Previous Top 20 Posts:

Top 20 Guerrilla Freelancing articles from 2009
Top 20 Guerrilla Freelancing articles from 2010

Below are the top 20 Guerrilla Freelancing articles from 2011. I hope you enjoy them and find something you may have missed over the past 12 months! The list is in no particular order

5 Fight Club Tips for Freelancers – Tweet

The benefits & drawbacks of Freelancing during the grave yard shift – Tweet

10 Creativity killers you should be watching out for – Tweet

6 Hidden benefits of being a Self Made Freelancer – Tweet

Crappy Clients: How (and when) to fire them without feeling guilty – Tweet

Social Media Ass Slapping Syndrome (SMASS™) – Tweet

8 Ways to Kick Start Your Hustle Efforts – Tweet

You and your client are dating: First impressions mean everything – Tweet

8 Days A Week: How to find an extra 24 hours for your freelance business – Tweet

7 items freelancers should back up but probably don’t – Tweet

5 Unusual questions that freelancers MUST ask their clients – Tweet

If you’re not pissing people off, you’re doing it wrong – Tweet

Top 5 mistakes of first time freelancers – Tweet

The four words that every freelancer is scared shitless of hearing – Tweet

3 Reasons you’re not making more money and how you can change it – Tweet

7 ways you can instantly make happy clients – Tweet

Bedroom Businesses: The naked truth behind building a business from home – Tweet

How to build your own guerrilla marketing strategy – Tweet

The benefits and drawbacks of being a hustler – Tweet

101 Freelance Resources you can use today! – Tweet

What were your favorite articles on the list?

I’d love to hear what your favorite articles were on the list from 2011. You can tweet out your favorite by clicking the tweet link next to the titles above or drop a message on our Facebook page letting us know what your favorite were.

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Let’s review 10 of the biggest business cliches!

#1. Thinking outside the box

If I hear someone else say “thinking outside the box” again, I’m going to jump off a building. Well, not really, but you get the point. People overuse this phrase and have beat it into the ground in recent years. Really, it’s just a failed attempt at telling people you’re creative – show them instead.

#2. It’s a win-win situation

This phrase reminds me a lot of a used car salesman. Sure, it sounds like a good idea (a win/win situation even) but I just can’t help but think that there’s a load of bullshit covered up ready to be stepped on.

#3. Giving 110%

Giving all you’ve got is something that should always be done – if you have to tell people you’re giving 110%, you’re really not doing everything in your power to be the best that you can be. Action speaks louder than words, right? So instead of talking about it, start hustling and people will take notice.

#4. At the end of the day

… you go to sleep. Yeah, this phrase is one that’ll definitely put people to sleep after using it a few times. It’s like people saying “um” during a speech – it’s filler. Condense your pitch and resubmit it again tomorrow because at the end of the day (ha), that phrase will cause people to run the other way.

#5. Low hanging fruit

I don’t even know what to say about this one. Besides the fact that it’s way overused in business, it doesn’t even give the person you’re talking to a clear understanding of what you’re talking about. Do you go after the low hanging fruits because they’re easier to get or are they considered less valuable because they’re so easy to get? Tip: don’t confuse your target audience with phrases that are open-ended.

#6. Push the envelope

If there was one phrase on the list that’s been overused the most, this one just might be it. So you push the envelope? So what? Again, actions speak louder than words so instead of trying to use witty words to convince people that you’re awesome, be proactive in your daily actions and show them instead.

#7. Knock the ball out of the park

This one is just plain dumb. Not every good play involves a home run. One home run in a game might get you (at most) 4 runs, but what if you got base hits 5 times in every inning? You’d end up 10 runs and win. Same goes for inside the park home runs, doubles, triples, etc.

#8. All your eggs in one basket

Are you the Easter Bunny? If not, stop using this phrase right now! There’s plenty of other ways to talk about being diversified with your income sources. Passive income is a great way to get started earning money in other areas, so focus on that instead of this overly used catch phrase.

#9. The ball is in your court

The ball is on the court, not yours or mine. The game is played on the same court, so why do you think that every player has their own court? Stop using this phrase now because it’s not making you look intelligent in your target markets eyes.

