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Hey, you!
Yes, You…
Are you still dubious about: can freelancing be a full-time career?
Let’s solve this enigma. Freelancing is a truly liberating and rewarding career opportunity. Investing your time and skills in this career would be highly rewarding and beneficial in the long run.
Consider yourself in a hectic office job with a packed schedule and excessive workload. You can’t decide your working hours and must abide by your boss’s rules; imagine the torment of wearing a suit and tie to work every day, just because it’s an office rule. Not just this, you also have a fixed income to cash over the whole month, which means having a limited budget for yourself and the family.
On the other hand, establishing a successful freelancing career would allow you to work at your ease. Decide your working hours and workload, and wear whatever you want while working—no dress code to follow. In addition, the income would also not be limited to the bare minimum you get in an office job.
So, choosing freelancing as a career is a great option to make your way to a successful living. Now, you might be wondering how to become a successful freelancer? And what are the challenges that you may encounter on your journey towards success? Read below to find out the tips for successful freelancing.
So, if you want to build a successful freelance career, you must know that you will have to work for it.
Freelancing doesn’t mean when you decide to become a freelancer, people will start contacting you for their tasks. Sitting comfortably at home won’t bring work to you. You must strive to make your way toward work. It’s continuous combat between you and your competitors to get a job.
You can’t help someone if you don’t know how to do their job. Instead, you can get into trouble by being pretentious. It’s best to do what you can do best!
Freelancing is mostly about finding work online. However, as a beginner or even an experienced freelancer, you must take full advantage of your profile and PR to get clients offline. Let people know about your skills; spread the word in your family and friends’ circle.
“To give real services, you must add something which cannot be bought or measured with money, sincerity, and integrity.” ~Don Alden Adams
Freelancing is all about building trust between you and the client. Don’t forget that you are the brand you’re representing in the market and must maintain the prestige of your name. Therefore, ensure to go the extra mile to provide the best work to your clients and win your client’s trust. That trust will keep the client coming back for more work, which is a step to have freelancing as a career.
Freelancing is all about gaining experience through multiple working opportunities, not just limited to your local vicinity but almost everywhere around the globe. At the beginning of your freelance career, you might have to work at low rates or even free of charge to gain experience and a name in the marketplace. So, don’t fret, as it’s a long-term investment for your future in this career.
Till now, you must have had an idea that is freelancing a good career option for you. Now, as rewarding the freelance career seems, there are some challenges that you may combat in this journey. Freelancing can help you find exciting working opportunities around the globe, only if you learn to fight the obstacles coming your way with this fantastic career line.
Following are some challenges that come with the pursuit of a freelancing career.
Freelancing allows you to be your boss and employee simultaneously, which means there is minimum to no interaction with any peer during work. Furthermore, as you need to give a lot of time to this career, you might as well be isolated from your family, making you a loner.
Sitting at a desk and doing your work alone, with a laptop or desktop system for a prolonged period, can be off-putting.
Isolation can sometimes make you tired and want to leave this career option. So to handle this situation, start by opting for a project that you would enjoy doing.
Secondly, you can limit stress and anxiety by indulging in some activities that you enjoy doing: for instance, taking a morning walk, a ten minutes workout, or reading a book. You may also try meditation to combat illness, stress, and tension caused by isolation.
Clients are what keep your freelancing career going!
Experienced or newbie in the freelance career, you’d admit that the most arduous part of freelancing is finding clients. It’s a challenge you would have to combat as long as you stay in this career. You can’t sit back and relax after working with a few clients; doing so would turn your business cold in no time.
Don’t put all your eggs in one cart!
One thing is for sure: in your freelancing career, you may find clients you work with long-term, while others may work with you for a one-time or short-term contract. In each case, you may ask the clients to spread the word about your services if they are satisfied.
Once you have gained the client’s trust and satisfaction, do not hesitate to inform them of other services you offer. It will help you build a reputation for every skill set you sell.
Secondly, you must display testimonials on your site or working platform to attract more clients. It will also build trust that would help the clients to make the decision of choosing you easier. Display your testimonial on all your online platforms to grab a maximum number of clients.
You may also hit social media with your achievements, services offered, and information about the niche that you are working in. Try to put yourself in the shoes of the client and newbies, and address as many queries as possible to gather an audience to buy and recommend your services.
Being a freelancer, your life would be a reflection of the amount and type of work you’re getting.
Every freelancer would agree that freelancing is nothing about stability. Some days you’ll have countless projects to complete, and making time for yourself is hard. On the contrary, you’d be sitting back with unwanted free time.
Unlike a regular office job, your life, working hours, and your schedule, your life would rarely look the same.
There’s no other shortcut to getting stability in your freelancing career. All you need to do is search for clients to keep the flow. Stay in contact with clients through different marketplaces and social media platforms to keep the work coming.
One way of having a stable income through freelancing is to work with a partner. Yes, you heard it right! You can proceed towards a more stable freelancing career, with one working on “Client Acquisition” and the other working on “Client Fulfillment.” This way, you’ll have a steady amount of projects coming your way.
Furthermore, you must ensure to settle for the amount of work you can easily do. An overflow of work can also put you off.
Late payment is what makes most freelancers frustrated and uninterested in freelancing.
Unlike regular office jobs, where you get your salaries on time, freelancing has its pitfall. You may come across clients who would delay your payments for specific reasons. It is pretty upsetting to work with a client who often pays late.
Some clients pay late because of some mismanagement at their end, while others simply use to evade you, thinking you would get tired of asking and they’ll get away with some work.
Freelancers have several opportunities and methods to collect payment. First, keep a detailed record of your work and due payment. For clients who paid you late in the past, you may ask them to send the payment upfront to
Freelancing is a great career opportunity if one’s ready to invest the time and effort it takes. With the right direction and determination, you can build a successful career in freelancing. However, there are times when you may find this career a little off-putting.
In that case, you must follow the tips above to come clean through this jargon. It would help you overcome the phase of disappointment and tiredness.
Finally, throughout this journey, you must not lose hope! Keep working hard, and it’ll pay off.
