Why freelancing is damn hard
In spite of how great the job can be for yourself, there are freelancing moments and just lame points. And no matter what your specialization is, these flaws in freelancing will find how to express themselves.
What flaws am I talking about?
Now, if you look at this list of shortcomings, you might think that freelancing is a pretty bad idea, which, of course, is not true. However, it is important to recognize the difficulties of freelancing in order to be able to cope with them and learn how to get rid of these restrictions.
Just about that further in the article.
“That is empty, that is thick”
This problem is particularly painful at the beginning of the career of most freelancers, but usually does not completely disappear in the later stages.
It all starts with the fact that you have a lot of free time and very few clients - so the obvious task is to actively look for orders. Here you have found orders, customers, and as a result you have a shortage of time - and you stop actively searching for new orders (because there is a lot of work, but there is no time). Ultimately, you cope with all client projects and again remain virtually without work: the cycle repeats.
What to do with it
The described problem is primarily a problem of lack of time. If you manage to allocate some time to search for new orders (you can automate part of this work), while doing work for customers, the load drops will be much less. You can also develop in the direction of other sources of income that are more stable than working with clients.
Manage everything yourself
Like the previous problem, this issue is most urgent at the very beginning, but it is never fully resolved. In truth, managing all aspects of a growing business is an extremely difficult task for one person, no matter how much experience you have.
The root of the problem is that there is too much information here for one person to handle. It’s like trying to cover the entire atlas with your eyes — it’s impossible to do; you can only open a “general” map without small details and details.
Also in freelance. Only very, very few people will be able to think simultaneously about accounting, legal issues, marketing, technical support and business development strategies. Trying to plan and manage all of this yourself is a road to disaster.
')
So do not try to manage everything alone
The solution is simple - use the help of other people. You should not keep your own accounting records - let the accountant do it. If you can delegate less important tasks to other people and concentrate on what is important to you, then your business will probably be in much better shape.
Do everything yourself
If you keep everything in your head and manage everything - this is a problem, then directly doing everything yourself is even harder.
Let you find an accountant who will help you, and some help with marketing. All the same, there is too much work for you - enough to one day rest on the ceiling of earnings, which will not be easy to overcome. The magnitude of this earnings and the time spent will depend on how successfully solved other problems.
But what if the earnings were not limited by the time spent? What if there were ways to increase your efforts so that more work done would require less time spending? It is possible ...
The best way to get around these limitations is to use other people's work. You can give part of the work to the side, you can work with other freelancers, find partners. You can create a whole distributed team of freelancers. In this case, time will cease to be a limiting factor for revenue growth.
Maintaining a balance between work and life
The most difficult side of all these questions is the fact that freelancers do not work in a vacuum, separated from everyone and everything. We have a life: family, hobbies, and many other things that take time. It is impossible only to work all day and night.
In addition, those who work all day and night, usually burn quickly.
How to maintain a healthy balance
The way to maintain a good balance between work and life is fairly simple, at least in theory. However, it can be very difficult to put it into practice.
The “secret” is to set limits. Work only at fixed hours. Communicate with customers at specific times. Take regular breaks throughout the day.
Unfortunately, there are not so many ways to facilitate the task, but the more time you have at all, the easier it is. So here you are lucky: the solution of the previously mentioned problems will ease this :-)
Emergency Preparations
Probably the worst trouble for a freelancer is to get sick and not be able to do the work. Losing a single employee in your own business is a disaster, and this can happen without warning.
So what can you do?
There are several ways. The first is to have someone on hand who will answer letters and calls in your absence. It is not necessary that this be done really well, it should be just an emergency.
It is also good to have a person with whom you can contact and transfer part of your work in case of absolute necessity. I recommend constantly cooperating with other freelancers anyway, so here the task is even simpler.
If you have these two people, coping with emergencies will be much easier.
And what is the result?
As can be understood from the previous reasoning, the key to solving all the problems listed above is to treat freelancing more as a business than as a job. Start building a system to save your time; start using other people's work where it’s profitable; Start building assets for a stable income.
Translation is done for freelancejob.com.ua
What flaws am I talking about?
- Work in the "now empty, then thick"
- Taking care of managing all aspects of the business falls on one person.
