career
While freelance living does
come with all the benefits
you expect (and more), it also
takes some time to acclimate
to the sudden change. While
you have the flexibility to do
as you please, you suddenly
realise that how much you
earn depends entirely on
you—there’s going to be no
guaranteed check handed over
at the end of every month.
Wait, WAIT, the warnings
sound. If there’s no guaranteed
earnings system, how am
I going to be able to afford
ANYTHING, let alone my
manicures!? Don’t worry,
you’ll find your sweet spot soon
enough. It requires new kinds
of discipline and versatility,
and a revised approach to your
concept of a working day. To
help you, here’s some fab advice
from people in the know!Waking hours vs. Working hours
A prime mistake newly minted
freelancers make is thinking
that every waking hour should
be dedicated to work. Part of
this stems from the panic you
feel that you’ll never make
as much as you did in your
previous corporate job and
you still need to maintain
your usual lifestyle. While this
pressure does exist, running
yourself ragged 24/7 is not
the answer. Economists call
this ‘diminishing returns’,
which loosely translates into
the following: While you will
probably do excellently at the
beginning of your new work
cycle, exhaustion will soon
begin to seep in. So even if
you put double the energy
and focus into your tasks, the
return will not be as great
because you’re drained and
cannot function at full capacity.“To optimise your life, make
sure to set aside a certain
number of work hours,” says
Kamal, 29. “It gives you a
definite daily goal to work
towards [e.g. I have 6 hours
to finish this proposal], andchances are that you’ll actually
achieve it.” Then it’s totally
fine to do other non-work
things for the rest of your day.
“There shouldn’t be a feeling
of inadequacy,” Kamal affirms.
“Everyone needs some time
off.” Similarly...ritualise your routine
Sometimes, your days are a
blur of finishing up projects
and filling up your bank
account with well-deserved
cash. Others, you’re sitting
around, waiting for things to
happen. How do you handle
the volatility?“While there are many things
about a freelancer’s schedule
that she can’t control, there
are some things that she can,”
comments Laki, 35. “You
can specify what time in the
morning you’re going to wake
up and have breakfast; and
what times you’re going to
slot in your daily workout and
chill with your dog .” So while
the work portion may ebb and
flow, these other set tasks will
help you maintain a steady
momentum that, in turn, will
keep you focused and driven.“I also always think it’s useful
to have something on the side
when work is going slow,”
Laki says. “You can blog, or
think creatively around your
Instagram profile...anything
that ups your brand equity.”
Feeling like you’re doing things
to help you when work is slow
means you’re still going to
be thinking hard and in an
invested manner, and actually
increasing your value until the
next opportunity comes along!home & aWay
Working from your bed is a
welcome break for an hour
or two, but when it turns into
your new-age desk, that’s
not so good. You’re looking
at a sweaty mess of pens,
notebooks, pajamas, make-
up and chargers. How’s a girlto think! Find another place
to work. Whether that’s by
carving out a different space
in your house that you use as
an office or a particular spot
in which you can concentrate
— coffee shops, hotel lobbies —
while sipping a latte, working
in an alternate environment is
stimulating and refreshing.“It was extremely difficult for
me to take that first step and
carve out an “office” for myself,”
says Shevanthi, 24. “I moved
desk spaces so often, none of
them felt like mine. But then
I began taking something
familiar with me, like a stress
ball or my favourite water
bottle. By having these familiar
work objects on me, I could
get into ‘office mode’ whenever
I wanted.” Identify one or two
small items you can take along
as part of your work bag. It’ll
get your head in the game no
matter where you choose to
situate yourself that day.internet schminternet?
It’s true that sometimes being
mobile and accessible is a
bit of a challenge when most
public working spaces — cafes,
libraries, etc. — have little to
no Internet provision. “When
I started as a freelancer, I
would freak out about not
having a proper Internet
connection. The one at my
house was not great and I
felt bad asking my parents to
increase the bandwidth for
me, especially when I wasn’t
earning anything. But the
cafes at the time had spotty to
no connection,” says Janani,- “Eventually, I got myself
a dongle and took it with me
everywhere. It changed my life.”
There’s really no way to be an
efficient freelancer without a
proper internet connection
and, in this case, sharing is not
caring. Dongles are still a great
solution, but so is a portable
Wi-Fi connection. Dominic,
27, takes his all around town. “Ican get my work done so fast,
and it’s worth the small cost of
one or two people thinking I’m
weird,” he chuckles.rev up your relationships
profile
We mean more LinkedIn, less
Tinder! In a freelance world,
your jobs – and your salary- almost always depend on
word of mouth and personal
recommendations, at least to
begin with. Polishing up your
networking skills definitely
pays off.
“Many of my first jobs
came by way of family
recommendations,” says
Chaithri, 40. “I worked hard
and established myself by
making it a point to develop
individual connections with
my clients. I’d always set up a
lunch meeting or a catch up
over coffee once every couple
of months.” Having that face-
time ensures that your name is
always at the forefront of your
clients’ minds, and they’ll be
sure to think of you the next
time someone asks them for a
freelance recommendation.Of course, being a freelancer,
you always need to keep
an eye on the cash—with
all these social meetings, it
can disappear faster than
anticipated. “Usually, your
clients are more than happy
to pick up the check,” Chaithri
laughs. “On a personal level,
they understand the dent it’ll
make in your savings versus
their company card. But on
a professional level, it’s in
their best interest to keep you
interested in their product, too.
Especially if you’ve done an
amazing job!”a version of this article
first appeared on
WWW.cosmomag.lk.
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* all namEs havE bEEn ChangEd to protECt privaCy.110