How to Stay Motivated to Grow Your Freelance Business When NO CLIENTS Are Coming [ Freelancing to Financial Freedom ]
What if the real reason you’re struggling to stay consistent in your business isn’t discipline?
If you’ve ever felt excited about your business one week and completely drained the next, you’re not alone. Motivation fades fast when your goals feel vague, your rewards are unclear, and your schedule is reactive instead of intentional.
By the end of this episode, you will:
Uncover how to identify a deeper, emotionally compelling reason that actually drives you forward when things get hard
Learn practical ways to keep yourself motivated through both internal satisfaction and meaningful rewards
Discover how to structure your time so your business keeps moving even with a busy, unpredictable life
Press play now to learn the simple three-part framework that can help you stay consistent and finally build momentum in your business.
Connect with Kiri, the host:
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Episode Transcript:
[00:00] Take a listen to this episode to figure out how to stay motivated and consistent when you're freelancing so that you can increase your income and clients. Welcome to the Freelance to Freedom Podcast. This podcast helps early freelancers learn how to get more clients with clear strategies that help your freelance business make more money in less time. I'm your host, Kiri Mohan, founder of Flourishing Freelancer.
[00:23] Let's dive in. By the end of this episode, there are three important words you need to be thinking about when trying to stay consistent and motivated in your business, and that is why, how, and when. Take a listen. Welcome back to the show, everyone. So when I was creating my corporate to contract slash flourishing freelancer course, because it used to be a course that you could buy
[00:48] by itself before it got wrapped up in my curriculum, the number one lesson that was part of it was how to stay motivated. How do you stay motivated and consistent when things go rough? And the reason why this was the number one lesson is so obvious because it gets really hard. Running a business is really hard. Running a freelance business is hard. And I'm not gonna lie or tell you otherwise
[01:10] because sometimes it's just very, very difficult. And for me, it was really important to think about the why, the how, and the when Because that's gonna determine your excess and make sure that you're getting clients if you follow this. So why am I doing this? How am I motivated? When is the best time for me to get done?
[01:32] Right? It really comes down to that. And when you keep that in the forefront of your mind, right, it's easier to stay motivated when you hit obstacles, when you wanna throw in the towel, when it gets just plain exhausting because it will. So we're gonna start with, like, the why. Right? Like, what is the reason behind why you wanna start this freelance business? Because I will tell you too many people
[01:54] have surface level whys, and it drives me insane. People are like, okay. I wanna be there for my kids. I wanna be able to see their performance or their soccer game. But right now, I work really far away, and I can't make it back in time to see them or I can't get the time off from work or whatever it is. Right? Like, alright. But that's a lot of people's
[02:14] whys, and a lot of people have failed. Really, why is it? Is it you're embarrassed in front of your kid? Do you feel like you're not good enough as a parent? Is it because you feel like they're gonna hate you for this for the rest of your life, or is it like the shame that you carry around for not being able to see your kids' games or performances or
[02:35] whatever it is? You know? Is that eating into your soul? Do you feel like the patriarchy is pushing you down and forcing you now into a job and you wanna have that job, but they're not giving you the flexibility? Because really corporate America is still built for men. Right? It's not really built to understand women and our needs and the timing and all
[02:57] of that, but really not for fathers either if you think about it. Okay. We're gonna go I'm digressing here. I know. Sorry. But, like, think about that why and get a little bit deeper. Right? Is it if you just wanna work from home or you just want a flexible lifestyle, why? Yeah. That's nice to have. A lot of people want that.
[03:13] But why? What's a deeper reason? If you can connect with that deeper reason, it's gonna push you forward on those days that you don't wanna do anything. Alright? Or when you feel like giving up. Now how? How? How are you gonna do this? How are you gonna stay motivated? And I look at it really between intrinsically motivated and extrinsically motivated.
[03:34] Now, I am intrinsically motivated. That means when I see something checked off, I'm like, yes, I did it. I got it done and I can move on. And that makes me really, really happy. Okay? That's almost all the satisfaction I need. But extrinsically motivated means that like, okay, if I make $50,000 this year, I'm going to reward myself with X, right? Like a nice handbag, shoes, vacation, a shirt.
