4 REASONS WHY FREELANCING IS HARDER THAN YOU THINK
Work from anywhere at your own time and a near-perfect work-life balance.
Freelancing offers you this and much more.
Every time I tell someone that I work from home, they say how lucky I am.
I am 28 years old and have been freelancing for more than 4 years.
I started out in college as a Web Developer and Digital Marketer, did some web
designing and then focused only on marketing (because I like it more than web
development).
In the last 3 years, I have traveled to 7 countries, read many books and become
fit. A lot of these are perks of being a freelancer.
Freelancing has given me all the freedom I want.
* I work only 4 hours a day and 5 days a week
* I take only projects which sound appealing to me
* I am earning a decent money which would not have been possible in a job
* I can travel and work
But it comes with some limitations and I want you to know about it.
#1 Loneliness will hit you in many ways
You will be working alone and you need to be mentally prepared for it. If you
have a work-related problem you won’t have anyone to talk to about it. Spending
more time with loved ones is wonderful but they won’t understand your problems.
Have problems with your client? Stuck with some issue while working? You gotta
deal with it yourself!
When you are working in teams, you have colleagues you can talk to and relate
to. When you are freelancing you only have your client to talk to.
The lack of social interactions not only makes you feel alone but can also
cripple your social skills.
The best way to tackle this is to join a Coworking Space.
Not only you will be able to socialise but you will meet people working in the
same industry as yours with whom you can discuss work related issues.
#2 Long term contracts are comforting…until you get one
If you become anxious about not having a steady income, full-time freelancing is
not for you!
When I became a Freelancer, I had to take on a lot of small projects that paid
out very small sums before I actually landed on a long-term contract.
Some people actually like working on a lot of small projects. I am not one of
those people and I am sure there are many like me.
To get a long term contract, you must first develop a good rapport with a client
by doing small tasks for him. You must be willing to go the extra mile for each
of your clients.
It is an excellent way to build long-standing relations but it also means you
will be putting more hours of work for little-to-nothing.
Once that contract is over you are back to the process to get another. Being
motivated during those times is critical but also mentally taxing.
#3 You have to critique your own work
Many times you will be working with clients who are just managers of some sort.
They will only care about results and will not critique your process. If you
want to become better at your work you need someone to critique it!
You can also pay experienced people to review your work in any field. But
wouldn’t it be nice if someone was always there to critique it.
#4 Distractions are tempting and there is nobody to stop you.
Netflix and Amazon Prime release new shows every other day.
Steam has a mammoth library of games to keep you distracted for an entire
lifetime.
Facebook and Instagram have no shortage of posts.
YouTube has a never-ending library of content.
Each of these companies has brilliant engineers designing algorithms to keep you
hooked to their platform at all times.
The number of distractions will keep compounding. Your resistance to temptation
needs to remain firm.
Working in a company, there will be supervisors and colleagues. Looking at them
will give you the drive to work or rather prevent you from being distracted.
Sitting at home, there is nobody stopping you from being distracted. You have to
set strict work hours and adhere to it daily and that requires discipline.
Conclusion
Becoming a freelancer is easy. Remaining a freelancer is very hard. Keep that in
mind if you are planning to become one.
If you can overcome these caveats you will not only become a better freelancer
but a much stronger person.
Posted by Naval Gupta on Facebook
link: facebook.com/groups/1682793061791838/user/1846370086/
Work from anywhere at your own time and a near-perfect work-life balance.
Freelancing offers you this and much more.
Every time I tell someone that I work from home, they say how lucky I am.
I am 28 years old and have been freelancing for more than 4 years.
I started out in college as a Web Developer and Digital Marketer, did some web
designing and then focused only on marketing (because I like it more than web
development).
In the last 3 years, I have traveled to 7 countries, read many books and become
fit. A lot of these are perks of being a freelancer.
Freelancing has given me all the freedom I want.
* I work only 4 hours a day and 5 days a week
* I take only projects which sound appealing to me
* I am earning a decent money which would not have been possible in a job
* I can travel and work
But it comes with some limitations and I want you to know about it.
#1 Loneliness will hit you in many ways
You will be working alone and you need to be mentally prepared for it. If you
have a work-related problem you won’t have anyone to talk to about it. Spending
more time with loved ones is wonderful but they won’t understand your problems.
Have problems with your client? Stuck with some issue while working? You gotta
deal with it yourself!
When you are working in teams, you have colleagues you can talk to and relate
to. When you are freelancing you only have your client to talk to.
The lack of social interactions not only makes you feel alone but can also
cripple your social skills.
The best way to tackle this is to join a Coworking Space.
Not only you will be able to socialise but you will meet people working in the
same industry as yours with whom you can discuss work related issues.
#2 Long term contracts are comforting…until you get one
If you become anxious about not having a steady income, full-time freelancing is
not for you!
When I became a Freelancer, I had to take on a lot of small projects that paid
out very small sums before I actually landed on a long-term contract.
Some people actually like working on a lot of small projects. I am not one of
those people and I am sure there are many like me.
To get a long term contract, you must first develop a good rapport with a client
by doing small tasks for him. You must be willing to go the extra mile for each
of your clients.
It is an excellent way to build long-standing relations but it also means you
will be putting more hours of work for little-to-nothing.
Once that contract is over you are back to the process to get another. Being
motivated during those times is critical but also mentally taxing.
#3 You have to critique your own work
Many times you will be working with clients who are just managers of some sort.
They will only care about results and will not critique your process. If you
want to become better at your work you need someone to critique it!
You can also pay experienced people to review your work in any field. But
wouldn’t it be nice if someone was always there to critique it.
#4 Distractions are tempting and there is nobody to stop you.
Netflix and Amazon Prime release new shows every other day.
Steam has a mammoth library of games to keep you distracted for an entire
lifetime.
Facebook and Instagram have no shortage of posts.
YouTube has a never-ending library of content.
Each of these companies has brilliant engineers designing algorithms to keep you
hooked to their platform at all times.
The number of distractions will keep compounding. Your resistance to temptation
needs to remain firm.
Working in a company, there will be supervisors and colleagues. Looking at them
will give you the drive to work or rather prevent you from being distracted.
Sitting at home, there is nobody stopping you from being distracted. You have to
set strict work hours and adhere to it daily and that requires discipline.
Conclusion
Becoming a freelancer is easy. Remaining a freelancer is very hard. Keep that in
mind if you are planning to become one.
If you can overcome these caveats you will not only become a better freelancer
but a much stronger person.
Posted by Naval Gupta on Facebook
link: facebook.com/groups/1682793061791838/user/1846370086/