#10. Rome wasn’t built in a day

No shit. Neither was the hole-in-the-wall bar down the street from your house, but the length of time it takes to build something doesn’t really matter – it’s the quality you put into it that matters the most. Are you putting out the best product possible? Is your service 10 levels above your competition? If not, you need to reevaluate your freelance business in it’s entirety.

That’s what you need to focus on more than the time it takes to build something – you can build something awesome in a few hours (see WP Guerrilla for proof of that) or take months to build something and watch it crumble (see Throwing in the towel).

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So why do most of us fall victim to the fears we have? It cripples us and causes unnecessary timidness in our daily activities. Instead of getting out there and going after our goals, we get trapped into believing that good is good enough.

It’s never good enough.

Or at least it shouldn’t be.

So how can you turn your fear into fuel? How can you take a minute or two out of your day, acknolwedge your fears and then turn that nervous energy into the ability to stay up past 4am working, busting your ass and making sure you’re not going to fail?

Before we get to that, let’s look into what one of the biggest fears that freelancers have.

Fear of failure.

Maybe you’re the only person in your house that’s working and your entire families success weighs on your shoulders. Maybe you’ve just found out that you’re expecting a child and your current income is only enough to keep you and your significant other afloat.

Maybe, maybe, maybe.

No matter what the specifics of the fears you have are, they almost always boil down to a fear of failure.

Will I land this new job? Will I totally rock during my next meeting? What if I cannot get the rent for this month? What will happen if my main source of income suddenly dries up?

Yeah, I’ve been there.

I’m there right now actually. It’s 4am and I’m writing this post and designing at the same time (well, not at the exact same time – I obviously can’t write and design at the same time, but you know what I mean).

I’m scared too.

But what I’ve learned is that this fear that fills my mind can be a good thing.

You know the cliche “when your back’s against the wall…” right? Well, it’s something that I always looked at as just another cliche but lately I’ve really been seeing the benefits of having your back against the wall.

Instead of feeling comfortable with my life and being happy that I’ve been freelancing full time for 5 years, I’m nervous and I love the feeling. The idea of the unknown really excites me.

It scares the living shit out of me, but it also excites me beyond belief.

Fueling your freelance business with fear

So how do you use fear to your advantage? The first thing you need to do is understand that your fears are not going to break you. The fear itself is just your idealistic mind creeping into your gut and shutting down your adventurous side.

Instead of being crippled by your fear, you can use it to build up a non-stop work ethic and fuel your freelance business to new heights because you know if you don’t work as hard as you’ve ever worked in your life, your whole world will shut down.

Remind yourself every day of what you’re afraid of first thing in the morning and right before you go to sleep. Focus on your fears and allow yourself to see the fear for what it is – your mind telling you what you need to do.

Your fears are just hidden clues to what’s really most important in your life. Acknowledge the fears and recognize their power.

Instead of spending time on social media sites thinking that tomorrow will come and you’ll be able to get a project done, get off your ass and start hustling. Spend the next 6 hours knocking out a project you were putting off.

Remind yourself during this time that if you don’t get it done you’re going to go broke and lose your house, car and entire life.

Drastic? Yes.

Essential? Definitely.

There’s a reason that a lot of success stories you hear about a lot of the wealthiest people in the world involve them being poor and/or homeless, down on their luck and at rock bottom.

It’s because when they hit that wall and couldn’t back up any more, they had no choice but to fight back. Fight or flight kicks in and instead of being giant pussies, they dug their feet into the ground and pushed back.

Your fear is a bully.

The longer you pretend that it will go away if you don’t feed it, the longer it’ll be right there in your face pushing you and beating you up.

How do you get rid of bullies in school? You punch them right in the fucking face and they learn that you’re not someone they can push around.

The same is true with your fears.

So instead of allowing your fears to stop you from being successful, use it to your advantage. Remind yourself daily about why you’re fighting and never stop pushing forward.

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You can submit to more job boards, set up guerrilla marketing tactics to find more work, etc. But what about figuring out ways to make money over and over again without any additional work? Got your interest?

Passive income is a great way to earn some additional cash while still doing your current freelance work. Yes, you’ll work more hours, but you’re a hustler so why would that bother you?

The hidden truth behind being a freelancer is that you’re not truly free – you’re working for clients, bending to their needs and in essence, they’re your boss. In order to be truly free, passive income comes into play. It’s all around you, but sometimes it’s hard to see it since

Ebooks

One of the quickest ways to earn some passive income is by sharing your knowledge. I’ve personally done this with the Guerrilla Guide and One Man Army books I’ve released on this site and can say without a doubt that it’s a great way to earn some extra income.

