Another day another “freelancing will be easy” casualty.

Let me explain why you don’t get paid what you are worth as a freelancer: you agree to work for less than you are worth.

You lack the sales and marketing skills to find clients paying fair market rates. You almost certainly bottom feed on Upwork, Fiverr, etc. You refuse to learn the kinds of marketing that gets clients when you have no money (cold calling — yes, it blows, but yes, it is the only way to get money flowing fast too). You refuse to invest in the kinds of marketing that bring clients to you — long-term relationship building, SEM, social media, etc. You didn’t spend any time building out a professional network that could help you find work.

So, you write whiney articles on quitting and how this is “choosing yourself.”

Choosing yourself, means growing up, knuckling down and doing the things you don’t like very much to push your business forward. Choosing to be an ostrich is quitting and taking all your toys home.