Read This Before You Jump on the Freelancing Bandwagon!
Here’s what you don’t want to know: Freelancing is hard and it is not for everyone.
Freelancing is not for everyone. Yes, I repeat, freelancing is not for everyone. But, no, this article is not written to contradict my previous article.
Instead, I would like to share the hard truths about freelancing. The bottom line: Freelancing is hard.
Finding clients is hard.
Firstly, there are many jobs in the job pool for you to apply for. However, getting clients to notice you, getting clients to interview you, and getting clients to eventually hire you are three totally different outcomes. Some jobs may receive over 50+ proposals, thus reducing the possibility of the company noticing you. Then, even if the client has selected you for an interview, there might not be a fit. Later, after they interviewed a few freelancers, they might not choose you. So, we need to know how to stand out from the other applicants. Read on to find out more.
Secondly, some clients can invite you to take up a job offer. Yet again, what are the chances of the clients picking you out of the many freelancers to look at their job offer? Do you have qualities that the clients are looking out for? For example, clients may prefer freelancers in time zones aligned to theirs or clients may prefer freelancers with an expert level in skill rather than at an intermediate level.
Lastly, not all projects are long-term. So, after you got a client and complete the project, you have to repeat the long and tedious journey to find another client to support yourself. 💪🏻
The stream of income is not stable.
Here’s the most obvious fact: If we cannot find a long-term project, we will not have a stable stream of income. Personally, I did the dangerous move which is to jump right on the freelance bandwagon without any backup. However, I consider myself lucky because I am living with my parents. So, money is not a really big concern for me to sustain my basic necessities. Hence, my advice to you is to jump with caution.
That being said, if you still want to freelance…
Here is my advice: Work in the industry that you are interested in as a full-time employee first. This is so that you can learn and understand how the industry works. Learn as much as you can. There is no time limit to this; work till you feel you are ready or you have been promoted at least once in that role. This helps your profile to stand out and build your reputation and creditability.
I have worked for four years as a data consultant in a company and was promoted once. I have seen how to implement an end-to-end solution in the various phases. Here, I also consider myself lucky to work in a startup where each employee gets to work on different parts of the project and not just a silo part of the entire project. This is because as a freelancer, you need to represent the “entire company”.
You, as the sales team, need to create proposals to attract clients to look at your profile and promote yourself in the best way possible to give them the assurance that you would be able to complete the job properly. You, as the finance team, need to arrange the sending of the invoice to your client and establish an agreed payment timeline. You, as the project manager and business analyst, need to consider the requested features and the potential risks arising from the requests. Then, you, as the developer, need to work on the requested feature within the given amount of time agreed with the client.
There are many aspects of a freelance project that one often overlooks. Hence, it is important that you get exposure to all of these aspects, such as being a full-time employee, before you jump on the freelance bandwagon.
At the end of the day, ask yourself: What do you truly want?
Sometimes, I think about whether I will be “successful” in the future if I continue to work as a freelancer. Will I regret my decision not to go back to the corporate world? Will I feel inferior as compared to my friends who moved through the corporate world?
This begs a follow-up question, what is the definition of success? In fact, what is your definition of success? Leave your definition in the comments below!
To me, it is about finding peace and joy in things that I do while maintaining a balance between work and life. Tell you what, if you want to know my journey, follow me on Medium to get updates firsthand. 😉
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