Summary

An aspiring freelancer shares their journey of overcoming nearly 2.5 years of struggle in digital marketing to find success in content writing, emphasizing the importance of passion and experimentation in freelancing.

Abstract

The author, initially drawn to freelancing for the promise of financial freedom and the ability to pursue passions, faced significant challenges in digital marketing due to a lack of affinity for the work and an inability to secure clients. Despite these hurdles, the author persisted, leveraging their strength in writing product descriptions, which led to a discovery of a love for storytelling and content writing. This newfound direction resulted in securing clients through platforms like Upwork and a shift in perspective on freelancing advice, stressing the need for personal experimentation, dedication, and choosing a niche that aligns with one's interests to endure the difficulties of freelancing.

Opinions

The author believes that quality close connections are more valuable than material wealth.
They express that the freedom to follow passions and spend time with loved ones is a significant motivator for choosing freelancing.
The author suggests that conventional freelance digital marketing roles, such as keyword research and template selection, were unfulfilling and mismatched with their abstract and conceptual thinking preference.
They highlight the multifaceted nature of freelance digital marketing, which requires one to be adept at various skills including sales, design, video editing, and research.
The author discovered an aptitude for writing, particularly in creating product descriptions and stories, which became a turning point in their freelance career.
They advocate for the importance of finding a niche that resonates with one's personal interests and strengths to succeed in freelancing.
The author criticizes generic advice on finding one's passion, emphasizing the need for individual experimentation and dedication to discover fulfilling work.
They acknowledge the hardships of freelancing, such as the responsibility of acquiring clients and building a reputation, but believe that passion makes these challenges worthwhile.

Why is hard to succeed in freelancing

What almost 3 years of failures told me

I’ve decided in my last year of college that I am going to become a freelancer. I took a link to the idea of marketing. I believed that my knowledge of the human psyche would help me master the subject with ease, but I was dead wrong. My inability to grasp digital marketing, and the hardships of freelancing, resulted in 2.5 years of wait and failures until I had my first client.

An easy way out

I always dreamed about financial freedom. I loved the idea of having the liberty to do what you want with your time. At an early age, I’ve discovered that my interests didn’t lie within the rage of apparent societal values.

All around me, people had fantasies of enormous wealth, and what would they do with it. But, there was a segment of people, the religious kind that somehow believed in transcendental values. Things to aspire to rather than things to have.

I was fortunate enough to have that influence within my family, and close friends. That made me value people, my time, and freedom above anything else.

I firmly believe that quality close connections trump everything else. It might be because life takes its meaning through love and connection.

I was thrilled to see the result shown by the longest longitudinal psychological study conducted by Harvard. Quality of connections is the best predictor for happiness.

Having that in mind, my decision to freelance was linked with the idea of freedom. I wanted to follow my passions, the things that I love, and to be able to spend time with people that I love.

I also believe that is closer to having a way to gain financial freedom.

A way to freelance

I have a passion and an affinity for psychology. It is one of the subjects for which my mind has the capacity to reach its deepest levels. I’ve decided to make it my calling, and the way through which I could provide value for other people.

The problem is that in Romania, to be able to practice psychotherapy, which would be the job you are prepared best for by the college I pursued, you need to study for 5 years. That means going through 3 years of a Bachlor’s degree and 2 years of a Master's degree afterward. That would result in getting a license to practice psychotherapy.

Psychotherapy can be done in a freelance fashion. Exactly, you are doing it in marketing. It is already done worldwide, through various online providers.

You shouldn’t be able to touch that possibility until you are licensed

I had to provide for myself by the end of my Bachelor’s degree. It was a scary thought as it meant getting a random low-paying job. The wages in my country for something like a cashier or the low end of the corporate world, customer service, are abysmal.

There are jobs you are qualified for, only with a Bachlor’s degree, that are based on psychology, but most are government-related. Those jobs are obnoxiously hard to get.

So in a desperate attempt, I developed a second path for my life. Trying to be a digital marketer.

A joke becoming something real

The joke

Trying to be a digital marketer in the freelance world, but also trying to get any job in the field, was an effort that was met almost with only failure.

I tried for months to get a client and I continuously failed, it wasn’t only my lack of talent in the field, but also incompatibility with my way of being.

I am a big picture, big words, multicolor synergistically concept-oriented person. I love the abstract and trying to understand it. That’s why psychology is so appealing to me, it has that sort of nature, along with a transcendental mix.

Spending hours, googling keywords and finishing my day choosing a Canva poorly designed template is my nightmare. I couldn’t believe that I got to the point of doing something that dry. That lacked any sort of life and dynamic.

It is no wonder that it took me 2.5 years, a corporate job, and doing odd jobs afterward until I had any client. My work took the slowest path to improvement.

To be a freelancer in digital marketing, you are not only a marketer but also a salesman, designer, video editor, and researcher. Linking this whole package and becoming good at multiple skills that I didn't have any affinity towards was beyond difficult.

Most days I felt like a walking joke, that I would talk about marketing and the universe itself would start laughing at my pathetic excuse of attempt. It was my mistake to compare my attempts of doing digital marketing with psychology which was at the polar opposite.

In my first year of college, I rose with a rocket-fuelled intensity, towards the top of my class and I had the opportunity to hold a seminar, for my classmates.

My first client, in the digital marketing world, made me understand something important. It was the promotion of a jewelry shop from Austria. The relationship with the client was really good, we were linked by a person that is very close to me.

I wasn’t spectacularly good at anything that I had to do to promote the business. Except, writing descriptions. I could write stellar descriptions of products. It was also why I impressed my client, even though I was below average in anything else.

Becoming something real

Writing descriptions for products made me realize that I liked writing. But, that wasn’t exactly the right context for storytelling. I could only write short descriptions of 100 to 200 words.

That’s why I’ve decided to try to write a Medium. To my surprise, I fall ln love with the process of writing stories.

My whole world started to change, I would spend my days trying to grasp all the details of the reality around me, to pour my experiences into my articles. It was the object of creation I was looking for, something that could satisfy my urge to create rather than consume.

It wasn’t long until I was met with success, I got my first client on content writing using Upwork, and had other opportunities afterward. It was all because unlike other parts of the digital marketing world, content writing resonated with me a lot more.

I could use my imagination and my creativity to a greater extent and bring my inner world out into reality.

Walking your path

I believe that a lot of the advice you might get regarding finding your passion is close to useless.

You have a unique mind configuration and it will take experimentation and dedication to find what you love doing.

Freelancing is harder than a corporate environment, you have freedom but also a lot of responsibility.

You have to be good at multiple skills, hunt for your clients, and be willing to work for close to nothing to build your reputation.

I think to survive as a freelancer, you have to choose a field and a niche that you love working in. That will make the hardships tolerable and will help you succeed in the long run.