Introduction
In this article, I will share my experience freelancing lately and share insights.
Let’s jump right in!
What freelancing is
Freelancing is selling services at a fee to people who need those services. Say you are a plumber in a big city or town, you could market yourself as a plumber who is available on call to fix leaking faucets, etc.
The same goes for copywriting, Software development, Graphic design, UI/UX design.
The hardest work in freelancing is combining:
- Interpersonal skills
- Business skills
- Technical skills (expertise)
Interpersonal skills involve communicating with clients being empathic with their needs and finding a better way to solve these needs.
Business skills on the other hand involve running a business- Market, paying bills, saving some money, and keeping the business running.
Technical skills are the skills you offer and apply to your problems brought forward by clients. This is essentially your craft.
As a freelancer, you have to juggle the three aspects and balance both which can be a bit overwhelming.
How success stories paint Freelancing
Perhaps I’m still getting into freelancing, but freelancing is painted as a very successful niche. In my experience, freelancing can go from:
- Everything working out well, clients, income, emails all over, to
- 1 client with a very COMPLEX project that takes months
- Weeks, to months of no clients.
As you know: Business - Customers = No income.
Perhaps this resonates well with this statement:
Everything’s going great for months and then everything gets turned on its head: weeks of no clients. DEMONIC projects. Stress. Feeling stuck — all the things you feared. I kept these problems to myself as I felt embarrassed each time I found myself on a barren run. But talking with other freelancers — and pouring my freelance guts here on Medium — I realized I wasn’t alone. You can read more here
Freelancing is filled with challenges, is fun, and sometimes riddled with doubt and a lot of “what-if"s and sometimes regrets and doubts.
Freelancing on Online Platforms
Over the years, Most freelance communities have become saturated with an overwhelming steady stream of new users to the point Upwork had to pause new Graphic design and WordPress developer registrations for these categories.
Competition has become stiff and with new accounts, nobody knows what’s going on there. Most categories have become overly saturated and low-paying. Making $5.00 websites might seem a way to get started but at times you end up doing more work for little income.
Offering services on these platforms might be great but you might end up short selling your skills and time. Well-paying clients exist on these platforms but are quite rare.
I recently made $250.00 doing 10 hours of work on one of the common freelancing platforms. Good clients are hard to come by and this can be devastating. I live in a low-income economy and $400 a month is a decent income where I live.
Summary
Freelancing is a challenge and it’s a lot of work than working a full-time job. Having clients on a retainer can be a great way to earn a steady income as compared to one-off projects.