Freelancing is tough. There is no way around it. Even though freelancers enter into the realm of self-employment willingly, few are naive enough to think that the road will not be a rocky one.
Choosing to become a freelancer requires the acknowledgement of two things:
- a desire for freedom
- personal skills and value
Anyone who has ever become a freelancer haphazardly either encountered a painful learning curve or quickly returned to a different job setting.
The irony that a lot of freelancers forget is that being a freelancer does not mean that you completely eliminate a boss from your life, but instead it means you choose to take on the responsibility yourself...in addition to every other responsibility.
Whether you are blinded by the freedom or you have been mentally preparing for the switch for months, the greatest challenge of freelancing is the unpredictability.
This scares many people, but, though daunting, it does not in fact have to be negative.
Kerry Needs, a British copywriter in her fourth year of freelancing, posted an article in her blog about how to handle the inconsistencies of the work all by yourself:
See a lack of work as a new opportunity.
As she puts it, "I like to think about the hustle that comes from periods where I’m low on work like walking into a sweet shop. There, I get to look through a variety of options and search for exactly what will feel tasty and satisfying."
It is a built in time period in which you can reassess or explore what you find interesting in your work and where you want to take your brand going forward. Maybe you have been craving work from a certain kind of company. Your lack of work offers the perfect opportunity to reach out to and make connections in that industry.
When work dries up for whatever reason, freelancers can suddenly realize just how isolated they have made themselves in the world.
Lonely does not mean alone.
Tony Robbins teaches "every problem is a question that has not yet been asked". Needs corroborates this by mentioning the way that there is a solution to every problem in the world now, and access to that solution is easier than it has ever been.
All you have to do is ask the right question: what kind of help do I need right now?
Whatever it may be, your answer provides a direction to navigate through the loneliness and loop you back to the empowering freedom of creative exploration for which you became a freelancer in the first place.