7 Mistakes

Freelancers
Make
And How To Avoid Them

Francis Eluozo

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 CONTENTS
Pages
Introduction ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 03
- First, Why Should You Even Care to Listen to Me?

01. Playing the "Favorite" Game ---------------------------------------------- 04

02. The Business Mindset -------------------------------------------------------- 07

03. The Pricing Mistake ----------------------------------------------------------- 09

- Overpricing --------------------------------------------------------------------- 09

- Underpricing ------------------------------------------------------------------- 10

- Pricing Strategies ------------------------------------------------------------ 10

04. Reviewing Your Business Over Time --------------------------------- 12

05. Scaling Your Business ------------------------------------------------------- 14

06. Investing -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 16

07. From A Place of Desperation -------------------------------------------- 18

08. Conclusion ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 20

02
 INTRODUCTION
Freelancing can be a highly rewarding and fulfilling career path that
allows individuals to work on their own terms, set their own schedules,
and pursue projects that they are passionate about.

However, as with any career, there are challenges that come with
freelancing. Many beginners and even experienced freelancers fall into
common traps that can derail their businesses and prevent them from
reaching their full potential.

In this short guide, I'll address some of the most common mistakes that
freelancers make and provide strategies for avoiding them.

Why should you even care to listen to me?

I am a Nigerian freelance Singer, Songwriter, and Music Producer with
close to a decade of freelancing experience, currently a TOP RATED
SELLER and COMMUNITY LEADER on FIVERR,

also active on Upwork and many other freelance platforms including

my own personal channels of direct clients. I have had the privilege
and honor of working with notable brands like Africa Magic Original,
on Voice Over projects for a documentary, I have written and produced
a couple of film scores and movie theme songs, and throughout running
my freelance business I have done multiple six figures earning in
dollars.

Now that you know a bit about my background, let's dive right into the
essence of this guide. Don't forget to connect with me on YouTube,
Instagram, and TikTok @thebrimFactor on all platforms 03
 01

PLAYING THE
“FAVORITE” GAME
When it comes to freelancing, there are more than two options to choose
from. While Fiverr and Upwork are both popular freelance platforms,
there are many other platforms available as well. It is important to
consider all of your options when deciding where to offer your services.
Consider all of the platforms as tools and nothing more.

Therefore, instead of saying "ITS EITHER FIVERR OR UPWORK", you

should say "IT'S BOTH FIVERR AND UPWORK, ALONG WITH OTHER
FREELANCE PLATFORMS". This will help you to broaden your reach and
increase your chances of finding work that is the right fit for you.

If you are a long-time freelancer who has established some authority

and consistent income stream from one of the freelance platforms, let’s
say Upwork, I can almost guarantee that reading this right now you are
already disagreeing and thinking “I have absolutely nothing to do with
any other platforms, Upwork is the best.” But hear me out, there is no
such thing as “THE BEST”, especially in such a fluid and competitive
space as freelancing where every platform has its uniqueness, pros, and
cons.

These biases are usually formed from becoming successful on one

platform or from the fact that their core values align with yours.
I give you an example, Upwork is known through the grapevine as the
platform with the more quality clients and higher earning potential,
while Fiverr is famous for being the cheap marketplace both from a
seller and buyer perspective, now if your goal is to attract quality clients
and earn the most, your natural instinct will be to hate Fiverr with
every fiber of your being, you don’t keep an open mind to try it out and
experience it for yourself.

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However, the fact is that Fiverr and other platforms besides Upwork
also have quality high-paying clients, you just have to set up your
business with your high-quality portfolio and value propositions, and
clients looking for cheap services will know you are not for them, it’s as
simple as that, but if you have this mentality of “one above all” you miss
out on the opportunity to increase your visibility and reach out to high
paying clients on multiple platforms.

The simple question to ask yourself is, “What do you have to lose?”

Unless you are an influencer who has signed an exclusive brand deal
with any of these platforms preventing you from using or promoting
other platforms, you shouldn't have that much loyalty for any single one
of them. Just keep an open mind.

