My story about becoming a freelancer & a Linkup

Freelancing isn’t as glamorous as it seems

Lately, I’ve seen the freelance industry thriving, and becoming a bigger industry than it ever has been before.  A lot of times, this particular industry is also glamorized a lot.  Before I started doing any kind of freelance work, I was one of those people who wished that I could make freelance work my full time job.  With millenials, I feel as though we made this industry grow into the beast that it is today.  It has been around for a while, but we mastered the internet.  We were here for the beginning stages of Youtube, where you can find a tutorial for just about anything and everything.

Anyone can become a graphic designer with just the internet.  I know that sounds really horrible, because people work really hard to go to school and get a degree for this particular subject, but just look at how many tutorials there are.  It does take a lot of patience to be able to become self taught, but anything that I’ve ever done has been self taught.  I’ve gotten a few tips and tricks from my dad who is a graphic designer for a living, but everything else is self taught.

I was first introduced to this industry by my parents.  They never had their eggs in one basket, and were always trying to do whatever they could to have other sources of income.  I remember my dad starting off as a graphic designer back in the old days, and while I thought he was bringing his work home with him on the weekends, it was actually extra freelance work.  He would work on so many different campaigns and advertisements.

For the sake of confidentiality I cannot mention who, but they are brands that some of you may use on an everyday basis.  My hustle mentality came from my parents and from living in the north east.  It’s been embedded in my head by my parents that they didn’t come to this country for my brother and I to fail, and to work as hard as you possibly can.  I admire my parents for constantly reminding us of this, because it taught me to never give up.  Even if I have to ugly cry and get the emotions out, to pick myself right back up and keep going.

Not everyone has that mentality though, and in this industry, you need that.  It’s cut throat, and there’s always someone who can replace you.  They may not replace you long term, but they might replace you for a job that could have been your ticket to better projects, or a foot in the door of a really GREAT opportunity.  In the past year, my blog took a back seat, but I did have a lot of freelancing going on behind the scenes.  With all of that being said, I’m going to be using myself as an example in this entire post, and tell my story from the very beginning.  I will say that this particular post is echoing some things that I said in last week’s post, so if you feel like you’re having deja vu, you’re not haha!

The beginning stages of my story

I started off as a blogger in 2013, and had no idea what the hell I was doing.  What I did know, was this was fun for me, and at the time I was working at your typical “9-5” (I put that in quotes, because 9-5’s are no longer just 9-5).  I had a routine, and wanted to shake things up a bit.  I got my first big time brand deal in that very same year.  It was a brand that I loved, and that was the highlight of my beginning stages of my blogging career.  I later realized, that I could actually make a small income doing this on the side.  Researching every way possible to build my blog and make it better became a huge part of my life.  I was focused and determined.

Fast forward a few months to September of 2013.  I went to my first blogging conference by Lucky Magazine.  This is where I had to put my networking skills to the test.  If you have been following along for a while, you know I’m an introvert and very anti social.  Even thinking of having to socialize makes me nervous.  I get butterflies in my stomach, but not the good kind.  I forced myself to go to this event.  It was in NYC, and thankfully a family friend allowed me to stay at their place in Weehawken, and I had to take the bus into the city for the first time ever, BY MYSELF.

I learned a lot from this conference, and it gave me a lot of motivation to really build my brand.  I met so many great bloggers, some of which, I still talk to today and have even met.  The one blogger I met is my best friend, and I even went to her wedding.  I do suggest, if you are looking to get into the blogging side of things, you should definitely go to conferences, it helps network, and these conferences really teach you the skills you need to succeed.  It also helps to go to meetups.  If you have been here since the beginning you know that there were a few years where I organized multiple blogger meetups with bloggers that I knew, and bloggers that I have never met before.

Sparking my interest even more

As the years progressed, I started helping bloggers take their photos which sparked my interest into photography.  Everything I know, is self taught.  Of course, lately my photos have been on my phone and not my camera (I’ve literally had no time to be a perfectionist), but when I take other people’s photos, I take it very seriously.  Which is why in 2017, I was incredibly disappointed in another freelance web designer.

She was supposed to help me completely rebrand my entire site and help me migrate from Blogger to WordPress.  I had to pay her a deposit for the “work” that she had done (all that was, was a phone call, and a pinterest board of my inspiration for my site).  There was no designing involved.  She was referred to me by another blogger.  In 2018, I decided that I would do the job that she could not do.  I migrated from blogger to WordPress on my own and completely revamped my blog.  I proceeded to write an entire post on how I did it, in the hopes that it would help another fellow blogger out there do the same.

Then, fast forward to 2019.  That was the year that my freelance work really blossomed.  I had my first paid job for my photography.  It was amazing, and quite honestly, the feeling when someone truly enjoys your work and pays for it, is just the creme de la creme.  I became a writer for a site called A Girls Guide To Cars, and even went to an event where I only knew two people and networked with other like minded people.  This was my first big break into the industry and learning what it truly means to freelance.  There are deadlines, and lots of guidelines to follow, which is expected, because it’s not my own blog, I’m writing for a company.  Recently, I was presented an opportunity to become a Style Editor for another brand, but I can’t say the brand just yet.  Now, let’s also throw Youtube into the mix.  That may be part of my brand, but there are also deadlines that I need to make (my own obviously), and there is a lot of time and effort that goes into that.

At the end of the day

With all of that being said, being a freelancer is hard work.  This is not an easy peezy lemon squeazy type of a job.  Thankfully I have other sources of income, so I don’t have as much pressure as other people in this industry.  However, meeting deadlines, abiding by a companies guidelines to be on brand but also have your own style to it, along with having to re-edit if they don’t like it, can be a lot of pressure for some people.  You cannot procrastinate in this industry, unless of course you work better under pressure haha!

Just the other week, I had a ton of post its everywhere because I had a collab with a fellow content creator on Youtube, so I had to record, edit, and send her my half, while also having to write two articles for A Girls Guide to Cars, along with writing my first article as a Style Editor.  This was all in edition to my own blog, running our one business, and creating content for all of these social media networks.  It can get very busy, and you still have to take time for self care, and sleep of course.  Imagine doing what I just said part time, but full time.  The work that I do would never be able to sustain me full time.  I would have to do everything that I just stated, but double or even triple what I’m already doing.

The point of this post, is to shed light on anyone who does freelance work.  If you hire a web developer, photographer, or even a writer, know that they are probably working on multiple projects at the same time, while being bombarded with post its all over their desk.  It’s not as glamorous as some make it seem.  It’s a hectic job/business to have.  Just doing what I do part time, and being exposed to all of it, I really truly don’t think I could do this full time.  While I would love to because I could stay at home with my dogs all day and not have to get out of my pajamas, unless I was going on a call would be fun.  However, the pressure that would be put on me if one month I had zero work, would honestly be too much for me.

Too all of my fellow freelancers out there, don’t forget to check your post its for any deadlines, and I’ll drink a few cups of coffee for ya!

Now moving on to the weekly linkup.