#4 Mistakes that can Ruin Your Freelancing Career Are you trying to speed up your freelancing career? Make sure that you aren't committing these mistakes.
By Charu Mitra Dubey •
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With around 15 million Indians working as freelancers, the gig economy is already blooming at an outstanding speed. Despite the risks and no-security of job policy, these freelancers see no reason to stop and so more than 40% of the total freelancing works worldwide are acquired by Indians only.
"India is today the largest freelancer market in the world and poised for growth," says Narsi Subramanian, Director Growth, PayPal, India after a survey conducted by PayPal.
With no mark of exclamation, India is already growing as a startup nation and so as a freelancing nation as well. The bug of entrepreneurship has already bitten the youths of India and freelancing is somehow supposed to be the best pathway towards starting their own venture in the near future.
"The biggest perk of being a freelancer is the immense freedom that comes with this form of working. Being a part of the contingent workforce means that you are not confined to any organizational policies and commitments. Moreover, you are not even confined by your own past. Your employers do not care about what position you held before, what your salary and deliverables were and other aspects that often define the rites of initiation for a corporate employee. As a freelancer, it is your own personal narrative that matters above anything else, which I think is a wonderful way to work and build your career path in a creatively fulfilling manner." says Sudeep Pathak, Co-Founder of Writopedia.
To become a better freelancer and stop committing the common mistakes, Entrepreneur India spoke to three industry experts for their views.
It's Not About You but Your Clients
When you are getting started as a freelancer the first thing that you should keep in mind is that your clients are least interested in you but rather the service you provide. Freelancers often commit a mistake of showing off what they got and how successful they are. Your clients will always concentrate on what you have for them and how much benefit can they get from you.
"Customers don't care whether you have a new website, a new office, how many people you have served before, where you have partied last night, what you've gifted your wife. No, they care about two things -
1. How can you save their time, money, effort, so that they can concentrate on what they do best/like to do?
2. How can you bring in more business for them," says Sayantan Sen, Founder of Sen Thoughts Media.
Not Focusing on a Portfolio
The first thing that anyone asks from a freelancer is about his/ her previous works. A well-maintained portfolio is supposed to answer the query. As potential clients, people would like to know if they invest in you, how will you help them grow their business. Have you ever done anything that helped someone's business?
Maintain a portfolio as a showcase of your previous works and let others know why should they trust you.
Compromising with Your Prices
A big problem in today's freelancers is that they often compromise with their rates. When someone approaches you, they aren't doing any favours but rather they are also going to get benefit from your knowledge and skills. When you will realise your real worth, you will stop giving concessions.
"A key thing to keep in mind as an independent freelancer is to avoid compromising their typical rates by a significant margin. This is self-destructive to their freelancing careers as they would inevitably under- deliver on low paid projects or compromise on the quality of their work to make up for the loss. Hence, being firm on the range & quality important as a freelancer," says Shashank Murali, Co-founder, TapChief.- a platform for professionals to share and monetize their skills.
Giving up Easily
Thriving as a freelancer can be a little too difficult at an early stage, you may have to take more projects, work even on the weekends and cut down your budget but once you gain a foothold in the industry, you will not need to compromise anything. All you need to do is have some patience and trust in yourself. The more time you give to your freelancing career the more you get projects.
