People have a lot of misconceptions about freelancing…they think it’s only for writers, only for young people, not for Black or brown folks or anyone who wants to build a lucrative career.
I had those same misconceptions when I started, and when I look back, they had HUGE impacts on how I started my freelance life…
- I was happy averaging only $50/hr because I thought my income should be
just a bit higher than what I made in traditional employment. (It should be multiples.)
- I was only approaching smaller companies because I figured larger ones wouldn’t want (or need) my services. (Nothing could have been further from the truth.)
- I didn’t cold contact companies at first because I figured companies that needed help were already asking for help. (A LOT don't even know we're out here.)
All
of those wrong-headed ideas I had about what it’s really like to freelance cost me time, income, and honestly confidence that I could have been building much earlier in my career.
So what about you? What’s the image of a freelancer to you? How does it align with some of the examples I just listed? How do you think it might be holding you back in your freelance career?
Megan.