It’s no secret that marketers typically wear many hats. From social and content, to design, copywriting, email, data analytics and SEO – marketers possess a wide range of skill sets. Freelancing adds a few more hats like prospecting and sales, invoicing and accounting, HR and management, which can be daunting especially as you gain momentum and take on new clients. As a graduate student with a full schedule and a few clients, here are the ways I’m succeeding with Moxie as a freelance marketing specialist.
In my previous blog post in this series, I outlined the Moxie features that I use most often and how you can use them to your benefit! Check it out, if you haven’t yet, but TLDR: I gushed about the time tracking feature probably a little too much (if that’s even possible). Below I’ll touch on the benefits those features have provided me in my business and overall quality of life.
Time & money
We’ve all heard the phrase “Time is money and money is time,” right? That’s even more true for a freelancer, like me, who is working for an hourly rate or project-by-project. It’s helpful to have the right tools to make your job easier, more efficient, and to give yourself time back to invest in your business or other areas of life that need your attention.
Gone are the days of static spreadsheets and manual updates! With Moxie, it’s been easy to account for my time worked and bill my clients with detailed notes and project information that’s automatically synced. What a game changer! This is especially important as I manage email marketing for five brands under just one of my clients. I’ve programmed each brand as a separate project assigned to that client, so I know exactly how much time I spend on each brand and email project. This analysis helps me understand how much time I might need for future projects, but in the moment, it provides me peace of mind knowing that my hard work is accounted for and I’m not missing out on any payments.
Ensuring that I’m being compensated for each minute of work is just as important and valuable as the time savings I receive as a freelancer, and Moxie allows for both.
Quality of life
It’s in this balance of time, work, earning, and freedom to focus on what requires your attention, where quality of life increases. I can remember many instances sitting at my desk in my 9-to-5 job unable to focus on the task at hand, because another “personal” issue was crowding my brain space. Or suddenly I thought about a great point for my next essay. Or maybe it was just an off-day. I couldn’t flex my time to be the most productive or present for each area of my life. There was a clear line between “business Kira” and “personal Kira”; an incongruence which added anxiety and stress for me in the corporate workplace. We are all whole people with problems and lives, who should be able to bring their whole selves to work. Freelancing has allowed me to reconnect the parts of myself that I previously disconnected with, or stuffed down, in an attempt to fit into the corporate 9-to-5 realm.
One of my favorite quotes by Henry David Thoreau is “Pursue some path however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence.” For me, in this stage of life, freelancing allows me to make a living while pursuing my path. And in this metaphor, the Moxie App is the bike I’m riding while on my way, efficiently getting me from point A to B and allowing me to enjoy the view at the same time.
In this world of freelancing, I’ve quickly learned that the skills are important, but perhaps even more so is confidence in yourself. Having an all-in-one platform to serve as a home base for my very own business provides me with the confidence I need to succeed for myself and my clients.
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