A bit of a stream-of-consciousness-dip-into-philosophy email today – so apologies if you came expecting a hardcore marketing tip.

But honestly, I think it's vital for all of us to step back every now and then and make sure we're clear why we're doing this.

I didn't used to think this way. I was Mr Pragmatism. All hints and tips to get the job done.

But at the end of the day, the reason we're getting the job done, for most of us, is to have a good life. And so it's important to make sure that all the pragmatic tactics actually take us closer to that good life rather than further away.

Now exactly what your “good life” looks like I'm not sure of, I only know what it is for me.

But I can guess that if you run your own business or are an independent or do any form of professional service then “freedom” looms large in what you're looking for.

For me, freedom is the ability to do what I want, when I want, as much as possible.

Now some people try to achieve their freedom of sorts by working hard doing something they hate but which pays them a lot of money so they can then disappear to a far flung shore for a few weeks a year to finally enjoy themselves.

That route's not for me. I think it's a sure fire recipe for a painful life.

For me, freedom is doing work I enjoy, not working too many hours, and doing what I want a lot. Like reading, walking, spending time with my family.

So when it comes to marketing (hey, I have to link back to marketing somehow) that means a number of things:

1. The marketing I do has to be fun and fulfilling for me.

That means I don't do cold calling, I don't do networking. I don't even answer my phone these days. I do the sort of marketing that I enjoy (usually content marketing through video, blogs and emails).

I like to think the way I do marketing is some of the most effective there is. But in truth it just has to be good enough. If I discovered that cold calling was way better than what I do now I still wouldn't do it, because I don't enjoy it and I want to spend as much time as I can doing things I enjoy, even if there are better ways.

My goal is not necessarily to do things the best they can be done, but to do them well enough in ways I enjoy doing.

2. My marketing has to generate a surplus of leads and clients.

I've found that having “just enough” leads to hit my revenue targets tends to result in me pitching for and accepting work that I don't really want to do but I need to do to hit my goals.

Much better to have a surplus of leads way above what I need, so I can pick and choose and only work on the things that get me really energised.

3. I need to work the 80:20 rule.

If I'm going to have the free time I want to do things I enjoy other than work then I'm going to need to be super-efficient with my marketing. I need to focus on the 20% of activities that deliver 80% of my results.

Now as it turns out, I'm pretty good at figuring that out. What I'm hopeless at is then stopping doing the other things or outsourcing the ones I can't stop. That's probably going to need to be my main development goal of the next 18 months.

So what does freedom mean for you? And what are your steps to achieving it? Maybe your steps are similar to mine. Maybe not. Either way, thinking them through can be immensely helpful for you.