- The need to find time to find a job, the actual work, communication with customers, administrative issues and business development
- The need to find a balance between work and life (and often family) and at the same time cope with the problems already listed
- Illness, rest, inability to work seven days a week, 24 hours a day, and at the same time the need to cope with the problems already listed
Now, if you look at this list of shortcomings, you might think that freelancing is a pretty bad idea, which, of course, is not true. However, it is important to recognize the difficulties of freelancing in order to be able to cope with them and learn how to get rid of these restrictions.
Just about that further in the article.
“That is empty, that is thick”
This problem is particularly painful at the beginning of the career of most freelancers, but usually does not completely disappear in the later stages.
It all starts with the fact that you have a lot of free time and very few clients - so the obvious task is to actively look for orders. Here you have found orders, customers, and as a result you have a shortage of time - and you stop actively searching for new orders (because there is a lot of work, but there is no time). Ultimately, you cope with all client projects and again remain virtually without work: the cycle repeats.
What to do with it
The described problem is primarily a problem of lack of time. If you manage to allocate some time to search for new orders (you can automate part of this work), while doing work for customers, the load drops will be much less. You can also develop in the direction of other sources of income that are more stable than working with clients.
Manage everything yourself
Like the previous problem, this issue is most urgent at the very beginning, but it is never fully resolved. In truth, managing all aspects of a growing business is an extremely difficult task for one person, no matter how much experience you have.
The root of the problem is that there is too much information here for one person to handle. It’s like trying to cover the entire atlas with your eyes — it’s impossible to do; you can only open a “general” map without small details and details.
Also in freelance. Only very, very few people will be able to think simultaneously about accounting, legal issues, marketing, technical support and business development strategies. Trying to plan and manage all of this yourself is a road to disaster.
')
So do not try to manage everything alone
The solution is simple - use the help of other people. You should not keep your own accounting records - let the accountant do it. If you can delegate less important tasks to other people and concentrate on what is important to you, then your business will probably be in much better shape.
Do everything yourself
If you keep everything in your head and manage everything - this is a problem, then directly doing everything yourself is even harder.
Let you find an accountant who will help you, and some help with marketing. All the same, there is too much work for you - enough to one day rest on the ceiling of earnings, which will not be easy to overcome. The magnitude of this earnings and the time spent will depend on how successfully solved other problems.
But what if the earnings were not limited by the time spent? What if there were ways to increase your efforts so that more work done would require less time spending? It is possible ...
The best way to get around these limitations is to use other people's work. You can give part of the work to the side, you can work with other freelancers, find partners. You can create a whole distributed team of freelancers. In this case, time will cease to be a limiting factor for revenue growth.
Maintaining a balance between work and life
The most difficult side of all these questions is the fact that freelancers do not work in a vacuum, separated from everyone and everything. We have a life: family, hobbies, and many other things that take time. It is impossible only to work all day and night.
In addition, those who work all day and night, usually burn quickly.
How to maintain a healthy balance
The way to maintain a good balance between work and life is fairly simple, at least in theory. However, it can be very difficult to put it into practice.
The “secret” is to set limits. Work only at fixed hours. Communicate with customers at specific times. Take regular breaks throughout the day.
Unfortunately, there are not so many ways to facilitate the task, but the more time you have at all, the easier it is. So here you are lucky: the solution of the previously mentioned problems will ease this :-)
Emergency Preparations
Probably the worst trouble for a freelancer is to get sick and not be able to do the work. Losing a single employee in your own business is a disaster, and this can happen without warning.
So what can you do?
There are several ways. The first is to have someone on hand who will answer letters and calls in your absence. It is not necessary that this be done really well, it should be just an emergency.
It is also good to have a person with whom you can contact and transfer part of your work in case of absolute necessity. I recommend constantly cooperating with other freelancers anyway, so here the task is even simpler.
If you have these two people, coping with emergencies will be much easier.
And what is the result?
As can be understood from the previous reasoning, the key to solving all the problems listed above is to treat freelancing more as a business than as a job. Start building a system to save your time; start using other people's work where it’s profitable; Start building assets for a stable income.
Translation is done for freelancejob.com.ua
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/47030/
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