3 Benefits of Starting Your Freelance Journey Early

My last semester at the university was pretty tense. Most of my friends were struggling to get a 9 to 5; I did too.

The plunging economy and the pandemic left me with no hope. The dilemma of whether to keep the search for a job going or instead use the time to pursue a master's kept me awake for several nights. After an overly long period of introspection and diving deep into my thoughts, I knew my only way out was freelancing.

Freelancing, that was it. Writing, particularly, has been my ultimate fascination. I always wanted to be a blogger but the 9 to 5 holy grail aspiration kept putting it on the back burner.

The lazy millennial procrastinator seed also played a significant role in delaying what could have started years ago.

The four years in the university did nothing apart from helping me to network. I am yet to find a skill the university taught is helpful in my career. Most of what I regurgitated was obsolete texts. As Elon Musk said, “College is just for fun”. I believe the same.

Invest the time you waste in college to start your professional career even if it is something tiny. In fact, graduating from college has deepened my belief in starting early.

However, I like to make one thing very clear: starting early has nothing to do with how successful you will be, but everything to do with how skilled you will be.

Here are all the reasons to fight the fear of starting your freelancing journey:

1. Grab the First Mover Advantage

Early movers have always had benefits. The online industry is flourishing at a rapid scale and thanks to the pandemic the industry has seen an overnight gain of new clients in the market. However, this is one side of the coin. Companies have laid off thousands since the inception of the pandemic. Individuals who are searching for their bread and butter are finding their new haven in the online industry. The influx of new individuals every day is making the freelance industry more and more saturated.

Hence, the earlier you join the pool, it will become easier to make a name for yourself in the industry. Most writers on Medium who had the first-mover advantage still are some of the most successful writers on the platform.

So, stop procrastinating, start freelancing.

2. You Discover Yourself

The freelancing market is competitive like any other, you have to be best at what you do; otherwise, many can fill in your shoes.

Your journey of gaining skills and finding out of all the things you can do what is the one you can be the hero of. It took me a great deal of time to hone my skills and the process is still on. However, despite consistently gaining skills in writing, I have shown my fascination for other fields as well. One of which is fiction.

I never read fiction I considered them a waste of my time and thought non-fiction books only could help me. Since I was never reading fiction, I never enjoyed writing it. While casually writing for a competition I realized I was good at building characters. Never had I known I observe real-life characters so closely that I derive from them. So much that I now love reading and writing both creative fiction and creative non-fiction.

One skill leads to another: the longer you give yourself the time, the more you discover facts about yourself you never knew about.

I came across this apt quote by Thomas Merton that sums up my thoughts:

“Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.”

3. You Have Multiple Chances To Succeed

Freelancing is a lonely job; it’s you, your PC, and your brain trapped in a room. You need to know how to do your job the right way. And time can be your ultimate lesson. You can have multiple shots at achieving the right technique for doing the job only if you have the time. Whether you do video editing, writing, designing, or any creative work, it is more about precision which comes with time.

“No artist is ahead of his time. He is his time its just that others are behind the times.” -Martha Graham

For instance, one thing I learned from Peter McKinnon, the famous photographer/editor, you learn to come out of your comfort zone in editing once you have aggressively tried a hand at it. You naturally get more ideas to edit. This is basically true for most creative jobs. “All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself,” Chuck Close once said.

Parting Words

I’ll leave you with the last nudge to start if you haven’t :

“80% of success is just showing up.” — Woody Allen

So, don’t be late.