thing that's been really present for my clients, is what are the benefits of being a business owner versus being a freelancer? And that's where we really get into the lifestyle conversation of this podcast, right? So, you know, I'm not just a business coach or a career coach. Yes, of course I am those things, but um, I'm I'm someone that cares deeply about supporting people and living a really fulfilling lifestyle. So I am never gonna suggest to Somebody to do something that's not going to support the way that they want to live their life. That's why my brand is the Digital Nomad Life Academy. That's why this is the Digital Nomad Life Podcast. Um, I love thinking about business and making money online as a vehicle to live your best life. And ultimately, that's what I want for you. I want for you to live your best life. And when we look at these two methods, these two vehicles to make money online, which can facilitate your best life, one is superior than the other. And the superior one is, of course, being a business owner. Let's talk about some of the benefits that you get to experience when you are a business owner. And I'm gonna go through these quickly because maybe you can already guess what they are now that you've just heard what the practical uh differences are. So I would say, first of all, when you are a business owner, you actually have control over your time and the kind of work that you really do. Whereas when you're a freelancer, you're at the beck and call of your clients. Your clients get to decide when they need you. And if they don't need you, you ain't got no work. And that kind of sucks. I mean, obviously, you need clients to do work as well when you have a business, but um, when you have an offer, first of all, it's easier to sell because it's more clear. And when you are creating your offer, you are inherently establishing the nature of your work and the amount of work that you're doing and the and the time that will be required of your work. It's much more predictable. Now, as I am talking about this, I'm thinking about a conversation that I had with a different one of my clients. So, um, who he's been in the DNL for a few months. And when he first came into the program, it was because he there was like, I think, talk about layoffs happening at his job. And he was like, you know what, I wanna

Marketing That Sells A Transformation

SPEAKER_00 27:43

be three steps ahead and I want to make sure that I'm setting myself up for remote income if and when that time happens. And um, he's been in the program, but then I think the situation changed at work, and now there's not really so much urgency anymore. There's not so much um like imminent uh need for him to change his situation. And what he was telling me on the last call is that he's actually second guessing his decision to start an online business. So we talked about it, right? Because I'm like, all right, well, that's fine. Like, I'm not gonna push anybody into creating an online business, but um, you know, my opinion that this is the best way to create a freedom-focused lifestyle. And I just really trust that people that discover my little corner of the internet um are people that are slightly unconventional thinkers and people that have big dreams and people that really value freedom and living a joyful, authentic, um yeah, lifestyle. So I was like, all right, what's the deal? Like, you are in this program because you clearly value freedom, but you don't want to have a business. Like, what are you thinking instead? And he was like, Well, I've been thinking about actually just kind of staying in my job and maybe living in Texas and you know, like I have I have like a decent amount of vacation time and I have a really steady paycheck. And it's not that I don't like my job, like everything's pretty good. And this is what I really want to talk about in the podcast. Okay, so if you are listening and you're in that situation where your job is pretty good, it's good, or maybe it's even really good for a job. Maybe you get a great salary, maybe you have a steady paycheck, maybe you have a decent amount of vacation time. If you're in that situation, I want to first of all validate that going from that into the unknown of entrepreneurship, I totally understand that it can feel almost like the risk is so big that you could be throwing something so good down a hole. And that's what my client was expressing that he was feeling. He's like, Am I really gonna give up my steady paycheck? Am I really going to give up the security and the benefits that I have at this job that I'm working at, which again is tolerable. So what we ended up talking about was what he was imagining having a business would actually be like. And in that conversation, I realized that he was conflating freelancing with having a business. Okay, so we're talking about the benefits of having a business versus freelancing, right? And when you are freelancing, you're again at the beck and call of your clients. You