1 in 5 freelancers fail 🥲

Here's how to be one of the other four.

That's a yucky stat for your Friday.

We love a delulu creative but sometimes you need to look at the stats in order to not become one.

Here is a list of why freelancers fail (dw I'll give you solutions soon)

• Not charging enough or understanding their rates
• Not getting clients
• Not managing their money well
• Having low self-esteem without any praise
• Letting clients walk all over them
• Not getting paid for work they've completed
• Becoming lonely from working alone
• Not having the proper skills
• Lack of discipline and organisation

Wow. We really need a lot to succeed. That stat makes sense now...

Let me tell you a story about my failed freelancing days.

PS. I consider being a business owner a form of freelancing. It's almost the same, we just have a business name.

...

So when I first started freelance copywriting, I got clients from EVERYWHERE. I found some on LinkedIn through cold dms and some on Gumtree (this is like Australian Craigslist).

I asked local businesses for work including the local cafes social media posts. I also did ALOT of work for free to get my portfolio packed (something I don't recommend anymore).

At the end of the day, finding clients is a hustle. That's it. Its going out fishing and some days you have a great yield and other days you come back with soggy boots.

Some clients would pay me $10 for a blog 🤢 and others would pay me $250 for the same word count and level of writing.

I just let my clients walk all over me by always saying "yes". I didn't know about rates or how to sell my skills. (First reason for failure).

So for me some weeks I would make $6000AUD and other weeks.. you guessed it - soggy boots.

Which leads me to the next reason I failed - bad with money. I was 21 so all I wanted to do was spend that money.

And I did spend it - on nights out, clothes, travel. I was always broke and those soggy boot weeks, I would go hungry or borrow money from my dad (hi dad 👋... thanks 🥹).

So the final reason I failed was no repeat clients because my organisation and discipline were non existent.

Who wants to work with someone who is just hitting their deadline (to the second) with no invoice, no onboarding, no proposals, no agreement and no fudging idea?

Not me. And not any of the clients I worked with.

Ultimately I gave up. I got a 9-5 😭 And I threw up every morning on my way to this 9-5, hating every second of it.

That's my graveyard of freelancing failures.

So I wasn't great at freelancing tbh. And I would consider myself one of 5 failed freelancers at this time.

But not anymore. Now I know so much and all I want is this statistic to not exist. There should be 100% success rate for freelancers.

Here's what I would tell little me:
Understand your rates (There's a great Pricing Calculator that can help you)

• Get some freakin processes in order such as proposals, invoices, client portals, client agreements. (I hear Boring Studios have some new templates coming that would be perfect 😏)
• Learn to be better with money and learn to budget
• Organise your days, weeks and months with a planner
• Be so organised that your clients HAVE to follow your processes. How can you expect them to behave if they don't know the rules?
• Learn how to speak to clients and run calls (Another great resource from Boring Studios coming soon

Finally, the most important part - don't give up. It's not easy but it is 100% worth it.

This is one of the main reasons freelancers fail. And we see it a lot... too much 😔

We have freelancers and aspiring freelancers message us almost daily.

You'd be surprised, but we do check up on them from time to time.

And it breaks our hearts to hear when they have given up after just a month or two.

So if you're a new freelancer, aspiring freelancer or an established business owner going through a lull, I want you to know, from me personally to you, that you can do this.

It takes a really special kind of someone to take that first leap into the unknown and you've done it (or you're about to) and that my friend is the hardest part. You can't teach that.

All those issues above have solutions. You can't teach courage or creativity and that is what you already have.

Okay.. I'm crying. Are you crying?

We watched Forrest Gump last night and honestly it gave me so much motivation.

Just like Forrest Gump keeps running, you too, must keep running and never give up. No matter what came his way, he overcame it and you will too.

So run Forrest, run.

XO P