Whether it’s my career-long lesson on how to prioritize self care, or navigating the professional world as an HSP, it’s safe to say that most of my personal goals are deeply intertwined with my role as a freelancer. I’ve been self-employed since 2014. The times I’ve connected with other freelancers and business owners have always been memorable and comforting. If you’re a fellow freelancer, I think you’ll relate to these truths.
And if you’re new to freelance world? Consider this your welcome letter.
4 things all full-time freelancers are guilty of
Waking up past 10 on weekdays. Kudos to anyone who has landed on the perfect freelance schedule. It’s truly different for everyone. There are many reasons those of us who are self-employed sleep in, besides the fact that wouldn’t you, if you could? There’s late nights working on never-ending projects, there’s the anxiety that can come from being the employee and the boss, there’s that simple but serious struggle to maintain motivation when you’re the one in charge. I felt guilty about my late starts (even though I’ve always managed to provide quality work on time, regardless of my sleep schedule), until I saw a Facebook group thread full of freelancers admitting their equally erratic schedules.
Nowadays, I try my best to get up early so that I can start work around 10 and prioritize a walk and journaling “me time” before I hop on email, but it doesn’t always happen. I appreciate how many freelancers are able to run their morning on their own terms, while still finding success as professionals!
Ignoring red flags. Ideally, the amount of times a freelancer ignores red flags and proceeds anyway lessens over time as they grow in their business. But it still happens even years in, especially when you work remotely with clients from all over and can’t get a feel for them in person. At this point I’m pretty successful at using my intuition, but sometimes I convince myself that I’m just overthinking, when it’s really a red flag. It happens.
Getting sassy when people don’t understand your job. At first, it’s kinda fun telling people what you do. To them it’s a bit mysterious, and that’s always cool (even if you know it’s not that glamorous). Just wait until you’ve told those same people what you do, over and over again, for 5 years. It’s difficult enough to put our jobs into words (every freelancer has such a vastly different experience). At some point, you just start to reduce your own occupation to the two or three buzzwords people seem to remember (ie “writing” “blogs” “something with websites…?”) just to stop explaining. (BTW: I take full responsibility for how long it took me to learn to properly describe what I do! It’s a weird situation and takes time to sort out.)
Saying yes and figuring out later. We’ve all done it, and many of us advocate for doing it. It’s actually not just a “fake it till you make it” . A lot of times, you get so experienced in your industry, that even when you receive requests of things you haven’t actually done, you just know you can figure it out, so you sign the contract. What was actually a bigger turning point for me in freelance was learning to say no when I actually do have it figured out, but simply don’t want to.
Have more questions about the freelance experience? This post may help.
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