Freelancing 7 things you should know for 2013

So you dream of firing your boss, kicking back in your newly decorated home office with your mac pro with coffee brewing and your music blaring. Yeah crazy cool.

Can you do it?

 

This year I celebrated ten years of working location independent, based in Italy but travelling all over Europe.  In those ten years I've worked as a content writer, editor,  blogger, travel photographer, project manager, coach, trainer,  digital strategist and consultant. I wear lots of hats and have clients  on every continent. I've seen amazing places and done fantastic things, but one thing is a constant - the ability to find, keep and bill clients. It is this alone that will determine my success or failure.

7 things you cannot afford to kid yourself about.

1. You're going to work alone, a lot, you're going to have to fight the distraction of popping out for a cappuccino, switching on the TV, digging in the fridge, playing on twitter, updating your facebook, watching clips on utube. All these are the drug of the solitary worker, and they eat the one resource you  do have, time.

2. You can choose your hours right?  Wrong. If you burn an all-nighter, the next day you feel like hell, so you sleep in  and lounge around in your pajamas till noon. Yeah this is it, no boss to chase me.  You just exchanged your one boss for many, your clients are now going to be your bosses, when you find some that is.

3. They will come if you build it -  The silent phone, the emails you dreamed would come in a flurry asking for you to design that site and write those articles. Silence.. If you just keep going to conferences and social events joining facebook and linked-in groups the work will eventually roll in, right? Wrong - you have to pitch, like the salesman who knocks on doors constantly, and for every presentation he makes gets rejected 90% of the time, you must get comfortable pitching.

4. Starting with no savings in a one income household? Panic sets in quickly once the rent isn't paid, and that new mac pro you bought starts to seem like an expense you should have waited awhile for. You'll need family support, or a regular job while you phase in your first freelance attempts. Office space can wait too. Yes you'll sometimes have to lock your spouse or  your screaming baby out of the room  to meet that deadline. You'll definitely work harder than you ever did for a boss. 

5. Billing according to industry standards and getting contracts and agreements signed is by far the most difficult and important thing you'll learn. When to bill? How to negotiate with difficult clients ? Sometimes the first client is a client from hell, that leaves you pacing the kitchen floor talking to yourself. You need a support group of other freelancers to bounce ideas off and learn from.

6. Getting recommended and verified. This is were time management becomes crucial, the ability to build a network of people who you can communicate with daily on social media in a directed and focused way, is an essential skill, asking for what you want is another. 

7. Keeping up with trends and adapting and transitioning is a full time challenge. The changes in the past two years alone  have made work people were getting paid good money to do, obsolete. Whole industries have disappeared. Re-invent yourself.

Can you do online coaching and webinars?  Can you continue to be competitive in your field?

If you can manage yourself, and your erratic finances it can be a wonderful lifestyle defined by you and your dreams.

Next week..

What should you charge for your services..

freelancer working from home, how free are you?

In these times of greater flexibility, many desire to work at home. Some giant companies have been started in a garage somewhere like microsoft, and yahoo and grew to giants, while others just make a freelancer a living, and some are simply dismal failures. Is there a special kind of person who can work freelance from a home office without a boss cracking the whip? Are some of us destined to always drive 50km to work and sit in an open plan office with a boss watching us from his corner glass-walled office for ever? Yesterday I asked what you would do with 20,000 seed money to work on your own business. I've asked this question of many people and it's surprising how few really have a clear vision or dream of what they want. They can tell you what they don't want, but can't sketch out their desired future. Can You? What work do you do as a freelancer? write, design, sell, manage? How do you keep yourself motivated and on target? Do you hang around with turkeys or eagles? Do you use use others success to motivate you or depress you? See Seans post on franchise pick on home office here Wisequeen's Home office

Wisequeen.com launches! Forthcoming attractions

So we've launched! and what's in store here on Wisequeen.com? Interviews with some of the best startups in business, Discussions about what not to do with your money, How would you handle this situation? we discuss readers questions on issues as varied as disloyalty, partnerships, managing your career, networking, publishing your book, manners, online, phone and dating etiquette and how to handle your success. Have a burning Question? Write in under comments under any name you like with an e mail address. (No foul language or content and zero spam ) and Wisequeen and associates will give you an opinion. Have you been caught by a financial scam on the web? Let us know and be informed on what others are doing about it. ADDING VALUE We show you how to be safe on line, what not to do online. If we don't have the answer, we'll find it, we are well connected Humour and wit are the currency hereclick here for example to get your comment heard. We'd like to hear your opinions or experiences anytime, so send us a comment. Our launch party is on the 1st August and we expect you here, our vistor list must show you've been here under comments. To be eligible for a prize. Wisequeen Well here are two blog-warming presents and a write up for our big launch today I received from Sean the big business writer Wisequeen, couldn't have said it better myself, Sean. Copyright