Mistakes Freelancers Make

This phenomenon is becoming more and more popular. Many articles, essays, stories, life hacks and other "creations" have been written about freelancing. I want to share with you my "invaluable experience" of freelancing in the IT field. I will try to be as objective as possible. As a spoiler, I will say that if you want to consistently earn a lot of money, if you are a young and ambitious specialist, if you have never worked “for your uncle,” then nothing will come of it. Freelancing just isn't for you. Or not yet for you. Freelance work will help ruin all your professional inclinations, and turn you into a red-eyed zombie, whose qualifications do not even reach the qualifications of an average office worker.

Everything in life is arranged in such a way that anything that suits someone else most likely does not suit you. And it is right. And if someone has achieved success by doing something in some way known only to him, then most likely you will not succeed. But if someone made mistakes, then most likely you will make them too. I will try to list the mistakes I made. If you ever decide to get on the slippery slope of freelancing, be sure to repeat them. Then you will remember this note and understand that you are not alone.

The first mistake: overestimating your own capabilities

This is the worst, worst mistake you can imagine. Its price is very high. Just remember this. If you look at an assignment and realize that you don't know how to do it, never take on a project. Even if your refrigerator has run out of ice. Don't take on such a project.

Mistake two: I will never go to work in the office

Only plankton works in the office, I'm cooler and smarter. Crap! Even if you are a child prodigy, there is still a chance (approximately 99. (9)%) that there is someone in the office who is more experienced than you in any professional matter. You should learn from them. Plus you will need to get up 5 days a week at a specific time. And this is a discipline.

Mistake Three: Greed

If you in some incomprehensible way did not make the first two mistakes, but went through these tests with dignity, you will have customers. They will appreciate and love you. Money will be paid. And you will need more and more. Therefore, you will work harder. The result is 3 hours a day for sleep, a sore back, red eyes, even mental disorders are possible. And for what? For the money that will then be spent on treatment? Do you need it?

Mistake four: Lack of self-education

This is also a step into the abyss. It so happens that you can earn good money simply by making high-quality projects of average complexity. Don't even look at the manual. In a year or two, no one will need you, new technologies will pass you by, like all life itself. With the current learning opportunities, it is simply a sin not to use them. The internet isn't just for porn and cats. Know this.

Mistake five: lack of live communication

Having earned money, I sometimes realized that I hadn’t talked to anyone for a week (the cashiers didn’t count). Meet people. Go for walks, to pleasant places, travel. Is that why you didn't go to the office?

Despondency is a freelancer's friend

The rest, as for me, is insignificant. We will leave lectures on planning working hours, pricing, finding orders and on what paper to write for business coaches. You just need to understand that freelancing is hard work (often much more difficult and responsible than in the office), and that no one can work normally in Goa. It is suitable only for people of a certain nature who can afford to live a month or two without earnings. So think twice before leaving your cozy office with free coffee and your first salary.

But! If you can tune yourself in a certain way, if you have willpower, self-organization and discipline, then you will feel great. What I wish you!

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