3 Mass Instructions to Fail as a Freelancer
1: Never run out of money
In the summer of 2016, most of my friends were job hunting. I, on the other hand, was still busy writing my thesis and finishing my graduate internship in Amsterdam. As an intern at a small environmental consultancy, I felt like I was juggling knives as fate became uncertain. About a month before the internship ended, I offered my paintings to one of the employer’s clients, to my amazement they appreciated my work so much, that they asked if I would love to do a challenge for them. “Is that an offer?” I asked. “sure it’s miles, if you need it.” “On the road!” I replied, and thus began the long, winding road of my freelance career.
For the next few months I did things that I never thought I would do. I registered my own company with the chamber of commerce, created invoices, did mission management, visited clients, toured production facilities, all even wearing pants and a sports jacket. I was passionately working on the job, making sure my painting was valuable to the patron. For the first time in my life I had something that I was building on my own and things were looking for things to get better. I had a crazy experience of optimism and started planning initiatives for my destination.
The first issue I made with my consulting fee was to hire the top rated Dutch language instructor that cash could ever want to buy. I saw many foreign students struggling to get a process in my discipline due to the language barrier. I thought that if I was going to be successful with jobs or social lifestyles in the United States of America, I had to research the local language. However, this was easier said than done, because the Dutch have an incredible number of close accents given the scale of the United States of America. To make matters worse, in the west that I lived in, they always switch to English if they feel a hint of a foreign accent. but would support my floor company like a rock. I may not switch back to English even if it meant having 7-12 month conversations with people from the neighborhood for the next half year.
My biggest intention at that time was to get a project with the local municipality on sustainability. I found that the opportunities would be endless for the city, so I started spreading the word and showing up at activities. Later I also put together a team to make a YouTube channel about sustainability. I ended up going to a conference in Belgium to meet ecu contacts, on the way to get capacity funding. but the trip turned out to be a complete failure and at that moment I began to realize that money was pouring out of my pocket like blood from a serious artery.
with the help of december i had spent almost all my earnings from the independent project. I figured based entirely on my savings, I might want to check through March, April in great. My rent got pretty expensive for a person in dire straits. To top it off, there has been nothing new on the horizon. I also did not understand that to land new common projects it would take up to 6 months. furthermore, the municipality no longer seemed so interested in working with a recent graduate abroad who did not speak the language and had no formal business experience or close network. My initial expectations had no hold on reality and I was following difficult lifestyle instructions.
2: when you run out of money, be flexible
During the start of the new year, it became apparent that if he didn’t get a project now soon, he was going to be broke. The most difficult element was that I was not ready to give up my dream of being self-employed and doing all the tasks I wanted. So I didn’t look for a regular activity. instead, I redoubled the challenge of the municipality. I met them every week and they rejected me every week. I called my old clients, who also doubled up on learning Dutch. I read all the business ebooks I wanted to find and slowly started fixing my LinkedIN. I also went to some nice occasions and sooner or later I ran into an exciting new company in Amsterdam. They wanted to work with me to develop an innovative venture. but, while the rush came, they no longer had any investment for that and he shouldn’t have the funds to wait either.
February arrived and for expenses that I had not taken into account, I was going on a walk without cash at the end of the month! What became what I’m going to do? I didn’t need to go back to Greece or ask my mother and father for help. I wanted cash and fast! But first, she had to reduce unnecessary expenses, along with proper nutrition and yoga classes. The rent happened to be later – I had an annual agreement, so I wanted to break it and find something cheaper. luckily two of my housemates have also left, moving to a less expensive room in our residence as a result. task accomplished. The subsequent flow became finding that extra money to support myself in Holland, so I needed to get creative again.
I sat in the living room and wrote down on a piece of paper all the abilities I possessed. two of them were that he had worked as a waiter and spoke Greek. you can see where this changed to go. I called and emailed all the Greek restaurants in the surrounding area. sooner or later a person from a family tavern in a nearby metropolis responded. I had a coffee with my destination boss, a 32-year-old Greek of Dutch origin and we hit it off right from the start. The only problem changed to that I absolutely sucked as a server. He would ignore orders, leave out business, and not speak Dutch accurately enough.
The boss later confronted me, “Look The O, I really like you and I really like your company, but you’re not a very good server. Maybe we can find something else you can do. You told me you’re upstairs with computer systems, though I have no concept about them, luckily I had gained experience in online advertising during my internship, I knew how to design business cards and send large emails.
I would go to the restaurant as soon as a week. Sitting quietly at a desk by the bar with my computer, I could work for your online marketing campaign. If the restaurant was too busy, he would grab the puck and supply liquids to customers with a big smile. It became a humble job, but I kept my cool and kept going, because I should see a direct result of my efforts. I felt useful. The boss became an excellent manager and knew how to motivate his staff. I learned a lot from him and that job helped me not to drown financially and emotionally during that difficult period.
3: If you are going to take risks, first take care of the inconvenience
The biggest lesson I learned from this experience was that every time you take some type of risk, you must first protect the inconvenience. You have to make sure that in case you fail, you have a sofa to fill, a second task, a hot meal to gobble up, a big accomplishment. That takes a lot of the stress out of failure and allows you to get back on your toes. losing is part of the game, and little experiments, little mistakes, are essential to learning. The time in the restaurant also made me realize that I had really done a few things in the past year. I started my own trading company in a foreign country with little or no pleasure. I had put a lot of effort into learning the language in a very limited time. I took a brilliant assignment from college and completed it on time and on budget. I met many new humans and tried my hand at getting unique tasks while studying how to sell myself from scratch.
And promote myself I did. sooner or later I managed to recover and started applying for regular jobs. this will help me take advantage of the experience, community, and price range if I ever wanted to try self-employment one more time. In other words, he was going to protect the inconvenience. To my astonishment, my level of Dutch after 9 months is good enough to persuade people that I am capable of understanding the language. This opened up three times as many positions as before. I began to take advantage as if there were no tomorrow: I sent fifty letters in two weeks and they invited me to three interviews. I got the process gives and normally a well paying job in the sustainability branch of the world substance corporation. pleased with myself, I booked the cheapest ticket to the south of France, where I disappeared for a couple of weeks.
After finishing my last Sunday shift at the restaurant, I grabbed my bike to ride home. I ended up for a minute next to my favorite channel. I watched the moon reflected on the floor of the water. as it became the last moment that I honestly took the time to revel in easy things like that? I was living in one of the most amazing cities in the world and I had forgotten to make an effort to understand it. I got back on my bike feeling at peace with myself. I returned home with the certainty that everything could work out very well in the end.
Independent website design company VerataStudio provides satisfaction, security and a sense of calm
VerataStudio is a website design company that offers affordable web design, web development and SEO.
