8 Mistakes You Can’t Afford to Make in Your Freelance Business

Welcome to?Diana Kelly Levey’s Freelance Writing Tips newsletter, a pro freelancer’s bi-weekly newsletter?on?LinkedIn, featuring original articles that are designed to help spark creativity, productivity, and improve business processes for freelancers and solopreneurs. Learn more about Diana here ??.

Working hard but the money still isn’t adding up?

Considering switching to a full-time freelance career but you don’t know how to get started??

I’ve been in those situations and other similar stressful ones before.

Knowing how to avoid some of the most common freelancing mistakes will go a long way to benefit you—and your bank account.

Below are some mistakes I’ve made and ones I heard from freelance coaching clients that have tripped them up along the way.

Here, discover top mistakes to avoid in your freelance business.

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8 Mistakes You Can’t Afford to Make as a Freelancer

Keep reading to avoid these missteps.

1. Not carving out time for freelancing

Without planning, how are you setting yourself up for success? Whether you work a full-time job and freelance as a side hustle or freelance full-time, you need to plan time to freelance.

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Block time out on your calendar and mark it as “busy.”

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Wake up earlier or stay up later and push yourself to be productive when you’d much rather sit on the couch and watch TV.

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Spend those hours looking for freelance writing jobs , high-paying clients , and putting in the time and effort for the work and to market yourself. Freelancing requires dedication.?

2.???????Not using your network to the best of your ability?

My mantra is “let everyone know you’re freelancing.” Last month I spent 52/80 working hours on non-billable work, including pitching, working on my social media presence, writing blogs, LinkedIn content ??, newsletters , pitching my brand to reporters, continuing to educate myself in this field, as well researching competitors, among other things.

I spend many hours focusing on my maintaining relationships and growing my network.

How do I know it works?

Last year over 60 percent of my income came from referral work.?

There’s nothing wrong with cold email pitching or applying on online websites, however, you will have a better chance of landing freelance work from people who already know you.

3.????????????Not properly tracking your time

This is such an important thing to do because it helps you evaluate if you earned a good hourly freelance rate .

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Since you set your project or assignment rate before projects begin, it’s crucial that you know how long something took you to do so that you can adjust moving forward.

It’s easy to overestimate and underestimate the time it takes to do certain tasks.

By tracking your time, you can evaluate if it’s worth it for you to continue doing work for a client, to bump up your project rate, or to build more time into your estimates moving forward.??

4.????????????Not accounting for editing time

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In my experience, 90 percent of the time, clients have edits and feedback for their freelance writers.?

In your initial project scope for a freelance project, outline the set number of edit rounds that you think are fair to complete for an assignment.

Anything more than that would be entering scope creep territory (meaning you’re asked for more edits and/or rewrites or additional copy than you initially anticipated.)

Note in your files how rigorous the client’s edits are for the next time. You might need to raise your project rates, per-word rates, or overall freelance writing assignment rates.?

Or, you might find that they were relatively easy to work with, the edits were constructive and fair, and you’re ready to take on another assignment for their brand.

5.????????????Saying yes to every client because any work is better than no work

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This is a very easy mistake to make but a very important one to avoid.

(Yes, it’s one of my top freelance tips for beginner freelance writers .)

While individuals new to freelancing might be hungry for work (and money!), remember that you don’t need to work for a very low rate. (Or at least, not for long.)

There are plenty of freelance clients out there that will pay quality freelancers well and there are ways to find higher-paying clients.?(I get into this in my freelance writing online course .)

6.????????????Your focus is too narrow

Don’t focus too small, especially after you get some experience and have a few samples to show clients. It could cause you to miss out on opportunities in other high-paying freelance niches that could be more profitable.?

Remember to diversify the types of freelance writing and skills you offer clients as well if you’re happy working in a particular niche. Offer newsletter writing, copywriting, ghostwriting, SEO articles, or infographic copy to your existing clients.

7.????????????You aren’t putting money away for tax season

One of the most dreaded seasons for freelancers is tax season. During the first few years as a full-time freelancer — even though I worked with an accountant and paid quarterly taxes — I would stress while looking at my bank account earmarked “taxes” and wonder if I set aside enough money.

Now I know that I'm paying the right amount of quarterly taxes and don't sweat tax season as much.

Typically, I set aside about 30 percent of every assignment’s pay for taxes.

It’s important to consider how much money will be taken out in taxes before you take on any freelance assignment, particularly lower-paying freelance work. It’ll seem much less desirable once you slice 30 percent off that rate for the government.

Check out this guide for more tips.?

8.????????????You have no desire to market yourself

As I mentioned earlier, it’s absolutely crucial that you let people know you’re freelancing. I’m reading Joe Pulizzi 's book Epic Content Marketing and he says,

“Would you plan to sell your house and not tell anyone about it?”

No!

Asking for referrals, recommendations, promoting your work, and sharing your successes (proof of concept!) are key parts of being a freelancer.

For personal brand tips, check out this recent article I published here .

If you don’t market yourself, it’s going to hurt your business in the end. It can feel uncomfortable, salesy, and difficult to promote yourself and your skills, but it’s one of the most important pieces of the freelance business.?

I help freelancers manage their businesses, set away from low-paying work, and reach their goals with my freelance coaching services here .?

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Hey there! I’m Diana.

I’m a New York-based freelance journalist, copywriter, editor, content marketing writer, and freelance coach.

I’m also a wife and a mom to two toddlers, a large dog, and quite a few dust bunnies.

I love covering topics that help people and their loved ones live healthier, happier, fuller lives, whether it’s through health, wellness, personal finance or pet topics. Check 'em out here .

I also want to help others learn how to become freelancers, improve productivity, and run their small businesses.

You can learn more about me, my publishing background, and my nearly 20-year freelancing journey at?DianaKelly.com . You can also follow me on?Twitter ?and?Instagram .

*Are you interested in getting more freelance business tips in your inbox each week? Join over 2,500 freelancers who get my?weekly newsletter here .*

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