If you can’t record or remember your lessons, you learnt nothing from the great experiences life has to offer. Everyday there is something new to learn, to fail at and to aim at. For the last year I have been learning, failing and aiming; below are my lessons learnt….
Never forget your passion – not matter the money or the struggle, if you have passion for what you do, you will enjoy and love it during the bad and good days.
Find your niche – do everything until you find that one good thing you are better at. Hold on to that and never let go. That better thing will pay your bills and keep your passion fueled.
Have fun – you left employment because there was no real fun there. Same routine all day, all week, all month, all year; so enjoy your freedom, party, check off things on your list of things to do before your die, add more. Fun will keep you sane after the work load.
Say No! to some jobs – as a freelance you have to know your strength and weaknesses. What can you do and can’t do. What you are able to perform well at and not. Jobs will come and in plenty because you are good at what you do.
Add knowledge to your self – read more about your favorite topics, about your passion and chosen leash of operation. You will have a good number of hours or days free from work, mainly in the lows seasons (yes online has seasons too… mainly in regard to my niche of choice) and this is the time to add knowledge to yourself. Read a book, find content online related to your topics, refill your mind with new information.
Prospect for clients – not everyone knows you, so you need to market your self online and offline. You will need to understand what kind of service or product you are offering to your clients, for them to buy you. Collect as many business cards and research on those business. See if your services will be needed and required by that business, then approach them with a package, pitch until you nail the big fish that will keep you occupied for along time.
Visit your clients – follow up on your work and how it was used. Find out if it was helpful or not. Get appraised by your client, with this you will learn more about your strengths and weaknesses. This is called client servicing and analyzing them for their future needs.
Remember to be you always; don’t let the business steal that from you. Stay original and contended with what you can offer. Don’t reach for what you can’t handle, it will destroy your reputation. Clients buy you, your knowledge and what you can do, meaning what you know. So stick with that and improve it. You might need to diversify but make sure you are capable to prosper in the new leash choice.
Spot on!