Life As a Freelancer: The Myths And Realities.

in steemit •  8 years ago  (edited)

If you ask a freelancer what the greatest benefits are, being a freelancer, the most common answers you will get is being your own boss and freedom. Only a fraction of work while earning a full time income is also another answer you'll hear quite often.

I'll debunk some myths for you and give you the reality.

  • Being your own boss. Yes, that is true. You are your own boss. You decide who you will work with or who you will work for and you decide whenever you want a break etc. Based on that, it sure sounds tempting, right?

The reality is a bit different though. First of all, the clients you decide to work for is, no matter how you see it, your new boss. Your clients, personal or not, are ultimately your new boss and you'll probably end up having several of bosses along your freelancer career, as it's often difficult to make a living by working with only one client. (That obviously depends on the client.)

  • You decide whether to work, taking breaks or spend your time doing nothing. Being your own boss and being a freelancer, working from home or an office doesn't matter. You decide these things by yourself. As Rocky Balboa said: "The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows." and this fits perfectly. (Yeah, I'm a true Rocky Balboa Fan. You can find another article by me here: The TRUTH About Success Stories: MOST Newcomers Aren't Aware of it. -Are YOU Aware of it?! I made a quote there as well.)

Anyhow,

In reality you'll have to work hard and fulfill all the tasks you've been hired for. That ultimately leads to the first point in this article. Clients = Boss. They decide how they want things done, when they need it etc. You'll need to agree on their terms and you'll need to do the work they requested.

  • You will need to provide your service or product at huge discounts to overcome any competitors prices. There's a lot of competition in the freelancing-world, I won't lie. Several buyers are looking for the cheapest deal they can get and by setting your prices too high might hurt your business.

In reality this is true, but only half true. An established freelancer with good reputation and credibility might actually hurt their businesses by providing too cheap services. There's a lot of clients who are looking for high quality and they might assume that you provide services of low quality if you offer them services for nickels and dimes.

  • You'll work a few short hours per day and you will make a full time income. Or perhaps even millions!! - Some people have managed to pull this off and you can do it too.

The reality is, that you can but you probably won't be able to pull this off. Most freelancers (at least most of the freelancers I know personally) are working their butts of for at least 12 hours per day on sketchy orders, with deadlines to meet. This is a true stress factor and you will always need to keep an eye out for new clients to accept so you can make even more money. You will probably not launch a million dollar affiliate program the first years of your freelancing career, so you better be prepared. It's easy to become a freelancer but it's much more difficult to keep working as one.

In case you liked this, feel free to take a look at this one too:

How To Build Reputation, Credibility And Make Money On Steemit?!

Best Regards,
hitmeasap

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You forgot about all the clients who think you should work for free because "exposure". Still, great respect for the freelancer!

That is true. Such people are everywhere. "do this and that for free and I'll leave you an awesome recommendation". I wouldn't do that in a million years.

hitmeasap
Good Job 👍

bullionstackers

Thank you bullionstackers, I appreciate it :)

Kudos to the Man

I have done my upvote for everyone 👍👍👍
How about some for bullionstackers as well

Thanks in Advance 🍸🍸🍸🎉🎉🎉

Somebody told me once to regularly clean up the client registry and LOSE THE BAD CLIENTS. Which is excellent advice IMO.

That's an excellent advice, it truly is. I've been able to do that during the latter years of my freelancing career, but I couldn't do that during the time I first started out.. Back then, 5 years ago, I could have sold you a kidney for a nickel. I did literally everything I could possibly imagine, just to prove to myself that I COULD make money online.

Agreed. 80/20 rule at hand.

If a client doesnt make a meeting, find ones that do. Can you count to 1 million people? No - always a better fish and hes closer than you think!

Thank you for posting. QUESTION: should steemit let us steemers advertise using steem? Be sure to tell everyone you know to come vote here at: https://steemit.com/steemit/@kingtylervvs/if-steemit-ever-does-decide-to-advertise-there-is-only-1-way-it-could-work-in-my-opinion-debate

This is a democratic community decision.


Upvote the #steemengine for in house steemit poster ads!

Awesome post! Wish I had more power but my little boost is yours! lol

Thank you. I appreciate it. Every little bit counts :)

So is are freelancers only available in visual fields such as marketing?

No. A freelancer or freelance worker is a term commonly used for a person who is self-employed and is not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. So you can basically call yourself a freelancer and do whatever you want. :D

Who says you have to work 100% off the client's terms? One of the things I love about being a freelancer is being able to decide what clients and projects I want to work on (most of the time), because not every client and project is a good fit.

From my experience, most clients are flexible to the way you do business as long as you provide value and are professional. Most will actually appreciate a freelancer who has their own way of doing things and sets proper boundaries and expectations.

One of the best parts of being a freelancer is obviously the freedom to select your clients, but, in the end you'll still need to agree on the clients terms and conditions. However, that doesn't necessarily mean that your client is the one to set the terms alone. It takes two to tango.

Yeah, I hear you. The process of settling on reasonable terms & conditions for all parties involved is definitely a dance, though it's a good process to go through to avoid issues once the project is underway.

You are correct. I've had some EXTREMELY time consuming clients during my freelancing career and it was all due to the terms we both agreed on.. I hate struggling clients.. :D

I'd love to become a freelancer, i work in the visual effects industry. The only problem is finding clients, any clients.

Hey @warrensteem, I hear you. Finding clients is usually a struggle to begin with. There's a bunch of different marketplaces you could try for starters. Just to get something going. Afterwards, when you've gained a lot of customers, I'd recommend setting up your own website instead.

