20 Ways to Survive and Thrive as a Freelancer
Incredible! I work a as freelancer for 20 years now.
I worked as a blogger, social media manager, search engine optimizer.
I survived! Sometimes I even thrived! How did I do it? See below!
Also let’s be honest about the pros and cons of freelancing.
Freelancing pros and cons
Let’s be truly honest! It is difficult at times to freelance!
It is also rewarding to work for yourself though!
Yet I was able to pay my bills and I support my family.
What were the obvious benefits of working freelance?
- I’m wasn’t rich by any means yet I was not starving either.
- Freelancing is also much more rewarding than working for others.
- As a freelancer you build your own business instead of just earning money.
Yet there also obvious downsides. Here are some!
- You have to be all in one (worker, marketer, accountant).
- The money influx is not steady and can stop any day.
- You are often the lowest in the hierarchy despite experience.
So you have to navigate those ups and downs to keep freelancing successfully for more than a few months.
How to manage a freelance business for years and survive or rather even thrive?
Surviving and thriving as freelancer – the techniques
Thus I want to share twenty ways to achieve this: 20 ways to survive as a freelancer.
You will need to implement at least several of these techniques to survive!
The more the better and it works!
The more of these survival techniques you use the more thrive beyond mere survival.
1. Don’t compete, cooperate with your peers.
It’s ridiculous to compete against the whole world. Cooperation on the Web is easy though.
Write how great others are! Create or join existing networks like Behance or Coroflot!
Soon you’ll be much better off than on your own.
2. Don’t work 24/7!
Use two phone numbers.
Switch off your office phone and computer after work.
To stay sane do not work at night and on holidays.
Do not let clients call you after office hours. Communicate those!
3. Charge twice as much as you assume you deserve
You think you should get paid 50$ per hour? Charge 100!
People do not value cheap services.
When you’re cheap they assume you are worthless.
4. Do not get paid by the hour!
You only have 40h per week to sell.
This way you’ll never expand.
Make sure to get rewarded for results.
5. Get paid for results
You work two hours and get results like others who need ten? Great!
The faster you accomplish things the better then.
You can also charge per project. Make sure to assess it correctly then!
Otherwise you will work for free for hours or days later on.
6. Sell your expertise
You’re an expert for 10 years?
Ignore the market “competition”.
You are unique!
Charge accordingly!
You don’t have to compete with newbies on Fiverr.
7. Sell your image
The most read web design blogger of your city, state, or even country!
charge accordingly. Be a person not just a services page.
You have worked with x, y and z! Wow!
You have been “seen at a, b and c!” Even more wow!
8. Diversify your income
Establish several revenue sources!
Get at least three of them to stay safe.
Think consulting, writing and affiliate marketing for example.
9. Earn one third of your money by client work
10. Earn one third selling a product
11. Earn one third publishing and earning via fees or advertising revenue
12. Get a good lawyer
13. Get a good book keeper
14. Do not just offer services on saturated markets
Web design? Every kid offers that.
Specialize on something new and not yet overrun.
Learn a new skill. Embrace a specific tool!
Be the first to coin a new discipline!
15. Specialize
A programmer friend of mine does no PHP.
Yet he’s a Coremedia expert! Never heard of it?
Huge companies have. He earns accordingly.
16. Anticipate trends
Early adopt!
Adapt accordingly.
Offering only what you did in the past may not suffice in the future.
17. Do not solely work at the screen
Work with people to stay sane.
At least go to a coworking space from time to time when you work remotely.
18. Offer advice
Teach people your know-how.
Do not hoard your knowledge or nobody will know that you have it.
You are not Coca Cola with a secret recipe.
19. Befriend clients
Do not work with faceless companies. Find an individual to relate to.
Personal contact build trust. Yet do not let people exploit you “as a friend”.
Selling yourself cheap to “friends” backfires usually.
20. Work in teams
You can’t design, do the programming, popularization yourself!
You can’t do it all at once as one individual. The day has only 24h.
You can excel in all those areas. Believe me! I tried,
Even in case you can it’s tiresome and error-prone.
