“Score a big client!”
“Charge clients a lot more!”
“Work on as many projects as possible!”
All of the above are rational
applicable ways of getting rich as a freelancer. At the end of the day,
the question is this: Do we get rich freelancing or are we freelancing to get rich?
As freelancers, we have the choice of
working as much as we want, or as little as we want. We get to choose
between spending time with our loved ones and doing the things we love,
or spending time working our ass off to earn big bucks. But there is a
limit to how much we can earn as an individual. Because we all have 24
hours a day. Being a freelancer, we solely manage the projects we have
in hand. That means if you need 3 hours to work on a poster, you can
only complete 8 posters a day. Nothing more. So how then can you get
rich?
The Tithing Decree.
If you are a Christian, you would know that everyone tithes 10% of
their earnings to the church they attend. Well, this is the same
principle I use. I put aside (more than) 10% of my monthly income into
a savings account, which is purposely set to disable the withdrawal
feature. That way, there is only money going in and not money coming
out. Savings is the first step to getting rich. If you don’t save, even
if you strike lottery, you will still not be rich.
Sharing Money is Gaining Money. Because
you have only 24 hours a day, in order to earn more, you have to borrow
someone else’s 24 hours. Instead of rejecting projects because you do
not have enough hours to work on them, accept these projects and
sub-out to another freelancer. Earn that small percentage for
recommending the projects (and hopefully one day they will recommend
some projects to you too). If you play the middleman role between the
freelancer and your client, you get to earn a client servicing fee too!
Upgrade Yourself. Learn
a new skill, conquer a new software. If you are a writer, learn how to
do translation. If you are a 2D designer, learn how to draw 3D visuals.
If you are a graphic designer, learn how to design a website. The more
skills you know, the more services you can offer, the more projects you
can accept – which means you get to earn so much more besides growing
yourself as a professional.
Invest to Harvest.
Yes, you have to spend money to get money. And you should have money to
invest if you have practiced the Tithing Decree highlighted above. And
the best investment of all is yourself. Invest in yourself. Spend that
money to expand your freelance business. You can use it to advertise
your website online, or launch a project of your interest to build
awareness for your business. Or anything at all that build awareness
for your business.
Charge More. Make
sure you don’t charge too little just to get the project. Clients are
compromising quality for dirt cheap jobs. As professional, never lower
your price just to get the project because it would cause industry
suicidal. Charge what you think is right. And if you have to let go a
project because of price, by all means let it go. Because all you need
is a project that pays you just right. No point working on 3 projects
to earn the same amount as a good one project can pay. Make more money
from good projects by working less. Then you’ll have time to accept
even more good projects.
So these are some ways to get rich as a
freelancer. It doesn’t matter if we freelance to get rich or we get
rich freelancing; All of us wants to be rich so that we can lead a
comfortable life. And all it takes to achieve that is discipline. If
you discipline yourself to follow the steps above, you will indeed be
rich one day.
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