10 Traits Every Freelancer Needs to Be Successful
According to Medium.com, there are around tens of millions of freelancers around the world. The worldwide freelancer community is most abundant in Europe, wherein 35.5% are residing. In Latin America, 29.2% of the freelancer community live there, and 28% in Asia; Africa has the fewest with 10.1%. Most of them freelance at home through online platforms. As you can see, the freelance economy is expanding and could grow further over the years. So if you want to join the freelancer community, you could have a bright career ahead of you. However, nothing is guaranteed in freelancing. You need to have certain qualities if you want to make it big. With that in mind, we will discuss with you the ten traits every freelancer needs to be successful.
10 Traits Every Freelancer Needs to Be Successful
Can Exercise Professionalism
Even though being a freelancer doesn’t bound you with a company or organization, you are still expected to exercise professionalism. Freelancing is a business wherein you’ll be dealing with clients from different demographics. That said, you have to present yourself with courtesy and formality to earn a good first impression. Keep in mind that you’re not just a freelancer; you’re also a businessman and an entrepreneur. Quitting your current job to transition to freelancing doesn’t mean you’re stopping being a professional.
Excellent Communication Skills
Having excellent communication skills may sound cliche for you, and, yes, we agree. Despite that, having excellent communication skills, both verbal and written, is among the most important characteristics of successful freelancers. For that reason, we still emphasize it. Freelancers deal with their clients each day. If they can’t communicate well enough, misunderstandings with their clients will happen imminently. In such cases, their projects and tasks could have suboptimal results, making their clients unsatisfied subsequently. But with good communication, every exchange of information will be clear, precise, and accurate. Thus, meeting the clients’ demands and expectations will be highly possible.
High-Level Negotiating Skills
Among the many freelancer benefits are having the power to negotiate deals with clients. So to make the most of your authority to negotiate, you need to have a high-level negotiating capability. Having great negotiating skills enables you to have better leverage in your deals or contracts with clients. In that case, you can even earn more money potentially. You may also present a proposal to some clients that are negotiable to your favor or to both parties. In freelancing, being a good negotiator opens up many valuable opportunities that could lead you to success.
Resourceful
Remember that when you truly become a freelancer, you’re on your own. No companies or organizations will arrange a budget for your work resources. Only you can provide for yourself. No managers and supervisors can help you fix problems and issues with your work. That said, you need to be resourceful as a freelancer. As much as possible, you have to find cheaper alternative resources without sacrificing the efficiency and quality of your work. You also must learn how to troubleshoot problems independently with the limited resource you may have. If you can hone your resourcefulness to its full potential, you can face any challenges that you might encounter throughout your freelance career.
Great Time Management Skills
Time management is always an ingredient to success in any of our endeavors, even more so in freelancing. Freelancers do multiple projects and tasks that must be completed before the deadline implemented by their clients. Unable to do so could put freelancers in a bad light, and their clients will become unsatisfied. You don’t want that to happen to you. If you’re unable to meet deadlines due to poor time management, your reputation as an efficient freelancer could be in jeopardy.
Has Initiative
You might be accustomed to doing as you are told by your supervisors and managers in your current job. If there’s nothing they want you to do, or there are no more tasks left to accomplish, you just wait for your shift to end and you still get paid. In freelancing, that’s never the case; everything is up to you. You make your own decisions, you look for gigs on sites for freelance work independently, and you create your checklist of objectives. In short, you need to have the initiative to grow and earn income. You have to devise your plan to obtain more clients and projects. If you can’t take the initiative, your freelance career will be stagnant and unprogressive. There could be progress, but it’ll be a slow one.
Goal-Oriented
Making it at the top requires you to establish goals, and that’s an undebatable principle. That principle applies big time to the freelance economy. You need to be goal-oriented to become a successful freelancer. No one will set goals for you but yourself. In freelancing, you have to install a mindset to achieve things one at a time until you reach your ultimate objectives. The goals you will set on yourself should drive you to pursue as many clients and projects as you can.
Flexible
While projects are currently pending or in progress, some clients might implement drastic changes that make things more difficult. That situation is an imminent possibility that every freelancer encounters. So if you’re going to indulge in freelance work, you need to be flexible. Being flexible means you can adapt easily and quickly to sudden changes. The needs and expectations of some clients could change even if you’ve already made a lot of progress, and you have to meet their demands for their satisfaction. If you can manifest flexibility, some clients might consider hiring you next time around.
Open-Minded
Being open to fresh ideas, new techniques, and current trends is an essential factor in achieving success as a freelancer. Open-mindedness can help you enhance your skills and expand your range in your niche. Don’t shy away from projects that will test your capabilities; they are opportunities for career progression and growth. So make sure to be always open-minded if you want to have a fruitful freelance career.
Passionate
It’s a common analysis that if an individual is passionate about his/her job, he/she will perform well in it. Yes, that certainly is the case. If you like what you’re doing, you’re most likely willing to move heaven and earth to be successful. To be a freelancer, you need to be passionate about your freelance job. It should somewhat feed your soul and give you a sense of purpose. Your passion will be a driving force for you to keep on pushing until you become a well-decorated freelancer.
Assess yourself; if you think you possess all the traits we’ve discussed, then you should start preparing your profile and portfolio, submit them to a freelance website to commence your freelance career. Freelancing also has its cons, but you can work your way around them by being persistent, professional, and dedicated. Take note of the things we’ve discussed in this blog and share it with some of your peers who are also aspiring to become freelancers.
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