Freelancing is not for the faint of heart - but you can do it

Posted on October 4, 2007
Filed Under Freelancing, General |

It takes discipline, determination, and drive to succeed as a freelancer or independent contractor. But then it takes all these things to succeed at anything in life!

When stepping out independently to make a living, or an extra income, you have to know that this is something you want to do, and that you are going to be 100% responsible for your own success. You need to be ready to accept that responsibility.

One of the things that makes a lot of freelancers give up early in the game is that they have unrealistic expectations about how the freelancing world works. I am going to talk about this more in future posts because these are the key things that will make you succeed. You need to understand the PRINCIPLES of freelancing, the underlying foundational issues, and not just the techniques. The techniques are important - how to do stuff is something we need to know, but even more crucial than that is understanding the attitudes and characteristics that will make you succeed.

Attitude, drive, determination, personal accountability, the ability to honestly evaluate yourself, honesty, integrity, reliability, the self-discipline to work even when you don’t feel like it… these are the some of the things that make for a successful freelancer.

What other foundational things can you think of that make for successful freelancing?