Send email to prospective employer.

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Why isn’t anyone replying to my email?

My pitch was awful. I am awful.

I will never work again.

Working outside of the structure of a traditional office where you receive regular feedback from your boss, likely have annual appraisals and have colleagues to share your anxieties with, can have an impact on your self-worth. The other issue is that being paid by invoicing is by no means as efficient as being PAYE. A recent study by PayPal showed that 58% of freelancers in four major countries in Southeast Asia have experienced not being paid for their work (no similar UK studies have been done, but anecdotal sampling suggests similar). And there is a feeling that freelancers should feel ‘grateful’ for being employed, with a survey from 2016 showing that freelancers working in the creative industries lose £5,394 each a year through working for free. Unsurprisingly this attitude can have a real impact on your feelings of self-worth as well as cause anxiety about where your next pay cheque is coming from.

Glenda Marchant, founder of The Spark Initiative, which coaches professional women and men to help develop their self-confidence and self-reliance, has these tips on how to ensure you’re paid what you’re worth when negotiating as a freelancer:

1) Know your market. What do others in your market charge, and where to you sit in relation to them - i.e. do you have more experience, do you have less, are you an established name in your field, or are you just starting out? With a little research you can create a spectrum of pricing, and this helps to ensure that your quotes are realistic but at the same time, you’re not cheapening your service.

2) Try to separate ‘you the person’ from ‘you the service’. It’s not about self worth - it’s about how much your skills are worth to that particular buyer - whether you’ve been asked to quote for a feature for a website, creating a flower display for a wedding, or six coaching sessions.

3) What skills are unique to you? There are thousands of accredited business coaches out there, but I’m pretty unique in that I was working in the media, running teams of people for 25 years. It gives me an insight that those people coming into coaching from the HR route just do not have. Use this in your negotiation - tell people why you are unique and can therefore justify your price.

4) Don’t be afraid to walk away from an opportunity if you feel you are being undervalued. People talk! If you get a reputation for being the ‘cheap option’ you’ll damage your own brand and you’ll find it really tough to increase your prices as your business picks up.

5) Use a higher rate. I always go into a negotiation at a higher rate then I expect to agree, as it gives me room to manoeuvre. However, you should always know at what point you are going to walk away, and stick to it. It’s great for self esteem as well.

How to safeguard your mental health when you’re freelance