[03:58] I don't know. Whatever it is, you got to figure out like how are you going to stay motivated? Reward yourself. Celebrate the milestones because when you do that to yourself, you're more likely to stay in it. Maybe it's even something simple like, hey, I had a LinkedIn post that got over a thousand impressions. Or I did a sub sec post that went semi viral and a lot of
[04:18] people are responding to it. That's amazing. Now, how are you going to reward yourself? How are you going to stay motivated to continue to do this? Because once that little high is done, you should set yourself another one that says, okay. Next time this happens, I'm gonna reward myself this way. Maybe it's just a nice meal. Maybe you go out to eat and read a
[04:37] book. I don't know. Like, you can tell what I like. That's like for me. Like, okay. I'm gonna go out to a coffee shop, and I'm not gonna bring my laptop or my phone. And I'm gonna sit there, and I'm gonna read a book for thirty minutes. Like, that to me is, like, so motivating. Like, absolutely. I'm gonna go do that. That's gonna make me feel like I
[04:50] made it. So make sure you're figuring out how you're motivated within all of this. And then finally, when? This is really important, and this is tying back. Like, you almost look at this all as like a three part series from last week when I talked about the number one reason your business is failing and then the tip of the week when we talked about the morning time and staying productive.
[05:11] And now we're looking at when, which ties us all together. It's like we're all really busy. We're all busy. All of us are in different phases of life right now. And there are always going to be externally competing factors trying to get our attention. If you wanna build this business, you have to be focused. So when are you going to do it? That's what it comes down to.
[05:31] Right? When I was working full time, I made that time. I got up early, and I did some stuff after dinner. Sometimes I even did stuff right when I came back from work. Okay? There were times when I went home during lunch. Now I was really lucky. I worked about twenty minutes.
[05:46] Yeah. Twenty minutes from my work. But that first job, I did it. When I started this, I didn't have that. But then the second job I got, I was able to go home. So I would go home twenty minutes, work for twenty minutes, and then drive twenty minutes back. But that twenty minutes was so key because I was like, okay. What are the the few things I need to do?
[06:03] Maybe it was a social media post. Maybe it was responding to them. Maybe it was doing some emails. Whatever it was, I went home and I did it because I knew that I had to keep the ball rolling. I had to keep up momentum. Remember, there's so many competing priorities in your life. And if you have a full time job or a part time job, that is
[06:18] another priority, and it's gonna be really hard. So when are you in the zone and when can you capitalize on that? I do encourage you to look at mornings and try to use that time as best you can and make yourself excited about mornings. Okay? But if that is just not you and you do not want to wake up, then maybe you're a night owl and you need to spend like two
[06:35] or three hours from nine to eleven p. M, nine to midnight. Hey, look, my husband, he can function all night four or five hours of sleep. No problem. Not me. But maybe that's the type of person you are. So when are you going to do your work? Because that is gonna keep the ball rolling no matter what. Okay? Remember, when you're thinking about this, it's why, how,
[06:56] and when. And the number one thing you need to return to is always, how can I make this enjoyable even when everything else sucks? Even when everything else sucks, how can I make this enjoyable for myself? Because that's gonna keep you consistent. That's gonna be how you increase your clients because you're going into your business every day and making sure that you are working on
[07:16] it. Stay tuned. We've got a tip of the week this Thursday about consistency and making sure that you stay consistent. And then next week, we're gonna be having a real hard honest look at my numbers, my first year of freelancing, first three sixty five days from when I decided to start freelancing through those first three sixty five days. What was I actually spending money on? How much money did I make?
[07:40] How many clients did I get? Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. That's going to be a really fun episode those of you who are just starting out or really want an honest look of what the first three sixty five days looks like. My name is Carey Mohan. I am the founder of The Flourishing Freelancer Group, and I really hope that you wanna accelerate your business, make it your main source of
[07:57] income, and have a stable freelance business. And I am a 100% here for it. Click the link in the show notes. Let's chat about what I can do to help you. Until then, keep flourishing. Are you struggling to get the income you desire as a freelancer? Download my money mapper for a clear view of the earnings you need to achieve your dream salary. It calculates monthly income while factoring in taxes, expenses,
[08:22] and the best part is that it grows with your business to include contractors and a SEP IRA. Head to the link in my show notes to calculate what you should be earning to start increasing your income.
