Are you stuck at the "technician" level?
I’ve been talking with some freelancers recently, and there is a theme that keeps coming up again and again. They are stuck at the “technician” level.
This is a concept that comes from the book “The E-Myth Revisited”, and the book mentions the three roles that a freelancer has to balance to have a successful business. The first is the technician, and that is when we sit down and do the actual work. The tricky part is that this is exactly the thing that freelancers enjoy doing the most.
Then there is the manager, who keeps the day-to-day operations of our business in check. Invoices, processes, emails, and so on. Things start to be out of most freelancers’ comfort zone, and some resent this type of work.
Finally, the real problem with most freelance businesses. Most freelancers never embrace the role of the entrepreneur. This is the person that guides and sets the path for the business. This is the big picture. This persona remains out of reach for most freelancers and is an essential mindset shift that has to happen to have a long-term stability as a business.
It’s so easy to fall into the trap of gathering knowledge without strategy. More courses, more degrees; getting better at our technical role. But that’s not enough to move the needle in our business.
Some of these things just come naturally to a lot of people, but I don’t think that most writers and translators get into the field with the idea of being entrepreneurs. We just like researching, learning, and writing. This makes embracing all three business personas extremely difficult.
I leave you with two things that have helped me to embrace the manager and the entrepreneur roles:
Write everything and create templates and SOPs: emails, invoices, rates, outreach plan. Basically, help your future self make decisions by standardizing everything that you can.
If you are a writer or translator, think about how you fit into the entire communications pipeline. Brainstorm ways in which you can help each and every step along the way. Think about how your thought process, opinions, and ideas can be valuable to your clients and colleagues, not just your technical skills.
If you are a freelancer, please share what one thing you would like to start implementing to step into the entrepreneurial role.