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Bad Habits I had to Quit When I Became a Freelancer
Letting People Walk All Over My Time
When I first went out on my own, I advertised myself as a tiny house designer. My first would be “client” was a person who wanted to do a custom van conversion. After spending an hour and a half talking about design and feasibility, I asked her what her budget was for design. She said, “Is $100 okay?”
“If I want to be paid $5 an hour,” I thought (but didn’t say). A budget set of design plans from a freelancer would run about $1,500 and a company would charge $4,000 or more. Lesson learned, ascertain the clients budget and goals before you take a video chat.
When you are an hourly / salaried employee, you are not conscious of wasted time, since it is on someone else’s time. This is not self-centered; you just do not fully understand it until it happens on your dime.
Not Learning the Warning Signs You are Being Undervalued
When you are behind the 4 walls of a company, your value becomes obvious by your performance. The company hopefully has a good reputation and people will pay good money to have something done right the first time.
When you are a freelancer, you learn very quickly signs your work is being devalued. The biggest sign is…
