12 things freelancing taught me in 12 months
If someone tell you, a year is enough to change your life, they said it RIGHT.
The word free in 'freelancing' sounds scary to many.
No, it doesn’t mean you have to work for free.
But it does mean you have liberty to work from anywhere, anytime.
It’s your TIME.
It’s your FREEDOM.
November 2020 was the beginning of my journey as a full-time writer.
I received an inmail on LinkedIn enquiring for five-frigging-hundred product descriptions.
It was huge.
Yet, I charged peanuts.
But those peanuts were an eye-opener for me in starting my journey.
From November 2020 to November 2021, freelancing has given me the financial glamour and failure both.
Here are my 12 learnings that neither people nor school could teach me.
12. Never take rejections personally
I have been rejected multiple times by clients.
Some of the clients I enjoyed working with didn’t extend the contract. One of the clients I wanted to work with rejected me after the paid test was done because they didn’t like my work.
It was draining.
I started comparing my writing skills with other writers.
Never do that.
What helped me move away from this guilt was to keep improving my work.
11. If earning is your goal, structure your pricing and offer
Understand how to package your skills together and craft an irresistible offer.
When offering my services for LinkedIn content creation, I offered 2 packages to my clients:
- 12 LinkedIn posts = $300
- 12 LinkedIn posts + writing LinkedIn profile = $500
Similarly, you can create your offer as a blog writer:
- 5 blog posts = $800
- 5 blog posts + SEO + images = $1100
*The prices mentioned are just to give you an example*
10. Learning should never stop
Yes! Upskilling is the key to getting better clients.
Do you work for clients on weekdays? Take out at least an hour every day to learn about new topics.
This will help you expand your services and price them better.
9. Don’t stop marketing
When I had enough clients, I had less time to create content on LinkedIn.
As a freelancer, LinkedIn has been my primary source of generating leads.
I mostly do this by creating content.
But after I had enough clients, I stopped marketing. I turned down new leads that came in. Big mistake!
After a few months, I was left with just 2 clients out of 5 which resulted in a lower financial trajectory.
I learnt my lesson. Always make space for marketing yourself.
Marketing can make or break your business. Don’t neglect it.
8. Build relationships
If you want clients, understand the beauty of building relationships. With clients. With budding freelancers. With people who you admire. They are your future clients.
When I started freelancing, I only knew — client pays you, you get the work done and the engagement stops. NO. If you want retainer clients, learn to build trust with your clients.
A healthy relationship is the bridge to long-term work and referrals.
7. Take Paid Courses
There’s a difference between free and paid courses.
I have learnt from multiple free resources but paid courses give you an insider scoop. Experts have much more knowledge to share that you won’t find otherwise.
I have upskilled and learned in the form of ebooks, pre-recorded courses and live workshops.
Here are three resources that helped me:
The Freedom Business Model: Helped me get the inside scoop on digital marketing and grow as a person.
Freelancing Freedom: From Caged Ideas to your First Client (& More) in 10 Days: Helped me understand the freelancing mindset, create money-making offers and reach to prospects.
6. Having a 6-figure income is not the success metric
Yes. All of us chase a 6-figure income. But, as a freelancer you didn’t just choose this path for money. You chose it for FREEDOM.
I measure my success with the emotional goals that I achieve.
So, what’s your emotional goal: buying a new laptop, going out on a trip, taking spa for the first time, moving point to a new house?
Your emotional goal could be anything. If you successfully accomplish these goals, you are the winner.
5. Don’t just rely on inbound leads. Diversify your lead gen
More than a year, I have been dependent on inbound lead generation for my business. Wrong approach.
I made the biggest mistake and I realised it when 3 of my projects were halted.
Keep pitching to prospects. The best lead generation happens with the combination of inbound and outbound leads. Now, I send cold emails every week.
4. Create Content
If you want eyeballs of your prospects on you and your work, create CONTENT.
I started my journey as a freelancer by creating content on LinkedIn. And what does this do for me?
My written content is read by LinkedIn audience. Most of the audience present there includes founders and marketers — the audience I want to serve.
By writing about what I know about my industry, I present myself as the solution to their problem. And result, they can reach out to me when they need my services.
3. Don’t get on call with every lead. QUALIFY first.
In the initial days of me getting inbound leads on LinkedIn, I found myself exhausted. Why? I used to get multiple enquiries.
Without asking them about their requirement and budget, I’d get on call with them only to hear “We don’t have the budget.”
It was quite draining.
Later, I learnt how to qualify leads on messages.
Here’s how you can qualify leads and make money on calls.
Now, I do two things:
- ask them about the project
- the deliverables and scope of work
I, then share the details about my workflow and my project range. This gives them the idea about my prices.
Since they know my budget already, they can say a YES or NO.
It’s much better than telling them my rates on call and hearing a no. Save time. Time is money, after all!
2. If things don’t work out, EXPERIMENT.
I’m a firm believer of experimenting. In a year, few things worked out for me and few didn’t. I did Instagram posts to LinkedIn content creation.
But, writing Instagram posts didn’t work out for me. In this case, I shifted to LinkedIn content creation.
Choose the skills, decide the offering and experiment.
If it doesn’t work for you, move on with plan B.
Here’s the thing, as a freelancer you are a risk taker. You always have the option to experiment but not quit.
1. You need a MINDSET shift to reach your financial goal
What is your financial goal for this month? $250? $500? $1000? $5000?
No matter what the number is, you can achieve it all with a simple shift in your MINDSET.
My coach client recommended me the book Power of Subconscious Mind by Joseph Murphy. Give it a read and see the change it brings in your life.
Freelancing is not “just” about making lucrative money. It is also about taking risks, stepping back and analysing but not quitting in the journey and learning. With these 12 learnings, I not only grew professionally but grew as a person too.
