creative maverick

If you’re concerned about the number of clients you have or the amount of income you’re getting right now, try this surprisingly effective daily habit.

Mark Forster suggests tackling your top priority at the beginning of your day. It’s surprising how few people apply this principle to money. If you’d like to bring some more money in, spend an hour at the beginning of your day explicitly aiming to do so.

This is a time when it’s OK to think short term. Apply the 80/20 rule - what action is most likely to make a direct difference to my bank balance if I do it right now? Then do it.

Out of the all the possible stuff to do, start with the things that will have the most immediate effect. Approach tasks in this order:

• Deposit money available right now - that cheque you’ve been carrying around for a week, or go to Paypal and withdraw funds.
• Claim money already earned - invoice clients who owe you money
• Pick the “low-hanging fruit” - follow up on warm enquiries for your work that you may have dropped the ball on. If you have a back-log of email, fish through it to find the work enquiries and leave the rest right now.
• Then, starting to think a bit longer term, move to winning new work. Think, who is most likely to respond? What product/service do you already have that you know sells well when you promote it? What’s likely to sell best in this economic climate / at this time of year? Run a promotional campaign on it.

This may sound very simple, even obvious, but it’s surprising how effective it is. And even if the amounts are small, it’s remarkable how they add up and can transform your cashflow.

As creative people we might not naturally think to prioritise money in this way but it’s this steely focus on cash that makes entrepreneurial types rich. Try it out and leave a comment to let me know you how you get on.

Longer term of course, you will need a strategy to provide something people really need, based on work you love doing, and then market it well. (See my Make More Money programme)