10 Things I Learned in My First Year of Freelancing
I’ve been freelancing for a year and a half now! Time flies! Here are some things I’ve learned so far.
1.Platforms are a great place to start but they’re not forever and switching off is scary and hard
I started freelancing on Upwork. It was a helpful jumping-off point. Here are the pros and cons I’ve found:
Pros
Opportunity to try different niches
Opportunity to try different types of writing
Easy to find clients without much experience
Built-in invoicing, payment platform, and time tracker
Downloadable summary for taxes
Cons
Fees
Hard to get away from
Must pay a fee to work with clients off of the platform
Lower rates
Since I’ve figured out my niche and skills now, I’m trying to get clients without using Upwork. That’s a process I’m still figuring out. Do I pitch through LinkedIn, Facebook Groups, or on job boards? Do I cold search Google for clients who fit my avatar and pitch them via email? Do I use a different platform? These anchor clients (clients who pay the bills consistently) have been more difficult for me to figure out. Plus, cold pitching can be scary!!
I’m currently in a pitching class to get my story pitching down and get accepted for a feature in a magazine and that has been a cool process. I’ll write a post later when I figure the whole pitching thing out better. For now, I’m still working through Upwork for one client who gives me about four assignments per week (~$550) and taking on small projects as I navigate the pitching realm.
2. Imposter syndrome is bullshit
If you didn’t know, I have imposter syndrome hardcore. This affects everything I do and my confidence. For the longest time, I didn’t feel like a writer. I didn’t identify as one or feel like I had the right to do so. Not identifying as a writer or freelancer and not believing in my skills made me less valuable, less assertive, and I came across as meek and unprofessional. I had a hard time raising my rates. I didn’t promote my own work. Imposter syndrome literally just gets in your way. It’s not the imposter syndrome you should blame, either, it’s YOURSELF.
All I’m trying to say is, you’re better than you think. Stop comparing yourself to others and start focusing on doing your job. If I did this a year ago, I think I would be in a way different place, but there’s no point in dwelling on the past. And, trust me, this is easier said than done! As my coach likes to say, “The past happened perfectly. Exactly how it should have.” So, go out and do your best. Don’t be a perfectionist.
If notice you’re experiencing imposter syndrome, work on it! Yes, right now! I know it’s scary but it’s worth it! Try:
1. Go to meetups.
2. Reach out to a writer you look up to and see if they’ll do a short meeting with you in person or over the phone or even communicate with you via email or social media DM. Prepare questions and take FULL ADVANTAGE of that time with them while also being as respectful as possible. This person could end up being your mentor or offering an extremely helpful class in the future (that’s what happened to me!). Even just a 15-minute conversation could give you some insanely helpful advice. Here are some questions I’ve asked:
a. How? How do they pitch, how did they get started, how did they grow, how did they plan, how did they practice, how did they find inspiration, how do they schedule, how do they budget, how do they organize their projects?
b. Who? Who did they look to for an example? Whose books have helped them? Who did they learn from?
c. Where? Where do you find clients? Where do you find inspiration? Where do you look for current events? Where did you learn to do _____?
3. Practice your craft! Try different types of writing. You could be a copywriter, a content writer, a journalist, a profiler, a fiction writer, a memoirist, a dystopian genius, a fantasy hero, a blogger, an SEO writer, a catalog writer, a social media caption writer. The options are truly endless and you’re definitely not going to be good at all forms.
Schedule in an hour of free writing per day. (I’ll admit I don’t always get around to this, but it really does help) The more you write -> the more you’ll know what you’re good at -> the more you can sharpen those skills -> the more confident you’ll feel. Plus, staying consistent with a habit like this will likely build trust with yourself and possibly give you even more confidence!
3. Mindset matters
Your mindset truly matters. If you believe you can do it, you can. If you believe you’re a writer, you are. If you believe you are confident, you will appear that way to others as well. I’ve been working with a life coach for 9 months now and It’s been a GAME CHANGER. You don’t have to see a life coach. Some other, more affordable options could be therapy, self-help books, podcasts, a mentor, or a writing coach. For a long time, I let myself get overwhelmed, use “I don’t know” as an excuse, and I didn’t believe in myself or my dreams. Now, I’m almost positive I’ll do all of these things I’m dreaming about.
4. Practice makes perfect
You can’t be a writer if you’re not writing. WRITE! Do your best to schedule in an hour of free writing two to four times a week. Look up prompts if you need to! Start by journaling if you want. Do some research instead if you’re having writer’s block. Read style guides, it’ll help your skills to read them more than once. You’ll also feel like a writer if you write more! You might write something you love. You don’t have to write only for money.
5. Know when to take breaks
I used to think that I had to work for 8 hours straight in one place to have a proper ‘workday.’ The beauty of freelancing is that YOU DON’T HAVE TO DO THAT!!! Oh my gosh! You can try a 3x3x3 (3, 3-hour work sessions), you can work 5 hours later in the day so you can use the sunlight to it’s fullest capacity, you can take the day off and work a 12 hour day with a few 30-minute breaks the next day so that you can enjoy your life. A workday can look like so many things.
