Miss Part 1? Read it here first.

Let’s recap:

• Freak outs are bad.
• Uncertainty causes freak outs.
• Starting a business is full of uncertainty.

Therefore, starting a business will cause freak outs.

But there is a simple way to reduce the uncertainty with starting a business. I’ve alluded to it last time.

…

Having a plan.

A plan will give you the confidence to work through the uncertainty. It’ll give you the knowledge to know when to wait for results and when to change your strategy.

But just having a plan doesn’t guarantee it’ll work for you.

Sometimes the plan itself is flawed. Other times the plan isn’t well suited to you.

That was my problem with using a lot of business books when I started freelancing. Their plans weren’t well suited to help me start a freelance business. Half of the concepts they talked about where a waste of time.

I didn’t need to lease a storefront.

I didn’t need employees.

I don’t have inventory or supplies.

What I needed was a plan built just for me. Or at least built for starting a freelance development business.

One that used my strengths.

One that avoided the topics that don’t matter to a freelancer.

That would have been a huge help when I got started. It would have prevented the painful mistakes I made during the first couple of years. Mistakes like charging 25% of what everyone else was.

Having a plan that you can trust would make starting a business easier.

You’d have a guide to help you along the path. Removing the uncertainty.

But it’s more than just that. With a good plan you’ll know what areas are important, which are unimportant, and which are important but not right now.

A good plan will address the important stuff, that’s a given.

The more valuable parts are ignoring something completely (unimportant) or delaying something that isn’t urgent. They might seem like little matters but this helps…

Remember the freak out? Remember how it is brought on by uncertainty?

Well, when your plan says to ignore X and Y then you’ve given the space to not worry about X and Y.

You’re not overwhelmed by X and Y.

X and Y don’t matter anymore.

Let’s be clear, you still might experience some uncertainty by other things. The important things. And a good plan will help you manage these things and overcome them.

And that’s what you really need to start a freelance business:

A good plan.

Eric Davis

P.S. The final and 3rd part is ready and waiting for you here.