3 Ways To Exude a Dynamic Freelance Mindset
A collaborative post today and I hope this helps fellow freelancers out there, I feel it’s taken me quite some time to get a balance in my work and personal life.
When we are seemingly splitting our brains into so many different sections, the ability to keep up with our workload is difficult. In order to be an effective freelancer these days, we’ve got to be multifaceted and multi-skilled. This is where having a diverse freelance mindset is beneficial. But what are the best ways for us to make the most of being a freelancer, especially when we are in such a precarious position that we cannot afford to be passive about our careers?
Learning How to Involve Yourself in Any Task
Freelancing, in a social media and blogging sense, is about learning lots of technical skills, but it’s also important to remember that there will be times when work is dry. Before we have to expand our knowledge, and do jobs that we wouldn’t necessarily consider as essential. In light of the pandemic, many actors took jobs in supermarkets to make ends meet, for example. And it’s the same thing for us. We can use resources such as Shiply to deliver loads on a road trip. It’s a great way to earn money while on the go, while also making sure that the job is not too taxing. Shipping loads via truck or car is straightforward, but you still need to involve yourself on any task. If you have any questions about the load, you can go to the Shiply website to get yourself started.
Learning to Negotiate
A freelancer needs to know their worth, but they also need to learn how to fend for themselves. Being a freelancer is like operating without a safety net. Rather than looking at negotiation of conflict, consider it as a way to debate a satisfactory agreement. As you learn the feast and famine parts of being a freelancer, you realise that you need to fine-tune your negotiation skills because this will open you up for more jobs, but it’s also important to realise that you don’t sell yourself short. This is why negotiating doesn’t just help give you a satisfactory outcome, but it helps you learn how to value yourself.
My journey has certainly made it feel like it’s taken a while for me to arrive at a point where I am able to see the value in myself. It hasn’t been an easy path though as I have had to learn from those mistakes or feelings of being undervalued. It doesn’t mean that I am not anxious at times when approaching new opportunities but these are more natural emotions.
Learning the Art of New Opportunities
Networking is pivotal to growing a business and the freelance mindset comes from learning how to harness something out of nothing. New opportunities are around every corner, even when it’s not in your chosen field. Going into a freelance job as a delivery driver gives you the opportunity to get more jobs as a driver, but it also gives you the opportunity to see if there are other aspects of the industry that need your specific skill-set. When we work up the career ladder, it’s not necessarily a linear progression. You may find yourself working in a role that wasn’t what you envisioned, but it is within the right industry. Keeping your eye out for new opportunities could throw you into a new and potentially more exciting freelance role.
I have to say that networking has been a huge part of my work and I have done this in many forms. In lockdown I opened a supportive Facebook group for other small business owners feeling anxious about how Covid19 was going to affect their business, it’s called Small Business Networking Coffee House. It soon became a hub of support, resources, information, opportunities, networking and more. It grew to a point I opened an optional premium membership called Latte & Live which now has over 130 members in it, thankfully I have a small team to help run this. Without networking I wouldn’t be where I am today with my work in the domestic abuse sector or other projects I am a part of.
The benefits of having a diverse freelance mindset allow you to make and seize opportunities at every turn.
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