Let's talk freelancing - Mistakes | ❤️ Dil se Designer
Let's be straight. It can be overwhelming at times.
But today, let's talk about mistakes one can make as a freelancer. Without generalising it further, let's just talk about my example and let me know if you find it relatable or helpful.
My journey of mistakes
When I started, I had no clarity about what I would do.
I come from Nagpur, a Tier-2 city in India, and it has its own set of challenges.
Not finding any solid foundations for support (or, I should say, I didn't look for it), I started entirely on my own.
I was unsure what to do with this newly found passion as I had a diversified range of skill sets but nothing polished.
I was OK in writing, designing and coding, which I felt were the only requirements of being a freelancer.
And I just started writing a lot of proposals on Upwork.
I made a few significant mistakes.
And I learned about them slowly; here are some of them.
1. I never took the effort to find people and ask.
It would've made a lot of difference to ask some experienced freelancer.
When I started, I was in my own bubble. (Apanich duniya ke raaja).
For the first few months, I made around 10-12K INR a month, which made me overconfident. I thought this was easy, and I could keep doing the same thing month-by-month, eventually earning more because I would be more experienced. Turns out, I was wrong.
2. I didn't spend time acquiring/polishing my skills.
I felt I was pretty good with Photoshop and Illustrator (aur kya hi chahiye jeevan me). So I never took the time and effort to learn more. But as it turns out, I was way too below average.
And I didn't spend any time learning about what I should be doing to improve my freelance game when there were many resources available.
Apna kuch process set hi nahi hua. Kabhi bhi kuch bhi karra mai...
3. I wasn't reading books.
I never had the knack for reading books.
We know ki padhega India tabhi badhega India. But padhte kahan thay hum.
All of it boils down to two simple things points. Time and Patience.
The freelance game is all about that. You need to take some time to connect with industry peers, add more to your skills, and read more books.
You may not see the results immediately, but all of the above efforts count and give you exponential results over time.
Toh that's the wrap.
What are few mistakes you have done in your career.
Reply karke batao.
Aur Kaisa laga aaj ka issue, batana zaroor.