5 Valuable Tips for Staying Motivated When Working Alone

Working alone is not without its challenges. From handling every aspect of the role yourself to dealing with finances, there are a number of potential blockers on your road to success. And with so much to consider on any given day, how do you ensure you stay driven?

Whether you’re a mobile DJ who needs to stay up-to-date with the best PA systems on the market or a tutor who needs to be on top of any changes to the curriculum, we’re here to help with our top 5 tips for staying motivated.

Get a diary - and actually use it

Okay, first thing’s first: you’re going to need a diary. Now, whether this is in the form of a physical notebook or your Google Calendar on your smartphone, that’s up to you entirely. The point here is that, no matter your sector, there’ll be appointments and various dates you’ll need to remember - so everything should be recorded in once place to avoid you double booking a slot or simply missing a meeting altogether.

You know yourself, and if you’re not the most organised person, maintaining a diary might be a challenge - that’s why you need to find a method that works for you. Whether that’s colour coding various types of tasks with a highlighter, using your smart speaker to ask for a daily run down of appointments or setting alarms throughout the day, there’s a wide variety of ways to get organised these days, so there’s really no excuse!

Have a work schedule - and stick to it

With your diary or calendar fully booked up, the next task is to fit in all your other work around this. If you’re a self-employed cleaner, this might involve making time to go and replenish cleaning products, while for a freelance website copywriter, this might be brushing up on the latest SEO best practices.

Regardless of the industry you operate within, self-discipline will play a key role in your success, so it’s good to get a handle on this as early as possible. With a fully planned out day, you can resist the temptation to watch “just one more episode” of your favourite show on Netflix or pop out and meet friends for an unscheduled coffee - helping you stay motivated and on the path to success.

Create a list of tasks - and tick them off

As someone who works alone, whether this is remotely or within a shared office space, measuring success day-to-day can be difficult - and this can lead to a tendency to get to the end of your shift and realise that you haven’t really achieved much at all. Try to change your mind-set from being focused on results-driven tasks to help you ensure you get the more menial jobs done that you know are part of the bigger picture.

If you’re a one-man ecommerce business, this might involve adding products to your website, while for a graphic designer it might mean keeping your professional social media accounts busy. While these things are unlikely to yield immediate results, they’re part of the bigger picture and helping potential customers see you as a person who has a skill set that’s worth investing in. So, get your task list ready and set about ticking off the essentials throughout the day to help you stay focused.

Make valuable contacts - and keep in touch

One of the most difficult things about working alone is feeling as though you need to rely on yourself for every aspect of your job. But what if you’re a cake maker who runs out of edible toppers when a crucial order is due, or a stationer whose printer packs up the day a wedding invitation order is set to go out?

It pays to have contacts in a similar industry to you - especially if you’re a startup and are just finding your feet in the business world. So, use social media to connect and then spread the love. Tell your customers about other people in your sector, share their contact details and be willing to help another business out. This will pay dividends in the long run.

Set long term goals - and track progress against them

So, we’ve talked about day-to-day, now it’s time to consider the long game. For someone in the entertainment industry, your main focus might simply be packing as many bookings as you can into the next 12 months. For a Spanish tutor, you might want to get as many students on your books as you can possibly fit in around your 9-5. But what’s the end goal? What does the dream scenario look like?

Don’t sell your skills short by not daring to dream. Whether what you’re doing is a side hobby to fund a deposit on a house or you want to dominate the modest fashion space, success starts with you daring to believe that you could actually achieve anything you want. Get your long term targets planned out and work out a way to track progress against them. This will help you keep your eyes on the prize and feel accomplished as you hit each new target.

This guest post was written by Sam from Prebeat - providers of professional equipment like microphones, speakers and PA systems for events.