When you hear of a freelance job, you can immediately picture yourself as someone who has flexible working schedule, having time for yourself and being your own boss. These are some of the good things that you will experience while having a freelance job. But of course, everything has two sides. You also have to look into the challenges that you will encounter while doing the job. You would need to prepare yourself for these. Aside from these, there are some valuable things that you need to know about having a freelance job.
Today, we will show you what these things are. Knowing these are important for you take note of in order to have enough knowledge on freelancing. Being equipped with apt know-how would help you to be more successful in the field of freelancing. So, here are ten things that you need to be aware of regarding a freelance job.
1. Preparation is vital.
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Before you immediately jump into freelancing, you need to be ready. It would be very challenging for your first months especially if you do not have enough ideas on how to do freelance. You can read a lot about freelancing so that you can be aware on what you need to know and what things you still need to learn. Being ready is vital in order to succeed in freelancing.
2. Inconsistent business situation.
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This refers to how freelancing is. There are times when you have so much work to do but there would be times that you do not have any work to do. You would be very busy doing some projects in a week. Work hard on this for it doesn’t happen all the time. When slow times come, it could be a situation where you have little projects or no projects at all, you have kept enough money to sustain your needs while you are still looking for projects. That is why saving is an important part of freelancing.
3. Dealing with clients.
Whether you are used to deal with clients or not, you will surely find it challenging to deal with them. There are really difficult people but there are also people who are very much easy to deal with. Sometimes, you might even be friends with some of them but make sure that you are creating a boundary from friendship to business. You might even deal with clients who do not pay or are delaying payments.
4. Client criticisms.
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Well, you will not be able to get away from this. You will always face criticisms from time to time. You might even feel that it is a personal criticism especially if the client has a big voice. But you should be able to handle this. Prepare yourself to face client criticisms so that you won’t be on a hard situation when you are already there.
5. Always be updated.
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In the world of freelancing, you should be able to adopt the latest technology needs which can make your work faster. Along with that, is the need for you to upgrade your skills. Hence, you should be updated to the latest techniques being used and the technology needed to do it. You should be aware of this because clients are aware of this. Do not be left behind.
6. Improve skills and learning.
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When you started freelancing, you were equipped with some skills and knowledge about designing but you should not be contented with that. In having a freelance job, there are many projects that would require other skills which you might not know yet. Hence, you should be open to more learning. Continually improve your skills and learn something new from your job.
7. Not consistent income.
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Unlike working in a company or having a day job, it is a lot different when it comes to freelancing. Your income will not be fixed. You will earn differently depending on the project. So, be sure that you have savings because there would be slow times wherein there would be lesser projects.
8. You will work alone.
Unlike the scenario of a company where there are so many people, it is a lot different in freelancing for everything is done by yourself. You look for jobs, work on the project, manage your time, manage your finances and others. Everything would be done by you.
9. Self-discipline is highly needed.
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Since no one would be telling you what needs to be done, you are your own boss. You control your time, you choose your project and you work on a certain time that you allocated for freelance work. But you need self-discipline. Without it, you will not be able to follow the timeline or schedule you have set for your work. Also, you might just waste time doing other things instead of working if you do not see to it that you discipline yourself when it comes to work.
10. Health concerns.
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One thing that you need to be aware of is your health. It is always recommended for you to stay healthy. So, do not be so engrossed with working. Be sure to give importance to your health by doing some exercise, eating healthy food and others. You also need to regularly visit your doctor to make sure that you are in good health condition despite some time when you need to work for longer hours.
It’s Your Turn Now
The above-mentioned things are some of the things you need to consider in order to be prepared to face a freelance job. Aside from those, you also have to be aware of the challenges of freelancing. Having appropriate knowledge will surely help you climb the ladder of success in an easier way. So, would you like to add something to the list? Feel free to do so.
