By Cheryl Lock
It will probably come as no surprise to hear that freelancers often talk amongst themselves about pay. From online forums to conversations with friends (both of which I’ve been a part), the topic of income tends to come up a lot. Whether or not freelancers can actually earn a good living probably depends on whom you ask, but according to one survey by Payoneer, the average freelance fee was $19 per hour across all fields and regions.
It’s important to take surveys like this with a grain of salt, since obviously how much the average freelancer makes can vary wildly based on a number of factors. In my experience, however, the answer is yes, you really can earn a good (even great!) living as a freelancer. Will it be easy? No. Will it be worth it? Absolutely.
In my almost seven years of exclusively freelancing for a living, here are a few things I believe the average freelancer needs to do in order to make a living wage:
Treat it like a business.
If you quit your day job to freelance because you’d like to stay in your sweats all day, work from bed, and take every Friday off, then here’s a little secret: you won’t succeed. There really is something to the mantra, “Dress up, show up.” Just because the majority of your job is conducted from behind a computer screen doesn’t mean you don’t need to play the part.
As a freelancer, you are the CEO of your business, so you should act like one. That means keeping specific hours (especially helpful for clients, editors, collaborators, etc. to be able to reach you), setting up an actual workspace, and yes, dressing up. You don’t necessarily need to wear a suit to sit at your desk (although if you want to, more power to you!), but changing out of your pajamas is a good start.
Be organized.
You’ll never be able to tell if your business is growing or how successful you are if you don’t keep detailed documentation of your work. This type of documentation might look different depending on what line of freelancing you do. As a writer, for me that means keeping a spreadsheet with the following:
- Every story I work on through the year, broken out by quarter and month
- The name and contact information of every editor I work with for particular stories
- Major dates, like outline, draft, and revision deadlines
- Payment information, including the date I turn in an invoice and the date I get paid
- How much the story pays, along with how much I’ll keep out for taxes and how much that story nets me after taxes
- A status of where I’m at with the story—haven’t started, outline is in, first draft is in, etc.
- What I’ve netted for the month in total, what I’ll pay in taxes for the month, and what I get to pocket
It’s a lot of information to keep on hand, sure, but it means I (hopefully) never miss a deadline and (even more hopefully) never forget a payment that hasn’t been issued on time.
Invest in your business.
While it might be possible to conduct your freelance work on your seven-year-old computer without a printer and/or scanner or solid cell phone service, the more likely scenario is that this type of setup causes a lot of headaches. If you’re just starting out and money is tight, consider setting up a separate savings account to funnel even a couple dollars from each paycheck into so that you can splurge a few months down the road on the systems that will really help your business flourish. And remember, anything you buy for your business may be a tax write-off.
Be an expert at networking.
The not-so-secret tip about earning a good living as a freelancer is that in order to make money from home, you often have to balance multiple clients at once. Unless you’ve landed a fantastic-paying freelance gig right out of the gate (congrats!), it can take a lot of time—years even—to build up a solid body of work, or to work your way up to the more elusive high-paying clients. One of the best ways to work that gig hustle is to network like a pro.
The truth is that it is possible to earn a good living as a freelancer if you’re willing to put in the time and energy to make it happen. The suggestions above are a good place to start.
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