Things have been going well for me lately in the freelancing world. Too well—going against one of my cardinal rules for myself. A short while back I posted 5 rules for freelancers to follow in a tough economy, but looking back they apply to any career, or just in general. I live by these as of late.
- Network Aggressively
- Focus on Efficiency
- Think Small
- Leverage Your Past Work
- Avoid Overworking
On Christmas Eve I had a client forced to cancel our deal because the brand he was promoting cut their campaign with him, and while I hoped he’d compensate me for my time, I understand why we left with just a partial payment. As a result I needed to make a lot of money fast, so I spent Christmas day thinking of how to revolutionize my working behaviors. And the result..?
Since December 26, I’ve been booked solid with work.
Clean workspace for a New Year
It was great at first; a constant flow of incoming work was foreign to me and every client was amazed, so I would absorb any gig that came my way into my schedule. It was smooth sailing for a week. Earning the $800 I needed, passing it even to $1,500 worth of work. The tally right now is $4,400 and growing since Jan 1st. Great, isn’t it?
Until one client slows it all down.
Nightmare client Moving on to Day 3 of what takes other clients 3 hours TOPS. Me and my dedication to service. — From Twitter
I over-booked myself. I can handle all the work fine—I’m ambitious, not stupid. The problem arises when the other person involved in the deal can’t maintain the focus on speed-of-delivery that you pride yourself on. I’ve been marketing myself as a designer you go to in an emergency, which is also fantastic for affiliate marketers who need landing pages for every conceivable idea they come up with. That’s my niche: Exceptional designs made for affiliates that show up in their in-box before they are even done thinking about what to eat for their next meal. Except, it’s not so rapid when a client takes 3 hours to respond for a project designed to take 1.
Now my focus is to complete what projects I do have, sit back on the extra cushion I’ve worked hard for, and maintain a more comfortable growth of capital. Instead of pushing $300+ a day, taking on one or two smaller gigs a day sounds much more appealing. A great thing about being in my position is that being offered shares of revenue for a more long-term project isn’t anything uncommon—it’s happened twice. When everyone says “wow, I wasn’t expecting anything this good, and at least not until 2 days from now,” finding work isn’t an issue. The issue is knowing what work you want to be doing and politely declining the rest, or finding it another suitor.
Which of my 5 Rules do you think is most important? What projects is everyone involved with?
