I don’t think I mentioned this in my previous post but I’ve quit my day job and started to do some freelance work. Freelance design, drafting and authority liason work.
How has it been?
To be honest… It’s been an adventurous month and a month where I learnt alot about myself and working in one’s own time. For example, I found that I need to learn to balance work, family, volunteer work and KOREAN DRAMA time or else I end up trying to catch up on work in the middle of the night. Haha. So if you’re thinking of freelance, you need to work on balancing out your time and having the self discipline to reach your deadlines.
It took me awhile (although I should probably had done more research on freelance life beforehand) to realize that it’s not easy and it means having a pretty unstable life for awhile. Until you actually build up your client base, you may go months without income. So start planning!
How?
Well, some advice I found really helpful was:
- Tell everyone you know that you’re going freelance and what kind of jobs you want to take on.
- Advertise yourself / create a brand to market yourself.
- It helps if you have experience in the field that you choose to freelance in.
- Plan your days/ week ahead so that you are able to reach your deadline and have the time in between for other things.
I read up blogs online that gave awesome advice and especially loved the one on Career Foundry on Secrets To become a Successful Freelancer! It opened my eyes to some of the things I wish I had done before I started!
If you’ve been freelancing yourself or just started, I’d love to hear about your experience and tips! Leave them in the comments below!!
Of design, coffee and everything in between! 