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Freelancers mostly work alone or work with another few partners. When building a sustainable freelance career, I must say, yes freelance life is hard if your way of living is too complex and luxury. If you’re up to freelancing, there are few things that you should keep in your mind to be successful and avoid making your freelance life hard.
01. Simple lifestyle
Remember, having a simple lifestyle is important as a freelancer. When you do not need much to maintain yourself, it becomes easier to grow your freelance business fast, because every saving could become gold to reinvest on your freelance business or any other investment plans. Also, make the best out of the things you buy, it could be the things that are related to your business like a computer, phone etc. or even commodities like a pair of shoes, cloths etc. Give them proper care and they will last long and you won’t be needing to buy them more frequently. Also, remember that enjoying simple things in your life and making it a habit will not only eases your freelance life but also makes it easier to please yourself at a glance.
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02. Improving Skills Continuously
It’s wise to improve your skills even if you think you’re really good at something. Ever evolving technologies always outdates your skills fast and if you don’t adapt to it, you’ll become an old fart regardless whatever your age suggests. It’s a continuous process since learning never ends. Always be open to grab new things and improve your skills upon it. Growing new skills and improving the skills you already have, will reserve a place for yourself in freelancing.
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03. Self Confidence
Whatever you do physically, the most important part is the self-confidence. Without effectively putting your mind to what you do, you can never achieve what you envision. Make sure that you follow positive people and positive thoughts. As we now use social media more often, it is also a good practice to avoid following negativity on them too. Try to talk to yourself positively and be friendly as much as you can since you might not realize that the only person whom will be with you no matter what, is yourself. Remember, people with unbreakable confidence don’t live in the dark, they always follow the light.
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04. Work Smart Instead of Hard
This is where most people miss the trick. It is okay to work hard but only working hard doesn’t get you to where you want to be. Even a food tastes good with a pinch of salt or while driving, smart gear changing makes the ride smooth. It is now apparent that you need good combinations to create something awesome. So, let’s add some smartness into your hard working routine which will make it less exhausting and more rewarding.
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06. Self-Marketing
When you’re a freelancer, you’re mostly on your own. Will need to plan your marketing as well as improving on what you do. It doesn’t do any justice to your talent and skills, if you do not market them well enough. Try developing strategies, follow marketing experts and create some solid plans to increase your visibility to possible clients. If it’s hard to do things on your own there are freelance marketing experts who works exactly like you. Find them and use their expertise as well. It takes time, but patience and smart thinking will prove its worth.
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05. Savings and Financial Control
Saving and financial control is very an important part when you’re running a freelance business or any business. Always be aware of the incomes and expenditures and keep track on those. Yes it’s boring and frustrating, but when you create goals for savings, it will become fun and interesting. For all the savings, plan something in your life and give some meaning to the money you earn. This will surely encourage you to keep a proper income and expenditure balance and get to your goals very fast and efficiently.
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06. Diversify Your Income Streams
Not clinging to a single income stream is quite important as a freelancer since, your income basically varies in each month. Diversifying your income streams gives you the freedom to explore more opportunities or even demand your value of your products or services. I would suggest you to give some thoughts on creating passive income streams. As graphic designer, you could sell digital products, provide brand consultations, create online content on platforms like YouTube, writing blogs, which could bring in ad revenue etc. Also, think about investing the money you save on different things like stock market, index funds or even collaborating on projects where you think they have a possibility of success. As Warren Buffet said, “it’s wise not to put all eggs in one basket”.
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