You're Not Good Enough! Actually Yes, Yes You Are

I had a conversation recently with a girl who added me on Skype. She wanted some advice on freelancing and was working for dirt cheap. As far as I could tell, she had great grammar and good English but she wasn't finding high paying jobs nor did she try to pursue them.

I asked her why and she then said, "I'm not good enough." I understand, being new she feels inadequate to some of the seasoned freelancers out there but I still was curious as to why she felt she wasn't good enough. I asked her why and her response was:

"I tried raising my rates and I was told I wasn't good enough."

So, let me address that statement. Being told "you're not good enough" sucks and you're going to hear it again more than likely at least once in your life. Even some of the highest paid actors, magicians, performers, musicians (Eminem comes to mind) were told over and over again that they weren't good enough and would never make it to where they are today.

Now, when it comes to freelancing, this world is no different than theirs (except for the pay). You're going to have some low balling scumbag clients telling you you're not good enough until you stop surrounding yourself around those people. It's the lowest paying clients who are the first to request a refund, first to complain, first to reject or the first to insult you when you're already down.

Here's how it works when you approach a high paying client. If they don't like your work, they simply move on and hire someone else, there's usually no discussion about it because they don't have time to mess with you. I was nervous the first time I wrote for someone at a higher rate than what I was used to, because I was so used to the cheapskates from DP that I thought that was the normal rate on the internet.

Relax, higher paying clients are some of the easiest going people I have ever met. They're generally very cool, you can have a fun conversation with them and there's no complaints about the work delivered if you follow their guidelines/instructions.

I hate when people are told "you're not good enough" by people who just want to bring them down for whatever reason. It's not that you're not good enough. If you're a Native English speaker/writer and you can follow instructions, stop allowing yourself to be taken advantage of by these low rent clients who are throwing peanuts at you.

They're always going to be stuck in their own ways and they're always going to be hiring yet another cheap freelancer to do their work and wondering why their site isn't bringing in the gold. :rolleyes:

Your pricing will decide what kind of clients you attract and who you surround yourself with. Being told "you're not good enough" simply means, "I'm insecure and I feel like bringing you down a notch for no reason."

Are there exceptions? Sure. There are people who fail to follow instructions, have terrible grammar, go offline for days or weeks at a time without telling you or giving you any kind of notice, deliver work that wasn't anywhere close to what you had asked for, etc. However, if you don't do any of that and you know you're worth more than what you're making, raise your rates, stop letting the cheap clients control you and instead tell them, "no, you're not good enough to work for." Let that be the end of it.

I rarely get people who add me that make me think about stuff or ask me questions that make me but I would say she was one of them.