I see this with content creators as well, getting into the debate of
“TikTok is better than Instagram”, and “YouTube is the king of them all”,
while smart creators are taking advantage of the benefits of each
platform and using them all as a tool, not a football club to be a fan of.

So what if you get more views on TikTok than you do on Instagram, it’s
not like you are doing twice the work, again, what do you have to lose?
Another danger of playing the “favorite” game is it limits your thinking,
you think one is the best, so even if something better comes along, you
don’t want to hear it because you are thinking with your emotions, not
as a business person.

One clear instance is that the best form of freelancing is freelancing

outside of freelance platforms. Upwork and Fiverr do not even begin to
come close to building something you completely own and no one can
kick you out of (more on this later), but you see, you can be blinded to
all of that because you have become so emotionally attached to the
freelancing love of your life Upwork or Fiverr or whatever else you
love.

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Established creators and freelancers with a consistent stream from a
single platform can get away with this type of mindset for the most part
(well, until their heart is broken by the "Freelancing" love of their lives),
but if you are just starting, I implore you to keep an open mind.

No platform is the best, and no algorithm is singling you out and hating
on you, do the most, try as much as you can, and when you figure out
what works for you, double down on it, but even then, still keep an open
mind. This was exactly how I went about my freelancing and still
moving with this mentality, I use every tool, I don’t get emotionally
attached to my knife.

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 02

THE BUSINESS
MINDSET
Another common mistake freelancers make is not treating their
freelancing like something that could become their full-time job.

I personally made this mistake when I first started, I followed the

clichés I’d heard about freelancing being a “side hustle” and treated it as
such. There is actually nothing wrong with freelancing being your side
hustle, in fact, anything can be your side hustle, and an actual Job can
be your side hustle.

If a student got a job and their studies were top of their priority list, that
job becomes their side hustle because if faced with a situation where
one had to go, they'd let the Job go (not when the job pays a million
dollars weekly though LOL, but you get my point).

Notice how it’s difficult to think of a job as a side hustle because of

“societal programming” when it can actually be a side hustle? When you
work two jobs, you don’t refer to one of the jobs as a side hustle, you
consider them equally important as jobs, but the reality is that one is a
side hustle by definition. You need to reprogram your mind to stop
thinking of stuff like freelancing as a “Side Hustle”.

To succeed as a freelancer, I needed to approach it as a legitimate career

option. I needed to set clear goals, develop a business plan, and create a
schedule that allowed me to dedicate sufficient time and energy to my
work.

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I worked as a classroom teacher when I started freelancing, so
naturally, I considered freelancing my side hustle, before long I was
making my entire year's salary in one month of freelancing, (who’s the
side hustle now?), I realized that if I had to choose one, I won’t even give
it much thought before choosing to freelance and I actually did.

In fact, I had to choose twice because the job where I worked before
teaching and then freelancing on the side was a position at a logistics
company, with better pay, sounded more prestigious, and looked better
on my resume and all, but after my freelancing kicked off, they called
me back and it made absolutely no sense going back to that Job.

I literally worked 6 am to 6 pm, sometimes even on weekends, and

barely had any time for myself, when they called me back I was already
earning my one year’s salary at the job in a month from freelancing. I
didn’t think twice before I rejected the offer, this was in 2017, fast
forward 6 years later, and I have absolutely no regrets, in fact, I
consider it one of the best decisions I’ve ever made in my entire adult
life.

One of the biggest benefits of treating freelancing as a full-time job is

that it helps you develop a professional mindset, you'll take the time to
create a portfolio that showcases your skills and experience, develop a
marketing strategy to promote your services, and network with other
professionals in your field which will, in turn, result in higher chances
of success.

Most people who don’t succeed at freelancing approach it from that non-
professional angle. When you consider freelancing a side hustle, you're
more likely to approach it casually. This can lead to lower-quality work,
lost clients and opportunities and ultimately giving up on it.

