Well hello to you my reader chums! Failure is part of life; you can't succeed without failing once or many more times. The mistakes we make help us grow and learn in a personal and professional way. As a freelancer, I've made many mistakes. I've only just reached one year as a full-time freelancer and errors have been inevitable, however, they've helped me develop my career and learn how to do better.
If you're new to freelancing and struggling or looking for someone to relate to, here are the mistakes I've made as a freelancer.
Undervaluing myself
There have been countless times when I've reduced my rates or quoted lower than I wanted to book a client, too scared to share my actual rates. This has often bit me in the butt clients didn't truly value what I was offering. Even when speaking about my services, I can undersell myself in how I explain what I do. It's a terrible natural habit to put myself down rather than hype up.
Overbooking my calendar
If you're a freelancer, you'll understand, the feast-or-famine workload. Work either comes in all at once or not at all, there never seems to be an in-between and getting used to that can be difficult. During the high periods, I have a terrible habit of overbooking my calendar because I'm afraid of missing out on the opportunities and the money, rather than only accepting what I can fit in. Overbooking means I'll have less time for business operations and looking after my mental health, ensuring I take breaks.
Doubting myself in low periods
It's incredibly easy to be my worst critic as it's just me creating this business and running it myself. When things go wrong, it all comes down to me, especially when no leads are coming in. During low periods, I find myself doubting if I'm good enough, if I'll be successful and generally being a downer about everything. I should use this time for more productive things such as business strategy and marketing.
Not setting work boundaries
Boundaries can go out the window as a freelancer because, during peak periods, I can find myself working, working, working with fewer breaks and not coming up for air. No work boundaries means not taking those breaks, not switching off from work mode or constantly thinking about work. It can affect my mental health, productivity and overall success of the business.
Not being clear about payment terms
If there was one thing I wish was better at in the early freelance days, it would be this. Late payments or no payments at all have caused me an incredible amount of stress, especially when I have to keep following up on invoices. This is due to clients not sticking to invoice terms or me not being clear enough when sending the invoices.
I hope you enjoyed this post. Do you have any other tips?
Thank you for reading <3
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Thank you for reading my blog! I hope you enjoyed this post and found it helpful in anyway. I'd love to hear any feedback you may have.