Think about your current business and write up a guide for beginners on how they can do what you do, or go in a completely different direction and write an ebook about one of your passions – sports, painting, etc. If you pack the book with enough kick ass information you’ll be able to sell the hell out of it and build your passive income up to a respectable level in no time.

Vector/Graphic Files

How many files do you currently have on your computer right now that were built for a client but never used in production? How many times have you posted random designs to Dribbble that were created “just for fun”? Well, these files can be turned into passive income.

If you check out sites like istockphoto, graphicriver, etc. you can see how people are able to upload premium design files and sell them. Do you run your own blog? Sell the items directly on your own website and keep 100% of the profits.

Web Hosting Recommendations

This is one that I’ve currently been implementing into my business lately and I have to say that it’s a great way to get some checks in the mail for virtually zero work. If you’re a web designer and your clients don’t have hosting set up, why not recommend them to a hosting company that you like and get paid for the referral?

I personally recommend HostGator for hosting (coupon code: GuerrillaFreelancing gets you the first month for 1 penny) and get paid every time someone signs up under my affiliate link. I recommend it because I use them for my own websites so I know they’re a good company and worth the client signing up for.

WordPress Themes

I know what you’re thinking, “aren’t there enough of these damn sites out there already?”, and you’re right – there are a lot of WordPress theme companies out there. Yes, it seems like an over saturated market but then again people say the same thing about earning money by running porn websites and we all know those will never go away.

So instead of trying to build your own full blown theme company, release your own commercial WordPress theme on your portfolio website or your own blog. By doing this, you aren’t running the risk of building a WordPress theme company that eventually has to close down.

Build your own websites

If you look at this website, Guerrilla Freelancing is a perfect example of building your own website to earn some extra cash from. I write about things I know a lot about, I teach others on a daily basis and I have a blast doing it. In return, I release guides and have advertisements on the site which earn me passive income.

So get out there, build a website surrounding a passion of yours, put some ads in place and start earning yourself some passive income. Yes, the site might take a while to build and start earning money, but once it’s grown to a respectable size, the effects snowball themselves. Pat from Smart Passive Income has a TON of great information on building niche websites that you might want to check out as well.

Software Development

Everything from WordPress plugins, iPhone apps, web apps, etc. can be turned into passive income. Do you want to build your own to-do web app or how about a project management app? If you’re not able to code out something like this, link up with a developer who knows how to code and you bring your skillset the table (designing, copywriting, etc) and join forces to earn some passive income together.

Stock Photography

This is another passive income stream that I’m working on over at the inspiiired magazine website. By taking photos of textures and releasing them I am able to build up traffic and exposure for my site. Now I’m working on actually taking stock photos to release which will grow the passive income earned from the site because every shot I upload has the potential to earn money on a regular basis.

iStockPhoto is a great place to look for ideas on what Stock Photos earn the most money. Check out their popular items section and see which items you’re able to recreate and sell on your own website. Everything from business men and women to children toys have the potential to earn you cash so don’t limit yourself to only one or two types of shots.

What are you waiting for?

If you’re reading this and you’re still not doing something at this very moment to help you earn some extra passive income, what are you waiting for? Is there something holding you back from building up some nice side business income? If so, let’s talk on Twitter and see what we can do in order to get you moving forward with at least one passive income stream this week.

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#1: “This is your life, and it’s ending one minute at a time.”

The most important thing you can learn from the movie Fight Club is this – your life is ending and you’ve only got a limited amount of time to do important shit, so quit wasting it playing angry birds. Steve Jobs also said something similar to this, so if you can’t get the picture by watching Fight Club, go watch the youtube video of Steve Jobs saying pretty much the exact same thing.

Here’s the problem with most of us (myself included), we think that the world’s going to be here forever, we put off things until tomorrow and we pretend that we’re not going to wake up one morning and look in the mirror only to see a shell of our former selves. So quit waiting to do the important shit – get out there and do it now.

#2: “No fear. No distractions. The ability to let that which does not matter truly slide.”

