Some freelancers can have incredibly successful careers where they make $100k a year or more! If you enter the freelance game and understand how to navigate it, there’s no glass ceiling for you. You set your own rates, do as much work as you like, and it means your earnings potential is as high as you want it to be.
In fact, this is what attracts most people to the idea of freelancing. You’ve seen the success stories and want to cut yourself a slice of that sweet money pie. Freelancing can certainly be a fantastic idea that generates lots of money – but it can also be a constant struggle.
Plenty of freelancers don’t make $100k a year – or anything close to this. In fact, they struggle to make money on a consistent basis.
Why is this the case? Why do some freelancers find it really hard to make money consistently? Usually, it’s down to one – or many – of these issues:
Difficulty finding jobs
Lots of freelancers struggle when it comes to finding regular jobs. One of the potential downsides of freelancing is that you don’t get a permanent job, so you’re always looking for the next project to do or client to wrap up.
Typically, people make the mistake of only going down one route to finding work. As a freelancer, you have two main options:
- Wait for people to come to you
- Reach out and find jobs
Realistically, the best way to make money is by combining both methods. You should establish a website and improve your search performance to make people find you and contact you. At the same time, you should be trawling through job websites and freelance sites, actively looking for work.
In the beginning, most freelancers will find work by looking for it. The more projects you do – and the bigger your reputation gets – the more likely it is that others will come to you. If you’re struggling to make money, it’s probably because you’re either not looking in the right places for jobs, or you’re relying on people finding you.
Short-term clients
Following on from the first point, freelancers also struggle to make money because they’re only focusing on short-term clients.
Again, this can be handy to gain experience, but you should be trying to target long-term clients and projects. This relates to clients that will consistently keep paying for your services. Imagine you are a graphic designer that wants to make a living. Finding clients that will constantly keep paying you for your services will ensure that you’re getting a steady stream of income.
Sometimes, having a handful of long-term clients with consistent payments is better than having hundreds of short-term ones. No, you shouldn’t start turning down clients for one-off jobs. However, you should focus on getting some long-term clients or partnerships that can bring you consistent earnings. Add the short-term jobs to this, and you will earn an absolute fortune.
Cyber threats
Believe it or not, freelancers are one of the parties most widely affected by cyber threats.
What do we mean by cyber threats?
Basically, this covers things like hackers, online fraudsters, etc. For a freelancer trying to start their career, issues like these are common. Most notably, they fall victim to online fraudsters a lot. What tends to happen is they do work for seemingly legitimate clients, only for the client to not pay them and disappear from the internet. Time and money are wasted doing the work, with nothing gained.
As a freelancer, what can you do to prevent this from happening? To start, it’s worth looking into a cyber security course to educate yourself on the topic. This can help you identify threats and understand how to avoid being scammed out of your money. Investing in better website security is also critical, preventing hackers from taking it down and holding you to ransom.
Most freelancers operate online, so there will always be online threats that can prevent them from earning money. If you’re prepared to battle against them, more money can be made.
Pricing
If you spent your entire life working a full-time job, it can be surprising when you enter the world of freelancing and need to set your own prices. You’re used to being told what you’ll be paid, not the other way around.
Consequently, people struggle to set the right pricing rates for freelance work. If you go onto a site like Upwork, you’re asked to set your hourly rate. Immediately, you have no idea what this should be. You’ve never freelanced before, so you don’t understand what a ‘good’ rate is.
This is where the problem begins.
Some freelancers may set rates and prices that are far too high. Yes, it’s good to set high standards and be confident in your abilities. But, if your rates are way higher than most, why would someone gamble and pay for you? Once you’ve done multiple projects and gained a reputation as the best in your line of work, then you can justify a higher price than others.
Likewise, many freelancers set their rates too low. This means one of two things will happen. Either people pay for your services and you barely make any money, or nobody trusts you because the price is too cheap. In both situations, you’re going to lose money and have a disastrous career.
The best approach is to look at what other people are offering in this line of work. Get a general sense of the average rate, then undercut it slightly. This will attract people because your price is cheaper, yet still competitive. It’s a good way to get your foot in the door. As you improve and generate more clients, you can gradually increase your rates to make more money.
Overall, there’s a science to making money as a freelancer. Too many people struggle to do this because they don’t know the right approach. If you understand what prevents you from making money, you can work on stopping these issues from doing just that.
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