Let me be honest y'all I love freelancing.
I love freelancing so much that I created a whole podcast about it.
Freelancing has really enabled me to reach Heights in my career that I never
thought would be possible to make more money that I ever thought would be
possible to meet so many amazing people.
I really love the lifestyle that I live.
I kind of get to do whatever I want more or less and make my own schedule.
There are.
So many benefits to becoming a freelancer.
I don't even know where to start, but I wanna be honest that I don't think it is
the right path for every single person.
And I don't say that in like a condescending way, like, oh,
I'm so much better than you.
Cause I figured out how to freelance.
I think that there are huge, huge benefits to working full time,
working more traditional role.
And then again, there are definitely benefit.
To working freelance for the right people.
It's all about finding the right fit for you and your life.
And something I think is really important when we think about what we
wanna do for the rest of our lives is what kind of life do you want to live?
It's not just about work.
Work is just a tool that helps us build better lives for ourselves.
So really think about like, what kind of lifestyle do you want to lead?
And not just like what sounds cool or what everybody is
pressuring into doing or whatever.
So if you are thinking about becoming a freelancer, if you're
currently a freelancer and are thinking like, I don't know why I.
Not seeing the success that I'm looking for.
What am I doing wrong?
I want you to stay tuned.
We're gonna talk about five questions that you should ask yourself to
determine whether freelancing is gonna be a good fit for you or not.
First question am I self-disciplined now self-disciplined is something that.
Can definitely be built up.
I think, you know, I think I'm pretty naturally self-disciplined,
but I can also be a procrastinator.
Like I will always get things done.
It's just, I might be working till 6:00 AM that morning to actually complete it.
You know, I'm flashing back to college papers and things like that.
But you know, for clients, you obviously have to get projects in on time.
And when you say you're gonna get them done.
So that's pretty obvious, but you know, money motivates a lot of people.
So I think that one is a.
Easier for people to figure out if, you know, you turn in this website
design and the client's gonna pay you for it and you need money.
Like it's pretty easy to motivate yourself to actually get it done.
But where I think a lot of people struggle is those non-billable hours.
Non-billable hours are those activities that like don't really
have a price associated with them.
Nobody is asking you to do them.
There are things like marketing, like business development.
Like admin stuff, like paying your taxes, you know, these things, you don't
get paid a paycheck for posting about your business on LinkedIn or recording
a YouTube video or an Instagram reel about your business or cold calling
somebody or cold emailing somebody like you don't get a paycheck for that.
And a lot of times you don't see an immediate return.
Sometimes you may even never see a return for some of these activities, but
they are so incredibly important to do.
So something that I've kind of been able to do to sort of hack my brain
about these things is assign a value to these different activities.
It may not be a dollar amount, but it might be like, okay,
creating a YouTube video.
I get five gold stars today.
I mean, I know that sounds very elementary, but whatever you need to do to
like, Check it off your list and to make it feel productive, can really be helpful.
Another thing that I found to be really helpful when it comes to
non-billable hours in particular is working with other people.
So I'm a part of different mastermind groups and co-working groups.
I have the freelance Friday club where you can meet masterminds and co-working
groups to help hold you accountable.
And to just like, keep those things top of mind, because I'll be
honest, this is probably the thing.
Most business owners or freelancers put to the side, you know, is marketing
themselves, investing in themselves, working on their business, not just
right in the business with their clients.
The second question I want you to ask yourself is can
I stay calm under pressure?
Freelancing is.
The best job I've ever had, but also like the most anxiety inducing
job I've ever had at the same time.
And I've worked a lot of jobs.
I've worked in food service.
I've worked in retail.
Obviously there are, you know, more stressful jobs.
They fully understand that, but there are so many unknowns, you know, we'll
talk about income in a second, but that's definitely one, like, I don't
know, am I gonna get paid today?
Am I gonna get paid in a month?
Like, you know, how's this all gonna work out, but even just things with clients,
for example, I mean, I've had clients.
Say very mean things to me.
And if I was working in a retail job or in a corporate office job,
like I used to, I would've went to a manager, would've went to HR.
I would've went somewhere and said, hi, this person's being like really
mean, what do I do as a freelancer?
You don't have that option.
You are HR, you are the manager, you are customer service.
You are all of these different departments.
And.
Gonna deal with some stuff that you don't really know how to deal with.
I have said it before, and I'll say it again.
If you've never worked a customer service job.
I think it's really important that you have that experience.
I mean, I think that's just life experience in general.
It's gonna do you, well, no matter what you do in your career, but having some
customer service experience before you become a freelancer, as you're becoming
a freelancer, I think is very valuable because that is a big part of what I do.
I have to deal with, uh, clients that, you know, have questions about things.
Maybe they're not even like super mad at me, but I just.
Speak in a calm way.
I need to know how to listen.