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 03

THE “PRICING”
MISTAKE
What price to set for your services as a freelancer is one of the most
tricky aspects of freelancing because there are no right or wrong
answers and there is no one-size-fits-all, so it’s no surprise that new
freelancers and even experienced ones continue to make pricing
mistakes that can cost them their growth.

By the end of this section, hopefully, you will be armed with the
confidence and a strategy based on your unique position to set your
price and not feel any type of negative way about it.

OverPricing:
Yes, there is such a thing as overpricing your service, if you are honest
with yourself you can tell if you are overpricing.

This is common with new or inexperienced freelancers with no prior

track record or portfolio who listen to some guru that tells them that
they are selling themselves short, but they forget that this guru possibly
has immense experience and a colorful track record and that he
definitely didn’t start out charging high amounts.

If you are a wedding photographer who works with subpar, budget

equipment and even worse you have little to no experience, charging a
premium because some other wedding photographer brags on
Instagram about how they charge thousands of dollars per project will
only be shooting yourself in the leg because you're setting yourself up to
be considered a scam. I always ask myself, “If I was the buyer, can I pay
this much for what I’m offering?”, you have to be honest and fair, you
don’t want your clients to feel ripped off, the value you bring must
match or even better surpass the price they paid, that is how you keep
your clients hooked.

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UnderPricing:
On the other side of the spectrum, some freelancers grossly underprice
their services. Even if you are new to freelancing, you may be coming
from a real job with real valuable experience and possibly great tools of
the trade in your niche, you can’t charge what the freelancer I described
in the overpricing category charges.

The trick here is truly evaluating the value you bring, from the
viewpoint of “tools” and “experience”. This is why I always recommend
that freelancers learn their trade well above the basics so you don’t just
offer mediocre services and expect to charge high amounts for them.

PRICING STRATEGIES:
There are two main strategies for setting product/service prices in the
world of business, they are:
Extrinsic (or competitive pricing): This is where you set your
prices with the average market price in mind, the idea is to be able
to compete with other service providers, not just from a value
standpoint but from a price standpoint as well. So in a way, the
average market price plays a role in determining yours.

Intrinsic Strategy: This is a pricing strategy that does not take any
external factors into account, the business internally evaluates its
value proposition and sets what they think is the befitting price for
what they offer. A good example of a company that executes this
strategy so well is “APPLE”, they don’t care what customers are
willing to pay, or what other manufacturers are setting their prices
at, they just value their own product and set their price and that's it.

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The mistake most freelancers make is to consider any one of these
strategies better, again there is no such thing as “THE BEST”, you just
have to decide what is best for your business and go with your chosen
strategy.

Where you are, your goals, and what you offer can also determine what
strategy is best for you, are you looking to make more money or to gain
a lot of experience and build a portfolio, these questions will determine
what you choose to go with in terms of pricing strategy.

You can also run a hybrid system, where on different channels you test
out both strategies to kind of see what the results are, you can also
transition from one to the other, Just decide and stop comparing
yourself to anyone else.

It also helps to have long-term goals even with your pricing. This leads
us to the very next mistake

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 04

REVIEWING YOUR
BUSINESS OVER TIME
If you consider your freelancing a business, then like any other business
you should be reviewing it, making changes, and updating things.

Even if you're constantly attracting new clients and business is

booming, you can always do more to improve your business and
increase your profits. However, if you don't take the time to
intentionally evaluate and re-strategize, you may miss out on
opportunities to grow your business and increase your bottom line.

One of the most important things you can do to review your business
over time is to take a look at your pricing. Are you charging enough to
make a comfortable living? Are your prices in line with industry
standards? Do you need to raise your rates to reflect your growing skills
and experience? Also, compare your deliverables to that of other service
providers.

Pro Tip: Sometimes I buy services from competitors in my space, not

because I need them, but just to see where they’re at and the quality of
services they offer compared to mine, I use this to improve upon my own
service. A bit unconventional and even petty I know, but the idea is to
ultimately review my business and improve my offering.

