5 Reasons You’ll Succeed as a A Freelancer while the Economy Struggles
World markets are in near panic-mode. The global economy seems to be teetering on the edge of a terrible abyss. Business analysts everywhere are terrified by the unavailability of credit, the freezing of world banks, and other apocalyptic scenarios that could destroy the world of commerce. In view of this grim set of circumstances, one might wonder if a freelancer could ever hope to succeed in such times.
The remarkable thing that I’ve noticed lately is that quite the opposite seems to be happening. While one might expect that the freelancing world would be struggling with the same economic problems as everyone else, most freelancers that I speak to are experiencing incredible growth in their personal businesses. The economy might be falling down around our ears, but success is far from elusive for the freelancer. As the economy falters and wrestles to regain its strength, you’ll be succeeding as a freelancer for five reasons.
You know how to market yourself. If you have had any success in freelance business, you implicitly understand the power of unconventional marketing methods. Most of us don’t have huge advertising budgets, but we leverage the power of social networking, both online and off, to promote our services. The freelance world thrives on collaboration, and the most powerful freelancers are those who have the “right connections.” So, while conventional businesses have to cut their advertising budgets in order to stay solvent, you’ll rely on the same advertising method that has consistently worked for you: the power of your colleagues.
You are flexible. Nearly every freelancer that I know has incredible flexibility in vision. They are quick to evaluate the success or failure of current projects and adjust their business plan appropriately. Unlike bulky larger businesses, a freelancer realizes very quickly when a business strategy is not working, and instead of stubbornly sticking to a failing business plan, you quickly adjust your approach to maximize your long-term success. You may have started as a freelance writer, but because of circumstances, you find yourself in the freelance web-design business mere months later. I can think of no company, large or small, with the ability to reinvent itself with that kind of speed and efficiency.
You are efficient. Regardless the business, any size company struggles with keeping its workers productive. As a freelancer, your productivity is the lifeblood of your profitability. If you don’t get things done, you don’t get paid. While employees of a company often lack a sense of urgency in completing tasks, you realize that your time is money, and you make each moment of your day count toward the success of your business. Your clients can rely on your ability to meet deadlines, because you rarely allow other concerns to get in the way of your work.
You are self-reliant. Most of us as freelancers aren’t saddled with huge business loans or office leasing contracts. Instead, our overhead costs are low because we don’t rely on credit to determine our profitability. The credit market may fall to pieces all around us, but we will still be humming along very successfully because we are not debt-dependant. Our freedom from traditional business expenses helps us rely on the right source for our success-our own initiative-and we don’t have to worry about making enough money just to cover our huge debts. We can simply worry about working to achieve better profitability.
You are portable. Typically, we conduct our freelance work by way of the Internet, and this particular aspect of our business makes us extremely portable. We are not, as freelancers, bound to one locale to make our living. If the economy is struggling in one part of the world, we can very readily shift our business focus to a more profitable locale with successful clientele. You will continue to be successful because the business climate of the region that you live in will not be the determining factor for your productivity.
These five factors make a freelancer’s success virtually guaranteed, regardless of the economy and its ups-and-downs. Because you have these and many more essential freelance qualities, you will find your business growing by leaps and bounds while more conventional business models have to downsize and downgrade.
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Thank you for an intelligent take on freelancing in this economy. Many people think that freelancing is a terrible place to be in a recession. But, in reality, as markets contract, many companies start downsizing their in-house teams and start outsourcing work. So consultants and freelancers can find themselves in a good place in a bad economy.