A 7th Lesson I Wish I Knew When I Started Freelancing
Celine writes about 6 Lessons I Wish I Knew When I Started Online Freelancing over at Web Worker Daily. While I tend to disagree over organization being as important as the work itself, the other five lessons are great advice for anyone starting their freelance career.
Let’s hope Celine is open to my seventh lesson.
Professionalism is a Must
I consider professionalism as the ability to commit to realistic goals, meet them on time, and the exertion of the best possible effort within this framework. Too often, we concentrate on the creative aspects of our fields, without adapting or adjusting to the realities of the given situation. This requires a bit of awareness and ability to maximize opportunities as they present themselves.
For instance, if we have nothing better to do and we still have projects pending, then why not make full use of your time?
A freelancer works for money, works to be paid for the delivery of work on time and to spec. Our job is to fulfill the requirements of a project, on the deadline agreed upon, in the best way possible. Our lives should be oriented towards being professionals, or talents that do their very best to maximize the money that’s being paid for their labor.
The point is that professionalism is something I should’ve already possessed when I started my freelancing career. To be honest, I missed out on a lot of (lucrative) opportunities simply because I wasn’t exactly a professional.
Tags: celine roque, professionalism, web worker dailyRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Great Advice
1 opinion for A 7th Lesson I Wish I Knew When I Started Freelancing
Celine
Aug 9, 2008 at 2:04 pm
I agree with your 7th lesson, Rico :) That’s generally how I define “organization” - have goals, follow a schedule, deliver your service/product on time and in the best quality possible.
In your comment about my lesson that organization is just as important as professionalism, you seem to be confusing “organization” with “neatness”. You can still be organized even if things look messy. Neatness/messiness is just based on aesthetics, whereas organization is more about function. Organization is being able to send a contract or invoice to a client easily, following your schedule, and managing your time enough so you can easily respond to client queries. It doesn’t matter if you do all that in a messy office or if you’re the only one who can understand your filing system.
Most creative types I know, including myself, have messy work areas - yet they know where everything is and can access it easily. The chaos and messiness is merely superficial. We’re not neat, but we’re organized.
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