Key takeaways
Long ago, Confucius said, “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” What the wise man was probably trying to say isn’t that doing something you love doesn’t require hard work and commitment, but that making the right career choices may reduce stress, anxiety, and unhappiness.
Nowadays, we know that what you do for a living is not everything that matters. Other factors contribute, too. The environment in which you practice your métier also matters, as do the people you work with, how much you earn, and the overall satisfaction you get from your job. At the top of Maslow's hierarchy of needs is reaching your potential, finding your purpose, and doing something meaningful for others.
In this context, freelancing seems to be the answer for many: you work on your own terms, choose what you want to do, and select your clientele. But it’s not that easy. Read along for the most valuable freelancing tips we’ve learned after years of struggle, years in which doing what we loved seemed like a lot of work and frustration with no apparent results.
Freelancing doesn’t mean you pursue a hobby; it means you build a career. It should feel like a job, not a vacation, from the moment you start considering it to the end result. If thinking about it as a business scares you, you are not in the right mindset to become a freelancer.
Freelancing means you are not a passive employee with all the means at your disposal provided by the employer. You must provide the tools to do your job yourself and take on the tasks of the sales, marketing, and finance departments. Scary? Yes, but also exciting because you get to be your own boss. Consider the words of Sartre before considering freelancing: “If you're lonely when you're alone, you're in bad company.”
List the reasons for which you want to be a freelancer, and also the reasons for why you think you will be good at it. There is this myth that freelancers are some sort of vacationers receiving money without doing much, people who party every night and have no reason to get up early, a sort of lazy, lucky creatives who have everything laid out for them. That’s not the case. So, be sure you know why you want this and that you can do it before resigning from your current job.
You should also coach yourself to handle rejection and criticism (freelancers get a lot of it!), being paid less than regular employees and lacking financial security (yup, it happens), clients dropping out for bogus reasons or not at all, and protecting your privacy and personal time.
Being a freelancer starts with getting something you are good at and matching it to a market demand. You use your skills to meet someone else’s needs. For instance, you are good at developing apps and use that skill to help a company that needs an app. Like you listed your reasons for choosing freelancing, now list your skills. What are you good at? What are your best skills?
Once you know what you can bring to the table, consider the market’s demands. Maybe you are good at writing, and your studies in literature and foreign languages can prove it, but the market doesn’t need short stories. You may identify a demand in travel writing, fashion editorials, or movie scripts. See how you can match your skills to the market’s needs.
Also, adjust as the market and its demands change. For instance, 20 years ago, C++ and C# programmers were in high demand. Today, companies want functional programming and software developers trained in working with AI. As a freelancer, developing your skills should be one of your main priorities. You don't have the job security an employee has, so you need to stay one step ahead of the market. Keep an eye on LinkedIn trends and Upwork job offers to know what’s going on in your target market.
Ah, the money part. For many freelancers, talking about money is a very, very low point. Especially if you work on freelance platforms such as Upwork and Fiverr, you tend to underestimate yourself and ask for less money than you deserve. Often, freelancers ask for less money than they need to survive and find endless reasons not to ask for a raise (e.g., they will think I am greedy, why should I deserve more money when I did the same job for less, my client will leave if I ask for more money, I won’t get new jobs if I raise my fee, etc.).
Ultimately, you need to be pragmatic about money. Honestly evaluate how much time, effort, and skill you put into a job, add the taxes, and communicate your financial expectations clearly. Leave room for future adjustments. Taxes and living costs may increase, which may force you to raise your fees accordingly. Don’t shame yourself for opening a discussion about money or asking for what you deserve.
Whether you like the term or not, you are an independent contractor, and you need to sign contracts before agreeing to work for someone. Contracts define the scope and terms of your agreement, highlight deliverables and timelines, and protect both you and the client.
If you use freelance platforms, they will create the contracts for you. But if you don’t, you need to write them yourself. Use templates, and tailor them to the nature of the activity. Include all details (e.g., milestones, feedback, revisions, termination terms, payment details, etc.), and have the client sign the contract before you start work.
