How A New Freelancer Addresses Motivation Whe...

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Meet Sarah!

I am a content writer with an educational qualification in marketing and business, as a teenager I loved reading articles on various topics including science, history, culture and travel, in addition to that I am a fan of thriller and horror novels as well as non-fiction books, my passion for reading got me into writing, I have written two short stories for Reedsy.

As a freelancer who is new to the field of freelancing, I have struggled with staying motivated, at times I have felt I may not get work or I won't be able to make a stable income from freelancing, whenever my motivation levels started to go down, I realised it affects my creativity, as a content writer, creativity and out of box thinking is very important to come up with unique content.

Stay focused, remember why you started.

Thats when I realised how important it is to keep yourself motivated and to have a never give up attitude, I realised the power of positive thinking and how negativity dimnishes our productivity, whenever faced with a desire to quit, I try to focus on why I decided to freelance and what all I love about content writing, it helps me to feel more confident about my skills.

You might be new to Upwork or been here since a few years, you might be worried as a new freelancer that you aren't getting any work or as someone experienced in freelancing you are worried that you are not getting paid well, every freelancer whether new to the field or a pro has challenges and worries that can make it hard for them to feel motivated to continue freelancing.

Weigh your pros and cons, whether new or an expert, always do what's best for you.

At times a stable job that pays monthly and has all the perks like paid leave, sick leave etc., can feel more alluring than freelancing and you feel ready to quit the world of freelancing for something that you feel is more stable, or seeing other freelancers with more experience getting paid more than you or getting more clients can make you easily loose motivation,

When you are stuck in the middle of demotivating thoughts it can feel really hard to concentrate on work or see the brighter side of things, whenever you feel like quitting freelancing, weigh out your pros and cons and why you started freelancing, having a clearer perspective helps you to see the bigger picture.

A lot of freelancers especially those that are new to the field have trouble getting work and lose motivation easily, in such cases, it helps to evaluate your niche and what you are most experienced in and narrow down on one niche rather than trying to take jobs in different niches.

Great freelancers need great clients. (and vice versa)

Even if you are not new to the field, at a certain point it can start affecting your self-esteem if you don't get any new work or have clients that you don't seem to get along well with.

A demanding client can make a freelancer loose motivation quite quickly, or a client that nitpicks everything can make a freelancer feel they are not good enough and end up doubting their skills and competency.

You might be having a tough time with a client that is either too demanding or criticizes your work constantly without understanding and appreciating the effort you put in the work, but are afraid to cancel the job because you fear your job success score will fall down and it will affect your future job potential.

The feeling of being stuck with a client you don't get along well with can make you feel stressed out and regretful that you should have choosen better, you just want to complete the project and be done with it and this can affect the quality of your work, you constantly feel demotivated to work on that project.

When you are stuck in a tough situation like that, it's best to either tell the client that their constant criticism and demands are effecting the work or if the client doesn't listen, it's best to cancel the job even if it affects your job score.

Don't end up being your own worst enemy.

Stress can be a big factor in making you feel demotivated, you can't deliver good quality work when you feel stressed and demotivated, you might start comparing yourself to other freelancers in the same field who get paid more than you and this can contribute further to making you feel demotivated.

Comparision is another enemy of your motivation to keep being a freelancer, you would have been happy with a few projects that you felt paid well but then you got into the habit of comparing yourself with freelancers who are way ahead of you in terms of experience and years spent freelancing, this can end up making you feel your work is not good enough or you will never reach their potential.

Negative thoughts like these can kill any freelancers rationality, you feel freelancing is much more tough than you previously thought and the amount of work you are getting is nothing, you feel demotivated to carry on and you loose your interest in the project you are currently working on or you start applying for projects that are above your experience level and when you don't get the projects, you end up feeling defeated.

You got this. Never underestimate yourself.

Freelancing is not as hard as you might feel it is, thinking of freelancing as a very challenging territory that has no place for you, will make you give up trying to get a project that matches your experience level and you feel confident you can do.

Freelancing is neither easy too, if you think it is very easy, you will quickly loose motivation as a new freelancer when you don't get projects, what a lot of freelancers miss out on is that freelancing is about trying, if you keep trying, you can make it here, and eventually when you carve a name for yourself, you get the freedom to choose and reject clients too.

Positive thinking, having a clear perspective and a good idea on what work best fits you can help freelancers get out of the black hole of demotivation that engulfs them from time to time.

A few key takeaways:

Whenever faced with a desire to quit, I try to focus on why I decided to freelance and what all I love about content writing, it helps me to feel more confident about my skills.
Every freelancer whether new to the field or a pro has challenges and worries that can make it hard for them to feel motivated to continue freelancing.
It helps to evaluate your niche and what you are most experienced in and narrow down on one niche rather than trying to take jobs in different niches.
Thinking of freelancing as a very challenging territory that has no place for you, will make you give up trying to get a project that matches your experience level and you feel confident you can do.
What a lot of freelancers miss out on is that freelancing is about trying, if you keep trying, you can make it here.