are needing to constantly scramble for individual clients. You never know how big your next paycheck is going to be. You don't really have any kind of predictability in it. You're constantly in hustle mode. And um, and you have a lot of different bosses because every single one of your clients is essentially your boss. Because again, they're the ones calling the shots, they're the ones that are in control over the nature of your work. And um what we were talking about, I was like, dude, I get it. Like, yeah, if I thought that my only options were having my steady nine to five with a good salary and great benefits and like a tolerable work environment versus sure, maybe having location independence, which freelancing gives you, but not having any kind of financial stability, not having any kind of security for the future or knowing where your next paycheck is gonna come from or how big it's going to be, like all of that insecurity that comes with freelancing, I would probably choose having a job as well. Actually, would I? I don't know. I think at this point I'm way too far gone, to be honest. You know what? I take that back, whoever you are listening, scratch the record. I literally, I would never, ever, ever in a million years for the rest of my life go back to having an office job. I would be, I would end it. That's dramatic. But like I just I need you to know it would never. So I still would be a freelancer, I personally, but I'm not in the job. I'm not feeling the security, I'm not feeling the safety of my job. Um, so I can say that. And he, of course, was feeling like, yeah, this is a pretty big trade-off. So I get it. But what he and you need to understand is that that freelancing is not having a business. Here's what having a business actually could look like. And again, why it is so different than freelancing and why you can basically have your cake and eat it too if you are building a business. All right. So, first of all, even though a lot of my clients do end up quitting their job pretty shortly after working with me, I never would ever tell them to do that because I would never do that myself. For me, when I was transitioning from having a job to um having my own business, I actually was building my business on nights and weekends because I didn't want to quit my job and lose my financial security from my job. I personally am someone who really cares about financial security. I'm someone that really cares about always having enough money. I'm someone that never wants to be broke because I used to be so broke and I I'm never going back to that situation in my life ever again. So um, I just need you to know I really care about financial security and I get it and I I resonate with uh not wanting to lose that. So, first of all, what I said to my client is you don't have to quit your job. You do not ever have to give up that financial security. If you, if your job is gonna keep paying you, keep that job. And then once you replace your income, not with the freelancer situation, but with a business situation, then you can quit your job knowing when your next paycheck is gonna come in. You can quit your job knowing that you have systems to continue generating income for yourself because you have a business that works. I would never say quit your job before you have a business that works, but if you have a business that works, you're probably gonna want to quit your job. And that's why so many of my clients end up quitting their jobs because they build businesses that work. Anyway, why? How can you know that your business is gonna work? And why is that different than freelancing? Okay, so again, with freelancing, you are literally saying, Hey guys, I have this skill. Who wants this skill? I'll do whatever you want. How many hours do you want? Oh, you your needs change. Okay, I guess my my income will change because of something out of outside of my control. That's not the situation that you're in when you're when you have a business. When you have a business, you are building an offer that is not only repeatable, but it is scalable. And this is key. Okay, this is key, key, key, key, key. This is where like freelancing really falls apart as something sustainable and be and building a business not only is sustainable, but it is abundant, it is exciting. You can see far into the future and it allows you to start feeling like the sky is the limit. Okay, so when you're freelancing, let's go back to the example with my client Jane. Okay, so Jane, she's got these two clients. They each are saying, okay, we can give you a minimum of 10 hours per month, but we might need more than that. And um, because they're asking her like super freaking randomly when they need projects and are asking her to do stuff, she doesn't feel like she has the ability to add on more clients in the off chance that one of her current clients needs her more. So, in that situation, her work and her ability to make money is extremely and intricately connected

