Finding Work As a Freelancer

When you work from home and freelance, you are in charge of finding work for yourself. Only you can determine how much work you can successfully handle. It can be a balance between making the amount of money you need and how much you really want to work. There are also going to be times when you have to decide what you are comfortable with.

Here are some things to consider when looking for jobs.

Are you getting paid well enough? Many freelancers work for almost nothing. They start at content mills where they write for pennies. At Fiverr.com, many write whole blogs for just five dollars!

When choosing a job, you need to make sure that it is worth it. You deserve to be paid what you are worth, though there are definitely times when you will take whatever comes your way, no matter how much you make on it. Some projects won't take much of your time, so it might be worth doing it for a cheaper price.

Are you happy with the client? Some clients can be so difficult that it does not seem worth the money. Even if they pay you more than double what you usually get for a blog, it might not be worth the trouble. If you have to do five edits, which turn into rewriting it multiple times, you may just want to cut your loses.

As a freelancer, you should be able to be picky enough that you enjoy who you are working for. You may even do some jobs for less money, simply because you want to help someone out!

Are you happy with the job? Once you get enough offers, you should be able to choose the jobs that you enjoy. You don’t want to waste your time doing jobs that you hate, just to make some money. It is not worth your time, if you dread every second that you are working on the job.

That being said, as a freelancer, you may deal with this on a regular basis, even if you are lucky enough to have steady work.

I have had this feeling myself (many times). I once got a great job freelance writing, but quickly became overwhelmed by the amount of work that I had to do. The pay sounded really good, until I found myself working nearly every day (on top of my regular job). Even on the days that I put eight hours in at the veterinarian's office, I would have to come home and write some more! I couldn't skip a day, and I still couldn't keep up.

Finally, I had to get some help, but then I turned into an editor. I'd much rather write than edit. I also had to turn into a boss, in order to make sure that everything got done on time.

I missed out on time with my children because I was trying to do too much with that job, and I quickly got burnt out. I wasn't even really upset (except for the good paycheck) when they let me go without any warning. In fact, they left me a voicemail because they were mad that they couldn't reach me!

So, I learned the hard way that some jobs are just not worth doing. Even if the money is good, it might be hard to work with some clients. They may expect too much for you, and when you deliver, they want more and more, until you have no more to give.

I went back to Blog Mutt (now Verblio) where I can write what I want, when I have time. If weeks go by, and I don't write, nobody cares. I don't get paid, but I don't have to stress about it.

Previously published on Medium.