How Positive Preparation Can Help You Win the Freelance Game

The freelance community is all too aware of how fickle job security in the industry is. This is especially true for the countless freelancers out there who were once employed on a full-time basis. It’s scary, no doubt, to realise what you’re trained for is no longer in demand, and that jobs you thought were secure now start to disappear from the career sites online.

It may soon become clear that, as with any industry, there are ups and downs in yours. As a freelancer, you need to keep your skills relevant, and keep an eye on the trends driving change in your sector. But if skill is key to succeeding as a freelancer, then preparation is the tools you need to unlock those skills.

Positive Thinking Is Key to Succeeding at Freelancing

This might sound like a cliché, but you won’t succeed at anything if you go into it with a negative outlook. Whether you are bravely beating down the door to freelance success by finally taking the leap to work for yourself or are forced by market changes to seek out your own work, your approach to freelancing will make all the difference.

Approach it with a positive and can-do attitude, and you will actually see the difference it’ll make. What’s more, your positive attitude will translate in the work you produce, and in your output. This is true whether you write, design or develop as a freelancer. Before you even start your career as a freelancer, make sure your head space is in the right place, and that you approach it with a positive attitude.

Succeeding to Plan, is Planning to Succeed

See how I turned the expected cliché of, “failing to plan, is planning to fail,” on its head? It’s part of the positive slant you should take to freelancing. Don’t fail at planning, but rather succeed at it. When working for yourself, keep in mind that you don’t have the omnipresent human resources and finance departments that you had at your previous full-time employer. There’s no one signing your checks, but you.

This means you have to be tough as nails and become your strictest boss if you’re to succeed at being a freelancer. You don’t have a guaranteed pay check anymore. Instead of letting that inspire angst and anxiety in you, let that fire you to forge a plan to succeed in your new career.

After all, why would you place more trust in an employer, than you put in yourself? You already have the skills, experience and ability to succeed in what you do. With a bit of planning, and structured discipline, you are well on your way to succeeding at your new freelance role and signing your own checks. Also, your earning potential isn’t capped by a fixed salary, but instead is responsive to the amount of effort you put into your work. How amazing is that?

It’s All About Who You Know, and Don’t Know

Networking. Whether you are good at it, or dread it, it’s something you’ll quickly need to become a master at if you’re to succeed as a freelancer. Expand your network and become great at schmoozing clients and prospects. Whether you do this in person at networking events or use professional platforms such as LinkedIn and other freelance platforms, you will need to put yourself out there so that potential and prospective clients can become aware of you.

As you build your network of clients, and your track record as a professional and skilled freelancer, word-of-mouth referrals and return business will become staples of your freelancing business. But until then, you need to network and get yourself out there in front of prospective clients.

Represent yourself professionally online in all your interactions with clients, prospects and fellow freelancers, as this is your virtual workplace. Join groups on professional platforms where you can interact with clients and fellow professionals and build authority in your industry. This all encompasses a wider networking strategy to get yourself noticed by the right people online.

Productivity in Practice

This ties in with the previous point of being your own strictest boss. You will need to jealously guard your time. It’s far too easy to get sucked into the daily grind of your everyday life, into chores and responsibilities that don’t generate an income. This is even more so the case now that you don’t have the grind of a 9 to 5 job and a manager breathing down your neck.

But you still need to produce results, and you still need to maximise your productive hours during the day. The fun thing about freelancing is that you can choose when your most productive time of the day is, now that you’re no longer constricted by the traditional 9 to 5 workday (which, by the way, is dying out) and you can make the most of this time.

If you find you work most efficiently early in the morning, get the most done during that time. If you’re a night owl and do your best work later during the early evening, make it work for you. But whatever you do, be productive, and make those deadlines. The kiss of death in any freelance position is missing deadlines. Although life happens, and you need the occasional extension, don’t make a habit out of it. Remember, you’re only as good as your last project.

To summarise – positive thinking, proper planning, networking, persistence and productivity practice are all the ingredients you need to become a successful modern freelancer. Take your career to the next level and say goodbye to the fixed income life. Isn’t it time you start getting rewarded for the amount of effort you put into your work?

Louis enjoys writing on how to succeed as a freelance professional, and always keeps an eye out for hacks that make it easier to win at life. When not writing for Archetype Copywriting, Louis can be found scrolling through finance blogs trawling trending articles.