8 Lessons I Learned in My First Year of Freelancing

Photo by Andres Garcia on Unsplash

I got my first freelancing clients almost on a whim, on October 31st, 2016. I began working with clients in the evenings and weekends for November, December, and January.

Once I realized that being a writer was a viable career for me and people were willing to pay me, I made plans to quit my day job as a Business Development Manager at a recruiting firm.

January 27, 2017 was my last full-time day at my day job.

I was a freelancer.

Though I did a lot of research and asked many questions, I had a lot to learn.

Here it is years later, I want to look back and see some things I learned in that critical first year. I’ve been building on these lessons and learning more ever since.

Use this to learn from my mistakes so that you can not repeat them and instead make new mistakes and learn new lessons. Every failure or misstep is an opportunity for growth.

Failure: The Best Learning Opportunities

1. If someone is willing to pay you, then you are skilled enough.