A vision board could motivate you to future-proof your freelance business and financial future. The Freelance Informer lays out a plan to create your vision board and how to put it to good use.
According to a TD Bank Survey in the US people who imagine their financial and other goals are much more confident about achieving them than those who don’t. In fact, those who keep images, photos or vision boards of goals are almost twice as confident (59% vs. 31%) that they will achieve them compared to those who don’t.
And while New Year’s resolutions are notoriously difficult to keep, 67 % of individuals surveyed believe that pictures will improve their odds of achieving them.
TD’s survey also found that picturing objectives influences how individuals feel about their finances:
- People who visualize their goals are less anxious about budgeting than those who don’t (16% vs. 29%) and feel more accomplished and happy (73% vs. 50%).
- Consumers who picture their achievements are more than twice as satisfied with their financial health as those who don’t (38% vs. 18%).
🥕 Before you start making a vision board for your freelance business, make one for your dream lifestyle. It will keep you focused. It will also be a visual motivator for those times when you could just easily put things off, such as updating your portfolio, website or LinkedIn profile to win new clients.
Where do you even start when it comes to a vision board?
Sit in a quiet, comfortable place. Close your eyes. Picture the ideal moment or scene. If the moment isn’t immediately coming to you, here are some questions to ask yourself to get you started:
- Are you in your own home or garden? Are you in a tropical place? On the top of a ski slope? On a sailboat? At a sporting event? Trying something new? In a restaurant? Playing with your children or grandchildren?
- Where are you in your perfect moment? Just fill in the blank there is no right or wrong answer…
- You may even edit that vision once you let your imagination take over, which is what you need to do at this step.
Next, “visualise” in more detail by asking yourself:
- What do I look like? What am I wearing?
- Is this what I look like now? Or how I would like to look? And if so, what other aspects of my life would change?
- Am I working in the same job? Career? Industry?
- Am I working remotely at home or in a new place? In an office?
The most important question of all to ask yourself is:
How do I feel? Relaxed? Exhilarated? Inspired? Joyful?
Or even all of the above?
Now, ask yourself, who is with me in this ideal moment or vision? What enabled us to get there? The answer could be a flexible work style, sharing your workload with another freelancer, taking on a new client, time management, etc.
Can this moment expand across time and seasons?
If, for example, you really want a 24/7 lifestyle that includes sandy beaches and tropical climes, you’ll have to research how to make that happen. And after that, hit the requisite milestones that will get you and anyone else in your vision there – physically and financially. That is if they also share the same vision or at least a version of it.
We’ll be onto that later.
Compartmentalise your moment or vision
The next step is to compartmentalise that special moment to include the place, people, feelings and personal well-being into separate images. You may have had to reach some small or even large milestones `to lead you to that moment and ultimately the lifestyle you want.
But what if all you see are obstacles getting in the way of your beautiful vision? Those people in your life that you would move heaven and earth for, but that have been driving you crazy lately? A project that isn’t going as planned? A client that keeps asking for more, but without the compensation? A day rate and lack of clients that may not enable you to afford that vision?
Those obstacles or challenges are your biggest motivators to achieve your vision board milestones, which is where we are going next.
What do you include in a vision board?
The great thing about a vision board is that it is unique to you, so you decide what to include in terms of images, inspirational text and even target dates. Each image should represent a feeling or goal.
Take the moments in your mind and either make sketches them onto paper or use a free photo bank. and find. Vision board sites, such as Desygner, can help you with that. But you can always create a vision board in Microsoft word or with a free account with Canva.
Or go old school and print off images from your computer or cutouts from a magazine or newspaper and attach them to a piece of paper.
Keywords for your vision board
While images are powerful, keywords can truly motivate a person. Advertising is built on this premise.
You should add some keywords that represent those target feelings and milestones: calm, joy, home, travel, adventure, financial security, accomplishment, financial freedom, family, friends, etc.
There is nothing stopping you from very specific work goals if you believe these are intrinsically part of your happiness and dream lifestyle. For example: publish novel, network more, become mortgage-free, international expansion, etc.
Where to place your vision board?
Digital versions of a vision board can be saved as a screen saver on your mobile phone, laptop and even your Instagram page. Some people create vision boards on Pinterest and can add images and inspirational quotes to keep them motivated.
If you need a more tactile vision board make a printable version for your home office, bedroom closet, fridge and diary.
Sharing your vision board with those who will motivate you
Writing down our target milestones on our vision board will keep us more accountable to achieve them. Sharing them with your professional or social network can put those goals out there and make them feel real.
Sharing your vision board with those that you would like to be a part of them should know about it. But only when you’re ready to show them. They too may have goals or aspirations. of their own, and like to explore. And giving them the opportunity to share their goals may inspire them to create a vision board so that you can motivate each other to reach key milestones. That way what was once a vision becomes a reality and a shared one at that.
A business vision board inspired by your dream lifestyle
As you work on achieving the milestones to achieve your dream lifestyle, this is an opportune time to create a vision board to future-proof your freelance career. If your dream lifestyle requires additional skills, such as a foreign language, could you also use that skill to win new business? Regardless there will be some form of financial and time component to make that happen, so your lifestyle and freelance business goals should work in tandem if they can complement each other.
This is the time to assess if you should start to do project work that lasts for six months on either an inside or outside IR35 contract so you can meet financial goals. Or start to collaborate with fellow freelancers to avoid IR35 and take on more work to build your revenues and offerings. This could provide extra capital for aspects of your vision board and also provide more freedom to spend doing the things you love.
Here is a Vision Board Video Tutorial from Canva to get you started.