Asking and answering these questions can help you determine whether
your pricing and quality of service are on track or whether you need to
make adjustments.

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It's important to note that pricing is not a set-it-and-forget-it type of
thing. Your pricing should evolve over time as your business grows and
changes.

Another way to review your business is to evaluate how you're gaining

visibility on and off freelance platforms where your business is hosted.

Are you making the most of your social media channels? Are you
attending networking events and conferences to build your professional
network? Are you taking advantage of guest posting opportunities to
position yourself as an expert in your field?

Taking the time to review your business and make changes as necessary
can help you stay ahead of the game and build a successful and
sustainable freelancing business.

It may take some time and effort, but the payoff will be worth it in the
long run. So, set aside some time to review your business and see where
you can make improvements.

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 05

SCALING YOUR
BUSINESS
Very similar to not reviewing your business, freelancers make the
mistake of not scaling, again because of the cliché of freelancing being a
one-man-show, some freelancers stay in that mind space and don’t take
the necessary steps to actually build a sustainable business that can
function even in their absence.

Another mistake you make as a freelancer is to think just because you

have a freelance gig that is doing great and you are constantly making
sales you are now a business owner or an entrepreneur. But actually,
you’re not, you have only succeeded in creating a Job for yourself, hence
the term “self-employed”.

I recommend you read the book “The Cash Flow Quadrant by Robert
Kiyosaki”, you will understand how money works and also that it’s all
about systems and not just a single action that leads to money.

Most freelancing niches are absolutely scalable, you can go from a

service provider to an agency that employs other people.

A practical example could be if you are a freelance social media

manager, you can start to set up your business such that you train or
outrightly employ other experts and you move from just a one-man
show to an agency, this will enable you to take on bigger projects and
charge even higher as well as get more done in less time.

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You could scale by creating multiple streams of income, for example
creating digital products such as video courses, ebooks, coaching,
content creation, etc. based on your knowledge and experience of
freelancing.
I started doing this in 2021 and I highly recommend you think along
these lines as well.

Scaling your business could also mean becoming an “independent

freelancer”, by expanding your business outside of freelancing
platforms and finding ways to build your own clientele maybe through
your own website.

This is absolutely crucial for your growth because as we discussed

earlier in the first mistake, there is no perfect freelance website, plus
you will be building on borrowed property if you only freelance on
websites like Fiverr and Upwork that you do not own, do not think that
you can’t get kicked out simply because you’ve risen up the ranks on
these places, they are not loyal to you like that.

Now I’m not suggesting you break their terms of service like trying to
get clients off those platforms to directly work with you, most of these
platforms frown at that and you might lose your account. (Contra.com
is the only freelance marketplace I know for now that lets you keep
100% of your earnings and as a result, is lenient about directly
connecting with clients) However, you should leverage social media,
content marketing, paid ads, etc. to scale your freelance business and
build something you own

By diversifying your income streams, and coming up with clever ways to

scale your freelancing business, you'll be able to create a more stable
and sustainable business that can weather any changes in the
freelancing market.

Scaling your freelancing business is critical to building a sustainable

and successful business. By focusing on building systems, employing
other experts, and diversifying your income streams, you can create a
business that can function even in your absence and grow beyond your
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wildest dreams.
 06

INVESTING
This is one of the most common mistakes freelancers make, I know
freelancers that have been freelancing for as long as I have been, even
longer but still use the exact same equipment that they started with.

Investing in your business as a freelancer could also take the form of

investing in yourself, I actually think this is the most important form of
investment any freelancer can make because you are the business.

It's easy to get caught up in the day-to-day tasks of freelancing and

forget to take the time to invest in your own growth and development.
Investing in yourself can take many different forms, from taking
courses and attending workshops to reading books and learning from
other successful freelancers like what you are doing right now.

By investing in your own skills and knowledge, you can become a more
valuable asset to your clients, and differentiate yourself from the
competition.

Similarly, investing in your business can also be a critical step toward

long-term success. This could involve investing in tools and software
that can help you streamline your workflow and increase your
productivity.

