Crying Over ClickUp by Robyn Henke
Pls, for the love of ClickUp, don't watch another irrelevant YouTube video. Learn from a real freelancer (hi, I'm Robyn) with real systems, real stories, and a sneaky ClickUp demo or two.
"hey chat, how do i make ClickUp better for freelancing?"
Freelancers in 2026: "AI is helping me setup ClickUp" I asked Gemini to make ClickUp work better for my freelancing business... Just for shits and gigs, yanno? Bc like all of you, I'm low-grade anxious about what AI will do to my career, so why not see what I'm up against? And it spit out a few solid suggestions. One or two that I actually teach myself. But it also told me to "create a client dashboard" ... which I know from experience isn't worth the time (they won't use it). It told me to...
when will you get to your "own stuff"?
Reminder: client goals... they aren't your own I had a convo recently with another freelancer that was so validating. We were bonding over the fact that our priority isn't to make $239873534 dollars. We both put lifestyle as the top priority. That loving what we do and how we spend our days matters more than maxing out revenue. "I just wanna be happy," I said. "And say to myself 'I love my life.' Money has to follow that energy, right??" To which she said: "I think so. But only after you...
working a lot... and making peanuts? 🥜
Tracking time in a different tool than ClickUp? 😱 There's a single moment in my freelancing career that really stands out for me. And I think that's because I had no idea what I was doing to myself until it was too late. In my early freelancing days, I was working by the hour for a couple different agencies. But what I didn't realize was that freelancing for agencies isn't really freelancing... Like, it is, in the sense that I was an independent contractor. But it wasn't because it kept...
that 2026 goal? def *not* a single task
Your goals matter, too The most surreal part about this whole selling Focus Framework thing is that my Fresh Start sale... it's just another example of how well the system works. That the act of creating goals and staying focused on them means eventually you'll get there. I came up with the Fresh Start idea after I got back from playing songs for strangers on the VIA rail and I didn't know wtf to work on. I thought about what my goals were and what the next couple months looked like. I knew I...
client says: "lets do it"... you say: "oh shit"
The Fresh Start Sale is live 🎉 January 13 - February 15: Get hella organized this year with my signature courses, intensive, and bundles created for the small but mighty team of one. Check out the sale → Not interested? Click here to opt out of Fresh Start Sale emails (you'll still get my regular monthly newsletter). Big projects don't have to be a death sentence 🪦 Have you ever loosely pitched an idea to a client... only for them to unexpectedly say yes? Selling the idea isn't usually the...
this is *the year* of 5 hour workdays 🥳
A *simple* ClickUp guideline to take into the new year 2026 is here, and something tells me that you've decided this is the YEAR OF READER. You've got BIG plans and big goals. Your clients trust you now more than ever, which inevitably means MORE WORK is coming your way. And what better feeling is there when a client is excited about a big project they want to do together, and there's a nice hefty price tag attached to it. 💸🥳 But then the second they sign the contract, all that excitement...
post-holiday work vibes? big sad
Took time off and now I'm "paying" for it 🥲 Not sure about you, Reader, but I didn't get nearly as much done pre-holidays as I planned to. Too busy recording new music and playing Monopoly with my fam, I guess. I also thought I'd work yesterday ... haha So today I dragged my semi-still-sick ass online to look at a long list of overdue tasks. 😬 (BTW, have children always been such a danger to those of us without kids?!?! insta-sick every single time) There's literally no worse way to come back...
when success starts feeling impossible 😵💫
"If I wanna keep growing... I can't keep doing it all on my own" Oof, I know this feeling well. When clients are flowing, the work is (finally) abundant, and money is rolling in. 💸💸💸 But the actual day to day feels like an eye twitch waiting to happen. Last week I wrapped up my first ever Focus Framework Intensive, and the client was at this exact tipping point with her business. She started on her own, she was used to doing everything on her own. She is so incredibly efficient at what she...
How to declutter your ClickUp
ClickUp CLUTTER 🥲 It's a very real thing. The more you add to ClickUp, the more cluttery it can feel. There is one insanely easy way for you to reduce clutter in your ClickUp right now. Bc I don't know about you, but to feel deeply calm, my space needs to be tidy. The physical space of my home office tucked in the corner of our bedroom that I tidy most days before starting work. But also my online space with a ClickUp workspace that's SIMPLE and uncluttered. (That and my most favourite...
powerless → in control (what changed?)
FYI: I've decided it makes basically zero sense sending newsletters on a Thursday, so Tuesday is the new day. From *powerless* to "I GOT this" is closer than you think 🙃 One of my friends is the person I IMMEDIATELY think about when freelancers tell me they "don't need a system." She's a jewelry maker. ADD. Fights every idea of control. Just wants to "flow." And I get it... when you want creative freedom, structure seems like NO FUN. But last week she texted me: "Help! haha" She's gearing up...
Pls, for the love of ClickUp, don't watch another irrelevant YouTube video. Learn from a real freelancer (hi, I'm Robyn) with real systems, real stories, and a sneaky ClickUp demo or two.