As long as you’re planning, hitting your deadlines, and taking care of yourself, you can do whatever you want! Don’t adhere to the traditional ‘workday’ if you don’t want to! Find what works for you. Know when to step away. When I start yawning and getting dry eyes I walk around the block and do some jumping jacks. When I can’t focus, I know that my tasks will probably take twice as long. If the deadline isn’t coming right up in a few hours, I’ll take a break maybe find a different table or place to work. Taking more breaks has actually made me a more efficient worker. It takes a while to build up the stamina to write, edit, or transcribe for more than two hours at a time! Be patient with yourself. A lot of times, some jumping jacks or a lunch break can make all the difference.
6. Budget & Schedule!!
If you’re not doing this yet, I am IMPLORING you to get on this TODAY! Seriously! It will change your whole life. If you’re truly learning to budget and schedule it will change how you think about money and time. It will show you how valuable your time really is, it will help you reach goals you thought were far off in the distance, and it’ll get you on top of your shit like the responsible adult entrepreneur I believe we both are.
Where do I start budgeting?
For budgeting I use You Need a Budget (YNAB). I’ve saved over $600 in my first two months using YNAB! (I do NOT get paid for mentioning them, they’ve just changed my life.)
1. Watch their Youtube videos, it’s worth the time I PROMISE. Check out Nick True while you’re at it!
2. If you need help setting it up, feel free to reach out to me for a 30-minute appointment. I had help setting mine up and it was amazingly useful.
3. You can get a 30-day free trial to get used to it and it’s $11.99 or $89/year after that. Need to justify spending money on saving money? $11.99 is less than I get paid hourly, it would take me more than 1 hour per month to do what YNAB is doing for me and teaching me, therefore it is WORTH IT.
4. They have an iPhone/Android app and a web app. You can sync your bank accounts and credit cards from most institutions or add things manually or both! They make it so convenient!
How do I start scheduling?
I wrote a whole blog post about this! Try out my strategy! A combination of things I’ve learned from my coach and from life experience. Scheduling – well all of life – is an EXPERIMENT. Don’t worry if you’re running late, still try your best to do everything you can! You probably won’t ever be a ‘perfect’ scheduler. But, if you schedule you’ll be on top of your shit.
7. Track your time!
If you know how much your spending on each project, you can schedule more easily. Plus, if you’re only getting a flat fee for the project, you should be tracking your hours so that you know how much you’re actually getting paid when you break it down. You’ll also know how many clients you can handle by understanding where your time is going. Time is money, budget it!
8. Get Organized
I’ve tried a bunch of things to organize myself. To be honest, I hardly tried to organize when I first started, and it didn’t really matter that I didn’t at first. But once I had more than 4 assignments a week, I couldn’t keep track of them in my head anymore! Organization is so important and it’s pretty personal. I use Asana. I’ll make a video about how I use Asana soon to show you how you can set it up. I’ve also tried Trello, Google Calendar, the Notes app on my phone, a paper planner, but the only thing that worked was Asana.
9. You’ll find what you want by learning what you don’t want.
When I first started freelancing on Upwork, I applied to anything and everything that looked interesting to me. I didn’t know how to pick my niche at first. I had a few ideas of what would work with my experience, but I didn’t know what I really wanted to focus on with writing. I tried designing research spreadsheets, cannabis policy and news writing, content writing for outdoor blogs, mental health blogs, and even writing about tech education. By applying to different jobs, I found what I didn’t want to do (policy and news writing, cannabis writing, spreadsheets) and found out what I did want to do (tech, podcast optimization, and outdoor writing). I also found things I’m pretty good at that I could improve even more to make myself an expert. This trial and error gave me experience, helped me figure out how much I was worth, and showed me niches I never even thought about trying!
10. Invest in education
I’ve spent $300 on education so far and damn has it been worth it. I took an online Pitching course with a writer I really admire. I also took an improv class. I do standup comedy as a hobby and originally I signed up for improv to help with my comedy. Improv has actually helped me in so many other aspects of my life! It let me network with my community, learn to let go more, taught me exercises to brainstorm, showed me how to find ease, and brought me so much joy! I was even invited to a weekend podcasting workshop because of someone I met in the class and got booked on a show!
Spending money on education, improving your writing skills can be a big boost. Make sure you’re ready financially and budget for it. Make sure you research what you’re taking. You want to be sure that the class is something that will actually help you so that you aren’t wasting your money. Some people swear by Skillshare or Udemy. I didn’t personally like those platforms because their writing courses weren’t what I was looking for but they are great resources for video and photo editing! Follow writers you admire on social media and they may teach a course or offer coaching.
Bonus: You’re probably worth more than you think.
My first job, I worked on creating a literature review for a health non-profit in California. I worked on the project 20 hours a week for 3 months and got paid $1,200. I did research for resources, created a spreadsheet with VBA coding, and did data analysis to provide them with actionable results. Looking back, I realize I was underpaid but at the time it was the dream for me. It was exactly enough to pay off the MacBook I’d just bought.
I worked for a cannabis blog for almost 9 months writing for $30 an hour which ended up being $60-90 per post not including keeping up with news and posting to their social media. The going rate for blog posts is $150-200… I tried to raise my rates (not confidently enough) and ended up tapering off my hours and dropping the client a month later.