26

Jan

2 Freelancing Mistakes To Avoid in 2016

If you’ve been freelancing for a while you may have made a few mistakes. If you are like many people who make resolutions at the start of the year, here are a couple that will help make 2016 a better year for you. You will have an exceptional year in freelancing if you can avoid these two mistakes among others, that prevent you from achieving your goals.

Not Knowing your worth

Too often, when starting out, a freelancer may not know what the right prices are to charge for their work, or they may feel as if they only need to charge the minimal amount for their services because they are newbies. Don’t’ do it! Undervaluing yourself will make it harder for you to feel motivated to work because you will be working very hard for very little money.

Failing to Define your workday

 Many freelancers will sit down and begin work on a project, and will either work straight through, moving on to the next thing without a break, or getting distracted by social media and lose valuable work time that will have to be made up for later. When you sit down to work, turn off the social media, decide to work steadily for an hour, or whatever amount of time works for you, and then allow yourself a break after the time has ended. This way, you’ll get a nice break, and you will feel refreshed and ready to begin again.

Also make sure you remember  to shut down at a set time at the end of the day. If you don’t you may find yourself working far longer than you intend, even if it’s only to reply to emails, a quick edit, etc.

These are only two ideas, but very important to your continued success as a freelancer. If you keep these in mind you are likely to increase your bottom line and maintain your happiness and avoid burnout.