There are plenty of reasons why someone would choose to freelance instead of doing the traditional job route – you know, the 9-to-6, Monday to Friday jobs.
It can be because they are in between jobs, maybe freelancing allows them to earn more than a regular job or maybe it allows the freelancer freedom of time to pursue his interests. As for me, I have a number of reasons, of all the reasons is because of what I wanted. And this lead to a new topic of not letting yourself forget freelancing is all about yourself.
We Only Have 24 Hours A Day
True, I wish I have more hours but like everyone else, I’ve got only 24 hours and of which, I dedicated at least 8 hours to my beauty sleep. No comprise.
Another non-compromise thing, my time with my little one. Having given up most of my youth (almost 20 years in the corporate world) to build up an impressive career, I want nothing more to spend the time to use the same energy and dedication to build a memorable childhood for her.
Freelancing allows me to do that by giving me the flexibility to choose my projects and manage my time around her activities so I don’t miss any one of them. And of course, no more fighting between me and my spouse on who’s turn to take leave when the little one is sick.
As tempting it is to work on a project that concerns parenting (or any subject that I love), I need to remember that freelancing is about giving me the freedom to do what I love – my child.
Crave Challenges Like An Addiction
Leaving the corporate world is very hard for me, freelancing fulfill that tiny void to prove myself besides being a great mom. (Sorry I can’t be just Kally the mom but I want to be Kally the manager and Kally the writer, more recently, Kally the volunteer).
Through my clients’ projects, I get to immerse myself (even it is 1 – 2 hours a day) into an old world that I was very familiar with. Sometimes, the satisfaction of meeting my clients’ expectations is so nostalgic, I’ll almost rush headlong into another challenging project.
Then I stopped myself.
Freelancing is all about myself, giving me enough challenges to stay sane and fulfilling. It’s not about conquering one major leap after another. Neither is it overwhelming myself with work until I’m working like my used-to-be self, 12 hours a day.
Be Selective
Once you hit success, you can choose to be more selective. I only choose to work on projects that benefit to add on to my experiences. I used to start off doing odd pieces of advertorial write-ups and translating from Chinese to English (since both are my native languages) but now I select the projects that I truly want to be involved in.
Usually, I’m excited if it is an industry I haven’t been in before or a named company that I like to work with or a project that is unique. I equal my time with learning experiences and whether it is worth to pull in time from other different priorities.
Doing The Things I Love
Which is to nurture my soul even more. Besides having the luxury (yes, I count my blessings Everyday) that I get to spend time with my little one, I get to allocate some time to do volunteering as well. These volunteer work I do allows my little one to participate with me so it’s a win-win situation for us.
She is exposed to volunteer work at her age, mixing around with other children from different backgrounds while I do my best to give back to society.
Getting Me Time
One of doing the things I love is also about giving myself enough me time. Freelancing allows me to juggle time so I can squeeze a tiny space to breathe. While I love it that I can rearrange my freelancing schedule anytime to fit into my little girl’s playgroup schedule, I love the most is that I am able to travel at last moment notice without sacrificing my clients’ work since I can complete my tasks remotely. I can also choose to work on days where my husband is on business travel so we get to spend precious couple time.
Fulfilling Clients’ Needs And Yours
Whether you are single or you have a family, whether you are doing it for the money or the experiences, don’t forget that you are only into freelancing because of the flexibility that it gives you to indulge in other priorities in life. It may be difficult to strike a clean balance between earning a living and giving enough time to yourself but that’s the beauty of freelancing, you have a choice. Everyday, every moment. Enjoy freelancing!
Why do you freelance? Please share your reasons in the comments below.
If you want to go into freelancing, here are some articles to ease you into it:
How To Save When You Are A Freelancer?
How to Sell Yourself Online
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interesting you talk about stick points ..I need someone to market my ideas and pictures any ideas …Thank you …
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Check out Upwork for freelancers to help you to market. I often find good freelancers through that platform for my clients.
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Reblogged this on Alessandria today.
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Thanks for this post ! So interesting
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Thank you, Nady!
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My dear friend whom I GREATLY respect.
GREAT advice; but here’s a bit more from an Old timer. You’ll {no-one} will truly find inner peace without making room for God. Such is is our DNA.
Life is a journey; that is always seeking something; that something id God.
It’s life’s challenge to get past the “ME” and permit God to be in charge; BUT that is truly life’s end goal.
Shalom,
Patrick
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Thank you for sharing your advice with us, Patrick.
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great post. been thinking lately of how ‘quick fixes’ can sometimes be too tempting — the idea being to get the ‘quickies’ out of the way before the ‘biggies’ but then sabotaging myself by not having enough time for biggies…
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Thank you, da-AL. Life is all about the biggies. Too many quick shortcuts and we’ll miss out smelling the roses along the way!
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🙂
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Freelance is a good option it gives more flexibility. I freelanced for 20 years.
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Wow. I’ve only been it for 3 years. You are more experienced than I am in freelancing.
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I had no choice I was a single parent. I had to have flexibility in my life which a permanent job did not give. I like being independent.
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And you gave and still giving so much as a parent. Kudos to you for all the sacrifices.
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Thank you
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Compliments Kally.
Not sure I ever was a free-lancer. When I sold my Market research firm, I kept consulting for a few years, for a few clients. But it basically was doing market research with known ” ressources”: former executives, former psychologists, former field-work operatives and DP. There wa however a much greater amount of flexibility, time-wise in particular.
🙂
Thank you for your thoughts.
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That will definitely make you as a freelancer! Welcome to the club. Haha.
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Thank you. Honoured. It is a club of fine and free people.
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This is great! This past weekend I started learning how to start freelancing. I’ll admit I feel a bit overwhelmed. I definitely want time with my family though!
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Don’t start panicking yet. Check out my other articles in freelancing so you are better prepared.
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Ok thank you!!!
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Am inspired by your work .thanks
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Thank you so much. You’re awesome.
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🌹
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Great post! Thanks for giving me something to think about
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You’re most welcome, Chrissy.
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Wonderful, thoughtful post. Thanks for sharing. I got a lot out of it.
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Thank you for letting me know this is helpful to you.
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