How Excited are You About your Freelance Career?

I've had a lot of jobs over the years. I've been a lifeguard, sold concessions at a movie theater, bussed tables, and served drinks at a country and western bar. I've worked at Trader Joe's, at my dad's dental office, and at a doughnut shop. And I've worked (and still do--more about that in another post!) at my local Y as a personal trainer and fitness consultant. And oh yeah, I was a lawyer for more than five years. (How did I forgot that?) 

But freelancing is by far my favorite gig. I love the freedom and the flexibility of being self-employed. I love the fact that I can set my own hours in most cases, and that I'm (usually) rewarded for doing a good job. I love building relationships with clients, and when they come back to me with new assignments (there's no bigger compliment) and I love the satisfaction of taking a complicated subject and turning it into an article, book chapter, or even book. It's gratifying work. 

So you may be surprised to learn that I don't always feel this way. There are days, weeks even, when I don't really feel like freelancing any more. My enthusiasm for it is gone...until it eventually returns. 

I used to freak out when this happened, thinking I wasn't cut out for the freelance lifestyle. With 16 years in, though, I know that's not the case. My drive, motivation, and excitement for my career fade...but they always come back.  

Over the last few months, I've suffered a bout of what I call career malaise. I knew the reasons, but that didn't change how I felt. I'd had several promising book deals fall through, one after another. I wound up taking on a project that should have taken just a couple of weeks--but it stretched into a nightmare that lasted nearly two months. I was putting most of time (and mental energy) into launching Improvise Press. I didn't have much left over for my freelance career. Maybe, I thought, I was done freelancing--I'd just put all my energy into my new publishing company and working at the Y. 

Then several things happened. I got an email from my agent on Memorial Day about a lucrative ghosting gig--which did go through. Then I got a rush assignment from a regular client, a company that I license reprint rights to. It had me scrambling for the next 24 hours, but it netted me a quick $550. And then a new client contacted to me to say that not only was she pleased with the article I wrote (along with the photos), that they were going to hire me for a longer, more complicated project. All of a sudden the thrill of freelancing was back. Once again, I feel like I'm running toward something promising, lucrative, and fun. 

That's how you should feel about your freelance career, too. If not, give these tips a try:

1. Focus on what you can control. You can't make an editor say yes, or give you an assignment. You can send a certain number of queries or LOIs this week, though. Focus on what I call production goals and you'll feel like you're getting somewhere. 

2. Cut back on the nonessentials. When I started this blog more than three years ago, I posted several times a week. That's great for my readers, but time-consuming for me. Now I post once a week (almost always on Mondays), which gives me more time for work--and play.  

3. Do something different. One of the best things about starting Improvise Press is that all of my career eggs are no longer in the freelance writing/editing/ghostwriting/authoring basket. Now I have another business--albeit a related one--to put some of my creative energies into and for me, that's energizing. 

4. Reach out. Freelancers may work alone but it's wonderful to have a community and even better to have freelancing friends who "get it." For example, I've been a member of FreelanceSuccess.com for more than a decade, which is a great resource for established and new-but-serious-about-it freelancers. You get market guides, access to back issues of the newsletter, and the chance to network with 500 other freelancers. I also have friends who freelance both online and IRL, and I know that they all experience the same periods of burnout, self-doubt, and loss of enthusiasm too. 

5. Make a list. Why do you freelance? I assume if you read this blog, it's to make money from your work. That's a given. But why else? Do you love the creative process of writing? Do you still get a thrill to see your name in print? Do you get to write about subjects you care about? What does freelancing give you that another career would not? Write down your reasons, and reflect on how lucky you are to do something--write for money--that too many people only dream of. 

I bet that will breathe some life back into your freelance career--and make you feel like you're running toward something wonderful.   

**Need a freelance boost? Time to read Six-Figure Freelancing: The Writer's Guide to Making More Money, Second Edition.I promise you'll garner tips and techniques to help you make more money from your writing! 

And if you're a new freelancer, or want to launch a career where you can get paid for your writing, Dollars and Deadlines: Make Money Writing Articles for Print and Online Markets, will take you from unpublished to published and paid. 

Both books are available through any online or brick-and-mortar bookstore. But if you order directly from Improvise Press, use the discount code, IMPROVISEPRESS (all caps/no breaks) for 20% off of your order, which makes it cheaper than buying from Amazon. 

A Surefire Way to Beat Freelancing Burnout

Freelancing full-time has a lot of perks. You get to make a living from your words, you can write from a home office in sweats and thick fluffy socks, and you can work as little or as much as you want. (At least in theory—sometimes you face freelance droughts, or have to work weekends and nights to meet all your deadlines.)

Sure, there are the inevitable hassles with slow-to-respond editors, delayed checks, and mangled edits. But overall, most freelancers love what they do, and the way they’re able to work. The income survey of more than 200 freelancers I conducted earlier this year found that 90 percent “definitely” planned to continue their careers; another 7 percent said they “probably” would. So you may be surprised to find yourself suffering from burnout at some point.

With fourteen years of freelance experience, I’m far from immune to burnout. Instead, I can predict that every nine to eighteen months, I’ll go through a period where I seriously question my freelance career. Yet each time, burnout has helped jumpstart my enthusiasm for freelancing.

If you're falling out of love with freelancing, first determine what's causing the burnout. Do you have too much work overall—or simply too many deadlines all falling at the same time? Are your clients too demanding? Is it the type of work you’re doing? Or is it that you’re bogged down with “grunt work,” things like transcribing interviews, chasing down money that’s owed to you, or following up on queries you haven’t had a response to?

Once you've identified the burnout source(s), use my secret weapon. Sit down with your choice of caffeinated beverage and make a list of the pros and cons of freelancing. Look at this as a brainstorming exercise; don’t worry about listing them in order of importance or how many you have on each side. Then read your list and compare the pros and cons.

The first time I did this exercise, I’d been freelancing for almost eighteen months. My “pros” list included thirteen items like “no commute,” “it’s cool—I’m a writer,” and “seeing my name in print.” The cons included things like “I’m lonely,” “continual rejection is affecting my self-esteem,” “little or no feedback on work,” and “no clear goals except for money.”

Over years, my personal pros and cons list has changed, but some elements of my pros list have remained consistent. The freedom to set my own hours, the enjoyment of writing itself, and the fact that I’m building something that is mine are all reasons why I continue to freelance. On the cons side, I’m always frustrated about editors who are slow-to-respond or slow-to-pay (or worse, both), and I continually resent how much of my income goes to pay taxes. But on balance, is it worth it? Yes.

Seeing your personal pros and cons list in black and white should serve two purposes. Number one, it should get you excited about freelancing again. Second, it should give you insight into the parts of freelancing that aren’t working right now. You can’t do anything about what you pay to Uncle Sam, but if “bored silly by all my assignments” is on your list, you can start writing about a different subject area. Or maybe it’s time to do something completely different.

No matter how much you love freelancing, you will get burned out at some point. Make it an opportunity to reboot by focusing on the positives of your chosen career. I promise there are a lot of them.

***Trying to write about anything and everything? You'll have more success if you specialize; Ready, Aim, Specialize: Create your own Writing Specialty and Make More Money (Kindle edition) shows you how to create a writing niche, describes the top ten subject specialties, and includes hundreds of resources.