Keeping Your Job While Building

SPEAKER_00 36:40

to the number of hours that she has in a day. And as we all know, time is an incredibly limited resource. Time's our most precious resource. So, what my client could do, I mean, yeah, she could go ahead and set stronger boundaries with her clients. And, you know, she could eliminate this whole, like, yeah, if you need extra things, then you just pay me more. Like, um, she could stop taking on extra projects. She could keep her client work really tight and she could add on more clients, right? She could add on six more clients at that capacity if each one of them was asking for, you know, 10 hours a month, right? Uh, don't quiz me on my math. Anyway, she could have a lot of clients if she were really dialed in with her boundaries. And um, what she could do, if she was like really good at getting clients, she could raise her prices because she would know that, you know, if one client doesn't want to pay her the amount of money that she wants, she can just let them go. And then she can get a new client that will be willing to pay her more money because she is in demand. And maybe she's really in demand because her marketing is starting to work, and because um she has a great reputation and amazing testimonials and word-of-mouth referrals are just coming in every week reliably, and like that is still possible. Like, I would say that's how you scale a freelancer business. If you want to scale a freelancer business, you don't really have the offer, but you do have strong boundaries and you keep raising your prices. Um, again, because you're not in scarcity, that someone will say no. But still, when your when your offer is directly connected to the hours that you're working, you eventually will cap out at your capacity, at your at your capacity for time. And it is also a fast track to burnout. Because um, if there's one thing that I learned that I feel like people don't talk about this enough, is that the 40-hour work week is such a sham. Like it's bullshit that anybody is actually really dialed in and working for 40 hours a week. That is insane. For anybody to be dialed in for eight hours a day, every single day of the week is insane. Um, maybe if you're a man on cocaine, okay, maybe, maybe, maybe. If you're a woman, hell no. You might have some days of the month where you can pump out a 12-hour day, but then you're gonna have other days of the month where you can barely do four and or none, right? And um, that's just like how women are. That's just how our life and our energy works. And corporate America, corporate international, worldwide, corporate whatever, like just ignores the fact that humans are not robots and we have limited energy as a resource as well. But they lie to you and tell you that 40 hours a week is normal and expected. And therefore, if you are not actively working for 40 hours a week, that you are somehow the problem. And you know what? They know, like because studies show there's all this science that shows that people cannot work for eight hours a day straight. Um, but your company and again, the corporate world shames people into at least pretending like they're working that many hours a day. So um, this is important and why I bring this up because when you start working for yourself, whether you have a business or whether you're a freelancer, you stop having to pretend that you're working for 40 hours a week. You stop having to like uh sit at your desk for optics, you know, like there's nobody watching you sit at your desk and giving you brownie points because you're there at 9 a.m. Um, because by the way, when you get there at 9 a.m., you're not gonna immediately start being super productive. Like, I don't know, maybe I know I could never be that person. Anyway, so when you start working for yourself, you slowly but surely eventually realize that working 40 hours a week is I don't want to say it's not possible, but it's just like not really realistic. Um, and it doesn't need to be realistic because you can have some days, like I said, where you can bust out a 12-hour day, um, or you can get so much done within a two-hour period because you're feeling inspired and excited and energized and well fed and nourished and well slept. If you feel really good and you work for two hours, four hours, you might get so much more done than if you sat down for 12 hours, 14 hours, but felt like shit. So when you start working for yourself, you do realize this, okay? And um this becomes a problem when you are a freelancer and you're trading your time for money because now you think that you should be working 40 hours a week because that's how you've been conditioned to believe that that's what productivity looks like. And then when you realize you can't, suddenly all of your income projections get thrown way the fuck off. And now you start going into a hole of despair because you're like, oh my gosh, I was calculating that at 40 hours a week, at $100 an hour, I was gonna be making this much money. But now I realize that actually it's only realistic for me to be working 20 hours a week because it's also all this admin stuff that I can't bill people for, and da-da-da. And sometimes what happens if I get sick and then you spiral and it's not good. Okay. This is a big issue with freelancing. And again, with trading your time for money. If you are one of my clients, you know you hear me slapping you on the hand right now, being like, Don't trade your time for our money. Don't do it. Uh, but it's tempting at the beginning because that's just what, again, we're taught and like trained to believe is normal. Anyway, okay. When you're a business owner, you are no longer trading your time for money. Back to the example of Jane, who when we transitioned her in that conversation from being a freelancer into a business owner, instead of her saying, okay, I'll work uh 10 hours a month for you, she will sit down with them and she'll say, Okay, there's we're gonna do three hours at the beginning of the month. And within that three hours, we're gonna talk about all these things and we're essentially going to create some diagnostic summary of what you need for the rest of the month. And then I will commit to two or two projects that I will complete for you in the month. And then she stops there. She doesn't say how long the projects are gonna take. She doesn't have to say how many hours she's gonna work. I know in the earlier example I did say 20 hours a month. That's if you do a retainer model, but now we're talking about your business being scalable. So now, new conversation with the new client who doesn't have any previous expectations. Now she talks with a new client. She's like, okay, we're gonna do three hours at the beginning of the month, and then I'm gonna choose two projects, and by the end of the month, I will complete these two projects. And there is no connection between projects and hours. What the client cares about, the one hiring Jane, is that the projects get done by the deadline. That's what the client cares about, and that's what the client should care about, and that's what the that's what clients really do care about. They really care about the results. They don't care about the hours because they're not actually your boss. They don't care if you're sitting behind a desk for them for eight hours, they care that the shit that they're hiring you for gets done. So that's what you're gonna communicate about. You're not gonna communicate about how long it takes you because frankly, they don't care. They just want to have their expectations met. So you give them a deadline that you can reasonably um meet. And then the first time that you do that offer for that client, it might take you 20 hours. But the next time that you do it, you're gonna be faster at it because you're gonna be more experienced. So then the next time you do it, it might only take you 15 hours. And then the third time you do it, now not only are you more experienced, but you've created some kind of template and you have pattern recognition. And now maybe the same project goes down to only seven hours. And then the fourth time that you sell that same offer, now you hire somebody to do it for you because you've been documenting your process, you know how fast things might take, you get to teach them how to do it in your now efficient pattern recognition way. And now the same project that used to take you 20 hours is now taking your virtual assistant seven hours to do, and you spend one hour with that virtual assistant making sure that the work that they've done is satisfactory, and then you go back to your client. And now you've just gone from spending three plus 20 hours with your clients to three plus one hour with your virtual assistant and one hour showcasing that work to your client. And now you're still getting paid for the 23-hour project for five hours of your work. Of course, you've got to pay the virtual assistant, but that virtual assistant is gonna get paid a lot less than you

