Should I freelance or not?
‘Should I freelance or not?’ you’ve probably asked yourself. There is nothing wrong with thinking like this. Absolutely nothing wrong. It’s not unusual to find yourself wishing for something more than a 9–5 job. You’ve probably had a taste of the corporate world and then concluded that the lifestyle thereof isn’t just for you. So, you ask the question time and time again, ‘Should I freelance or not — this 2021?’
You want more free time, more money, more flexibility and whatever more there is to gain. You want them. There’s nothing to feel guilty about, we are all Oliver Twist.
The promise of being ‘in control’ of one’s life is what many people find interesting about being a freelancer and that is good, but as interesting as that may sound, it has been the reason for the frustration of many due to a misconception of what freedom truly is.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve got a 9 — ‘till the work gets done’ job but I earn as a freelancer sometimes. So, I am not averse to the freelance idea. There are just costs that come with working independently that being an employee of an organization doesn’t usually require most times.
The following are three things that are essential for you if you’re asking whether to freelance or not: self-drive, self-knowledge, and the ability to network. Of course, these are not all there is, but they are a big part of the factors necessary for achieving success as a freelancer.
Self-drive
A man once said,
‘bondage is easier to handle than freedom’.
For one who has the 9–5 culture ingrained in him, having targets and deadlines set for him is a part of the job but as a freelancer, no one will do that for you. You set your own targets and meet or beat your own deadlines — or don’t.
The worst thing that can probably happen is: you displease a client — or clients — as the case may be, and end up getting unpaid. No sack letter, memo, or whatsoever.
With this knowledge, if you are the type that finds it difficult to call yourself to order, you might want to give a second thought to the freelancing path because you are literally on your own; the boss of a one-man company.
Self-knowledge
Giving the thoughts expressed above, this cannot be overemphasized. I hope it doesn’t come as off as a surprise that ‘skill’ wasn’t a part of the things I listed. If you’ve got no skill and you want to be a freelancer, what service will you be paid for exactly?
Moving on…
A man who knows something and knows he knows it will earn more than a man who knows something but doesn’t know he knows or isn’t confident about his knowledge. Self-knowledge will affect your terms of work and believe it or not, what you’ll earn as well. A good number of underpaid freelancers are not necessarily under-skilled. They’re just…underpaid. That’s all. Why? Three interconnected reasons:
They don’t know the value of their skill — to their clients.
They have the wrong kind of clients; the ‘buy three things for the price of one’ kind of clients, I mean.
When charging a price, they think in terms of ‘work duration’, rather than ‘value created’. This is a curse of proficiency.
The ability to network
I recently came across a term I was unaware of; deep-pocket clients. Deep. Pocket. Clients. Does that ring a bell? Your thoughts are as good as mine. You don’t need to work for everyone in order to earn big as a freelancer; rather, you need to work for the right kind of people. And you find these people by ‘associating upwards’.
Whether you like it or not, your network is your net worth. You can’t expect a man to pay you beyond what he earns no matter how excellent the job you did. He is well-meaning, but he can’t. So, do yourself the favor of networking with people whose average income can allow them to pay you the kind of money you would like to earn. But it shouldn’t pass without saying that the one rule in networking is:
he who wants friends must first show himself friendly.
Final thought
There are other things that successful freelancing requires but the few points discussed above are key if you are ever going to survive in the freelancing world. Ensure you have them — and others. Freelancing is an adventure that has its own challenges as well as rewards. There’s no challenge free zone on earth, except in the grave. So, know you, know what you want and then count the cost. Shalom
