Have we been going at it the wrong way all this time? What if we told you that most of the things we’re told are required to be successful may not be entirely true?
We don’t need to fill our schedules to the brim to be successful. We don’t need that massive corner office to conduct business. And we don’t need these insanely elaborate strategies.
Less is more, and that becomes abundantly clear the more time you spend stressing as a freelancer. Welcome to Snapreads! Today, we’re bringing you how to embrace the “less is more” concept in business and freelancing. Let’s get started!
Essentialism
by Greg Mckeown
⏱ 16 minutes reading time
🎧 Audio version available
The future is freelance. It’s no longer a quirky, trendy alternative to the traditional nine-to-five job. It’s mainstream by now. Businesses who are looking for talented individuals but don’t feel the need to hire employees full-time pay extra for freelancers to take the gigs.
As such, you’ll find freelancers specializing in a plethora of fields. From programming to creative writing, if there is a niche, no matter how small, you’ll find someone willing to fill the gap in the market.
But with all that pressure, freelancers can quickly grow overwhelmed and overbooked. They end up over-committing to jobs, when in reality “less is more” is more profitable for them. Why is that? Here are some examples!
Complexity Drives Away Clients
Sometimes, it’s just as simple as that. Customers will not bother with the increased cost of doing business and increased levels of stress on both ends.
If you think of it from a client’s point of view, complexity is incredibly alienating. Clients want to know that they are your focus, that you’re going to direct your maximum effort towards their work, and that they can understand you.
It Helps You with Priorities
“Less is more” helps you set priorities in your life. In his book, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, Greg McKeown heavily stresses this as a theme of success.
McKeown says, “Essentialism is not about how to get more things done; it’s about how to get the right things done. It is about making the wisest possible investment of your time and energy in order to operate at our highest point of contribution by doing only what is essential.”
When it comes to business, there are always going to be decisions to make. And embracing an essentialist, “less is more” mindset gives you the power to choose. Accepting that you are going to have to make “trade-offs” is the next step. McKeown drives home the point by writing about the business classic book by Jim Collins.
He says, “Jim Collins, the author of the business classic ‘Good to Great,’ was once told by Peter Drucker that he could either build a great company or build great ideas but not both. Jim chose ideas. As a result of this trade-off there are still only three full-time employees in his company, yet his ideas have reached tens of millions of people through his writing.”
Planning Strategies Becomes Easier
Strategizing is a major part of work, especially if you’re a freelancer working on your own because there is no one besides you that’s going to guide you.
When you embrace the concept of, you’ll realize that it helps you strategize better. You can keep the facts simple and uncluttered—and that’s speaking from the marketing side of business to service and production and distribution.
It Makes You More Productive
There is a reason why a lot of super successful people follow the “less is more” concept. Take Mark Zuckerberg, for example, who takes the concept literally by expressing it in his wardrobe.
Zuckerberg once laid out when asked about why he wears the variations of the same shirt every day,
“I really want to clear my life to make it so that I have to make as few decisions as possible about anything except how to best serve this community. There’s actually a bunch of psychology theories that even making small decisions, around what you wear or what you eat for breakfast or things like that, they kind of make you tired and consume your energy.”
He also added,
“I feel like I’m not doing my job if I spend any of my energy on things that are silly or frivolous about my life, so that way I can dedicate all of my energy towards just building the best products and services.”
Apple Founder Steve Jobs did this before the Facebook CEO. Steve Jobs famously wore the same black turtleneck, blue jeans, and New Balance sneakers. He understood that his brain had a finite capacity to make well-thought-out decisions.
If you want to take things back even further as to who else adopted this mindset, Albert Einstein also famously owned variations of the same gray suit so that he didn’t waste time and brainpower in deciding what to wear.
It Declutters Your Mind
Doing this doesn’t mean that you’re going to throw out all but few precious physical possessions Marie Kondo-style. It’s more about minimizing your schedule and planning lessfor your to-do list, which makes it more manageable—as we mentioned earlier, it helps you get clarity on your priorities.
This mental decluttering helps you determine who you are, what you want out of life, and the message behind your business.
You Will Spend More Consciously
Most freelancers cringe at expenses. This is something most already have a head start on. But here is a twist. You don’t have to necessarily buy fewer things. Instead, try buying fewer things that you don’t actually enjoy.
That means being more conscious of what you spend your money on—whether that’s in your business budget or in your personal life. Make sure that what you’re paying money for is actually worth it. How to determine that?
The next time you break out your checkbook, give yourself some time to think before you make the purchase, dedicating 15 minutes or even an hour to carefully thinking of the pros and the cons. In the end, your chances of spending wisely have increased, and either way, you’re happier with the decision you made.
Consciously Create Space
Look at the floor plan of your home and your office and make a conscious decision of how you want it to feel. Do you want to always find it cluttered, and then feel less productive in the messy space? Or do you want to forgo the cluttered lifestyle and embrace that less—and yes, that means less furniture—lifestyle?
For example, even from an aesthetic point of view, smooth floors are more pleasing or calming than these high-pile carpets, as they result in more space and, hey, less stuff to clean.
You can start by thinking about how you should customize a minimalist office for a freelancer. We know the concept is owning less and choosing simplicity when you can. Your office should be simple and functional. A lot of people recommend designing it in a modern décor so that you don’t have to stress about pieces matching and incorporating technology into the room.
Focus on the essentials. That means a desk is essential, as well as a chair, cabinets, drawers, and storage space.
For décor, keep the same mindset. Minimalist offices often have clean, smooth lines to provide a feeling of simple flow. Your walls, floors, and furniture should share a natural color palette, and your office should look good in natural light.
These factors cause you to focus less on your environment and more on the actual work. Before you know it, you’ll start thinking about how else you can employ the “less is more concept” in all aspects of your life.
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