Most often when people hear the word “freelancing” first thought which come in their heads is a lot of money, but truth is something else.
There are many advantages of doing freelancing as you are your own boss and there is no 9 to 5 job you are doing. All you need is your laptop and skills to do freelancing it doesn’t matter which place you are sitting or what you are wearing.
Like all other occupations freelancing has its good side as well as bad side. If you are planning to do freelancing than you should keep all the positive as well as negative aspects in your mind. Here I am going to discuss all the misconceptions or you can say dark side of the freelancing.
Competition is all around
I always thought that there is not that much competition in freelancing as there is in office job before coming to this field. But to my surprise freelancing is a lot about competition.
There are many people doing freelancing while holding laptops. You are not the only one with quality skills or services.
Now this is the time to come up with new plans and strategies which makes you different from others. Only right person with right skills can survive in freelancing and it is such a great pressure.
Patience and tolerance is all you need
Now you are thinking why I am talking about patience? Let me clear my point here. If you are doing freelancing then it doesn’t mean all your work is going to approve by your clients.
There are times, when you are supposed to do minor changes in your work to satisfy your clients and also there are moments when they reject all your work in a second.
That is seriously a hard time to tolerate but at the same time it is good move to show tolerance and be patient before your client. Instead of feeling demotivated use this failure as a fuel for polishing your skills.
You need more skills
Being a freelancer you are your own boss so, you have to work, manage and promote your own skills. Having basic skills is old fashioned now.
You need new skills like marketing to promote your work which includes promotional strategies which attracts clients towards you. You need networking skills to stay in touch and connect with different consumers.
Time management is a real challenge while doing freelancing. This skill will make you successful as well as a loser in no time.
Discipline
Discipline is very important factor while doing freelancing. To keep balance in your life as well as in work, discipline will help you achieve your objectives.
You need to accomplish your commitments on time. Customers don’t really care about your bad health or any other issue only they care about is the right work done on right time.
If you are struggling with your career in freelancing then commitment is the key factor. Keep meeting your commitments and you will get good results.
Learning new things
You need to do a detailed research before writing about any topic which is assigned to you as a content writer and it is so much time taking.
Freelancing is not that much easy as it seems to be. You are always learning new things. In one aspect it is a good thing that you are constantly learning new things but on the other hand it is a real challenge to grasp more than 3 concepts as you are doing work in bulk.
No schedules
There is no proper timetable of doing your routine work when you are doing freelancing. You need to organize yourself and it needs a lot of efforts.
Your client can be from any continent and is ready to assign you task at any time. So, you have to deliver work till his given deadline. In many situations you have to scarifies your sleep for your work and you should make yourself ready for this.
Long hectic working hours
Freelancing is not a cup of tea especially for everyone. You need to work for almost 8 to 12 hours straight to meet your deadlines. People often have a view that you will only do work for 3 to 4 hours in freelancing then you can enjoy your routine but it is not like that. Freelancing wants you to put all your loyal efforts in your work to bring out best work out of you.
No job guarantee
There are pensions and job security in office jobs but there is no job security in freelancing. One day you have plenty of work and other day you have no work at all.
There are uncertainty in freelancing and if you can observe, it is very risky. You need to manage things in better ways. Many clients will get work done from you and leave you with no payment.
There is no guarantee that you client is always going to pay you on time. You must have a future planning and should manage your work in a way that will help save your future as well.
Diving into others vision
You need to keep aside your vision about a particular assigned topic when you are working on a project. You need to dive into the vision of your client to satisfy his work. It is not always easy for a writer to dive into someone else vision or ideology but being a freelancer you have to master this quality.
The bottom line
Freelancing is a fun ride which comes with many bumpy and rough tracks that gives you many challenges but you can enjoy this ride only when you are good at managing things rightly. It is not that much easy and it is surely not for those people who are finding shortcuts in their life. Be patient and consistent whatever you are doing and you will get good results soon.
