Things I wish someone told me when I was a newbie freelancer

Guess, I attended the last regional Upwork conference in this year. Usually, we get at least one more chance to meet until the end of the year. I presume that the Upwork community managers have other plans. That's OK. I really don't mind. In this period of the year, you can see a lot of new faces. That's a good news. Upwork has new fees and new members. Good for them. I couldn't see some of the old faces. That's a bad news. Maybe these have gotten back to the 9-to-5 jobs or maybe they just got tired. Either way, the freelance show must go on, that's for sure.

Now, the most annoying part of this winter edition conferences, especially the last ones for the current years, are enthusiastic motivational speeches for the newbie freelancers. I guess you can call these encouragements this way. This is a legitimate thing to do, except for the milk and honey part. Actually, for some reason, people either make bad jokes about the downsides of the freelance work and life, or they don't mention them at all. Again there's nothing wrong about it, but there's also not too many good and useful things, as well. I remember that on a couple of occasions I wanted to raise my arms and say a thing or two, but I didn't. Instead, I imagined what were the things I wish someone told five or six years ago. Why? Would they make any difference? Probably not, but at least that would have saved me a great deal of trouble and disappointments. Maybe, they would even allow me to earn more. That's something I can't tell for sure.

I hate those tips that all look alike and you can find hundreds of them online. I seriously doubt that the guys who wrote them have spent a single minute working as freelancers. So, I hope that some warriors who are also freelancers will appreciate them or at least find a line or two to be useful.

There is no romance in freelance

I believe that freelancing represents the ultimate and final victory of the corporate empire. They got us where they want us to be and work when they want for how much they want. There's nothing poetic not magical about freelancing. I'm my own boss now. I don't have a single boss to bother me now. Well, the news flash is that instead of one boss you end up with at least a dozen bosses at any given moment. Also, this romantic vision of the absolute freedom from the regular working hours. Instead of 8 hours, you get 16 hours of work. OK, that's an obvious and shameless exaggeration, but it doesn't mean it's not true for some guys and in some projects. Again, I'm fully aware that I have said nothing spectacular, but at least I didn't leave it out, which was the case at the last conference I attended. I'm also saying that this would've talked me out of freelancing in the first place, but at least I would've prepared myself better. I would have definitely asked myself what was wrong fewer times.

No one is stopping you from being a freelancer and an entrepreneur

This one would have been a life-changer five years ago. The term "entrepreneur" in this context is a little bit pretentious term, but I couldn't think of a better one at the moment. When you work as a freelancer, especially at the beginning, you have plenty of time to launch a website, write an eBook, participate in the development of an app, and many other useful and potentially profitable things. Needless to say that you can improve your skills, knowledge, and anything you can possibly think of all day long. So, who stopped me writing at least a handful of eBooks? I could have written at least one new eBook every year in the last five years. I had plenty of time to write the whole novel or even a trilogy. The answer is my stupidity and insecurity. I thought that my situation was a temporary solution and that I will be back in corporate waters in no time. Obviously, that was a wrong thing to think.

One fine day we will all be freelancers

This is actually true. The brave new world of merciless gig economy needs new subjects. More than ever. Who is going to be left to work in the factories? The robots, I guess. Who else? Yet, this is a dangerous thought. Do you know why? Because when you put it this way, it means that you don't have a choice. If all of us are going to end up working as freelancers sooner or later, more or less, then I should become a freelancer asap. Better now than later. Right? No. Wrong. A decent business offer would make me be a salesman again in a blink of an eye. I would say bye-bye freelance with no regret, till the next team, at least. There's always a choice.

Every contact you made is worth pure gold

I wish I had 500 connections on my LinkedIn account. Unfortunately, I didn't take care of my contacts from the very beginning. That was a huge mistake. After almost 1,000 projects finding 500 connections for my LinkedIn shouldn't be a problem, but it is. I hate this phrase, but it is painfully true. The lack of vision. I treated myself as a one-stop-shop and I got what I deserved. I should have had my own small, but rich in contacts, freelance world by now. This is something I realized, when I started thinking about my first eBook. I could invite every of my current and previous clients and other contacts to have a look, write a review, or even buy. You meet people from all over the world. So many different industries and different backgrounds. You can't possibly guess when some of them can turn out to be important for some plan you may have. The moment you create a freelance account or decide to work as one, you should have all available social media accounts to follow your actions and contacts systematically and restlessly.

You don't need an umbrella, but beware of the rainy days

I have a five-year long hole in my social, health security, and retirement stuff. You know what I'm talking about. The reason for that was my temporary approach. It's only until the end of this year, and then I will change something. Finally, I made some plans for the private insurance as of the beginning of the next year. Yet, it was really hard to think about these "details," when you are trying to win your first projects and build your portfolio. What can I say? Better to admit this mistake now than ten years from now.

No more tips

In a way, I feel relieved after writing this. Maybe, I should have taken an active part in the conference. No one is stopping you from volunteering and sharing your experiences with the young lions of the freelance world. OK, let's say the next year will be different. I would read what other warriors have to say about these. Based on the feedback and advice I get here, I will work on a speech worth hearing. So, let me hear it.