step 5: avoid freelancing mistakes
Welcome to the 5th step of the 6M Challenge of freelancing edition where you will get to know 7 freelancing mistakes to avoid as a beginner. Hope you have completed the tasks given in the previous post. That is…
- Find out the atleast 10 suitable clients looking for your type of services.
- Write a template for at least 10 clients to whom you are going to offer your services
Today, we are going to discuss the common mistakes that every freelancer do and must avoid:
Take Care Of These Mistakes
1. not doing marketing when you are high
There is a saying, “When business is poppin’, marketing better not be dropping”. If you wait until all your current freelancing work being completed to begin marketing again, soon you will be in pain. and without any client.
If you spend too much time on the internet, you must have heard the advice to do marketing on every platform. For most freelancers, that advice is horrible. Instead, you should select one or two primary marketing channels. Dive deep into these and invest an hour in them every day.
2. Assuming clients know how freelancing works
To be honest, Clients don’t know how to work with freelancers. The truth is, many business owners and project managers are pretty clueless about what they’re hiring for when they interview freelancers. They aim for a task to be completed. They don’t know about the core elements of that work.
To avoid this miscommunication, tell the client how you work. Explain:
- What information you need from the client?
- How long will it take for you to complete the project/particular task?
- Options/suggestions you think would make the best hit in the client’s goals
- Who the reporting person will be?
3. bad management of fluctuating income
One of the biggest challenges in freelancing is unpredictable and fluctuating income. One month you make $1,000. The next, that big project ends and you collect for $2,500. And in this vow of big project money, they started spending more money on clothes, fast food, and shopping.
Then a slow month hits and they’re strapped for cash, eating out noodles, canceling their subscriptions, and wondering where all the good days have gone.
When earnings are inconsistent, you have to follow the consistency to balance it up. Start by calculating your monthly expenses. Every month, on the same day, pay yourself a specific amount that’s the same month over month.
4. planning for shot term
Another mistake that freelancers do is to get satisfied with what they are earning right now. I am not saying to become greedy now but understand the fact that no one else is planning for your retirement.
Sure, you’re covering all your bills, but are you investing for retirement? A time when you have to live but you will not be able to work. So spread your feathers in such a way that in the future it will pay you without doing anything.
5. Ignoring scalable opportunities
I know freelancers carry a lot of responsibilities in their freelancing careers. But one of the most common mistakes freelancers make is pouring a lot of energy into marketing and business practices that actually don’t scale up.
They don’t think about scaling up their businesses. It’s good to get projects regularly but you know inflation na? You have to earn more, therefore, you have to scale up.
6. Avoiding specialization in freelancing
When you avoid specialization, you miss out on many easy opportunities to cut out almost all of your competitors. If you’re constantly bidding on projects against 20+ other people with similar credentials, you’re inevitably going to have a bid on projects based on price instead of value. This is remarkable.
And here’s the catch: specialization — niching down. And guess what? I have already made a post on this on how to niche down.
7. lack of network
If you’re good at what you do, most of your freelancing clients should come from your network. The deeper your niche is, the more powerful your network becomes because people know that you as the expert in something ultra-super specific.
Building a relevant, powerful network is the best long-term investment you can make in your freelancing career. Good Luck!
Apart from these core mistakes, there are many minor precautions too, but for now, just take care of these big mistakes in freelancing. Have a look at the tasks to be completed for this week:
Tasks To Be Completed:
- Calculate your expenses and aim for your earning this year.
- Niche down, and build network.
And yeah…do not forget to join our Telegram Channel where you can get a lot of learning resources for free. See you in the next post…