Little Baby Steps: Laying the Foundation to Freedom

[IchiBan]

I’m starting this way overdue thread to keep track of the progress I made over the past few months freelancing. My hopes for it are threefold: that I will be able to look back in the future and see the progress made, to see how the brilliant advice I come across daily affects my work, and to act as a sort of public diary where people will hopefully find nuggets of wisdom from those benevolent enough to post here, just like I did from countless other threads.


But before we get into this, I would like to thank @SinsterLex and @Fox. Your videos, threads, posts, and calls have given me so much in the way of motivation, and most importantly, practical, usable knowledge on freelancing.


Now I don’t want to freelance forever, I don’t even LIKE what sector I’m in that much. I’m also not in it just to make a cash (though that is a definite plus and a great metric) or to turn it into a career. My main goal is to get my foot in the door with sales, negotiation, problem-solving, and other skills that will set me up for a future where I will be doing these things, but only at a much greater scale.

So freelancing is a great catalyst since it relies on constantly being in touch with new people and finding ways to prove yourself to them and solve problems. And the people I work with have taught me a lot, both directly and indirectly.


Progress so far (June 27, 2017)


I started off this year hoping to make around $100, and I’ve passed that humble goal by an order of magnitude. It’s still not that much, and I definitely could’ve made more, but there’s a gap in between jobs that lasts on average a few weeks, and I’m kind of picky about the jobs I choose.


These are a few of the more noteworthy jobs I’ve had.


• An Australian who was a model client (good pay, freedom, rapport), but he just up and disappeared after weeks of working together and stopped responding.

• Got a contract with a European company, but messed it up (so mad at myself for that one)


All the clients I’ve worked with have been great people, but I really want to move on to larger ones with more pay and consistency.


What I need to do


There’s a recurring nightmare I have about Upwork suddenly banning my profile, or a malicious client ruining my perfect reputation and cutting me off from all my income. So I know I can’t rely on it too much in the future, but for now, I need to:


• Upgrade my profile to show superior caliber and get quality clients to contact ME

• Niche down even further

• Do more interview calls rather than text-chats to work on my sales calls

• Get a steady flow of clients and work rather than just one-off projects

• Write up Retainer agreements, anyone have experience with this?

• Get over my fears and start applying to better jobs


I’ll be updating this thread every week even if, god forbid, there’s no progress to report.

 

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[maverick]

Tu xjev esi zua fuoph?

 

[IchiBan]

Tu xjev esi zua fuoph?

Gus pux, xsovoph. Ov't tunivjoph vjev O dep fu ximm op, epf O moli vji sitiesdj vjev dunit xovj ov. O vsoif fuoph xic fiw xjodj xet tunivjoph O ipkuzif nadj nusi, cav emm vji qiuqmi O xuslif xovj op siem mogi xisip'v tisouat ecuav ov epf upmopi vji xuslmuef / qez sevou xet xez ugg.