The other day, I did something I’d been terrified of, succeeded, and am now reaping the rewards of that success.

And it’s all thanks to this blog.

That’s right. It was writing this blog that motivated me, no pushed me, into doing what I dreaded doing.

You see, a month ago, I planned to write a post about doing something even if you’re afraid to do so… in order to grow as a person, a freelancer and an entrepreneur.

I was going to challenge you to do the one thing you knew would make you a more successful freelancer — even if it’s darn scary.

At that time, I knew I had been going courageously after my goals… but I couldn’t in good conscience write the post because I knew there was a fear which was paralyzing me in my PERSONAL life.

So I didn’t write the post.

I did, however, go and do what I had been most afraid to do. Sort of like an experiment for this blog.

What was I so afraid of anyway?

Now, don’t laugh. It may sound trivial and mundane, probably even silly.

Here goes: I was afraid to take my Ontario driver’s road test.

Since moving to Ontario almost three years ago, I hadn’t been driving. Even though I had driven over 20 years in Manila, I knew it was different here. Many Filipino immigrants with plenty of driving experience fail — sometimes two times or more — before finally passing the road test.

I didn’t want to be one of them. I didn’t want to be a failure.

So even though I could have taken my road test way back in August, I didn’t.

And then came this planned post.

I dared myself to take my own challenge and do what I was most afraid to do, even if it wasn’t business related (hey, I can perfectly run my freelancing business without ever leaving home).

I even considered writing about my personal challenge, but again, I didn’t, because if I failed then I’d look like a loser, right?

Anyway, here’s the ending to this story:

1. I listed every single step or task I needed to do to complete that thing I was most afraid of.

2. I completed each step.

3. Whenever I felt scared, I reminded myself that, if I failed, it wouldn’t be the end of the world.

It also helped that my sister told me:

“Look, the sooner you fail, the sooner you can retake the test. The sooner you pass, the sooner you can enjoy the benefits of having your license.”

Makes perfect sense, but it took me months to realize it!

So finally, I booked my road test, arranged to have three hours of practice driving with a certified driving instructor, and took my test last Friday.

And, yes, I passed.

While waiting for the examiner, I told myself, “Lexi, this test is simply a measure of whether or not you should be driving here in Ontario. If you fail, it means you’re not qualified to drive safely. That’s a valuable thing to know about yourself and one that can be easily remedied by taking more driving lessons (sure, at $35 per hour!). And if you ARE a safe enough driver, then you’ll pass. It’s as simple as that.”

It was as simple as that.

Share your fears

How about you? What are you most afraid of that could enhance your life significantly? I challenge you to face your fear and do it!

Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

photo credit: *Zara

But I promise, I’ve given you everything you need to carry out this month’s challenge.

It’s the topic of our savvy freelancing webinar this month, and I’ve written several related posts about it. Can you guess what the challenge is?

The June 2010 challenge is: write a marketing plan for your freelancing business.

Make no mistake about it. Freelancing is a business and the success of any business lies in its marketing.

Your marketing plan should be for the next six months, at the very least. If you can make one for until December 2011, or even longer, then all the better.

To help you, check these related resources:

Day 20 of 31 Days to Start Freelancing: Make a Marketing Plan

Watch the replay of our webinars on marketing (we’ve had two). If you haven’t signed up for the savvy freelancing webinars yet, you can do so here. You’ll get access to replays of past webinars as well as upcoming ones.

31 Days to Market Your Freelance Writing by Thursday Bram

If you have questions or suggestions, feel free to post them below.

Let me know how it goes!

PS: This challenge is late because I’ve been on semi-vacation the past month. I had a reunion with my two sisters, and I succeeded in bringing one of them, Vicky, to see the Niagara Falls:

The Savvy Freelancer’s challenge this month is:

Make templates for all your communication

Why You Need Templates

Templates  will simplify your life as a freelancer. Every day, you communicate with prospects, replying to inquiries about your services, fees and availability.

You also constantly pitch your services, submit proposals and quotations, acknowledge payments, or request more information from your clients and prospects.

If you look at every piece of communication you send out, you will see that they’re all very similar. And you probably only change the particulars.