I need to know how to ease, concerns, all of these things.
And if you get really flustered and stressed out by people, you
know, complaining or people asking too many questions or whatever,
it's gonna be challenging for you to be really successful at this job.
Um, again, it's something that you can work at.
If you know, this is a weak spot for you get a customer service job or, you
know, at least research this stuff.
And also just practicing like mindfulness.
I know that maybe sounds a little bit silly, but I definitely try
to get in the right head space.
Before different activities.
If I'm gonna have a client call, I wanna be really calm.
I wanna have a really slow morning routine where I like
do all the things that I love.
I get ready in a way that makes me feel really confident.
And I can really show up as my best self, these little things.
These little practices can really help you, you know, stay calm under pressure.
And just feel really good about yourself, which definitely reflects
back to your clients or your audience or whoever it is that you're talking to.
Next question.
Am I comfortable with variable income?
You hear all the time?
Hey, this person's a six figure freelancer or seven figure freelancer.
Right?
Well, a six figure freelancer can mean anything from $100,000.
To $999,000.
I mean, that is a huge difference in lifestyle and in common, you know,
security and all of these things.
Those are two very different numbers.
And the other thing that people don't tell you about this is.
You can have, you know, a little roller coaster back and forth
between those numbers and you can of course make a lot less than that.
And more than that.
So there are so many variables to how much money you are going to make.
And while it is possible to make a lot of money as a freelancer, There
is a lot that people don't talk about.
People don't talk about those months that were really, really bad, and they
thought they were gonna lose everything.
People don't talk about when they made, you know, $900,000 one year.
And then the next year they made 200,000 and they felt like a complete
loser, even though they're not, that's still a good income, but.
Kind of that ego hit of doing so, so well, and then catapulting down and
you're wondering what's wrong with me?
These things all happen.
They definitely definitely happen.
So one of the best things that I can advise for you to get
comfortable with variable income is to save a healthy emergency.
Fund.
If you are not a saver, freelancing might be a hard one for you.
I've always naturally been a saver.
I've just like never been a super spendy type of person.
I mean, let's be real.
It's probably like a trauma response, but anyway, it's
served me well as a freelancer.
I'm not out spending all my money, I'm saving it so that if a rainy day comes.
You know, hint, hint, if there's a recession or if, you know, something
happens in the world, all these things, I don't need to instantly
panic and be like, what am I gonna do?
If people stop spending money with me, I can get through that storm.
And at least have enough time to pivot into something different if I need to.
So.
Make sure that you plan for that.
And also again, just make sure that your lifestyle, I think it's really
important for freelancers to sort of live below their mean, there's like
a lot of things in life that would be nice to have, like, you don't know how
badly I wanna buy that electric Mustang.
I'm gonna be honest.
It is just calling my name.
Like I don't need it.
I just don't need it.
I can't justify it.
I could.
But I don't need it.
And I think having that mindset as somebody who works for yourself, um, is
gonna do you very, very well, but also like treat yourself, don't get me wrong.
Like, there's definitely things.
I, I treat myself too and I might buy that electric Mustang at some point.
Uh, I just need to have like a really good launch or something to justify it.
The fourth question I want you to ask yourself is, do I
enjoy interacting with people?
I feel like a lot of introverts are drawn to becoming freelancers.
I am an introvert and.
It's like, we get to do a lot of our work alone.
You know, we get to like sit in our little like cozy dens that
we love to be in as introverts.
And, you know, just like do our own stuff, send our work off and, you
know, communicate mostly via email.
We don't really have to interact with people all that much.
So we tend to be really drawn to freelancing and that's great.
And I do think it is a great career path for an introvert, especially
if you're self-disciplined and self-motivated, however, human
connection is still extremely important.
In freelancing and it can really.
Help you level up if you will, if you are a good communicator, if you are
good at connecting with people, that can be the thing that makes me hire
you over the next freelancer is if like you talk to me, , I mean, when I first
started freelancing, I'm gonna be honest.
I used to kind of like hide for my clients.
Like, I'd be like, okay, I'm just gonna do the work.
They seem happy.
I don't wanna meet with them anymore than I need to.
I don't wanna like have to talk to people more than I have to.
It's just not my thing.
I always say, you know, clients are gonna be much less likely to get
rid of you if they can put a face to the name, if they have some type of
relationship and connection with you.
And it shouldn't be like out of desperation either.
I mean, you can just fix problems that you didn't know were there by having a
monthly meeting on the calendar or just being personable again, like I've met.
So many amazing people as a freelancer and a lot of them have been my clients, like
I've made, you know, business connections and friendships with these people.
So it is important that you have the ability to communicate with people.
And this isn't just for clients either again.
If you decide to expand your team, you're gonna need to then step into
a management role in a hiring role where you are hiring people, training
people, addressing issues that come up, giving feedback, things like that.
