5 Crucial Ways to Build Your New Business

July makes it 3 years since I left my full time job at BBC Radio 1 and 1Xtra to go freelance, and 2 years since I accidentally started my company Forward Slash (a digital and social media marketing agency).

I’m literally at the beginning of this journey and have a long way to go, but here are 5 of the biggest lessons I’ve learned so far, that have been crucial for building my business to this point.

1. Always Do A Great Job (& Build Great Relationships)

100% of Forward Slash’s client work is through word of mouth recommendations or relationships that have been cultivated over time.

All of it - Amazon Music, Netflix, Red Bull Music, Nike, BBC, Sony Music etc. Do great work and you’ll become known for it.

It sounds obvious, but you have to consistently deliver a top quality service and top quality work to get more of it. Do that enough times and people will recognise that and co-sign what you do.

Whilst working at the BBC I built lots of relationships with people in different parts of the music and creative industries, and at different levels. Before I left to go freelance I made a list of everybody I wanted to connect with about potential work opportunities (I think it was a list of about 50). I made sure to meet up with all of them, armed with my creative portfolio (a video CV) and the services I was offering. For the ones I didn’t know personally, I asked for introductions from our mutual connections, and made contact that way.

Some of those meetings led to immediate work collaborations, some happened months or a year+ later, and some haven’t come to fruition yet (and may never). Regardless, I stay focused on doing the best I possibly can on every project and campaign and letting the work speak for itself. 

In the meantime I’ve continued to make new connections both with potential clients and potential creative partners, to start building more relationships and opportunities for the future.

2. Set Expectations

*From the jump* set clear parameters for your clients on:

• Deliverables - what your service does and doesn’t include

• Fees - how much you charge and what things beyond scope will increase the price

• Availability - when you will and won’t be contactable

Setting boundaries and expectations is a whole subject in itself that I’ll talk about another time in detail. But the most important thing I’ve learned is that you have to set parameters as early on as possible to clearly establish what your client can expect from you, and what you expect from them. 

In the past I’ve lost money through not being crystal clear on the deliverables, and then having to over deliver to ensure the client received what they were expecting; despite not having the budget for all of said deliverables.

The other area to provide immediate clarity on is your availability. Social media is 24/7 and is always ‘on’, so working on social media campaigns comes with an (unspoken) expectation that you too will always be available. Be clear and upfront about the times you’ll be offline (for example between 7pm and 9am) and how you prefer to be contacted. I like to separate work from my personal life, so I prefer to keep client comms to email and Zoom rather than WhatsApp and text messages, for example. Of course this isn’t always the case, depending on the campaign and type of work, but it’s important to build in separation so you can get the rest and downtime you need - uninterrupted.

3. Outsource ASAP

Being self-employed means everything is on you and it’s not sustainable. Outsource as soon as you can afford to, and where the benefit/ value of outsourcing outweighs the cost.

The first thing I outsourced was Accounting cause who wants to do tax returns?

I quickly learned that being (solo) self-employed means you wear all of the hats, all of the time. 

Suddenly you’re responsible for finance, marketing, acquiring new business, admin, hiring people etc, all while actually trying to do the creative and strategy work your clients have contracted and paid you for. It’s pretty exhausting when it’s all new to you, and it’s also not sustainable. As soon as I could, I started bringing other people in for their expertise. Firstly I hired an accountant to make sure taxes, bookkeeping etc was taken care of.

After that I brought in two part-time assistant producers and a graphic designer to help me on campaigns and projects (which was actually how I ended up starting Forward Slash - there was a constant stream of work that was too much for me to do on my own, but that’s another post for another day).

My view is, anything that gives me back time, frees up mental space and can be done better or just as well by somebody else, is worth the cost of outsourcing.

4. Rest Regularly

Self-employment = ‘if you don’t work, you don’t get paid’ so it’s tempting to work night and day, all year round. But burnout is real and will come for you.

You can only do your best client work if you’re focused and energised, so rest and relaxation is vital.

I have so much to say on the subject of rest and mental wellness as a self-employed person.

I found that freelance/ self-employment isn’t a 9-5 it’s a 9-9, and it’s tempting to work every day of the week, all year round, cause 'if you don’t work, you don’t get paid. Even if it seems like the only option - don’t do it. You’ll burn out and you’ll pay for it mentally and physically. 

Taking on more work than is realistically possible and then doing a poor job because you’re mentally exhausted, will inevitably do more harm than good to your pockets as well as your reputation.

Get comfortable and become OK with the idea of sometimes saying no, and not feeling compelled to take on every bit of work that is offered to you.

Admittedly I haven’t been sticking to it of late, but I’ve blocked out a long weekend (Thursday - Sunday) every six weeks in my calendar for the entire year. This is R&R time (rest and relaxation) and in addition to proper holidays and longer periods of time off. It gives me a few days to catch my breath and let my brain switch off momentarily, so I can recharge before going at it all again.

5. Fake It Til You Figure It Out

Yes, you’re learning as you go, but you don’t need to lead with that. Get your service offering on lock and give the impression you have the other bits down pat too.

There are things I’m winging right now, I just don’t let my clients or my team know.

WING IT - without letting the whole world know you’re winging it. You’re getting work because you’re clearly good at what you do, but of course you don’t know it all and you won’t be good at everything right away. That’s fine, keep building your talent and skill set in real time, but while you’re doing that, make sure you always give your clients and your collaborators the impression that you know what you’re doing. 

People want to feel confident that you’re going to deliver what you say and that they’re in good hands with you. So instill that confidence in them, by projecting confidence yourself (if even you’re not 100% there yet!).

Building Forward Slash and finding my feet as a creative entrepreneur has been and will continue to be the steepest learning curve. There are Ws (wins) and Ls (losses) every week, and I’m taking all of the lessons whilst simultaneously leading a team and managing a portfolio of clients. I’m learning on the job and the more I learn and implement, the more rewarding the experience is becoming (more on this subject in future blogs too).

There are probably another 10 lessons I could reflect on here, so if you think a Part 2 would be helpful for you, let me know in the comments below.