Choosing a career path that involves freelancing is a rewarding, empowering and gutsy choice. Freelancing is demanding of your time and effort, but it’s also likely to return that time and effort tenfold if you completely dedicate yourself to living a true freelance lifestyle.
Today’s guest post was written by Kelvin Cech, a freelance copywriter and the owner of Vancouver’s own Function Writing Group.
Before we get into it, let’s clarify something: as freelancers, we all understand the amount of work that goes into entrepreneurial endeavours, right? If you’re freelancing to get out of long hours and good ol’ fashioned hard work, then your dream job is going to crash and burn mighty quick – like, curse-level quick. The life of a freelancer isn’t easy, but it can be fulfilling. There are rights and wrongs to learn from, but ultimately freelancers possess the ability to live their lives full-steam ahead and rock their industry in every aspect of the phrase.
So how come so many copywriters, graphic designers and photographers living the freelance life consistently feel like their passion is also their curse? Why do we feel that as we devote more energy to our craft, more energy gets sucked out of our bodies and our passion for our industry?
Ask Yourself:
1. Why did you get into freelancing in the first place?
2. Are you passionate about the work that your freelance career is built on?
3. If you were a millionaire, would you still enjoy that work, at least from time to time?
Getting paid for your expertise can easily sap your enthusiasm for your work, because ultimately you’re still working for someone else. So what have you created lately that was just for you? Is there something that you wish existed that you have the power to create?
Here are three ways to balance a career in freelancing with the passion that started it all in the first place.
Create a project that relates to your field of expertise.
Freelancing for yourself is crucial – if you’re always working on a deadline for a client, then why not consider yourself a client as well? If your clients deserve your best work, then don’t you?
My task list includes guest posts (like this one!) for copywriters, bloggers and other freelancers that I admire and I try to stick to the deadlines that I set for myself. If I miss these deadlines by a day or two, well, so what? There’s no stress when your livelihood doesn’t depend on your new project.
For more expertise relating to part-time blogging and how you can fit writing into your busy schedule, check out the always-entertaining and engaging Stanford Smith at Pushing Social.
As I mentioned, I enjoy writing guest posts – they’re fun, you’re contributing to a message that you support, you’re (hopefully) helping to enrich the lives of a new audience and you’re creating exposure for your work.
Here are a few other possible avenues, related to common freelance careers, of creation you can easily explore (on the cheap, too!):
Start a podcast that directs traffic back to your business.
Write a blog (on tumblr maybe?) that explores a new aspect of your medium.
Create content in your industry that stays in your house – photos? Posters? Woodwork?
Your passion and talent for your craft is only the beginning of your freelance career. Freelancing means you have all the power, so get back to your roots and create something that you would have wanted when you first made the decision to start freelancing. Possessing the ability to act and failing to do so is the real curse.
Create something completely unrelated to your industry
Human beings are a stubborn, dedicated bunch. If we weren’t, then I suppose we would have given up on starting a fire with those tools that we found a million years ago, and we wouldn’t have learned how to ride dinosaurs. What? We haven’t done that yet? In time…
As we’ve discussed, freelancing demands much more than just your time. What was the first thing you thought about when you woke up this morning? How many ‘@replies’ you received on twitter overnight? What you’re going to include in the big contract you’re pitching for? If you remember one hard rule from this post, remember this:
“Direct energy elsewhere.”
I even placed the rule in quotes for you, so you’ll remember it forever.
Do you have a family? Do you play enjoy any sports? What are your hobbies? Do you ever just sit down without your phone or computer and watch The Daily Show? Freelancing is supposed to be a fulfilling, challenging venture – that’s why the word ‘entrepreneur’ is so unique (because freelancers are unique!) – but it’s impossible to be fulfilled if the entirety of your being is poured into your freelance jobs.
Create something that fulfills another aspect of life. It’s not allowed to relate to your career whatsoever. Go for a walk. Get a puppy. After you spend some time doing something else, come back to your work fresh, balanced and ready to get back at it.
Aspire to be More
Freelancing assumes that you’ve accepted a life of continually bettering yourself – of contributing to society first and asking questions about the money later. Working to better yourself is an enriching process – the trick is to take that process in as many different directions as you can.
Remember what I said earlier about freelancers being stubborn? Well, stubborn in this sense is easily mistaken with hypocritical. Many freelancers are guilty of being hypocrites, not following their own advice and so forth. So as I was writing this post I decided to actually take my own advice and start another blog that relates to copywriting. You can do it too, it takes barely any time and nearly zero effort.
Freelancing is about creation. Keep creating that which makes your job rewarding and soon you’ll never feel like you’re working. Does anyone else have a hobby or activity that they use to avoid the freelancing curse?
Thanks for reading, I’ll be back again to talk about how freelance copywriters take breaks. (Hint: they write.)