Thanks man ill try this out, do you have any you recommended?

It all depends on what you can do actually, and how much you believe your work is worth. Marketplaces like Fiverr for instance, has a fixed price of $5, so you won't be able to change it.. And you'll earn $4 for each order. They take 20% commission. If you're more into something bigger than that, then you have Freelancer. That might actually be a good pick for you, as you can bid on peoples listings, and also offer them your expertise and set the price yourself.

Oh man... Fiverr is where I started my web dev freelance career around 5 years ago... interesting times. Started building $50 sites... then $100.... then $500, to finally being able to find work outside of the platform due to the portfolio I was building along the way. Not sure how Fiverr works now, but at the time, processing and confirming 100 orders was a job onto itself! It definitely helped me get comfortable communicating with clients though. It also helped me view the work I was doing as a valuable asset versus just a hobby, which is hard to do when you're not getting paid for stuff you're creating.

The global vision is that freelancers live a chill life, being your own boss like you can give yourself free days. I say fuck that! I'm working hard bitch!

Yeah, me too. There's nothing but hard work and long working hours.

Hi! I am a robot. I have detected potential plagiarism in your post, from this source: https://steemd.com/recent/changedlife
Please try to refrain from copying articles to Steemit. Even if one links the source, this is still considered plagiarism and can end up in a DMCA notice being sent. You may also be downvoted and added to a downvote bot's list if your account does this repeatedly.
If I am correct, please edit your above post to only link to the article, then provide your own original thoughts on it.

Well, I can see how handy a bot like this can be but I can't see any plagiarism. I'm the original author of this.

Derp. Did you edit this post? I am trying to bug squash right now.

Yes I did! And cheetah came a minute after or so.

Cool, sorry for bothering you! I think I know the issue. :)

Yeah sure, no problem at all! I love the idea behind cheetah, keep it up! :)

You also need discipline, organization, business skills, sales skills and communication skills. Aside from the skills for whatever it is your freelancing (programming, graphic design, writing), these other skills are just as essential.

Highly appreciated share kozmik. To be a successful freelancer you'll definitely need those skills too!

  ·  8 years ago (edited)

I am a silly robot!

BAD ROBOT

Haha, I just had to try! :D

This thread has been Fuzzbombed (with love). :D

Maaaan!! Thank you so much! :)

fuzzy, what do you think of my attempt to live on steem for 30 days alone? :P
here's part 2!
https://steemit.com/money/@ma3/living-on-nothing-but-steem-day-2-getting-organized-and-expanding-the-team

Well, I upvoted! :D

Thank you man!

  ·  8 years ago Reveal Comment

Upvoted. :)

tnk

You are welcome. I wish you the best of luck with your post! :)

Well i finally managed to work full time as freelancer and i am so happy about that. Main thing that was holding me back to do so is our FEAR OF FAILURE, as it says in video i posted today here https://steemit.com/steemit/@lead/you-can-leave-your-dream-motivational-video-for-all-steemers
So it's possible, but people have to be strong and prepared for it as for any other business, because freelancing is not just fun, it's serious business

I agree I have worked as a freelancer for over 2 years now, will all the up's and down's its worth it if you have good clients and you are passionate about the work you do... getting your foot in the door and making a good first impression is key!

Indeed. It takes time, effort and dedication. And those three things are important to remember when you're creating posts on Steemit. Most people on steemit won't get that $10K post for starters. You'll need to build your way up.

Yep feels like starting out all over again which is good in a way.

That is true! Steemit haven't been around that long yet so people who signs up today actually have a head start too.. And that's awesome

Hey I've been thinking about this Steemit concept and I would like to share this with you... https://steemit.com/steemit/@jholmes91/why-i-believe-in-steemit-s-success

upvoted :)

Great post and so true. I love to labor in freedom and just posted a little on it here: https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@mranderson/mr-anderson-and-neo-are-renewed-through-steemit-hello-world

Look at the Crowd Found Hub section.

Thank you mranderson, I appreciate it.

i heard some whales have been spotted in these parts.

Haha yeah, I got "Fuzzbombed" :)

Well, I'm a freelancer who earns for living by computer programming and I must say the author is right. Though I would add that the most valueable thing in freelancer's world is reputation and 80% income comes from 20% client (constant clients mostly).

Hey stranger27. First of all, thank you. Secondly, yeah, I don't know about those percentages, they differs a lot based on your actual work, where you work and who your clients are, but I would still agree that you're on the right path with that statement at least. :)

However, the reputation is crucial for success!

Money doesn’t grow on trees /#/ Make coin while the sun shines /#/

the real heroes 8]

Great opening picture! 2 years ago I made up my mind that I'm going to get out of the 9 to 5. Just joined Steemit yesterday, it's great to be able to vote on people with the same goal.

Thank you ba-boo, I agree with you. Welcome to steemit! :)

Nice artcile, thanks for sharing. I didn't think about clients essentially being the boss and probably less considerate than a boss in a permanent job as you are more "throwaway" as a freelancer. I have always been hoping to go freelance to get away from the boss :)

Thanks for the article. I am in the process of starting my own freelance business and appreciate views from others to get a realistic expectation. I also agree with kozmik having those additional skills are quite necessary to stay on track!

Freelancer with the right approach can be the boss for the client. After all, the client obviously can not make an order, so appeals to a freelancer. In the future, the client can be manipulated when the freelancer will be sufficient associated with it.

I agree with that, but I can't agree to 100%. A freelancer needs to deliver whatever the client have bought, due to their agreements. The terms are decided and included in their agreements.

  ·  8 years ago Reveal Comment