I Remember When I Was So Cheap – A Lesson in Freelancing

I remember when I was so cheap.

I’d accept $5 for a 500-word article.

I’d turn it in before deadline, and it was pre-written, written, and proofread.

I started freelancing early, and I got a lot of projects. I earned okay, but I had little time for myself and I had bills to chase anyway.

I chased bills every month. It was almost like I was just writing to chase bills.

I remember having P4,000 in my bank account and thinking, oh God, I have so much money! Only because I never had that much money sit in my bank account for more than 3 days tops.

I went on cheap vacations, but I hated coming back and having to work in order to afford the next one.

Then the worst thing happened— I stopped writing for fun. I HATED WRITING. As a wide-eyed writer who used to dream of writing for Hallmark, this was really difficult to admit to myself.

I began to punch 10,000 words a day everyday and worked so hard so I keep earning those $$$.

I made more than my peers, but I was also working 10x harder than they were.

I stopped writing poetry. I stopped writing flash fiction. I stopped blogging about fun things.

My writing became a commodity, and I hated it.

And you know what, all of these things were borne out of one thing– me not knowing the right way to price and market my services, not having a mentor, and not reaching out to use the resources around me.

I was so CHEAP I won’t even invest in my own career. I didn’t have time. I just worked so hard and thought the only way to earn more was to just do more. Along the way, I betrayed my passion.

I KNOW some of my fellow photographers, makeup artists, graphic artists, and web developers feel the same way. I feel you.

The good news is, you can get out of that rut soon.

Now it’s wayyyy different for me. I write for fun. I write to help others. I get paid in different channels. I read more now. I write more now. I manage 3 businesses, and my career has never been better.

And here I am sharing my story because I don’t want my fellow freelancers go through the same thing.

Here are some things that helped me:

1. Read, read, read. Make use of free online content. I read a ton of books, watched informative videos, subscribed to medium, digital marketing websites, et cetera.
2. Invest in your craft. Invest in top learning and execution materials that contribute to your craft. As a writer, I found that nice notebooks, pens, post-it notes, a board for my ideas, actual books, paid note-taking apps contribute to my productivity.
3. Listen to coaches and mentors. Hell, the fastest way to about this is to apply for a 1:1 program. (Maybe the reason you can’t afford it is you are not in one, therefore can’t scale properly, hence you actually need it more.)
4. Changed my mindset. I’ve been through a lot of mindset changes and my favourite ones are the abundance mindset and the don’t-give-a-fuck-about-the-competition-mindset. There is no shortage of clients, business, ideas, and your competition has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with your success.

Looking back, I literally would laugh at how bad I was before when it comes to money. I’d undercharge, over deliver, sometimes the content quality would suffer, I’ve been scammed by “clients”, I’d blow my money on a quick island getaway because I was sooo stressed. I realized I didn’t have to live that way and totally took over and changed my life.

I am hoping the same for you, dear freelancer. 🙂

 

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