Sometimes you’ll need to sign the contract in two languages: one for you and one for the client. Make sure you translate both accurately and use a certified translator if needed. Keep all your contracts for tax purposes.
As a freelancer, word of mouth is your main advertising method. You need to be active on platforms such as LinkedIn, on social media, and in industry communities. Stay in touch with peers and support each other, maintain client relationships for future reference, and join groups and communities that may help promote your business. Even personal social media channels can help you promote yourself through friends and family.
The main mistake you make as a freelancer is to be available all the time. Your personal phone becomes your work phone, and you always keep an eye on emails and messages. If a client in another part of the world sends a message at 3 AM, chances are you’ll read it and then either answer or ruminate on the response until morning.
Time management teaches you how to manage working hours and time off, set boundaries (and actually respect them), improve focus, reduce deadline anxiety, schedule breaks, and avoid burnout. At the same time, having a clear view of your workload and how much time it takes will help you say “no” to tasks and projects you can’t manage, or to strict deadlines.
Discover 17 time management techniques.
The main benefit of freelancing is flexibility. You can choose your working hours and create a flexible schedule. In many cases, you can work from home, your favorite cafe, or a hotel across the world. You can work in training clothes, pajamas, or dressed up. You can stop working for a long lunch or a jog, take a 15-minute break and go for a walk, or put in 12 work hours before a deadline. Of course, excess is not encouraged, but you have the freedom to make your own schedule, and you should take advantage of it.
Juggling time and daily agenda is one way to embrace flexibility. Another one is juggling tasks. For instance, you may work on demanding tasks during the part of the day when you are most efficient and leave fewer demanding tasks for when you are already tired. Or you may divide big tasks into small ones and shuffle them to avoid boredom. Or you may prefer to work three days straight on a big project without interruption. It’s up to you, but don’t forget you can do that and be more efficient and happier.
Juggling tasks, clients, and deadlines can get overwhelming. Stay organized at every step of the freelancing experience, from cleaning your desk and creating an inviting work environment to using time- and task-management apps, calendars, and reminders to stay on top of your work.
Avoid clutter, whether it is in your Inbox or workspace. If it helps, use to-do lists and sticky notes. Overthinking doesn’t help either, so experts say writing down your to-do list for the next day in the evening actually helps you de-stress and sleep better. Create routines and healthy habits to help you stay organized.
Download the daily goal planner Word
Download the daily goal planner PDF
To be treated like a professional, you must look the part. A professional presence means a professional portfolio, whether it is a LinkedIn or Upwork resume, a website, a professional social media channel, a portfolio on GitHub, or business cards. It means highlighting your studies, skills, and experience in a manner that convinces people to hire you. Of course, you should update this professional presence regularly.
Moreover, your professional presence extends to the way you show up. Attend meetings in appropriate outfits, even if it’s a video call you take from your kitchen. Don’t be late, sloppy, or too informal. Meet the deadlines, present contractual details accurately, issue clear invoices, and communicate politely and efficiently.
At first, you may have a wider range of projects and tasks because you want to enter the market. However, over time, try to specialize and find your niche. For instance, you may take a course and specialize in a subject so much that you become the go-to person for that task. Consider adding a personal touch to your work. Many portrait photographers out there, but only one is Annie Leibovitz. Many travel writers exist, but only a handful make it to National Geographic. Find what takes you apart from the crowd.
You may know from the start where you’d like to go, or you may have no clue what tomorrow will look like. Don’t worry, it's alright either way as long as you have a plan, a projection of how you would like the future to look. Sometimes, the goal is to make a living from being a freelancer or make enough money to get you through school. Other times, the goal is to be successful or land your dream job. For some, freelancing is the first step towards entrepreneurship. A plan helps you manage your time and effort, decide what skills you need to build, and steer your freelancing career in the right direction.
Well, no one wants to hear that becoming a freelancer may not pay the bills, but it’s a truth you need to know. At first, you may not be paid what you need to be paid or may not get any jobs at all. Rejections and bills may pile up, which is discouraging and stressful. Don’t beat yourself up; that’s the experience of every freelancer.