Never let your business get weighed down by the unimportant things that come up. Yes, in the grand scheme of things your accounting is really important, but that won’t matter at all if you’re not bringing in sales. And you will not bring in sales unless you’re marketing your business and getting customers/clients.

Take some time and clean off your desk, remove unused icons from your desktop, delete old files you no longer have a need for and clean your house. By removing these unneeded distractions, you’ll free up space and give your mind more room to roam and create. Then, stop being afraid of being great and get out there and make your business grow to new heights you never even thought possible!

#3: “You’re not your job. You’re not how much money you have in the bank. You’re not the car you drive. You’re not the contents of your wallet. You’re not your fucking khakis.”

You’re a freelancer but that doesn’t mean it’s how you should define your entire life. Not only is that unhealthy, but it’s also limiting. I used to think that I had to fit within a certain group of people, dress a specific way and act just like they did but then I realized that being unique is much better for myself and for my business.

So now, instead of keeping the normal 9-5 hours, I work for around 16-18 hours a day, split up between morning and late at night when most people are sleeping, allowing me to talk with people from the US as well as around the world. Instead of wearing dress clothes, black rim glasses and weird hats, I wear loose fitting jeans, a t-shirt and a baseball cap.

What can you do that’s different than everyone else? How can you live your life so that you’re not defined by a simple title like “freelancer”?

#4: “I say never be complete, I say stop being perfect, I say let’s evolve, let the chips fall where they may.”

Learning is infinite, we do it every day. If we don’t evolve, we die. The same holds true for your freelance business. If you’re not learning new guerrilla marketing techniques and keeping up with the news and advancements in your industry, you’re going to be left behind.

Your business needs to be nurtured every day. It’s just like weight lifting for freelancers, you need to exercise and grow your muscles in order to get stronger, faster, better.

#5: “Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken.”

On the flip side of the above tip, you can do everything in your power to pretend to be a great business mind, killer designer or excellent copywriter but if you’re not able to perform, you’re just lying to yourself and others. You can dress the part (although as #3 mentions, I’d advise against it), you can learn the lingo and you can build up a front for yourself, but at the end of the day if you’re not performing like a true champion, you’ll never be able to wear the belt.

You want more?

I wrote about Marketing Tips from Tyler Durden a while back, so you can always check that out if you’re looking for more Fight Club inspiration. Oh, and read the book if you haven’t – it’s much better than the movie, and the movie is one of my all time favorites so that should just go to show you how great the book actually is.

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I have a neighbor who moved in a little over two months ago. He comes outside first thing in the morning – every morning – and sweeps the garbage, debris and leaves from under everyones carport.

He doesn’t have to, its not in the lease agreement as a requirement for living here, but he does it anyway.

In the short time he’s lived here he has built a reputation for himself as the guy who sweeps the leaves.

After a while I asked him why he does it and he said that it keeps him busy and out of the house. He mentioned that he served in the United State Marine Corps and that he had some surgeries after his time in Vietnam so he doesn’t get to do much.

Sweeping up every day kept him active and gave him a sense of accomplishment. “Plus” he said, “sitting inside all day doing nothing seems like such a waste of a good life”.

I smiled and thanked him for sweeping. Then I went back inside, knowing he is still out there continuing his daily routine.

So what does this have to do with your freelance business?

There’s magical powers in repetition

Most things in life require you to put in some effort on a consistent basis in order to see results and your freelance business is no different. Just like professional athletes train for years to become great (see Michael Jordan, Mike Tyson, Anderson Silva, etc) you need to build up your repetitions in business to grow your skill set and more importantly your reputation.

How much better are you right now at your craft compared to a few years ago? That’s due to practice and repetition. Do you want to speed up the process of getting great? It’s all done through constant repetition – every day for an entire year put in as many hours as possible to improve your skills and see how much growth you experience.

Building a name for yourself

My neighbor is forever going to be known as the guy who sweeps outside every day. You need to build a name for yourself, creating a unique selling position that makes your clients remember you over anyone else they’ve ever talked to in your field.

A ridiculous work ethic is one great way to stand out because your competition will generally follow a 9-5 schedule, so by keeping your hours open longer and being easier to reach at hours when your competitors aren’t you’ll burn an everlasting image of awesomeness in your clients minds.