Scaling Beyond Hours With Systems

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because that virtual assistant is a freelancer. And freelancers don't make as much money because they don't understand business, and it's not your responsibility to coach every freelancer into being a business owner unless you're me. And in that case, that's what people hire me to do. People hire me to take them out of the freelancer mentality and into being a business owner who can scale their business and make more money and have more time freedom and more financial abundance and more control over your day and having more fun in your business and outsourcing the shit that you don't want to do. Like it's just night and day being a business owner versus being a freelancer. I know earlier I was like, they're really similar, but now you understand why they actually are different.

unknown 47:34

So

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So look, if you are a freelancer currently, don't feel bad. Okay. Like actually, I just if you are a freelancer, I want to celebrate you because to me, people that are freelancers, I see them and I'm like, this person is scrappy AF. Like this person was like confident in their ability to do the skill, confident in their ability to communicate about their skill. And obviously has like the ability to do the skill and is recognized for it and probably has other people telling, telling one another that they're great at what they do. Like if you're a freelancer, power to you, hell yeah. Like mad respect. And also you deserve more out of your career. You deserve more in your bank account. You deserve more in your life fulfillment and in your lifestyle that I know you have so intentionally started creating. It can be so much better. And when you join the Digital Nomad Life Academy, I will show you how to go from being a freelancer into being a business owner. Now, if you're someone who has been an avid listener of this podcast, I just want to clarify one thing. I usually in this podcast speak to people who are not freelancers, but people that are actually stuck in corporate. So if you're someone that's stuck in corporate, it doesn't mean that the DNLA isn't for you. The DNLA is for people who are stuck in corporate and who are stuck in freelancer. Both people are people that want to start an online business or like grow their online business. The DNLA is about that. The DNLA, Digital in My Life Academy, is about helping people go from feeling like they're not fully in control over their time and income and creativity to being in control over all of those things. And obviously in control over their location. Um, because we are a lifestyle first business coaching program. So if you're someone who is stuck in corporate and you don't know what business you want to create, but you love the idea of working for yourself and you love the idea of having a scalable business, then perfect. You're gonna come into the DNLA and we're gonna work with you at ground zero, which is the very first zero step zero, which is coming up with the business idea. And I do support you in doing that. And I have a whole way you can check out episode 33 of my career assessment process to learn more about how I help you come up with a really aligned business idea. If you're a freelancer, you're gonna skip step zero and you're gonna come into the program at level one, which you're gonna go straight into the business foundations, and you basically have the rest of the year to talk about scaling your income and creating a more scalable, repeatable offer. So just wanted to clarify that the DNLA is for both people who are stuck in corporate and people who are stuck as a freelancer. And um, guaranteed when you are part of the DNLA, which by the way is a one-year program with you know a hundred people from all over the world who are all freedom seekers, big dreamers, people that care about location independence, people that are lifestyle first business owners, you will meet so many people. Not only will you get to come to coaching calls with me three to four times a week every single week, but you also will get to meet so many like-minded people that will lift you up and network with you and introduce you to other people who would be relevant to your business, collab with you, co-create with you, teach you, learn from you. Like it's just really, I can't emphasize how amazing the community is in the DNLA. People make friends, business partners, they travel together. It's just like such a vibe. Um, so anyway, if you are curious about the DNLA, you can slide into my DMs at Christabella Travels on Instagram with the keyword apply. And I'll send you a series of questions. Applying doesn't mean that you're gonna be accepted. Applying doesn't mean that you're committing to joining the program. Applying is literally just opening up a structured conversation with me in my DMs so that I can check in and see if maybe I can help you in the DMs without you joining the program. Maybe all you need is a quick little tip. Um, or maybe you actually would really benefit from being a part of the academy. And um, that's what we will explore together once you send me a message. So again, it's Christabella Travels with the keyword apply. And I hope that you found this episode useful. I hope that if you are in your nine to five, you now can feel safe and secure and assured that stepping into entrepreneurship doesn't have to mean you sacrificing your safety and security. Again, I don't want that for you. I wouldn't want that for anybody. I want you to feel safe and abundant and that like the whole world is your oyster. That's what I want for you. I don't want you to feel like you're in scarcity and like worried about money running out. Hell no. Um, and if you're a freelancer, I hope that you are walking away from this episode, feeling empowered to step into your business journey and that you feel more excited to learn about business and marketing, and that you are looking forward to the amount of more money that you can make and the more freedom that you can have and the beautiful lifestyle that is waiting for you when you become a true business owner. Okay, thank you so much for listening to the Digital Know My Life podcast, and I'll see you in the next episode. Bye.