Category: freelancing

Freedom is “the power or right to speak, think and act as one wants”. How is that related to working as a freelance?

I spent the first 2 years of my working life working as employee in very boring and exhausting jobs… I was forced to go to work from 9 to 5, to follow orders, receive a paycheck that barely payed my expenses and got my famous 1 months holidays per year. But I never took it as an example of how my future would need to look like. In fact I learned the basics on how the employee lifestyle looks like and motivated me to get out of these loop asap.

If you look at the definition of freedom and the three main elements, I wasn’t free at all. I didn’t have the the power to speak as I wanted, when I complained about things not being fair or things to improve I was asked to shut up and follow orders… I was free to think, because that occurred in my own brain, that is true, but I didn’t have the power to act as I wanted, I basically had to act based on the “procedure”, on a fix guideline, I wasn’t free to change things when they could be improved or be creative, I was hired for a job.

Actually, I was always free to choose, but I didn’t know it at that time.

The freelance way

It is true that freedom in the work life is kind of an utopia. You are always working for someone, which has some expectations, being your employeer or your customer. But freelancing allows you to decide who you work with, what you do, how you do it, what are the conditions in which you want to work. You basically have way more freedom than an employee.

They hire you as a freelance because you have some expertise which they need, they don’t know how to do something, so they ask you how, and you have you guide them, you are free to decide how to work. In fact many countries implement laws to guarantee that the customers keep you free in the way you deliver your work, they can decide what they want, but not how you are going to deliver what they want.

Furthermore, being a freelance allow you to work with different customers during the year, this means that you are not dependant on a single organization or person for your income, this makes you more free because you have more choices to choose.

Quitting my job back in 2008 was one of the best decisions in my life. At that time I wasn’t aware of where I was entering into. Many years of hard work taught me that being a freelancer is not easy, but is possible.

Dealing with selfish customers and workmates or not getting paid for what was agreed was one of the hardest situations to deal with.

The best of the rewards come when you are able to find highly paid projects quick. This gives you a feeling of confidence and survival that is hard to describe, you know that no matter what, you can find a project in weeks.

To make this happen you have to develop a series of skills which only the experience can teach you. You don’t only have to learn the skills that people is paying you for, but also you have to learn how to find opportunities, to negotiate your contracts, set the right hourly rate, work with other people… basically you need to learn how to survive as a freelance.

And there is no better way to learn those skills than practicing, like everything else, practice is what makes the wise man.

If you are an employee, you are probably working on a fix schedule, fully absorbed by unlimited random issues, with no more than 1 month of free time per year and with little savings. You are forced to work harder and harder but you don’t see your bank account making a difference.

You want to become a freelancer but you have fear to make the step. Let me tell you something I heard once and got stick in my brain: fear is overcome by knowledge and skills. And you can get that! Let me give you my perspective.

If there is only one thing you need to become a freelancer is:

A good skill that is highly demanded

With this skill you will be able to find a freelance contract, and with contract you will get the money, the money will be then the fuel for your freelance business, allowing you to have time and resources to continue learning and become better at it.

Obviously, you need to have savings in order to have some security in case things go wrong. What can go wrong? Well, your contract might be canceled, you might not get paid, anything can happen… There are ways you can minimize this risk but the risk is there… So I would have at least 3 to 4 months of savings to be able to survive with no income.

And that is basically it to start:

– A good skill that is highly demanded
– Savings for 3 to 4 months
– A decision to become a freelance

Of course the best prepared you are the more chances you have to succeed. That is why I have created some free training in which I will teaching you the basics to start your freelance business today.

If you want to start, join me now and let’s make a new future as highly paid freelancer.

Most of us see 1 months holidays per year as a normal habit, it is basically the only thing you have ever conceived. Fortunately I had stopped this habit since 4 years ago… I like to take as much holidays as I can in the year, why not?

The 2 to 4 months holidays recipe

What do you need to make it possible? Well, is basically “savings”, if you have saving enough you can live from those savings without committing to work, you will be paying for these free time with your savings. The more saving you have the more free you are, the less savings you have the less free you are.

There are only 2 ways you can accumulate savings:

• You increase your income per hour above your living costs
• You decrease your expenses below your living costs

I normally combine both of them, I increase my income per hour by finding freelance contracts and look to my expenses and keep optimizing them so I can achieve my yearly holidays’ target.

What are really holidays?

I call work period when I am in a period where “I am committing to work” and holidays when “I am not committing to work”, basically when I am on holidays I am free to work or not, and most of the times I won’t be making money. If you are thinking of holidays as just spending the whole day taking sun in the beach drinking orange juice and doing just nothing… Well that could be the holidays for some, I can do that for some days only.

