In many ways, freelancing is like a twin brother/sister to entrepreneurship. The only difference is you won’t be parting with your hard-earned money, and you won’t be losing your shirt should your business go bust. In addition, if you manage to turn your hobby into a business, you’ll have a much easier time staying motivated. With minimum overhead expenses, and by doing something you’d enjoy doing anyway, you have nothing to lose, really.
Freelancers easily earn an annual 6 figure income, and they don’t have to relinquish all the finer things in life. There are a few requisite qualities if you are looking to become a happy creative freelancer.
Get Proactive!
No, not the acne treatment product. Great marketing strategies are often the attributing factor to a successful business. Likewise, you need to market yourself. As a freelancer, you need to take charge and be proactive. You need to get your name and shiny new job title out there.
Waiting for a project to drop in your lap isn’t going to cut it. Holler to the people around you and have them herald your coming! Tell everyone you know that you’re now a happy-go-lucky freelancer. Pique their interests. You never know when a friend would rope you in for some help!
Get your foot in your chosen business industry. There is a myriad of freelance websites out there: Elance, Guru, Get a Freelancer, Rent a Coder etc.
These sites offer free as well as premium memberships. Bid on a couple of projects and assess the kind of responses you get. Are you able to lure in the clients?
Have pride in your work
You may have heard the wise but warped words by some veteran freelancers. Some gurus actually advise freelancers not to give their best efforts in their endeavors. They believe that time is of utmost importance, and the more projects you take on, the richer you will be. Money is what dictates their work ethics. Money drives them. To get more information, click this contact form.
Just because you’re a freelancer now doesn’t mean you should delete your well (and painfully) written résumé and CVs. Hold that thought for now. Hit the web and check out job recruiting websites. You will find a couple of job solicitations for freelancers. Also, you can run a search on the web for established production houses. More often than not, they may require freelancers on an ad hoc basis. Send your resume and CVs to the respective companies!
Optimism
If there’s anything I know that’s lethal, it’s anticipation. Waiting for a reply from prospective employers can be torturous. Minutes tick by slowly, hours pass into days, and days pass into weeks. Some clients see it upon themselves to send you a formal letter of rejection, while most just seem to give you the cold turkey treatment.