Making mistakes is only human; if you never make a mistake, you’ve probably never taken a risk.
However, as a freelancer, it’s all about recognising the mistakes you’ve made and learning from them. Even better; if you can premediate some of the mistakes you might make before you’ve even really got started, then you’re already one step ahead of everyone else.
Learning how to correct your mistakes and ensure that you don’t make the same one repeatedly is an integral part of becoming a successful freelancer.
Below, you’ll find the 5 worst mistakes freelancers make and how you can avoid them.
Not knowing your value
The number one mistake that I see freelancers make time and again is not knowing their worth.
Working for free is a good example of this and while you might want to offer “complementary” services to your first couple of clients, it’s important to not do this repeatedly. Underestimating your value is a grave mistake to make as a freelancer as it opens up opportunities for people to take advantage of you.
For example, if you complete a huge project for a client that you charged pennies for and another potential client wants something similar, they will also likely expect to pay a similar price.
Knowing your worth and also how much you should charge as a freelancer right from the start is invaluable to ensuring that you can charge fair prices and that you’re not going above and beyond by completing work that you’re getting paid very little for.
Taking on more work than you can manage
Taking on more work than you can handle is another, often detrimental, mistake that many freelancers make.
While it might seem incredible that you’ve got many clients on your roster and it shows that your skills are popular and in-demand (and of course it is!), it could also prove to be your downfall if you can’t actually handle the workload.
This consequently will result in you working yourself to the bone and it means that while you might be completing many more projects, the standard of them might not be quite as good as they can be. In turn, this results in clients not being completely satisfied with the work you’ve carried out and this may end up with them cancelling your contract and not working with you on a retainer basis.
It’s important to be aware of how much work you can actually handle and if it gets to the point where you’ve just got far too much on your plate, you should look into alternatives. If you’re worried about the potentially missed income opportunities, try hiring another freelancer to help you out a bit, or talk to the client to see if you could start the project next week for example, once you’ve freed up a bit of time in your schedule.
Not knowing what to charge
On a similar thread of selling yourself short and undervaluing your skills, another common mistake amongst freelancers is not knowing what to charge.
You can use our FREE freelance rate calculator to help work out what you should be charging as a freelancer.
This really isn’t something anyone can tell you; unfortunately, it’s something that you have to figure out on your own through trial and error, but there are a few tips you can bear in mind to help decide what prices and rates you should be charging for your services.
- Hourly rate – pricing projects per hour is a common method for freelancers as it helps them to logically plan out how long a project will likely take. If you can provide a rough estimation of the length of time it will take you to complete a project, you can then determine how much you want to make per hour and work out your rate from there.
- Per project – this is another popular pricing method but one that slightly more experienced freelancers might use. For example, if you’ve worked on a very similar project before and know pretty much exactly what it requires and how long it will take you, then you can provide a fee based on that.
- Per word – this pricing method only really applies to freelance writers but it’s a method that can be adopted by other freelancers too. Charging per word (or per page for a website designer, for example) is another way to set your freelancing fees.
Not having savings
One major downfall and common mistake that you see many freelancers making is being complacent with their money and not having enough in savings.
While there are obviously dozens of advantages of being a freelancer and working for yourself, one of the biggest cons is that you’re not always guaranteed a set pay check per month and your income can vary immensely.
You might have one month where you make more money than you know what to do with, but then you could spend the next three months making barely enough to get by. The best advice I can offer to try and combat these fluctuations and disparities in income is by having plenty of savings to fall back on.
The industry recommendation would be to have at least three months’ worth of “salary” in savings; enough to pay your bills, mortgage and whatever else you might need to pay for in the event that you have a couple of very slow working months.
Not learning and developing new skills
Complacency in the form of money and pricing is unfortunately only one way freelancers are lax when it comes to their roles; not learning and developing new skills is another one.
Regardless of whether you’re a freelance writer, web developer or graphic designer, there will always be area for improvement within your field. No matter how much you think you’re an expert in your area of expertise, there will always be someone who knows just that little bit more than you and chances are, that they’ll be the ones who win your clients.
Therefore, you must always ensure that you’re at the top of your game and are always looking for ways to improve upon your skillset and learn new things within the industry.
This can involve anything and everything from pricing structures, new social media platforms and even new best SEO practices, for example. You’re naturally never going to know absolutely everything there is to know about your freelancing niche, but if you’re willing to constantly develop and learn as a freelancer then you can rest assured that you’ll always be one step ahead of the curve.
There you have it – the 5 most common mistakes freelancers make and how to avoid them. As we mentioned before, it’s inevitable and only human that you’re bound to make mistakes as a freelancer, but having the courage and confidence to admit them and then learn from them is what will make you a truly successful freelancer.
