The Real “Secret” To Freelance Success
You’re going to hate it, but it’s real.
A few years back, I had a discussion with a buddy who was thinking about making freelancing her full-time profession. Her main challenge was a concern that she lacked the self-discipline necessary to attempt it successfully.
Could she sit down every day and work? Had she the self-control to make this work? Would the lack of the same level of organization that her day job offered to be an insurmountable obstacle?
“Pish and tosh!” is something I might have said had I been a fictional British character.
She wasn’t lacking in motivation. She had a ton. she was also among the most competent people I’ve ever known, excelling at her profession, earning a good living, and she was pretty good at the piano, too. (An unrelated but still admirable skill.)
She could easily thrive working for herself.
But I knew why she had her concerns. There are a ton of potential distractions in her house, including a pleasant couch for naps, a TV, novels, and video games.
So I did her a solid and revealed my Big Secret to Productivity and Motivation. This is what most gets my butt in a chair and working whether I want to or not.
I showed her my stack of bills.
Mortgage. Gas. Electricity. Internet. Water. Health insurance. Car payments. Car insurance.
Those were just the bills at the top of the pile.
“If I don’t get my work done,” I told her, “I can’t pay my bills. I won’t have money for food or to put gas in my car. Buzzards will circle overhead. Wolves will come sniffing at my door. Children will throw rocks at me and laugh. Raccoons will flip me the — ”
She stopped me before I painted any grimmer of a picture.
She got my point right away.
I wish I could have told her something more inspirational. I wished I could have said to her that my sense of drive stemmed from a burning desire to write and create. I wish my “big secret” were that to go without writing or creating would be like going without oxygen.
That’s all true, I guess. All of the motivations I just listed are valid. And I love having the flexibility to work when I choose. But in actuality, if I don’t sit down and produce work on time and to the best of my ability, I don’t get paid.
If I don’t get paid, I’d be starving, naked in the streets.
At some time, when they first start out, all freelancers go through this kind of trial by fire. Yes, we have a lot of flexibility with our work schedules, but that freedom only lasts until the lights are turned off.
Then it becomes an alarm clock.
You can’t pay your bills because you aren’t working and getting paid.
I was starving, naked in the streets!
I love working for myself, and I can’t ever see myself returning to the daily grind of a 9-to-5 job. But being a freelancer requires discipline. Although working in creative fields like writing and design is a compelling motivation, my daily commute to my basement office is guaranteed by my rising mountain of bills.
Things are tough all over, and bills never seem to get smaller, do they?
My freelance strategy might just be the daily grind in a different guise, but at least it’s my daily grind. Productivity and discipline are learnable skills, but a large stack of bills is an excellent motivator until you get those skills down.
Perhaps it’s more Common Sense than a Big Secret, but the key thing is that it keeps the lights on.
And it keeps anyone from having to see me naked in the streets.
That’s what we call a win-win.
Cheers!
About John Teehan
John lives in Rhode Island with his wife, son, and dog. He specializes in tech, health, business, parenting, pop culture, and gaming. Visit wordsbyjohn.net for more info and rates. Twitter: @WordsByJohn2.
Interested in the freelance lifestyle? Check out The Freelance Creative by JohnTeehan. John shares advice and tips for a successful freelance career — drawing from over twenty years of personal experience. Available in book form or as a Kindle Unlimited read.