Why You Don't Need a Full Client List Before You Quit Your Job and Freelance Full Time [ Freelancing to Financial Freedom ]
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What if waiting until you have a full client list is the very thing delaying your move into full-time freelancing?
If you're stuck wondering when it's "safe enough" to leave your corporate job, this episode challenges one of the biggest freelancing myths and shows you how to make the transition with more confidence, smarter planning, and less pressure to have everything figured out before you quit.
By listening, you'll discover:
What key items you need to have in place before you leave corporate - and no, it isn’t a full roster of clients.
How to quit your job on great terms and the smart moves you can make instead of burning a valuable professional relationship.
Practical ways to generate new opportunities once you have the time to focus on growing your freelance business.
Press play now to learn a practical transition strategy that can help you leave your job with greater confidence while creating opportunities to secure freelance work faster.
Connect with Kiri, the host:
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Episode Transcript:
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By the end of this episode, you're gonna find out why you don't need to worry about having a full client list before you quit your job to freelance full-time. Going into all the details. Take a listen.
Welcome back to the show. We are on day 5, where we've been talking about everything I wish someone had told me before I made the leap from corporate and went into freelancing, and even then, pretty much what I wish someone had told me in my first 3 to 4 years, because I felt like so much of what I had from corporate lingered and actually stopped me from growing and getting better as a freelancer. This is day 5 of this series. We've covered so much so far. Myths, money, mindset.
Today, we're talking about why you don't need that full client list before you quit your job and freelance full-time, alright? This is going to tie back into quite a few different things, but I mean, we talked a lot about the myth of replacing 100% of your income, right? That was day 3. And I think so many people think, oh god, like, myself included, it was like, I need to make exactly what I'm making in corporate in order to quit, and that's just silly, because corporate takes up so much of your time, and you're gonna get that time in order to look for more clients. I think, really we don't need a full client list. We need to have a pipeline, maybe, and we need to have people that we're interested in working with, and we need to definitely, I advise, have some clients that you're working with on project-based or retainer-based before quitting your job. You need to have some experience to know, like, hey, I got this, I can make this work, before you move on to completely giving in your notice, right? What I think actually matters before you leave your job is, do you have some savings in place? We talked about in Day 3, again, making sure that you were taking the money you make from freelancing it and not touching it, alright? So do you have some savings in place? Because there might be times when it goes up and down a little bit. I think it matters a lot not to burn bridges with your employer. This might be an unpopular opinion, and I might be alone here, but I think a lot of people want to do the typical, like, I quit! and throw their laptop into the air, and their papers into the air, and stalk off in glory, and look super cool, maybe throw poop at their boss's window. I don't know where they get that poop, maybe they bring it in from their dog, I don't know. But don't do that, please don't. Don't burn bridges with your employer, because I think your employer could be one of your best transition strategies, okay? So if you don't have a full client list, but you've reached that breaking point, and you're really thinking of quitting, you can offer to your employer the opportunity to be a contractor for your company, their company, while they work on hiring someone new. Because, spoiler, and I'm sure you guys know this, when someone gives a two-weeks notice, it's very rare that the employer can actually fulfill that role and bring in a new person within 2 weeks. Crazy, right? And that person is getting thrown right into the fire. They have no training whatsoever. So if you're able to package that, and say to them, look. I know I'm leaving, but the reason why I'm leaving is because I started this venture, and who knew it actually took off? I'm actually really good at this, it's amazing, right? But I… I don't want to do bad by you. I want to stay in your good graces, and I want this to be really amicable, so I am willing to stay on as a contractor while you find someone new. And I can train that person as well. I'm willing to come in, maybe a day or two, and then I can just give you my contractor rate, or maybe you can train them online, whatever it is. That is a nice package for your employer, because then they don't have to rush it, right? They don't have to rush getting and pulling in someone new, and that person might not be good. They get to take their time and make sure it's a really good fit. And I actually, in my freelancing services, ended up offering temp roles, which was actually a huge fun moneymaker for me. It's like, when people had executive assistants that gave their notice, went on maternity leave, whatever it was, I would offer my services so that people could actually hire me for that in-between period so they could take their time before actually hiring someone new. So this is why I don't want you to really burn the bridge with your employer. Now, I know in some situations, you're like, I just can't wait to get the F out. I hate them. I hate them. Then fine, fine. But I think this matters a lot before you leave, especially if you don't have a full client list. Because staying in touch with people, keeping them in your network might be some of your strongest leads as well. And this was definitely true for me, it was true for some of my students. When you quit, these people are some of your best referral sources. Now, I also want you to know that you don't need a full client list, because I want you, once you give your notice, to let your colleagues know that you're starting to contract, and do contract work, and to freelance, and this is what I just talked about, but, like, it's so important to actually start telling people, and telling people in your job, because then they'll say, oh, wow, okay, really interesting, I might need someone like that, you in the future, or I might know of someone who needs someone like you in the future, that warmth leads, basically, warm prospects, are way better than anyone cold, right? On top of that, I think that once you're able to quit, you should reach out to all your past colleagues, anyone you've worked with in the past who's who knows your work, not just random people, right? Who knows your work, and tell them what you're up to, because that makes it so much easier, especially if you don't have a full client list as well, because you never know who knows someone, alright?
I also think now you're gonna have the chance to start networking. And by networking, I mean, like, actually going to events in the evening, during lunch times, meeting different people online, where you weren't able to do that before. That's also why you don't need a full client list before you quit. Because I think a lot of times, especially when you're working in corporate, your energy's so low, and you just don't want to go to a networking event, and you're just like, ugh. So you spend all your time doing online social media and online marketing, which has its place, but it's harder to be heard. When you network, you're really getting to know people face-to-face, and they remember you, and then it gets so much better, right? So, all these reasons are why you don't need a full client list before you quit. You don't. Should you have? Some clients you're working with? Yes. Should you know this is a possible venture that seems like it could really work? Yes. Do you need a full income? No. And like I said, don't burn the bridge with your employer. Make sure all your last colleagues at other jobs, colleagues that are soon going to be ex-colleagues at your current job, make sure they all know what you're doing so that they can refer you. And now, you'll have the time to go to networking events, hopefully open up your calendar more, get to meet more people. And then finally, when you quit, you can actually offer your services as a contractor to your employer. It's such a good idea, so that they can hire someone. And they can take their time and make sure that they have a good fit, right?
I hope this helped you guys realize that you don't need a full client list, just like you don't need a full-time income before you quit, because there's so many other options out there, alright? So tomorrow, we're gonna be talking about how to shift your mindset from a corporate employee to being a business owner, and that's a big one, again. So, thank you for joining me on this journey. Keep flourishing, and I'll see you tomorrow.
