The 3 Worst Pieces of Advice New Freelancers Constantly Hear

Life’s too short for bad career advice.

There’s no shortage of advice out there for beginning freelancers. Some of it is good. A lot of it is terrible.

I’ve found the best advice I receive comes from friends and associates who have been in the freelance trenches for a while and have experience backing up their advice. I’ve been in the freelance world for over 20 years, so I feel I’m in a decent position to be one of those people.

Where these other bits of advice originate from, I have no idea. Nonetheless, I still see them bandied about on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and other disparate places.

I’ve taken the three worst offenders and will try and give you the perspective of a long-time freelancer. I’d much rather see you folks succeed and, in turn, help others also succeed.

Job bidding sites are the best way to find work.

My first instinct is to say, “dear, lord, no! These sites are terrible!”

But that’s based on my limited experience with them. I spent a little time early in my career searching for work on places like Fiverr and Upwork. The trouble was I not getting anywhere useful. I found a few low-paying opportunities for jobs I didn’t enjoy doing. All in all, it really felt like what these sites wanted was bottom-of-the-barrel workers. They weren’t worried about skill or passion — they certainly weren’t offering to pay for it.

Like you, I’ve heard of all sorts of anecdotal stories of people making a good living on these sites. I suspect they’re the rare stories. It’s not going to be the average user’s story.

You’re much better off keeping your ears open for opportunities outside of sites like this and by pitching clients directly. You’ll be able to charge more, you’ll discover people willing to pay more, and you’re more likely to find jobs better suited to you.

Bulk pitch templates are the best way to find clients.

While we’re talking about pitching clients, don’t rely on templates or automatic data-merged emails for reaching out to prospective clients.

Pitching can be a numbers game, with the odds of landing a client increasing with the more pitches you send. On the flip side, it’s way too easy to make a poor impression with a misfired pitch.

Ideally, pitches should be personalized as much as possible. That also means you have to research the business or person you’re trying to get work from. The problem with computer-generated pitches or templates is that it’s too easy to make a mistake. Refer to a multimedia company as a magazine publisher, or vice versa, only reveals you don’t know who or why you’re pitching someone.

That can get pretty embarrassing. And it reflects poorly on you as a professional.

The other drawback with mass-generated pitches is… what if too many people respond with work? Are you ready to take on that much?

By taking a more measured, researched approach, you can control your potential workload more efficiently.

Keep your outgoing pitches to just a few a day, and slow down if you find yourself getting offers from those pitches. Don’t take on more than you can handle.

Establish your niche as soon as possible.

I hear this piece of advice less often than I used to, but still more often than I’d like.

Look. Play the field for a while.

You might think you know your best area of expertise to write about, but are you willing to bet your budding freelance career on that? Are you ready to lose your love for a topic by turning it into a job?

Maybe there’s something else you out there you excel at instead.

I thought I’d be a game writer or a book reviewer when I started out. Turns out, my knack was SMB-level cybersecurity issues. Who knew? I’m glad I eventually found out where my best niche lay. Computer topics tend to pay more, and it’s not turning my hobbies into work.

So take your time. Don’t declare a niche too soon. You’ve got time, and the time spent trying various subject areas will make you a better writer overall.

The Thing Is…

A lot of advice sounds great on the surface, but they rarely hold up to any kind of close scrutiny or practice.

Your best bet is getting advice from fellow freelancers — ones who have been at it for a while and appear to have a solid clientele. Most freelancers are going to be okay giving you tips and tricks of the trade.

Believe it or not, we’re not in competition. There is plenty of work to go around.

And the better you do, the better we all do.

Cheers!

Thank you for reading. I’d love to share more with you via my Bi-Weekly Word Roundup newsletter sent to subscribers every other Sunday. It will feature news, productivity tips, life hacks, and links to top stories making the rounds on the Internet. You can unsubscribe at any time.