Things To Know Before You Start Freelancing
Freelancing is hard, but rewarding.
Freelancing is very rewarding, if you do it right. Most of us want to be successful freelancers and a lot of us, already are. Unfortunately, those who do not have any experience in freelancing but want to do it, have a lot of unrealistic expectations which can make their freelancing career seem “less rewarding” when they start.
Most people think of freelancing as: being your own boss, doing very little work, earning 6 figures a month and having all the free time that you could wish for. Trust me, freelancing is not that easy and it won’t offer you so much at once.
Do you know how freelancing actually works? Waiting for a very long time just to get some work, getting way less money for a lot of work and working day in and day out just to make sure that your clients are satisfied, so that you can build a good image.
Freelancing involves a lot of struggles that most people don’t even want to talk about.
Being a freelancer with solid experience, I will share some of the most important things that you need to know before you start freelancing.
You Will Work More Than A Regular Job
People believe that being a freelancer means working very little as compared to regular jobs. But, it is actually the opposite. When you become a freelancer, you will need to work a lot more than you would in a regular, full time job.
You will need to invest a lot of time in your work if you want to succeed as a freelancer. Nothing comes easy in freelancing and the assumption that you will work only a few hours for a lot of money is absolutely untrue.
“You will need to put in a lot more hours in freelancing as compared to normal jobs. Freelancing is time consuming.”
So, keep in mind that freelancing will take up a lot of your time.
You Won’t Earn A Lot At Once
Another false belief regarding freelancing is that you will start earning 6 figures at once. It is totally not true. Yes, there might be someone who just got very lucky in freelancing and started earning a lot, at once. But it isn’t the same for the majority of us.
“Freelancing will require you to work a lot for very little money in the beginning.”
You will need to do work for a very low fee but that is how it goes in freelancing. In order to build a good image, you will have to go through the phase of charging less for a lot of work. There’s no way to skip this.
So, don’t think that you will start earning a lot very quickly. You’ll need to work your way up towards charging a good amount.
You Need A Lot Of Patience
This is perhaps the most important thing that everyone needs to know about freelancing. It requires you to have a lot of patience. The jobs won’t rain down on you.
There will be times when you will be overwhelmed with too much work. And then there will be times when you will have to wait a very long time to get another job.
“Having patience is what makes someone a good freelancer.”
So, if you want to be a successful freelancer, you should have the patience to wait for work. Without having patience, it will be very hard to have a good freelancing career.
It’s Hard But Worth It
Yes, freelancing is hard but it is totally worth it. Once you build a good customer base and a good image of yourself as a freelancer, you will start seeing the benefits that freelancing offers. When you start freelancing, you become your own boss, which I think is perhaps the most important benefit.
And yes, earning money will be hard at first but once you get some experience in freelancing, you will be able to earn a lot, given that you do your best.
The purpose of writing this story was to let people know the hard part of freelancing. If you want to become a freelancer, go for it but have realistic expectations as it will be beneficial for you.
Freelancing is hard, but anything worth having is hard. Freelancing is worth it. Just do your best in it.
