I’m learning that part of being a freelancer means being okay with feeling uncomfortable. Freelancing is not like a normal nine-to-five where your hours are set, your income is steady, and you more or less know what to expect from day to day. There are times when I’m nearly bored work-wise, and then there are times when I’m dangerously close to being overbooked.
I am fortunate enough to be on a few freelancer lists where a company will contact me with work when they need it. I also have a few regular clients for whom I am contacted by whenever they have an article or a blog post or an essay that they need edited. I am also grateful that a colleague of mine is good about sending clients my way. And in a perfect world I would always be given notice in advance when work is going to come my way. But that’s just not how freelancing works.
Most of the time I will get an email out of the blue saying that I’m needed for editing right now. A deadline is given, and I am just expected to get started right away. If I happen to already be busy with a project and am unable to take on something else at the time, then I miss out on this new job and income. Companies have deadlines too, and they won’t wait for me to become available; they’ll just move on to their next freelancer on the list.
If this happens during a slow week, no problem! I jump on the work and have no problem beating the deadline. But sometimes these things overlap with one another and I have to determine how much I can take on while still being able to deliver quality work, because if I don’t then I’m in trouble of losing the client or being taken off the freelancer list.
So in the back of my mind I have these freelancer lists, repeat clients, and the possibility of being referred to by my amazingly generous colleague, all the while never knowing when I’m going to hear from any of them. And during slow weeks I inevitably find myself seeking out new jobs to fill my open slots. I respond to multiple requests for editors. The reality is that I don’t hear back from the majority of requests I respond to, but for every dozen that I reach out to, I may hear back from one or even two. Then, the likelihood that it’s going to work out from there is also very small. Sometimes the person is hard to communicate with. Other times they’ll ask me to do a sample edit for them, only for them to end up choosing another editor. It always feels like I have to put in a lot of effort, only to actually get very little out of it.
But sometimes after I put in all that effort, I do obtain a new client. And I then work my hardest to please them in hopes of them coming back to me with more work in the future.
I am slowly building a client base and am always trying to get on as many freelancing lists as possible. I really believe that a large part of the success I’ve seen thus far has been due to the fact that I am constantly seeking out new opportunities. I also try to say yes to everything possible no matter how scary something may seem. But being uncomfortable is always there. All the time I’m gaining new possibilities for work but never knowing when that work is going to come around.
To me, this is just the nature of being a freelancer. I have to learn to deal with the unknown. That’s okay, though. I love editing and proofreading; the freedom to work from home is something I’ve wanted for a long time; and I’m extremely grateful to anyone and everyone who comes to me with work. I also know that there are many successful editors out there who are able to book projects months in advance. That’s something I’m striving for. This whole idea of constantly being uncomfortable is just something that takes adjusting to and is a necessary step to getting to the point where I become booked ahead of time.