Instead, have a back-up plan. Maybe you have a part-time job, or even a full-time job, that can help pay the bills. Maybe you use your savings or find ways to save money. A security blanket can keep you committed, motivated, and stress-free.
Although no two tasks are the same, you may find enough similarities to create routines and be more efficient. You may also create templates to show potential clients and earn their trust. For instance, you may have certain filters and looks you rely on when editing landscape photographs, pre-saved Word templates for various writing tasks, generic functions for programming apps, templates for various contract types, or to-do lists for packing and traveling.
You may also have price lists, pre-made time estimates (e.g., writing a 1,000-word piece takes me 3 hours), preferred supplies for tools and gear (e.g., an agreement for renting photo gear from shop X), subscriptions (e.g., office supplies, local transport, etc.), and contracting procedures (e.g., agree on terms, prepare contract, feedback and revisions, sign, store copies).
Your clients are business partners and should be treated like ones. Avoid informal communication until further notice, communicate clearly, don’t be shy regarding money aspects, and respond quickly. If the language of communication is not your first language, try to become proficient by taking a class. Spell-check and grammar-check all your communications, whether emails or texts.
Try to discuss all the features and requests before starting work. Some revisions will be necessary, but ideally you should redo just 10-20% of the task, no more. Especially with a fixed fee, spending more than 20% on a task is poor management, and much of it comes from a lack of communication when establishing the contract terms.
It may seem like the most economical, at-hand way to start freelancing is to work from home, using your favorite armchair as an office. Well, it’s not. You need to get out of your comfort zone and carve out a dedicated workspace and schedule.
Some people prefer to work in a separate workspace altogether, such as a shared working space or a cafe. Others prefer to create fake commutes to separate personal time from work time, put away the laptop when work hours are over, use a dedicated room as a home office, or change outfits before and after work.
Working space is not the only aspect where you should get out of your comfort zone. The actual work is also subject to diversification. For example, you may have a broad pool of clients, diverse projects, and a range of topics. You may want to balance tasks you love but are poorly paid with tasks you find boring but pay well. You may want to have both short-term and long-term projects. The endpoint is to be motivated, efficient, and determined.
Having a range of clients instead of just one diversifies your income stream and provides more financial security. If one client drops out, the others can still pay you. However, you can diversify income even more.
A YouTube channel may be your online portfolio and a source of income. You can use your website or social media channel to promote products and services, offer online courses, or sell products and services directly. For example, you may work as a freelance photographer while also selling prints and photo albums, advertising photo equipment, and promoting others' or your own photography classes.
Managing your freelancing business like a pro will help you increase productivity, create a trustworthy presence, and keep a healthy life-work balance. Instead of struggling with finances and taxes on your own, you can rely on an accountant or use accounting software. You can pay a designer to create your website, logo, and/or business cards. You can invest in high-quality software and hardware for work-related tasks, such as video conferencing, photo and video editing, and audio recording, as well as apps that help with task management, such as calendars, daily planners, and to-do lists.
That’s the best freelancing tip I’ve ever received: start now! It doesn’t matter (so much) if you have a paying client or not. Just do what you like to do, build a portfolio, join groups and communities with people who like the same things as you, and take any opportunity that comes your way. Freelancing may be a long journey, but as long as you enjoy it, you are heading in the right direction.
Final words
When you get hired, you automatically receive the validation that you are good enough. You listed your skills in a CV, and someone trusted you with a job. It’s simple. You almost feel entitled to get the job because you wrote your skills on paper. But as a freelancer, the validation is hard work. You don’t feel validated just because a client hired you. On the contrary, once contracted, you feel the need to prove yourself even more. Even when you do a great job and receive praise, if the pay is low, the validation still doesn't arrive. As a freelancer, it takes a lot to believe in yourself. So maybe start by trusting that you are doing the right thing and celebrating small victories: your first portfolio, your first try at getting a job, your first job, your first payment, and so on. We hope these freelancing tips help you go a bit further on your journey.
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