The month of March is just about over and I’m almost done with my first full month of freelancing. You read about how other people built up their clientele before quitting their jobs and setting up everything so that all systems run smoothly.
That wasn’t my road. I tried. I tried to add clients before I quit but I was TOO.FREAKING. TIRED. to do anything well. In fact, even though my clients were super sweet with me, I was endlessly frustrated with myself because I felt like I wasn’t performing at the level that I felt I should be-and I wasn’t.
So, it’s no surprise that I am not working with none any of the clients I was working with prior to December. I used to supervise people so I knew what I expected of others, and of myself.
What this meant was that the minute I touched American soil in February, I had to start fresh with the whole process-and I am glad that I did. I am happy to say that I should be hitting my goal regarding freelance clients signed on for the month of March in the next couple of days. And have already begun working on my goal for April now. I should also mention that I have a multi-leveled approach to freelancing and that by about May I should be exceeding what I was making monthly before I left my job. I just have to work my process.
February and March weren’t without some epic fails and lessons learned so I thought I would share them with you 🙂
Lessons Learned:
- Murphy’s Law is rough. Enough said.
- Technology will all go to hell at the same moment: My printer broke, I had ongoing problems with my internet- and I had a 9 hour go around with Centurylink where they basically forced me to do my tech work and even though I managed to “fix” the problem. A technician was still called in and we discovered that the my telephone cord was shot to hell and needed to be replaced. Which is why I’ve had crappy internet for YEARS!! And yes, I noticed a difference and the technician reassured me that the whole city of Denver is getting a wiring upgrade because the system can’t handle the capacity anymore. We will soon be able to get up to 1 Gigabyte into our homes.
- My MAC power cord died and it cost $85. Of course it did.
- Because of the Internet Problem-My pages were loading slowly and that made finishing all of my projects a pain in the…
- I underestimated the amount of time a HUGE project would take. I also seriously underestimated how much I should charge. In fact, I so underestimated how much work that project would be that I busted out laughing at myself because it was like I was in a comedy show. It was a good thing that I under estimated the both what I should charge and how much time the project would take because I will NEVER make that mistake again.
- Signing on New Clients-Some clients will work with you right away. They will have a “feeling” that you’re a good fit. I’ve done this numerous times when hiring people and the “feeling” almost always was right. Then, there are other clients who will take as much time going through the hiring process as getting hired for a regular job would.
- Confidence is key-Just be confident. This is new for me, but I spent a lot of time observing what successful freelancers were doing. I am not doing anything new. I hope to start having consistent cash flow and a certain number of clients by May.
- It’s all about the “pitch”-You get the jobs you apply for. That simple.
- Learn Your Clients-I am applying some of the lessons that I learned from working my old job. You have to “learn” your client and how they work. Then, consistently provide value and anticipate what they need.
My First Month Full-Time Freelancing
I would say that overall I did really well but that the real test will be April and May. I have a certain number of clients that I would like to work with and I also have several different money streams that I’m looking to grow my income in. I should mention that I did not focus on all of the areas that I’m hoping to make money in. In fact, I only focused on picking up long-term freelancing clients. This is great because that means I have a lot of room to grown my income.
Are You Freelancing?
What Was Your Initial Experience?
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We might need to do a little email exchange. I find your experience fascinating. I signed up for Cat’s freelance program and wanted to transition to part time freelancing and full time stay at home mom. It’s been an utter failure with a sick kiddo who takes up all my time outside of my stressful 40+ hour work week. I keep wanting to quit and just make it work… 15k shouldn’t be that hard to come by?
Email me Kirsten! I will say that my “gut” feeling is that over time I will be making more, but the initial start up has been tricky for me because I was overseas. I didn’t start actively pitching clients until I returned to Denver. I actually pitched only one or two before leaving Australia and one is still going through the decision process. I’ve decided that if I don’t hear from them by Wednesday of this week that I will move on. It’s an awesome organization-but my time is important too and now I’m concerned about organizational culture if it takes from February 9th until April to hire a freelancer (even though it’s an awesome opportunity)
Yes, I am a freelancer. My initial experience is that it’s hard to compete because I didn’t have samples of work so I started with those who paid lower just to get some experience. More importantly, I looked into my skills (what I am good at) and what most clients were looking for so that I could study and acquired skills needed.
That’s interesting! Because I have so much work experience (the irony-thanks 10 year job) I have been able to capitalize on that and confidently pitch to a lot of the organizations I want to work for.
You are so brave, coming back to start from scratch! I’m so glad to hear that things are coming together. May I recommend the book that Sarah just wrote, (it should be fully ready super-soon, I read the draft last week) – Five Figure Writer – http://lifecommaetc.com/five-figure-writer-ebook-pre-launch/
I love her website! I should mention that freelance writing will only account for about 25% of my earnings. I am working on other things virtually 🙂
Love this! I’ve been freelancing for a few months full time myself and it’s definitely been an interesting experience. I’m so glad you’ll be blogging and sharing your lessons learned!
It has been very intellectually stimulating and challenging in a way that I love. I am a little anxious-but I think things will be ok.
The idea of freelancing terrifies me for some reason. I really love writing, and I really believe in what it is I write about: the pursuit of freedom from debt. I’m not sure that I’ll ever get paid. And you know what? I still find it worthwhile to write about it all. The jury’s out on this one for me. All the best to you as you take on this freelancing thing full time!
I should mention that I am NOT freelance writing full-time. For my business plan I would like to earn about 25% of my income for freelance writing.Thankfully there are a lot of ways to work with companies virtually 🙂
I just started freelancing not too long ago and all those technology fails you encountered are completely normal, trust me. I started out wanting to write since it’s something I really love to do, but I also want to provide other services as well since writing can give you burn out quick. Since I’ve always been a writer, I just need to figure out a new pitch and pinpoint the value I can offer clients in other areas of their business.
Thanks Chonce-I thought I was going crazy LOL! I do want to build up my writing business, but I’ve focused on other components of my business first…I like to work on projects so that was a good way for me to begin. This week I need to really flesh out the value conversation too! Keep me posted on how it goes.
I love freelancing and do it 100% of the time now. I did ease into it though and kept my day job for a couple of years until I got a good feel for whether I liked it or not. Here’s to your success!
Thanks Janet! I truly appreciate your support. I would have preferred to ease into it, but that wasn’t my road 🙂
I got a new computer and router both shortly after I started freelancing and then after the new router I learned that I had been experiencing my internet at a diminished level of performance for years. I had been paying for faster speed for at least 2.5 years and my old router couldn’t have ever supported that speed to begin with. Sigh! So glad I have the speed I need now though.
I was amazed to find out when the technician came to work on my internet that the cord had degraded and needed to be replaced (which he did). Yes, I noticed a huge difference. I also noticed a difference after I cleaned my MAC-this week…yep, I can now type fast again after a year of not being able to type quickly. I would type and there would be a delay before I could actually see what I was typing. The things you learn LOL!
Ah, I know the pain! When I just started freelancing, everything was against me. I was so frustrated and I thought of giving up. Not only my internet went to hell (56kbps), my PC also started to act up, even my phone line was broke. On top of all of that, i broke my cellphone and had to buy a new one. It was a rough couple of months. glad I survived it!
It has been a slightly stressful month. Also, just getting the timing down for: payments, billing, etc. And then getting new clients added has been a bit of a process. I am stressed, but the level of stress is not even close to how stressed out I was before. I feel like the Universe throws everything at you just to make sure you’re up for it! LOL