Doing This One Thing Helped Me Become a Successful Freelancer

When I started freelancing, it was out of necessity. I started searching for work-from-home opportunities way before the pandemic started. So that may have contributed to my success rate because there weren’t many people hunting for work-from-home opportunities at the time. I needed something that I could do from home and make my own hours. Unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of hourly jobs that will allow you to do that. The answer, at least for me, was freelancing.

I didn’t have a lot of skills that lend themselves to that, so I set about looking for something that I could build on. For me, that was writing. I’m not the best writer in the world, but I have enough experience to at least eke out a few hundred bucks a week. However, when you first start writing, you are lucky to even get that.

At first, writing alone wasn’t paying the bills, so I had to find something else that I was marginally good at. I ventured into transcription, which is tedious so not a lot of people want to do that. However, I found a great company to work for, which also happens to be one of the hardest to qualify for. Again, I found that the money wasn’t rolling in, but it did increase my weekly income by a little. Eventually, I became really good at transcription and I am now able to average about $25 an hour, when there is work to claim.

This taught me that, if you are going to be a freelancer, you absolutely have to diversify your income. While this can be tough to juggle, it is necessary due to the fluctuations in available work. For example, when my writing isn’t exactly making as much as I need for the week, I can quickly pivot to another stream of income and work on that, and vice versa.

This has worked out well for me so far, and I have managed to make a decent living. I’m not making six figures yet, but I plan to keep trying new things and eventually, I will find one that pays out. That’s another tip that I can impart to you. If something doesn’t work, don’t think of it as a failure. Think of it as eliminating at least one thing that you know doesn’t work. As Henry Ford said, “Failure is only the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.”

Another thing I learned is how to work. Determine which freelancing opportunity pays you the most hourly and work on that first. When that has dried up for the day, then go to your next most productive work. This is the reason why it’s so important to have more than one income stream. When one dries up, you have something to fall back on.

And last, but certainly not least, it’s important to have a good work ethic. Since you don’t have a boss looking over your shoulder and keeping you accountable, you have to have the ability to keep yourself on task. One of the techniques I use to do this is that I have a goal for the day. Once I have met that goal, I can stop working for the day.

Also, I set aside a block of time every day to work. For example, my work block for the day might be 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM. If I am able to make my goal for the day by 2:00, then I will either stop working or I will use the time to work on another side hustle.

The most important thing to remember is don’t give up. I think of time as a currency, and I don’t want to spend my time making money. I want to spend my time on the things I love, like my garden or spending time with my family. With persistence and a little thinking outside the box, you can make a living without working 40 hours a week and making someone else rich.