Shift 1: From “Just Another Freelancer” to Creative Business Owner
Welcome back to the Six-Figure Freelancer Recipe! I’m Jaz, your pricing queen, and in this episode, I want to have an honest conversation about the realities of running a creative freelance business—the kind you probably left your nine-to-five for. If you’re anything like me, you might have imagined total freedom and more money, only to find yourself drowning in client work, putting out fires right and left, and still not hitting your income goals.
I get it—because I’ve been there. When I first started freelancing, I let my clients call all the shots. I was constantly on edge, afraid that if I said no to anything, the work would completely dry up. I said yes to every opportunity, worked longer hours, offered more services, and even discounted my rates, hoping something would finally click. Instead, I found myself stuck in a reactive, stressful cycle—measuring my success by how busy I was rather than how intentionally I was running my business.
But here’s the thing I had to learn the hard way: the problem isn’t your skills or your work ethic. The real challenge is shifting out of the employee mindset and fully stepping into your role as CEO of your business. This episode focuses on that shift. I share my personal journey and walk you through some powerful questions to help you do the same—questions that get to the heart of who’s really calling the shots in your business and what decisions you’ve been avoiding.
Take the time to write out your answers to the questions I ask in the free, complementary guide available at creativebusinesskitchen.com/6figures.
It’s time to finally move away from that client-to-client scramble and into the creative business owner role you deserve. Whether you’re struggling with burnout, feeling guilty for wanting more control, or just tired of being busy for the sake of being busy, this episode is for you. So let’s break out of the freelancer trap and start making those boss moves together.
Transcript
Hey there. It's Jaz, your pricing queen, and welcome to episode two of the 6 figure freelancer recipe, a bite sized podcast series for creatives who are ready to build the freelance business they actually left their nine to five for. So you know the drill. Your client work is piling up, your inbox is overflowing, and somehow you're not making the money that you thought you would by now. You're running around, putting out fires, taking on any work that comes your way because anything is better than nothing. Right? And secretly, you're wondering if your nine to five was actually less stressful than this. And to make matters worse, you feel like you can't be stressed without seeming ungrateful. You wanted to be booked out and busy.
Jaz [:Right? Well, babe, this is just what it's like to be busy, successful. So you shouldn't complain that you're busier than ever. Right? Sound relatable? That's because you're stuck in the reactive freelancer cycle, and I've been stuck there too. The issue isn't that your skills or even your work ethic is not where it needs to be because we both know that you've got plenty of both. The problem is that you're operating with an employee mindset instead of a CEO mindset. When you run your business with an employee mindset, you end up waiting for work to come to you. You let clients dictate the process and the timeline. You start to prioritize being busy over being strategic.
Jaz [:And you say yes to everything because you're afraid that if you say no, the work will dry up. And there's a good chance that you've tried to solve this yourself, and you might have tried these kind of solutions that kinda don't work. Maybe you've been trying to work longer hours to be able to get all the work done, but you've ended up touching the edges of burnout. Maybe you've tried to solve it by taking on more clients, but you've done that at the same rate, so you're now just busier. Maybe you've been offering more services to cast a wider net, or more often than not, you've been discounting your rates to win more work. These solutions only dig you deeper into the freelancer trap because they're focused on doing more of the same thing instead of fundamentally shifting how you operate. So here's the hard truth. You've already taken the brave step of starting your business.
Jaz [:Now it's time to start running it with intention rather than reaction. No one's coming to save you from the client to client scramble. That's a shift only you can make. I'll be the first to admit that in those first few years of freelancing, I used to lay awake at night worried where my next job or client was going to come from. And then I'd wake up with a pit in my stomach so deep that I didn't feel like I could drag myself out to face the day. I felt like I was powerless to control the flow. But looking back, I think that was more of an excuse not to pull myself out of it and then put myself out there to not show up as the creative professional that I am and take control of my business. I was probably blaming the clients that weren't finding me or the inaction that I wasn't taking and making it so it was everyone else's responsibility for my success.
Jaz [:But I kind of had to shift that to make it so that my success was my responsibility. So here's how we're going to make this first shift together. I want you to think about the freelancer you that you were before you picked up this episode, and then we're gonna have the future freelance you that you are working towards. So old you, past freelancer you, used to wait around for referrals to drop into your inbox. You used to say yes to anything that pays. Past you, they avoided selling like it was an awkward conversation that they would avoid at all costs, and they measured success by how busy they were. But future freelance you, the one we're building today, they create demand through strategic positioning. They choose clients based on the right fit and can confidently say no to the ones that aren't.
Jaz [:They own their expertise without apology or permission, and they think and act like a CEO that they actually are. Now if you've reached this part of the guide, you'll notice a bunch of questions ready for you to fill out. And if you don't have the free guide, grab yours by heading to creativebusinesskitchen.com/6figures. I'll also pop it in the show notes for you. I'm gonna ask the questions here, so take your time and think about each one and answer for yourself. If you need to pause me, totally fine. Where am I playing the employee instead of owning the damn thing? Am I waiting for permission, letting clients steer ship? That's your sign. What's the one decision I've been avoiding that a CEO wouldn't blink at? Is it a rate increase, a client breakup, redefining my niche? Pick which one and pick your moment.
Jaz [:Who's calling the shots in my business right now? Is it me or my inbox? Is it my calendar, my energy? This should all be working for you, not the other way around. What's one busy work task that I need to quit pretending is important? Making graphics that make no sense, tweaking your website for the tenth time, that one I've been guilty of before. And if I had to act like the boss today, what would I actually do? Would I hit send on the pitch without looking back? Would I say no to the client that I feel guilty to say no to? Follow through like the boss you are. And none of those boss babe vibes. I'm talking about actual freelance ownership of being the creative professional in the room. I'll finish today with your action step. Write down one strategic decision that you've been avoiding that would move your business forward. That's your first CEO move.
Jaz [:Make it today. This is going to be that first official step away from just another freelancer towards that creative business owner that we both know is in your future. So next episode, we're going to be shifting from generalist for hire to an expert with an opinion. This is the one for the multi passionate, myself included, that can do a bit of everything, making it hard just to choose one thing. I'll see you in the next episode.