You're gonna need to be comfortable selling and pitching your services
to people and showing up and being confident about what you have to offer.
These are things that are not traditionally like very introverted.
Skills.
And again, there are like muscles that can be built.
I was terrible at selling or at least I thought I was when I first started,
I was like, I'm never gonna sell.
I'm just gonna hire somebody to do this for me or wait for people to come to me.
But honestly I realized like selling is one of my number one strengths.
It really is.
I'm really good at it.
And, um, I actually really like it.
So just force yourself to do it.
Get outta your comfort zone.
I always tell people get 10 no's.
If you get 10 no's.
One, your skin will be built up so thick that they're just gonna roll off of you.
The no's the next ones.
And two chances are, if you get 10 no's you're probably at least
gonna get one yes or one maybe, or one like call me in a month.
The last question that you should ask yourself is am I hungry?
Am I hungry for success and like, listen, I'm not trying to be all like,
you know, I don't know entrepreneur, bro, or whatever on you here.
But yeah.
You know, when I first started freelancing, like I didn't have
anyone taking care of me, you know, I basically had to be successful,
especially when I quit my job.
I told myself like, This has to work.
It has to work by this date or else I'm going back into the job
market and finding a new job because what was they gonna fall back on?
Like, you know what I mean?
Like I didn't have an option.
And so you have to be real with yourself about your limits.
Again, like put a time limit on things.
If you don't make X dollars by X date, be real with yourself and
get a new job if you need to.
But chances are, if you are hungry enough, Now, I'm not saying weird things
can't happen and it's all your fault.
If you don't do that, right.
There's a lot of variables to things, but if you are truly, truly hungry enough for.
You'll probably make it work.
I sacrificed a lot.
Every freelancer you'll meet I'm sure will, can tell you about the
things that they have sacrificed.
Um, there was this article.
I hope I can find it.
I'll link it below if I can find it, read it years ago, but she said like pick, pick
three of these big areas of life that you can prioritize, you know, friendships,
relationships, health, um, work, sleep.
I don't know what the other ones were, but.
Believe that.
And I know that we hear from like mindset people all the time.
Like you can have it all and you can, I do genuinely believe that you can,
but in the beginning, in that building phase, are you gonna have it all?
Are you gonna have good quality sleep, the best friendships ever, the best
relationships, ever, a family that you know, you have family dinners with
every single night and you're gonna work out like, no, that's just not.
Stick, you know, building a business, I really believe is like raising something,
a dog, a baby, a plant, I don't know.
You know, you have to really nurture it and give it love and attention
and a lot of time and prioritize that for a little bit of time.
And then you can kind of move on and go hands off as it's kind of running.
And you're able to maybe hire people to run some of the business for you.
You have a good client base.
You.
Furs coming in that kind of thing, but in the beginning, yeah, you're
gonna have to sacrifice some things.
I mean, I didn't have any friends, basically at all.
When I was first, really going hard with the business, I barely paid attention
to the relationship that I was in.
Um, you know, I wasn't sleeping very much at all.
I was sleeping like five hours a night and those people that cared about me
understood where I was at and they.
Respected that, and they didn't push me too hard.
Another thing that I sacrificed was entertainment.
I completely stopped watching TV.
That was one of the first things.
And I think it's one of the easiest things to do if you're
like, I wanna work on my business.
I just don't have time.
I'm telling you stop watching TV.
I didn't watch any TV for like two years, except for like occasionally
the news and occasionally like a special, like the Oscars or the
Grammy's or something like that.
I didn't watch any regular shows because if you think about it, if you're
watching one show week that's one hour every week, think about what you could
do for your business with one hour.
If you watch three shows, that's three hours and so on and so forth.
I mean, if you watch the news every day, that's an hour just with that every single
day, you know, that's five hours a week.
So I do think you have to be hungry for it.
You have to be willing to sacrifice some things.
If you really want it again, you can have it all or at least a lot.
You can have, you know, some semblance of balance I'm getting there.
Um, and I feel like I'm in a really good place actually.
So it's definitely not easy.
I think any.
Self-employed person will not.
Tell you it's easy.
The coaches out there who say it like, happens like this.
I don't know.
I'm not trying to say they're lying.
Maybe they're just like extremely lucky.
Maybe I am just not that smart.
I don't know, but it was not like this for me.
It definitely required a lot of sacrifice and a lot of really wanting
it and really working hard for it.
Okay.
So I hope this episode was helpful.
Let me know in the comments, if there's anything that you wish you would've
known before you started freelancing.
If you are new to this world, let me know if you have any questions.
If there's any way that I can help you.
I have a ton of videos on my channel ton of podcasts over on apple podcasts and
Spotify that'll help you out, but let me know if you have questions as well.
And thank you so much for tuning in.
I will talk to you in the next episode.