6 Real Reasons Why Some Freelancers Fail

So you’re doing everything right and everything is still going wrong. Freelancing was never supposed to be like this. Why are you failing at freelancing?

Here are 6 real reasons why some freelancers fail.

1. Your heart isn’t in it

The truth is, you never really wanted to be a freelancer. Everyone else seemed to be doing it, so you decided to try it too. Or maybe you lost your traditional job and are only freelancing until you can find another one.

Freelancing success takes a lot of commitment. It’s hard to maintain that level of commitment if you don’t really care about your freelancing business.

2. Your skills just aren’t there yet

Freelancing competition is fierce. To survive in the competitive freelance marketplace, your skills need to be very good.

If you’re a beginner, just starting out in your field, freelancing can be really rough. It’s best to learn as much as you can in a field before striking out on your own. That might mean working for someone else or even going to school.

3. Your customer service is crummy

Are you rude, thoughtless and generally difficult to get along with? If you are, your freelance customer service skills probably reflect that.

Customer service is important. Unless you’re an absolute genius at what you do, you need to have good customer service skills if you’re going to succeed as a freelancer.

4. You quit too easily

Do you get discouraged easily? Do you have a habit of starting things but never finishing them? If a little criticism is enough to stop you in your tracks, then freelancing might not be for you. It takes time to build a successful freelancing business. Those who quit early, generally can’t do it.

5. You don’t work at it

Freelancing means you can get up late, take a long lunch and quit early – right? Wrong! Any freelancer who has been at it for a while, knows that freelancing takes a lot of hard work. Sure, you can set your own schedule – but if you want to earn a full-time income, you should expect to work full-time.

If you started freelancing because you thought it was easy money, you’ll probably be disappointed.

6. You refuse to sell

Do you hate to sell and generally not like sales? Well there’s a big difference between not liking sales and refusing to do it. While sales isn’t everyone’s favourite part of running a business, if you want to continue earning a living through freelancing, you have to do it. If you absolutely won’t sell, you will probably find yourself without many clients.

How to dodge the “failure bullet”

If you’re failing as a freelancer, don’t panic. It might not be too late to turn things around. Here are some questions to ask yourself to help your freelancing business rebound:

1. Do you really want to freelance?

   Or are you disappointed in freelancing? Be brutally honest with yourself.
   
   

2. Are you willing to put in the effort?

   If you do want to freelance, are you willing to work hard at it?
   
   

3. Do others think that you are good at what you do?

   Often we can’t see our own flaws, so it helps to ask someone else.
   
   

4. Will you market your freelancing business?

   Marketing and sales are an important part of any business.

If you answered “no” to all or most of the questions above, then freelancing failure may be inevitable. However, if you answered “yes” to most questions, there’s still hope that you can dodge the freelance failure bullet. Take some steps today to turn your freelance business around.