The Four Levers For Successful Freelancing💥

Today’s email looks at 4 key tenets of freelancing. Can we survive on just one or two of them? Sure. But we won’t sustain ourselves or thrive if we don’t become competent in all of them.

Let’s dive in.

Hard Lessons Freelancing

Yesterday (March 1st) marks 5 years since I left my corporate job.

It feels like yesterday when I decided to take the leap, mainly because I felt like I was in stasis.

No way forward but good enough to be in lower management.

Despite upgrading my skills and multiple applications, I couldn’t break the ceiling.

So I decided to venture out on my own.

At first, I had no idea what I was going to do. With no real plan, I tried different avenues like coaching, flipping items online, and blogging (which I still do today), with little success.

After searching online for ways to make money, I stumbled on Freelancing sites like Freelancer and Upwork.

My first freelancing jobs came from these sites. Over time, I was able to get work independent of these marketplaces, which can be difficult to navigate and could sometimes feel hopeless.

You’re competing with freelancers who can do the work for a fraction of the price. It’s a race to the bottom.

Over the next 2 years, I realized that freelancing came with its own stressors and challenges.

But as I navigated the trees, I slowly began to see the forest.

I began to hear the signal among all the noise.

It’s still a work in progress - it will always be a work in progress - but if you want to freelance or become a one-person show, you’ll need to watch these 4 levers closely.

Combine these, and you’ll become the best you can be. With these, freelancing won’t feel like you’re continuously stressed.

1. The Skills Of Tomorrow

Our world is changing faster than ever, with new technologies dominating mainstream media every year.

In the last 3 years, we’ve had crypto, NFTs, virtual real estate, and now Chat GPT.

These are built on technologies of tomorrow, like blockchain and artificial intelligence.

So we need to learn or keep ourselves abreast of the future of technology and the world at large. This means choosing an avenue like Data, AI, No-Code Web Development, Web3, and so on.

You don’t even have to learn how these technologies work. Just choose one and get familiar with the front-end applications. Stay up to date as these technologies are constantly changing.

You’ll begin to see how you can integrate them into your freelance services.

Freelancers who can venture into spaces where few exist can demand higher rates and retain clients for longer.

2. The Skills Of Yesterday

It does not matter how fantastic the tech of tomorrow looks. It still needs tried and tested skills to be successful.

• Sales.

• Content Writing.

• Copywriting.

• Design.

• Customer Service

Almost all freelancers offer evergreen skills. The better you can get at these skills while integrating the knowledge of the future, the more in demand you become.

When it comes to interacting with clients and service delivery, you’ll also need evergreen soft skills like:

• Emotional Intelligence

• Collaboration

• Communication

• Conflict Resolution

• Creativity

These come from past work experience or life experience. Hone these skills and make sure to make them part of your service offerings to set you apart from everyone else.

I'd love it if you shared this newsletter with a friend interested in freelancing or starting their own one-person business. Thanks! 😁

3. Self-Discipline (or Self-Management)

As a freelancer, It’s a sobering feeling to watch your bank account and know you could have done better.

When you’re employed, you can chat at the water cooler some days. You can take an extra half hour for lunch here or there. You can surf the web when customers aren’t calling. And your salary - for the most part - looks the same.

As a freelancer, those times add up.

You’re required to have a level of self-discipline that was not required as an employee.

99% of people lack that self-discipline.

That’s why we have bosses at work. And that’s why our bosses have bosses.

So in the absence of self-discipline, we need self-management. We need to become our own boss. It’s the only way to see consistent cash in the bank.

This is the most difficult lever to master and is often the downfall of most entrepreneurs.

Learn how to lead yourself. Understand your strengths, weaknesses, distractions, and motivations. Then manage yourself accordingly.

4. Personal Interests

This shit can get lonely and boring.

If you’re eager to jump into freelancing, know that you’ll be riding solo.

Even introverts like myself need human connection, if only for a few hours.

And the work can get a little repetitive at times.

One of the best ways to make freelancing fun is to mix in the things that you like. When you get inspiration from your personal interests, the job is much more exciting.

Like how stylist Alexander Julian-Gibbson drew inspiration from a villain in the anime One Piece to style Jonathan Majors.

Imagine how excited the stylist felt to combine his skill with his personal interest.

Bring along everything that interests you in your work. It could be movies, design, makeup, sport, or whatever.

Combining your skills and interests is what will make the work unique.

If you can continuously work on these 4 levers, freelancing becomes much easier.

Take a look at Contra

Every week, I want to share a resource that can help freelancers work faster and better.

If you’re looking for an all-in-one option to manage your independent career, you should consider Contra.

Not the impossible video game of the ‘80s.

A platform where you can set up your freelance services, manage your clients, sign proposals, and get paid. They’re also launching a Pro version where you have a portfolio website that generates automatically based on the services you set up on your profile.

I’m not getting paid for this. I just think the concept is awesome.

I’m testing my own profile. I think I’ll ditch my website for this. There are limits to the payment options based on where you are in the world, but I’m sure you can work around that.

Check out contra here.

That’s it! Next week, I’ll break down part 1 - some of the best skills of the future you can learn and sell as freelance services.

Until next time!

Marv