GET STARTED AS A FREELANCER, THE GENUINE GUIDE YOU NEED!
Being a freelancer, A Dream or a Nightmare?
Let’s talk…
Surely you’ve had this one thought cross your mind at least once, especially during your tenure at the present company. The thought that says… “what if? what if I could earn the same amount with lesser working hours, or what if I could pursue dance or painting or music or writing and earn money?, Or even do Freelancing, help clients, work at my own pace, live my life, walk in nature, adopt twenty dogs or run a farm and still be able to provide for my family and have time to spend with them?”
Let’s first clear one big doubt and the biggest fact of life! IT IS ONLY POSSIBLE FOR A HUMAN BEING TO PUT HIS 100% INTO THINGS THAT ACTUALLY MATTER!
Let’s understand if you should consider freelancing?
Doing a job that kills your interest and bores you to a limitless extent is a complete waste of your precious time, although Sometimes it is also okay if your priorities and goals are just as simple and the job you do works out for you without feeling forced to do it, Lucky you.
Let me break it down for you for better decision making.
- PRIORITY SETTING (Monitor your Feelings)
- UNDERSTAND THE WHY
- ENVISION A GOAL
- EXECUTION
- CONSISTENCY
PRIORITY SETTING
I’m not talking about the petty ‘to-do list’, I’m talking PRIORITIES. In Life! What are the most Important things to you. Find your purpose
The car you wanted to buy, or the ring you wished to purchase, the holiday you wanted to go. NO!
These aren’t your purpose, these could be stated as your short term goals. When I say ‘PURPOSE’, it is where you Really want to see yourself and it isn’t something materialistic, It is the FEELING, what feeling do you want to hold on to for the longest time, Happiness? Stability? Calmness? Right?
Monitor you feelings! Observe…
When I say Feelings, it isn’t the emotions that you generally feel, please know the difference. If you act the way you feel all the time, it might be harmful.
Now, find activities in your life that bring all these feelings to you. Even for the short period. What makes you feel YOU BELONG HERE?.
I’m sure this might have helped you gain insight in narrowing the niche of life for you. Catch hold of your feelings every second. What are you feeling right now?, you are on duty, what is the feeling?, you are playing a guitar what is the feeling? You are walking across a beautiful street, what is your feeling? Do you enjoy every bite of your food and enjoy expressing the taste and explaining about what you eat? Try food blogging maybe?
I hope that helped you narrow down even further by observing your feelings. Think about it.
UNDERSTAND THE ‘WHY’
The very core question would be, Why is it that this Thought of FREELANCING even cross your mind, and How serious are you about it?
You reading this blog so far is enough assurance of your seriousness, You seem earnest about your consideration at this point. Congratulations on that! way to go, Keep reading for more insightful knowledge to make sure you are on the right track knowing yourself better and to achieve the ultimate fulfillment of your purpose.
Observe your surrounding, are you happy where you are right now? your answers can include, yes, no, not completely. Do you wish to change anything about it?
if yes, you have your answer. why limit yourself in learning new skills, in improving yourself and polishing your talents. Find out Why is it that you are looking for a change.
ENVISION A GOAL
🎯 Form a target! SET A GOAL. Let me help you set one…
Hoping, till now whatever you have read, might have given you an insight on what is it that you are excited about. right? (if not, please comment below so I can help you out in someway)
Goals are nothing but milestones for you to achieve your vision. Your vision is the ultimate goal in one sense. But think of goals as set of achievable targets that connect the dots and pave a path to where you envision yourself.
Keep your goals, short and achievable. Break them down if required, but remember to make them super achievable and practical. You can imagine there is a set of stairs that go up to your roof, you would climb up one by one and reach the roof of your house, there might be alternative to reach the roof of your house like fixing a lift, or arranging a hot air balloon, or a parachute or even a helicopter.
Sounds Crazy? Does any of these options seem achievable or practical in near future? wouldn’t you save up all that energy and resources and simply use the staircase to reach the roof? and actually make it to the roof sooner and simpler?
Now some might have a doubt that what if we take our time and construct a lift for the house and easily reach the roof. But here, you are forgetting that getting to the roof was the vision and not fixing the lift.
