Top 5 skills you need to thrive as a freelancer
We’ve put together a list of the top 5 skills you need to be an effective and thriving freelancer.
PLUS, we’ve added a bonus skill at the end, to help you stand out from the crowd.
Let’s have a look…
Capability
Craftsmanship, ie having a strong command of your craft, is essential. The best writing is underpinned by a great storyteller.
Example:
Understanding & crafting both narratives and characters are central elements to storytelling.
Relevance and resonance are key factors too – great storytellers make the reader care about the narrative & the characters.
How to Improve:
Spend time actively working on improving your craft.
Schedule anywhere from 5 minutes per day to several hours per week on honing your skills.
Many freelancers get so wrapped up in the gigs themselves, that they forget to set aside time to continue to learn & improve.
Set yourself apart – study yourself and how you can improve.
Pitching
This is fundamentally the most important skill as a freelancer – you have to be able to sell yourself. And in the case of a writer or a journalist, you must be able to sell the story.
Example:
You are always pitching.
For everything: Ideas, stories, connections, contacts, commissions, etc.
Even outside of freelancing, if you want to go for a meal with friends, you have to make an appealing pitch for that new pizza place in town that you want to try.
Otherwise, you’re not going for pizza!
How To Improve:
It’s a numbers game (refer to financial literacy) – the more repetitions you get under the belt, the more you learn and therefor the better you get.
The best way to improve is to consider pitching like telling a story – give the listener a reason to give you their attention. Hook them in. Why is it important? Who cares?
Practice, practice, practice. Then practice some more.
Time-management
This doesn’t need much of an explanation, yet remains a pain point for many people.
The internet is littered with time-management techniques, but there is no silver bullet approach – you will need to find what works for you individually, which may take more time than you anticipate.
Persevere, it’s worth it.
Example:
You shoot yourself in the foot and lose a lot of credibility as a freelance if your time-management is poor.
Schedule time blocks for various activities, use an Eisenhower Matrix for priorities.
Don’t miss deadlines.
How To Improve:
If you are struggling to manage your time, try picking the most difficult, complex or tedious activity – the thing you don’t want to do – and do it first thing in the morning.
Git ‘er done.
Diligence & Discipline
This is the ability to get things done, even when you don’t feel like doing them.
Going one step further, it is also about having the ability to show up to task, and to deliver a high standard with consistency.
This is becoming increasingly rare and is a highly valuable skill.
Example:
Discipline is usually built around strong habits. Form strong habits by putting the behaviour first, action begets motivation, not the other way around – meaning: if you want to find motivation to do a task, start the task and the motivation will find you.
Weird, huh?
How To Improve:
Start small and compound over time – the Japanese called it Kaizen, the art of improving 1% every day.
Also, check out James Clear’s book ‘Atomic Habits’.
Financial Literacy
Be comfortable with lots of different types of numbers: understand them, use them, discuss them, explore them.
Example:
Being a freelancer is essentially like running your own small business, so it is imperative to be comfortable with numbers if you want to succeed.
How to Improve:
First steps should always be to know your expenses and have a forecast of what revenue, or sales to customers, are coming up.
After that it’s always useful to be aware of market rates for what you offer – these can vary, so having multiple sources of data can provide practical insights.
Writers should be aware of the rates offered by a publication – if you don’t know, simply ask.
If they don’t tell you, it’s a red flag and you should probably walk away.
FREELANCER BONUS:
Rejection
It’s a tough world out there and competition for attention is high. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t see every pitch commissioned.
This is normal.
Example:
Pitches could be rejected for a variety of reasons that have little to do with the story itself.
For example, the publication has hit their budget for the month, the editor didn’t see your pitch in time for print, the editor was sick that day, you sent it to the wrong person, the publication has paid for a guest feature that week, and so on.
How To Improve:
Start to develop a thick skin and learn to take constructive criticism.
Ask colleagues and peers with whom you have a close professional relationship to review & critique your work – ask them what they would improve.
Do this repeatedly over time, with more people, and you will build great resilience.