How freelancers can overcome the cost of living crisis Creative HEAD Magazine

In her second column for Creative HEAD, Vanessa Koeb says freelancers can get more entrepreneurial by offering deals to tempt clients in during the cost of living crisis

Image by 3D Animation Production Company from Pixabay

It’s not fresh news that the country is having a tough financial time at the moment. While it has started to affect my bookings, I also wanted to come up with a solution that would keep my business safe.

I’ve noticed that clients have been holding off from booking their appointments in, due to a general price increase, which includes mine, causing between three to five empty days in a row in my schedule.

I began hoping that someone would book in last minute, however, I soon noticed that wasn’t happening. So, I decided to overcome the situation by creating “rescue offers” of colour or cut services with a more accessible price for everybody, but were also less time consuming for me.

All I had to do was to send a general email to all my clients and let them know that from this day to that day haircuts were £55 instead of £73, or that if a face frame lightening was booked in with a cut they had 15 per cent off, and it worked! People started booking in and my monthly income was safe! Lower bookings generally than before? Yes, but not desperately lower. If I would have sat and waited around, probably it would have been.

By choosing services which aren’t majorly expensive, such as partial colours, toners and haircuts, I’ve been able to balance out my costs with my income. I understand that it’s time consuming, and you won’t pay out the time you spend on a client always working with offers, but sometimes it works. It’s a matter of compromising a bit which can really save yourself from a poor monthly income. Life of a freelancer eh!?

Vanessa is a freelance stylist at The Hair Salon in Hove