Freelancing vs wage slavery
Yeah. Freelancing makes you feel much better than working at a company.
Wage slavery is an inhuman condition.
Why? You either work for yourself or you tend somebody’s else garden while yours degenerates.
Working full time for one company leaves you at the mercy of them.
When they make you redundant you have nothing.
When you lose a client and have a few of them you can always survive until you get a new one.
Add your freelancing success stories
Do you have more suggestions on how to survive and ideally thrive as a freelancer on the Web?
Share your success stories with us!
Were you able to implement the ones above? Did they work?
Please add your feedback in the comments below as well!
I may add the best advice to the post itself with an added link to the source or author of it.
You can even elaborate on your own site!
Good points, though 4 is more relevant to your field (SEO). If you do programming, I’d say payment by hour is the better than something fixed.
Well, not necessarily. For instance you can charge somone 1000$ for a clean microsite which you have a programmed CMS for or you use an open source CMS.
So that your work will be only a few hours… and the effect even better than building everything from scratch.
[…] 20 Ways to Survive as a Freelancer Working on the Web from SEO 2.0. […]
That would be a customization, not programming :) Though I agree, these type of contracts are good stuff.
i really appreciate what you’ve been doing on this blog for a while, but this post reads like a roadmap – thanks.
Love this – have to add one thing though… ;)
Focus on the moment!
I too freelance, and for a long time would jump from one project to another. Now, through almost losing my mind, I’ve established rules and a schedule – and I stick to it; it’s a lot calmer now.
Monday I focus on admin/Blogwell
Tuesdays I focus on one regular client
Wednesday I focus on another regular client
Thursday I focus on volunteer work
Friday I focus on new/short term clients
Every morning I spend the first two hours visiting fave sites, sometimes commenting, always reading, catching up on, and contributing to social media networks, and returning phone calls.
Every afternoon I hang out with my little people, but for half an hour where I return phone calls and e-mails while they do their homework.
Every evening I hang out with the MOTH (Man Of The House ;) – sometimes we work (he’s a developer) – sometimes we play.
Every day, regardless of what I’m doing, I focus on that and only that. A client wants to chat while I’m rollerblading with my little people? Too bad so sad – they need to wait until I’m done. :)
It is the only way to survive the freelance world, stay sane and continue to grow.
[…] Seo 2.0 und den gerade dort erschienenen, sicher auch für Überstzer interessanten Artikel 20 ways to survive as a freelancer working on the web. Korrekter Hut. Korrekter Text: Tadeusz Szewczyk of onreact.com, Germany’s most notorious white […]
“… have a family where I am the only working person”
Ehh!
Hi, thanks for your points!
I’m “trying” to work as a freelancer (SEO Consultant) about 3 months, sometimes i feel “no way to go”, if you know or i mean.
Thanks
Pedro Barata
(the guy, who translate you post 15 differences…)
Thanks for the points though I didn’t get the 13 th point!
Why does a Freelancer need a book keeper?!
As a freelancer we have to make sure we stick to a schedule and avoid the temptation to work redicolous hours. The best way to expand is to be able to delegate work or create something that would last all time so you don’t have to keep going back to it yet it gives you income – passive income.
Excellent post! I especially appreciate your point about diversity of income, and breaking it down by thirds. That’s an area I’m working on improving.
“10. Earn one third selling a product”
This is very true! There are some pretty good affiliate programs out there!
I have to say that point #3 is probably the best advice I’ve seen for anyone in the business world, freelance or not.
If you don’t put a premium on your own work, than people will never see past how cheap you are. Any quality your work has is devalued in their eyes.
You then become replaceable. There is always someone who is willing to work for less than you.
Number 1 is the #1 rule!
[…] and returning visitors. c) Revenue or income streamsI already mentioned this very important aspect of freelancing or doing business. You need to have several income sources. If you are just working for one client […]
Fantastic – that’s what I call a Blog! So good to see you sharing such information ensuring everyone – CAN get a slice of the PIE!
Thanks