Having templates for your regular communications will help you to:

• prepare your communication pieces more quickly
• remember to include all the essential elements in your communication materials
• have a consistent tone and personality in all your communication

What Templates

Make a list of all the emails, faxes and other communication materials you use every day. Your list will probably look like this:

1. Response to request for sample work
2. Proposal for a specific project
3. Response to inquiry about my fees
4. Terms of agreement
5. Acknowledging client’s acceptance of my proposal
6. Invoice for deposit
7. Invoice for services rendered
8. Receipt for payment
9. Emails to keep in touch or make special offers

Feel free to add to the list above, or remove those you don’t use.

Even if you use software to create invoices and receipts, it’s still a good idea to make a template for what your invoices and receipts will contain.

Tools for Templates

The tools you use will depend on your specific circumstances. For example, I use Apple Pages, a word processing software, for my project proposal template.

For templates that will go into emails, I use a text editor so that I won’t import any formatting codes into my email program.

Create a folder in your hard drive just for your templates, so you can find them easily.

Use the tools you already have and that work best for you!

Do Share

Do you already use templates for your client communication? What advice do you have for other freelancers who are just starting out with their own templates?

photo credit: plugimi

If you already network, then the challenge is to find a new venue for networking, or to get more active in your current networks.

If you haven’t been networking, then now is the perfect time to start.

Read Up on Networking

There’s plenty of help right here at The Savvy Freelancer:

Start Networking to Find Clients gives an overview.

Networking Tips for Freelancers is an interview of Ryan Healy on face-to-face networking.

Online Networking contains my tips for online forum networking.

Twitter for Freelancers shows how you can find clients on Twitter.

I have to admit, I already have a headstart. Since I increased my rates in January, I realize that I’d outgrown many of my existing clients so I had to meet new prospects. As a result, I’ve joined a couple of new online forums.

January Challenge Update

Speaking of which, I’d like to share with you some of the results of increasing my rates. In a nutshell:

• I earned about 50% more than my average monthly income in 2009.
• I am working way less.
• I’m working with fewer clients, but getting involved in their businesses more deeply.
• I have more time for my personal projects.
• I am discovering a whole new world of prospects, including what they’re really looking for in terms of copywriting and marketing.
• I’ve found that there are people willing to pay as much as $100 for a video marketing special report I give away, without even requiring an email address.
• I’m still NOT doing as much housework as I should.

Your Turn

Will you take the February challenge? Share your exact plans in the comments below.

And if you took the January 2010 challenge, what were your results? I’d love to read about it.

photo credit: Orin Zebest

Anyway, Lynn is an awesome mentor and friend and one of the things she does to get us off our butts and into action is to post a monthly challenge. For example, in October last year, the challenge was to publish a blog post and get it to rank in the top 3 of Google for its target keyword. I participated in that challenge and very nearly succeeded, with my page getting to Number 13 after a couple of days with almost no promotion. This month, the challenge is to organize our physical and virtual work spaces. (Not participating in that one)

So anyway, I thought it would be great for us, savvy freelancers, to have our monthly challenge too. Each challenge is designed to help us either make more money or get more productive or have more fun – you know, all the stuff we’re all dreaming of having.

Are you ready? Our January challenge is…

Raise Your Rates

This is one of the New Year’s resolutions I encouraged you to make. Increasing your fees is the one thing you can do to make more money, almost instantly.

If you have doubts and fear all your clients will abandon you and nobody will ever hire you again, then start small. Raise your fee by 10%. Or how about an insignificant 5%? Really, that can’t be too much, can it? Your clients will barely notice.

And then six months from now, we’ll do it all over again.

I’ve just increased my fees considerably beginning January 1st. Of course, I also did a total repackaging of my services, which you can read about here. I even gave my copywriting and online marketing approach a brand.

See, the point is not only to be more expensive but to actually become more valuable.

Are you up for the challenge? Tell us all about it below.

PS: I am an affiliate of Lynn Terry’s Elite Forum, so if you click this link and join within 90 days without clearing your web browser’s cache first, I will earn a commission for as long as you’re a member.

photo credit: nDevilTV