The 5 Golden Rules For Freelancers

As the booming gig economy cuts a vast swathe through the corporate jungle, and as clients judge more on value-add than on size, being a freelancer has never been more attractive.

In theory….

In practice, it is not all cozy lie-ins, exotic coffee, and casual attire. The potential rewards are there for people with the right product and the right attitude, but there are many hidden obstacles along the way that cannot possibly be anticipated. If you have never sat scanning your bank account for a crucial client payment to go through (so that you can pay your tax bill), you won’t know what I mean.

I am not a freelancer myself, but a few of my close friends are, and these are the top five issues that they talk about over a drink or dinner:

You have to get paid. It is all well and good agreeing on a contract with someone, but you have to be able to deliver what you promise to their satisfaction before they will pay you. There are many circumstances that will hinder this process, not all under your control, and sometimes people simply won’t want to pay you. Another variant is that they aren’t able to pay – pre-qualifying your prospects and turning down those who are overly price sensitive is crucial for a healthy cash flow. Getting paid is the oxygen of a freelancer – when it isn’t flowing, it can get a little hard to breathe. 

You have to treat people right. Oh, this is a big one. Many freelancers will not sit in the same office as their clients, and they may not even be in the same country. The market for their services may not be huge, and word about the quality of their service will travel fast in the client community. If you put your clients first (in every situation), you give yourself the best chance of developing loyalty. If you are inflexible and antagonistic, you can wave goodbye to a stable future. Freelancers often need the client more than the client needs that particular freelancer.

You can’t plan too far ahead. It is nice to dream, but the reality is that freelancers have to spend 99% of their efforts on the day-to-day running of their business. It is important to understand the direction of your market so that you can adapt your current activity accordingly, but pinning your hopes on an uncertain future is highly risky. If there is one certainty about being a freelancer, it is uncertainty, and you have to be ready to roll with the punches. You may well retire early on a beach somewhere, but don’t count on it. 

You have to have an off switch. This isn’t only advice for freelancers, but given the nature of their roles and the ubiquity of communication devices, they have to be able to drop everything and forget about things for an hour or two every day. Many of them are working to secure the future of their young families, but at the same time letting family life pass them by because they are on a plane or buried in their laptop. Balance is hard to achieve. 

You have to ruthlessly prioritize. The “to-do” list for a freelancer can be a liberating tool, or it can be a weight around their ankles. There are so many things that they could be doing to promote their business or to achieve the desired goals for their clients, but they have to understand which activities actually work. No one finds it easy to admit defeat, but 80% of these activities won’t be worth the time that is spent on them. Cross them off the list and don’t go there again – if something didn’t work the first time, it would be unlikely to work the second time. 

If freelancers follow these five golden rules, they have every chance of being successful. My friends never want to go back to corporate life, but every now and again one of these issues comes up and bites them. It isn’t as easy as it seems.

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