Freelancer to Freelancer

What You Need To Know Before Freelancing?

Freelancing is a very good option for those who want to strike out on their own. There can be many reasons behind you choosing freelancing as a career option for yourself. Some do it for some extra money along with their regular jobs, some do it because they need to pay bills or college tuition fees and some do it because they cannot or do not want to bound by regular office hours.

For me I took up freelancing because my family moves around a lot and it was not possible to join any office for a long term. Since I took up freelancing I have been able to make my own schedules, enjoy lot of family time and still earn some decent money. However like all journeys we taken on unknown path the journey to my being a successful freelancer has not been easy. In this post I would like to share my experience on things what you need to know before freelancing.

It is never going to be easy: Freelancing is not an easy job by any means. There is a lot of competition out there. When you take a plunge in freelancing you are going to be competing against people from all corners of the world and not just from a small set of works. Also a lot of hard work will go into organizing, bidding for projects, meeting deadlines etc. Client are going to come running to you at the start, you will have to attract them towards you.

No freelancer gets rich right away: Before you start freelancing make sure that you are not swayed by the advertisements like ‘earn 10000 rupees in a day’ or ‘I got rich working just 2 hours a day’ etc. they are frauds. There is no freelancing job that will make you rich in a day; in fact most freelancers cannot even make a decent earning in the beginning. It is more of a case of slow and steady. When I started working I used to apply for 30 jobs and get one or two.

People are not very receptive towards freelancing jobs: I have been working as a freelancer for 3 years now and when I tell people what I do, they still look at me with doubt in their eyes and ask ‘does it work’. They have a hard time accepting that you have to follow a schedule when you are just ‘sitting at home’. It will be your job to let these things not affect you and be firm in maintaining your schedule and deadlines.

You will be responsible for any glitches: These glitches can include many things like illness, broken equipment, no internet connection, emergency leave etc. You will have to work hard alone to get over these problem because with every client the deadline as to be made.

There are no extra perks or bonuses: When you are working on your own or freelancing there will be no perks or bonuses for you. Perks like insurance, paid leave, sick leave, and some kind of TA/DA are not applicable to freelancers even when they are working the same amount as the regular employee in a company. Same goes for bonuses, there are no regular bonuses in freelancing. There are some clients who might give you a bonus for a job well done or for completion in time but that is entirely the client’s prerogative and you cannot ask for it.

You cannot ignore even a single client: Every single client can make a difference of success and failure for you. You cannot ignore any client no matter how small is the project that you have undertaken. Therefore you will have to learn how to strike a balance and keep clients happy at all times.

You will have to learn to say no: You will have to learn to say no to both personal functions and commitments and to some of your clients. The hard reality of being a freelancer is that sometimes you will have to say no to some big projects because you are finishing up the other smaller ones. You need to keep some time aside for last minute changes or some extra work.

I hope the above points will help you better prepare for the challenges a freelancer has to face. It will help you avoid a lot of tension and disappointments and you will be able to enjoy the sweet victories (both big and small) of being your own boss.

K Saravana Kumar

Can you survive with variable income?

A freelancer’s income depends on the type of project he or she has in hand. Some months you will have many projects in hand and earn more than your average but in some months you might not have so many projects in hand and the income might not be so much. Also you will not be paid when you are on vacation or have to leave a project in midway. Therefore, think whether you can manage your finances even in slump. Also when you are just starting your jobs you might not be paid as much as you want, therefore can you manage in the starting days?

Can you work alone?

As a freelancer you will have to work alone a lot. There will be no time for office gossips or taking help from your friends. Most of the times you will be sitting alone on the desk of your home or rented office space and working. Therefore it will be entirely up to you to make your workplace as conductive as work at you can.

Can you push yourself out of bed?

Most of the newbie freelancers fail because of they cannot push themselves to get out of bed because they have nowhere to go. Think about it hard whether you can pull yourself out of the bed and fix a working time for yourself when you have nowhere to go.

Can you take criticism and failure?

As a freelancer you will not get every job that you will apply for. Also sometimes it might also happen that the client will reject your work or criticize it rather harshly. You will have to take the flak alone and might have to meet very tight deadlines. Therefore ask yourself how well you can handle criticism and failure. You can take the help of your family and friends and they will be truly able to help you figure out your this nature.

Can you deal with difficult clients?

Each freelance project that you will be getting will have a different requirement and every client needs to be handled differently. Do you have any experience in handing difficult clients and do you have the ability to self-market yourself to even the pickiest of clients? These are the two questions, which you need to ask yourself before starting out as a freelancer. Remember everything including marketing, gathering the required equipment, doing research and delivering the project to the client will have to be handled by you and you alone.