That’s what I mean when I say build achievable goals.
Start building a portfolio as soon as possible and grab any opportunity that would add up into your portfolio, Because your portfolio speaks for you. It is considered as your manager. It will get you jobs! How to create a portfolio for copywriting. You can use the example and create one for no matter what art form or skills that you want to market.
EXECUTION
MAKE THE TIME! Make some time for it, for you have spent a lot of yourself finding what you love, penning down your ideas, setting up your goals, WHAT NEXT?
Do you wish to throw all of that effort away? ABSOLUTELY NOT!
The EXECUTION business, it’s important… You have finally mapped it out, how you see your journey going in the next 6 months or 8 months to a year. Work on it, put it to play, not all of it at once, just take the required first step, if you’re dream is to be a writer for example just set that alarm at 8 pm to sit and write the first blog or design the title of your first ever novel that you are going to craft.
The FIRST STEP is the most exciting part. Take your time, spend time with this feeling. It is absolutely okay to sit down and delve into this excitement without feeling guilty for not getting things done.
You might feel getting excited and just enjoying this feeling of starting something on your own is guilt worthy because it isn’t allowing you to move ahead in the work, But trust me you are doing all of this for this absolute bliss, treat it as one of your goal fulfilled of transitioning to a happier person than you were.
Also, your gut, your body will automatically push you to putting in the work. Once you start, and push a little harder in the beginning, it helps you build the strong foundation for your upcoming dream career.
Take up courses in related field, do some work on the portfolio, keep some samples ready. Write a blog. Create a website to showcase your skills, may it be art, blog, music, Having an online presence is extremely important to market yourself.
CONSISTENCY
The only hard thing in the list is CONSISTENCY, Keep reading to understand deeper on the concept of consistency. One thing to remember is things will not stay exciting all the time, don’t be afraid of the struggle, one thing to motivate you is, imagine being burnout and exhausted everyday doing a job that’s serves no purpose, and now compare with being exhausted doing something that you absolutely love. The exhaustion must feel worthy. Remember the efforts you are putting now and the long term benefits you are going to have, research on the future prospects of this ambition. Watch YouTube videos about people you admire who have gone through similar path to attain what they have now.
Do anything and everything that’s required to stick to this thing you’ve started. There will come times when you are least productive and feel a sense of guilt, and a haunting feeling of self-doubt, that says, this was a temporary fluke, you are not that talented, you over estimated your strengths, these thoughts will not leave you. These are the days when it is okay to not be very productive or maybe just watch videos related to your field of interest, to maintain the mindset at least.
Do not allow yourself to be distracted. The unproductive days aren’t a foe. They are just here to teach you to take enough rest amidst your hustle so you can enjoy your freelancing journey better.
LISTEN TO YOUR GUT INSTINCTS!
Always! they tell what’s good for you, just don’t mistaken your negative thoughts to be your instincts. Instincts are what you sometimes feel physically too. I sometimes feel an uneasiness in my body, if I sit ideal without writing a word in anyway or sleeping knowing that I have this idea in my head I need to pen down but am too lazy to wake up and write, my instincts guide me.
In that very moment you chose to listen to your heart and take a freelancing decision, your ONLY mentor/guru becomes your gut instincts and your God. Believe in them, listen to them, do as they say, don’t be lazy and leave the results to them. Show up every damn time.
CONCLUSION : Remember, Your ART Needs you more than you need it. Make yourself the channel that your ART wants to express through, do it for your Art, You’ve got this talent among 50 other peers, there’s a reason. The ART chose you before you did. Don’t be a barrier, Be the channel, be the medium of expression for the sake of your gifted talent.
I could’ve been a blogger longtime ago, I’ve always stopped after the first step, I gave up too early, I gave up after the excitement phase was over, I gave because I was lazy, I gave up perhaps because I did not RESPECT my talent enough to continue. But here I am now, starting things all over again! Taking my passion much more seriously, allotting a time slot in my busiest schedule, because I now honor and wish to flourish my ART further and expand in to the advancements my future holds.
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