Mar 13
Freelancing, Discipline and the Art of Lying Convincingly
Guys who cannot lie should not be in sales or freelancing. I mean, you should be a carpenter who is building steps as he climbs the stairs.
Every week, at least one of my students, perhaps after seeing my profile on Upwork or Fiverr. Or just listening to my stories on my podcast or discord or this blog, will come up to me.
They will say that, okay, they would like to freelance.
Of course. I remind them, I am not really a freelancer by choice because freelancing must be a last resort after they have exhausted all other options.
You know how, you have this thing. People who apply for jobs will comment about the catch 22.
- Companies are always asking for experience.
- However, how can a person gain experience, unless the company offers a job.
Most people will only endure this once, in their lifetime. Till they get their first job. After that, this game has ended for it is no longer valid.
However, for a freelancer, this game of chicken and egg, lasts as long as he is freelancing.
The world is frequently changing. Client requirements are in a continous flux. The skills necessary are in constant state of not being constant. That means, plenty of times, the only way to get an assignment is to simply lie like there is no tomorrow.
Then again, for a freelancer, there is indeed no tomorrow. So, he has no choice but to lie. Lie convincingly, he must. This means, he must have the necessary skills to turn the lie into a truth before the delivery of the service reaches its climax.
At the crux of a satisfactory (and hopefully a joyful) climax is discipline. Yes, that old chestnut. Discipline is that special ruby that turns lies into reality. A onetime client into a long-term recurring revenue stream. The bringer of joy and happiness in the life of the miserable freelancer.
Otherwise, the lie from before will remain a lie, and the freelancer has now lost his hard-earned reputation from eons.
I work as a full-time freelance coding tutor. Hire me at UpWork or Fiverr or Stack Overflow or GitHub. see my personal website. see my photography art hobby at Behance and Unsplash and ArtStation. Also, podcast about life. podcast about movies. and Twitch. and YouTube Channel. If you are a student, join my discord server.
