From Corporate to Freelance: 5 Mental Shifts for Success

Break free from the restrictions of corporate life.

Image created via Midjourney

Leaving a 9–5 job means going from “someone telling you what to do” to “nobody telling you what to do.”

Sounds great, right?

But too often, freelancers maintain the mindset and habits of corporate life. It’s only natural: that way of working becomes ingrained.

But as a freelancer, you’re now the boss. Your day-to-day activities no longer have the neat, tidy boundaries of a corporate job.

The sooner you can shed the mentality of corporate life, the more you’ll be able to flourish as a freelancer — because you’ll operate in a way that serves you best.

1. You’re not bound to a specific schedule

It’s tempting to maintain 9:00–5:00 hours if you’re just getting started as a freelancer. After all, that might be what you’re comfortable with. And if you stay within those hours, it can prevent overworking.

But the best freelance schedule is one that optimizes your most productive time of day. Do you work best at 5:00 a.m.? Great! Work during that time and take the afternoon off. Need to run errands on a random Tuesday? Do that.