10 Things to Know (How to Do) to Be a Freelancer

What would a 10-tips list be without the 11th bonus one! Which gives me the opportunity to take some distance and to remind that full-time freelancing is a mindset and a lifestyle. This is the main difference with people who do it as a side activity; they can afford to just carry out the job then move on to something else, whereas if freelancing is the foundation on which one’s life rests, then it transforms our relationship to “work”; there are no more fixed working hours, offices to go to, vacation days to take… Instead we should always be ready to find opportunities behind every encounter and piece of information received (opportunities to find new customers, partners or suppliers, ideas of new services to offer, of new sales channels or methods, etc.).

We must also be patient (and plan our finances accordingly) since there’s a lot to learn and most of it must happen through experience. Trials & errors are therefore inevitable, and they take time. But at least we’ve got the freedom to try, to change, to add and remove in every field: sales channels, marketing methods, services offered, target customers, rates…

Therefore it is essential to reflect on how to integrate freelancing into our life. Or perhaps more accurately: how to organize our life around freelancing. This will impact the fees we charge, the type of customers we’ll target, our working hours, how we intend to sell our products or services, etc.