I recently talked to a freelancer (who wishes to remain anonymous), and he had interesting things to share. He’s a web designer who’s paid around $900 per project. With an average of four projects a month, he makes around $43,200 a year.
This is a barely decent figure for someone living in the US, but if you’re based in a so-called third-world country like the Philippines, such income allows quite a comfortable lifestyle. The freelancer was kind enough to share his four keys to maximizing income.
Maintain a Great Inventory 2.0. Well, he didn’t say “Inventory 2.0” (a term a made up last year). But his collection of reusable items, visuals, and even copy have helped him speed up his workflow tremendously. “Most of my clients are looking for something similar” he says, “and the time I took to create ‘templates’ for the major kinds of projects I accomplish was really well worth it.”
Stick to a Strict Schedule. “I still get to enjoy the pleasure of sleeping in on cold mornings. But whatever happens, I make sure to work at least eight hours a day. It’s amazing what you can accomplish in an hour if you’ve committed to make full use of it!”
Create a Productive Workspace. The freelancer agreed with what I wrote on the home office, adding that “I kept mine close to the bathroom to cut down on the time wasted by nature’s call.”
Go Beyond Your Circle. This is what the freelancer considered the most important: “Before, I used to rely on friends to get the word out about my services. But it became clear that people tend to stick within one group, so this had limited effectivity. I realized that I needed to go beyond my circle, and aggressively build new connections.” In other words, the Contract Worker should be responsible for building word-of-mouth about their services.
These four ways are actually very doable for any freelancer. If you think about it, it’s simply reusing old work to cut down on time, sticking to a strict schedule and orienting a workspace towards productivity, and being more aggressive about marketing services.