It could also mean investing in marketing and advertising to help you

reach new clients and grow your business.
In an ever-changing world, one of the keys to success as a freelancer is
staying up-to-date with the latest trends and developments in your
industry.

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Another important aspect of investing in yourself and your business is
building a strong network of contacts and connections.

This could involve attending industry events, joining professional

organizations, or simply reaching out to other freelancers in your niche.

Ultimately, investing in yourself and your business is critical to

achieving long-term success as a freelancer.

Whether it's through buying better gear, taking courses, attending

events, simply reading books and staying informed, and even investing
in an entirely new business besides your freelancing, every small step
you take can bring you closer to achieving your goals and building a
successful career as a freelancer.

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 07

FROM A PLACE OF
DESPERATION
Most beginner freelancers start freelancing from desperation to make
money, maybe they are at a really low point in their life, or friends
around them are making money through freelancing and they feel left
out, they’ve been hearing about the gig economy and want a slice of the
pie, one thing or the other makes them delve into freelancing with only
one goal in mind “Make money fast”.

Freelancing is not a get-rich-quick scheme, like anything worthwhile it

takes time, commitment, and a little bit of obsession to grow while
serving others.

The gig economy is a tempting concept, and the lure of making quick
money can be hard to resist. However, it is important to remember that
the gig economy is not a substitute for a steady job, it’s like starting any
business, nothing is guaranteed, even when you hit the ground running,
if you slow down on improving your work and yourself, that freelancing
well can run dry.

Freelancing requires a lot of work and dedication, and it is not a

suitable option for those looking for a quick fix.

When I lost my Job and started to re-strategize to build an online

business that gave me a bit more freedom, I was conscious of not doing
anything out of desperation, so I took a logical step, I got a Job as a
classroom teacher, which is relatively easy to come by in my country,
just so my basic needs are taken care of and also the job gives me some
time to work on my freelancing after work, this way I wasn’t desperate,
I could think clearly and not inspired by hunger. You might want to
consider adopting a similar strategy.

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One of the most significant challenges that beginner freelancers face is
that they often underestimate the time and effort that goes into building
a successful freelance career.

They may assume that they can start earning money within a few weeks
or months, but the reality is that it can take much longer than that. It
takes time to build a client base, establish a reputation, and develop a
portfolio of work.

Moreover, the competition in the freelance marketplace is intense.

There are millions of people worldwide who are offering freelance
services, and this means that newcomers have to work harder to
establish themselves.

It is not enough to simply create a profile on a freelancing platform and

wait for clients to come knocking. To succeed, you need to be proactive,
constantly looking for opportunities, and offering high-quality services
that set you apart from the competition.

It is essential to understand that freelancing is not a get-rich-quick

scheme, so if you approach it from a place of desperation, your hopes
will be quickly dashed and you find yourself packing up sooner than
you anticipated.

If you are considering freelancing, you should be prepared to invest

time and resources into building your skills, developing your portfolio,
and establishing your reputation. It is not an easy path, but with hard
work and perseverance, it can lead to a successful and fulfilling career.

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 08

CONCLUSION
Comparison Is The Thief of Joy
Finally, I'd like for you to always remember that comparing yourself to
others only leads to feelings of inadequacy and self-doubt. When you
see others in their field achieving success, you may begin to question
your own abilities and accomplishments, resulting in a decrease in
confidence, motivation, and productivity, and causing unhealthy
competition.

Constantly comparing yourself to others also distracts you from your

own goals and values. Each freelancer has their own unique set of skills,
experiences, and values, don't let comparison make you lose focus on
what's truly important to you. You have your own strengths and
accomplishments to be proud of.

In as much as you should be leveling up, and learning from others, don't
EVER let yourself fall into the negative energy field of comparison,
nothing good ever comes out of it.

I hope you’ve found this quick guide helpful, if you have, you can
connect with me on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok where I
frequently share content around Freelancing, making money online,
investing, and productivity.

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