It is also possible to take the sun while making money, that would mean that you have managed to create a system that creates and delivers value without depending on your time.

Holidays are really the periods where you are fully free to decide what to do with your time.

The freelance way to long holidays

Freelancing allows you to make at least 3 to 4 times more money than working as an employee (with exceptions). You make more money because you have more risk. But you can minimize this risk by becoming stronger in your skills.

I look for 3 to 6 months freelance assignments in my area (Netherlands) in which I will be working 8 hours per day. It takes me from 5 days to 15 days to find one assignments in average. I make sure I work enough hours so my savings for the project allow me to survive 2 to 3 months without any income.

After 4 months of work, I will be taking my first 1.5 to 2 months of holidays (I am currently in holidays). I repeat the procedure again and again.

How you can make it too

You can increase your holidays per year too! Freelancing is not a requirement but it could be a good choice if you have a good skill (for example if you are working on a senior position currently). I invite you to watch my videos on the subject.

In any way, remember: increase income, decrease expenses, or preferably both. Accumulate saving and plan your well deserved free time.

Have you ever wonder how would you life be if you didn’t have to be committed to go to work everyday from 9 to 5? If you could wake up, have your breakfast at your speed, have time to exercise, think and plan your day and work in what you decide at your speed? Being an employee might be the cause of your problem…

The timer is ticking and life goes away on every second… Have a look at Your Life in Weeks. Good life is about spending the time in the things you value and care, with the people you love. It is fully linked to happiness, which can only be achieved by doing what drives you to your goals. Are you spending your time doing things that you value and care, with the people you love? That is probably a good question to ask yourself.

In my case, everytime I realize I am wasting my life in my “job” I basically stop doing it and switch to a new “job” which is apparently more close to what I value and care. That might sound overwhelming to some, but it is a skill like any other. I learned that life is mostly about 2 agendas:

1. your agenda, the things you want to do
2. other people’s agendas: the things that others want you to do.

The trick has end up been to find a good balance between both agendas, because you can never work on your agenda only, you need to serve others at some point and there is where your agenda overlaps with other people’s agendas.

Stop wasting your life

Becoming a Freelance can be a life changer if you need some feeling of freedom and to adjust your work life to your own terms. You can decide what to do, how to do it and who to work with, isn’t it just better?

According to Robert Kiyosaki there are 4 types of people:

• The employees
• The self employees (freelancers)
• The business owners
• The investors

Being employee, compared to a freelancer, might seem like wasting your precious time. Being freelancer, compared to a business owner, might seem like wasting your precious time. Being business owner, compared to an investor, might also seem a waste of your precious time…

Realizing you are wasting your time in your job is a good thing. You can now decide what to do next. Let’s start from the beginning, from employee to freelancer. Do you want to join me?

Choosing the best hourly rate for your freelance project is one of the main subjects to master as a freelancer. If you get underpaid, you are leaving money in the table. If you are overpaid you will struggle to keep up.

So what is a good hourly rate? That is the magic question…

Basically a good hourly rate is the highest hourly rate that that a customer is willing to pay you for your service and being satisfied. That would depend on:

• The market you are in: country, city, industry, sector, activity…
• The demand for your services in your market
• How many freelancers are available for the same service you are offering
• How many people recommend your services
• How much previous work you can show (proof of results)
• How good you are doing what you do
• How good your image is perceived by the customer
• How good you can communicate the way you can solve the problem

The golden rule is dictated by supply/demand:

• When there is more demand than supply, your hourly rate will increase because you have more options and your customer has less options, so he will “fight” for your service as he is struggling to find someone to solve his problem.

• When there is more supply than demand (more freelancers available) then your customer has more options and you have less options for contracts, so you will be willing to decrease your hourly rate to compete with the others and be the one who gets the contract.

Where is the money?

Hourly rates can vary so much! I know lawyers charging 250 euro per hour in Amsterdam (Netherlands), or Software developers charging between 60 to 100 euros per hour. There are designers charging 80 euros per hour, others 60 per hour. Video editors from 65 to 80 euro per hour… They are of course experts. In the other side, there are freelance developers selling their services between 15$ to 20$ per hour in other parts of the world. So looking at your geographical market is actually a big part of it, as each geolocation has different expenses.

In the end you will find that setting a good hourly rate will depend on many aspects and is almost unique to you, with your skills, the way you communicate, work, look, the market you are in… but let me give you some hints.

Learn by doing

What I recommend to do is to look at your skill levels and your market, talk with other freelancers and ask for an advice on hourly rate, then try to find a contract within an hourly rate range and see the feedback you are getting. Adjust accordingly as you go, let others bid for your service and keep a pipeline of options, choosing the best one in the end.