Freelancing is a way of life for all self employed persons out there offering services usually to businesses and often to multiple clients at a time.
According to Wikipedia, A freelancer or a freelance worker is a term commonly used by a person who is self employed and is not necessarily committed to a particular employer long term, so, basically freelancing is the act whereby a freelancer offers different services ranging from; music, writing, acting, computer programming, web design, graphic design, film and video production and some other forms of services to clients. Sounds cool right?
However, it's a way cooler than cool because as a freelancer, you not bounded by any organizational rules or roles of conduct, I do my work anytime it's convenient for you, You don't have to wake up 4am in the morning to go to work, You can actually work from your comfort zone and deliver the best of you, sometimes you just can't face the terrible traffic on the way to the office. At times, that sucks.
But lets be honest. To become that perfect Freelancer there are some basic skills you need to posses and these are;
TIME MANAGEMENT:
According to Wikipedia, Time is the indefinite continued progress of existence and events that occurs in apparently irreversible succession from past through the present to future, so basically Time controls the Universe, Like they say "Time is power, Time is money", just like Doctor Strange in the Avengers TV series, he has the time power in his hands and he controls time with it, he can wake up anytime he wants, sleeps anytime he wants, does time travels and so on but you on the other hand as a freelancer, imagine having such power to control time, I bet you're always going to meet up with time for your clients works, but you don't have such power, why not just make use of the little time you've got and use it wisely.
Time management is important, it's one of the basic skill a freelancer must possess. Nobody tells you what to do and when to do your thing, you're your own boss, and to be a boss in the freelance world, you've got to deliver high quality services within your time frame.
Anthony G. Oerttinger - "Time flies like arrow, fruits flies like banana". As a freelancer procrastination shouldn't be in your dictionary because we don't always know how long it will really take to finish a work or the direction it will go, so make sure you plan and maximize your time at work because it translates to better profitability.
PROFESSIONALISM:
Professionalism is a skill or competence expected of a freelancer, being a professional in your chosen field or place of work doesn't necessarily mean you've got to wear a coat and tie or even you having a university or college certificates, just the same way you don't need those to become a qualified freelancer, all that's needed from you is your creativity, experience and professionalism.
Professionalism has to do with the way you conduct yourself during business affairs with clients, being a professional will help you seal deals so quickly and possibly get you more job offers. So as a freelance you need to put more of professionalism into what you do.
GOOD COMMUNICATION SKILLS:
Communication is the exchanging of information through different mediums like, writing, speaking and so on. The ability to communicate effectively is a key skill in the world today, As a freelancer you must be able to communicate effectively because communication can create positive or negative effects on the relationship you tend to build with your clients.
Good and effective communication skills has the tendency of getting you more job offers.
SELF DISCIPLINE :
Self discipline is one of the most important and useful skill not just Freelancers needs to posses but everyone. Self discipline gives you the power to achieve so many things like making you keep to time, sticking to your decisions and following the through, it makes you have a proper planning method, it gives you strength to overcome laziness, procrastination and follow through whatever you plan to do. Self confidence for a freelancer is a requisite for achieving goals.
WILLINGNESS TO LEARN AND AMBITION TO SUCCESS:
Wonder why some freelancers out there who does the same jobs as you gets more ratings and job offers or possibly more money than you do? Well, it's because they know more than you and they always put it up in their game. You wonder how that happens too? It's because they are willing to Karen new stuffs.
As a freelancer you have to be willing to work outside the box, you have to be willing to do crazy stuffs, your creativity has to be crazy, I call that "Crazetivity", all these will determine whether you're up for success or not.
My advice to all freelancers out there is always make sure you break limits, think out of the box, don't limit yourself to what you know now, knowledge is power. Another powerful too as a freelancer is "Outsourcing".
Remember this, To get employed, you must be loaded with something to offer. Sell those skills, turn them into your passion and trade your passion for profits.
Written By;
Edward Badusi
Project Manager
PensionRewards.Com
Decentralized Human Resource and Freelance Hub.
