3 ATTRIBUTES EVERY FREELANCER MUST ACQUIRE

I've seen a lot of newbie freelancers have different misconceptions about freelancing and this usually cost them clients, gigs and evidently profit. They think freelancing means you have control of your time, you can work at your pace or you can just chill and relax. It's obvious these aren't holistic POVs. I've been there too. I've thought I was calling the shot because I was working remotely but I quickly realized I wasn't when I would have deadlines staring me in the face and it always felt like my life was on the line.

In my 6 months plus of freelancing full time, I have had to drop some deadbeat mindsets and acquire a new set of paradigm that now help me do my job better, more excellently, faster and these new mental spaces are helping me build my Unique Selling Point as one of the many freelancers working tooth and nail in the gig economy.

Freelancing doesn't mean you have free time or free-dom. As a freelancer, you are still accountable, would be held responsible to meet KPIs and you still have a lot of things you must attend to. If you're of the opinion that being a freelancer means you're the boss, you aren't wrong you know; you aren't just there yet.

Here are the three attributes, skills or habits every freelancer who want to keep doing great work, meeting the needs of diverse clients and making money should cultivate:

TIME MANAGEMENT: I can't overstress this. I've made some mistakes in my few months as a full-time freelancer. I've been of the opinion that I am the one calling the shots on time which I soon realized was a lie. I wouldn't plan out each step or task to an end goal. My to-do list was terribly made and of course, you'd know I had no healthy relationship with time.

But I got frustrated because I wasn't being productive, wasn't checking my lists and clients were getting pissed off at me for not delivering on expected dates. I realized I had to change the way I saw time and for me to be able to do that effectively, I had to break down everything I needed to get a job done.

For example, I stopped cramping work in one or two days just so I could have the rest of the week to chill and do whatever I wanted to do while I waited or pitched to the next client.

If I had a website content to write, I would plan for research at a different time, keyword research at another time, go through the brief at another time, draft out possible styles and brand voice at another time, write some other time, edit and proofread, rewrite, do multiple checks at some other time and repeat this cycle until I'm certain I've met client's expectations before the delivery date. After all these and a positive feedback from the client, I can now rest.

Did you notice that there might be no writing done? Sometimes, I don't get to write on three days stretch. I'm just spending time understand the brand, researching and crafting plots.

Time management is a skill you need to cultivate so you can adquately do your job and also be efficient with handling multiple gigs at the same time (I hope to talk about this soonest). You can use apps to help you develop an ideal respect for time. I use Any Do and Trello; they help me fill my day, are synced with my Google Calendar so I don't miss out on meetings or webninars and are very easy to use especially with the task priority boards.

EXCELLENCE: from the day you decide to be a freelancer to the moment you wrap up your freelance days, let excellence be a watchword. One of the things my mentor taught me early was "Something worth doing is worth overdoing."

I used to think it was extreme to not want to err sometimes or patch things up but no one, no matter how human or understanding they are like crappy, substandard job. No one! Not even the person who does the crappy work.

As a freelancer, you have to keep getting better with your craft, your processes and the entire experience brands have with you. Excellence helps you go the extra length, helps you make choices that would set you apart and helps you form a viable relationship with clients. Always do your job diligently. Remember when I was talking about how much rewriting, editing and proofreading goes into my work? I don't send it over until I'm quite certain there's no way they could have gotten better than what I could do. This doesn't mean clients don't send them back to add some things or remove some other things; it's just that I know I have done all I could to meet a brand's objective. This is your job now. Don't be complacent about it. Don't do a haphazard job just because you've been paid or are going to get paid anyway. To be able to always give your best, you might have to take one gig at a time until you build enough capacity to spread yourself over multiple jobs with the same energy and time. The mistake most newbies make is to take in all the gigs that come their way because of money.

Do excellent work. Make your processes excellent as well. Make sure that every contact with you leaves a positive trail in the minds of your clients. This would also help you with referral and with a positive brand. Focus on skills and deliveries.

CUSTOMER SERVICE MANAGEMENT: Don't be like me. When I first started freelancing, I didn't really care much for the relationships that came with the gigs. I didn't have a process. I didn't know that keeping an open line, having converstions, agreements and contracts were important in being a freelancer. It's not always easy working close to strangers and brands but you've got to build your customer experience package. The brands you create solutions for have team leads or contractors who hired you in the first place.

Set meetings. Prepare for meetings. Send documents of expectations and agenda of meetings beforehand. Spell out what you'll be delivering. Whip out the contract and the terms of engagement. Speak in plain terms. Ask questions when clients aren't clear. Answer all the questions they have. Reach out to them after decision has been made, tell them how excited you are to work with them. After you're all done with the job, send a feedback form with an appreciation mail. Form a connection with each brand.

I hope you find one or all of these useful in your freelancing journey. If you have questions concerning freelancing, you can shoot me a DM here or on Instagram.