The freelancing industry continues to expand. It is particularly refreshing to see freelancing becoming more popular in Zimbabwe and Africa as a whole. Freelancing is working on a contract basis for various clients instead of working as an employee for a single client or company. This indeed is the future, and more people are settling into that space. By the end of 2023, the global freelance market will reach over US$450 billion. Some of the most in-demand freelance skills are copywriting, content writing, graphic design, social media management, digital marketing, coding, UX or UI design, data science, and SEO. Anyways, let us look at some essential tips for freelancers.
On Scheduling
As a freelancer, this is one of the most challenging aspects. The key to being a successful freelancer is effective time management. You will generally be faced with different types of clients. Their needs will differ and even their time zones. The timelines associated with their needs will vary too. All these dynamics point to how imperative it is for you to schedule your tasks. You must do to make sure to meet deadlines.
You will also find yourself constantly working under pressure. I urge you to read the following books, namely, Atomic Habits (by James Clear), The 5 Am Club (by Robin Sharma), and Deep Work (by Cal Newport). You will learn about some scheduling approaches and principles, e.g., deep work and time blocking, amongst many others. Like Jim Rohn once said, “Either run the day or the day runs you.”
On Unplugging
As a freelancer you will typically have substantial autonomy over your time. This means you can largely choose when to work, what to work on, and how to work on it. We have talked about the importance of time management regarding scheduling. There is another angle to that which you must be a way of. That is the possibility of overworking yourself. After all, more work would mean more money. Couple that with the possibility of having an unending stream of clients contacting you. This all means you can keep yourself plugged in almost all the time.
When you have a day job, you are made to unplug i.e., when you knock off. This also applies to when there are holidays, or you are given off days. When you are freelancing, you have to teach yourself to unplug. Not a particularly easy thing to do when pursuing money, but you need to open. Work for only a specific and healthy number of hours per day. Have off days and take many breaks when working. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of unplugging. You need to for your mental and physical health.
On Writing Things Down
Freelancing entails juggling many things. This often happens in environments where many other items may be scrambling for your attention. This means it may usually be possible to forget or overlook some items. It is typical for a freelancer to have an overloaded brain. This increases the likelihood of losing sight of certain things. A trick you can use to counteract all this is to write things down. It is simple logic really,. Once you write something down you, no longer need to commit it to memory. That way, you keep reduce mental pressure, and you do not lose sight of all the essential things that need to be done. This principle is central to how you manage your tasks and time. You can write it down digitally or on paper, whichever works for you.
On Being True To Yourself
This may sound cliché, but it is a fundamental principle for a freelancer. If you are not careful, you can lose yourself and make unhealthy compromises. In whatever work or client you bring in, you must always stay true to yourself. This means you must not overly worry about pleasing others or living other people’s standards or rules at your expense. Yes, as a freelancer, you must produce excellent work for your clients. However, you should never find yourself fulfilling their needs at the cost of your wellness and sanity. Clients have to trust and respect you. That is the only way to have a conducive environment to be true to yourself. If a client exhibits distrust and disrespect, kindly decline to work with them.
On Learning To Say No Sometimes
This aspect feeds into or is somehow tied to the unplugging aspect. As a freelancer, there often will be unlimited opportunities coming your way. In your pursuit to make money,, you may take on every opportunity. Ultimately this usually ends badly. Making money is good, but it has to be done correctly. Taking on too much work or too many clients will usually weigh you down. I am saying this from personal freelance work experience.
It used to be hard for me to decline opportunities early on. However, with time I quickly learned that it was not worth it. You will have severe mental and physical health challenges if you do not know to say no sometimes. You must work hard to gobble up every opportunity that comes your way. Some of them are not opportunities if you closely examine them. Like Oscar Wilde says, “Everything in moderation, including moderation.”
Never mind the highlight of the top freelance skills earlier. If you are interested in those areas, then confidently go ahead; you are on course. Otherwise, there really is no limit to what you can do as a freelancer. The basic principle is to offer a service for which there is an inexhaustible market. The tips we discussed are universal, regardless of your freelancing focus. They are tips you can even adapt to any other life endeavor. Closely look at them and notice they major in effective time management. Paul J Meyer once said, “Productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning, and focused effort”.
