Persistence>>>>>>everything else

My journey as a freelance writer & editor started eight years ago this month, and I can’t honestly believe it’s been that long. There have been a few downs, but truthfully, the journey has mostly been ups. Now, I don’t tell you that to say it was easy. It has not been easy, and as I grow and expand, I assume every move will stretch me into uncomfortable places. But that’s kinda life in a nutshell, right?

Better get used to discomfort

I kind of hate to agree with the guru accounts, but sometimes they’re still right in spite of themselves. You do have to get used to a relatively high level of discomfort. And yes, I have heard everyone talk about how risky it is to stay in a 9-5 (single source of income, etc.). Well, okay, yeah, that may be true, but usually you have some idea of what’s coming around the bend. Also, you occasionally have some recourse if you get canned.

You have no recourse in this world. You may think that your clients are rock solid and in it for the long haul, and then they send you a Dear John email out of the blue (the most passive-aggressive example I’ve ever heard of was kicking the freelancer off the company Slack channel; that was it).

So you had better:

1. Have thick skin

2. Be good at hoarding away cash

I have heard so many guys say, “All you have to do is line up another $2.5k-$5k monthly retainer.” Yeah. Okay. It ain’t that easy, bro beans. Do you know how many of those I’ve come across in eight years? Two. And I still write for them.

Keep going, but keep it real

Look, I am not trying to dissuade here, but I am being honest. Every day, I wake up and feel like this is a house of cards. Things are cruising along great, but one strong breeze could level it, ya know?

With that said, if you have thick skin, if you either have a valuable skill or are willing to learn one, and you don’t mind ramming you skull into a wall, then you will probably do just fine. Just keep going, and you’ll break through. But don’t expect it to be easy. And don’t listen to anyone who tells you it will be; they are hucksters and scammers trying to bait you into one of their services.

And what works for me might not work for you. In a lot of ways, the freelancer/solopreneur world is like SEO and writing. Something that clicked and worked great for one client might not work well for another. We all have our own roads to follow, or build.

What would I do over?

I would have been much more aggressive with my outreach, but to be honest, I never really thought I would take the full-time plunge. Too scary. I would have taken Twitter, LinkedIn, and email marketing a lot more seriously back in the day.

But more than anything, I would probably see if there were a way to keep a regular job and really push harder on this. I literally did everything wrong, yet somehow, I ended up on the upside. That is mostly attributable to tenacity and perseverance, but a lot of luck also played into it. Do we make our own luck? Probably. But again, house of cards. Lucky today, who knows what tomorrow holds.

Take care guys, and don’t lose sleep over where you are at in the journey. Just keep going. One foot in front of the other.

-John