Doing great work consistently pays off

Are you surprised that people who work the hardest tend to get the luckiest? It’s hard to believe but a lot of people overlook this simple technique because they’ve been overwhelmed by the dream of living free as a freelancer; following the 4 hour work week, checking emails only when you feel like it, etc.

Besides the obvious benefit of building a name for yourself, you can also benefit from repetition in different ways. So what other benefits are there from doing great work consistently?

• Your skills increase and when your work becomes well known you are able to market yourself as an expert in your field.
• Your rates increase because your skills are being sharpened and by being considered an expert, you are able to charge expert rates.
• Your clients will love the work you’ve done for them and will become Word Of Mouth marketers for your business. The better you work, the better your clients feel and the more they want to talk about you.

What are you doing right now?

Are you spending an hour or two reading through your RSS reader? Are you browsing Twitter or Facebook and looking for something to inspire you?

Stop looking for inspiration and go inspire yourself.

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There are ways you can fight the freelance funk and get yourself motivated to make magic happen. Some of the best tips on fighting freelance funk are laid out in this very article – written while I was in a design funk by the way. So if you’ve found yourself in a slump lately, check out these tips and see if you don’t come out at the end of this article more energized and ready to rock.

Tip #1: Do something completely different

Burn outs happen and when they do, it’s good to notice it and move onto something else. For instance, when I write articles for this blog I usually do it when I’ve been designing for a while and I’m tired of being in Photoshop. By taking the break to write, I allow my ‘creative’ brain to rest and then once it’s time to get back to work I feel refreshed and ready to complete the tasks at hand.

Doing something different can also mean going for a walk, reading a book, playing with a pet or listening to music. Anything that can get your mind off of the current work for a bit can greatly help you recharge your batteries. Maybe doing absolutely nothing is exactly what you need? Take a day off and sleep, lounge around on the couch and never touch your phone or computer (this includes, but is not limited to: laptops, desktops, tablets and phones).

Tip #2: Read/Listen/Watch Inspirational Pieces

One of the first things I do when I get into an emotional slump is read motivational quotes. I’ll skip through a few of them and see if something catches my eye and makes me think. I’ve showcased motivational quotes here a couple times (98 in total – 49 here and 49 more here) so you can go through those when you feel a bit down.

If you’re not up for reading, try spending some time in front of the television with a good movie. Inspirational movies like Pursuit of Happyness, Yes Man, etc will put you into a better mood and motivate you to get to work – I’ve watched Pursuit of Happyness 6 times now and every time I watch it, I get a renewed sense of energy to work really fucking hard. If all else fails, watch this youtube video and then tell me you can’t do something.

Tip #3: Get off your ass and work out

I’ve been the type of person to blow this tip off in the past just like you’re probably doing now, so do yourself a favor and don’t skip it. There’s something powerful that happens when you work out, push your body to the limit and take a shower afterwards. You feel refreshed, invigorated and ready to take over the world. Read up on how Exercise has been proven to ward of depression – it’s proven fact and I can personally promise you that it does work.

What I like to try and do, especially on days where I’m trapped in my office for 10+ hours, is get up every thirty minutes and do a set of push ups, a set of sit ups and maybe even a few burpees. It gets the blood flowing, stretches out my muscles and energizes me when I sit back down for another 30 minutes. You can also try using some dumbbells and doing a few exercises with those or doing jumping jacks, dance, etc. Just get up and move!

Tip #4: Dive into your work head first

Sometimes the best way to get out of the freelance funk is to just dive into your work and get started. The fear of starting paralyzes us into an inability to even begin, so if you can force yourself to sit down and get to work, you’re already a million miles ahead of where you were five minutes ago.

So what are you waiting for? Tweet this article and then get to work!

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Case in point, my blog design portfolio. By most standards in the design community, it looks great – it’s clean, screams professional & lays out every aspect of my business that needs to be said. But the site sucks & I’ll tell you why.

The design gets rave reviews from designers as well as css galleries (I was featured in CSS Mania among others), yet it’s not doing the one thing that it’s supposed to do – get people to hire me.

When I had my previous design online, a single-page portfolio that had a cartoon header with a gorilla and hand drawn elements, every person who contacted me commented on how much they liked my design.

But I changed it anyways.

Why would I change something that was working so well?

I recently have been going over that very question in my head. You see, contacts from potential clients are slowing up more so than ever – dropping 50% from the previous design even though traffic to the site is up.

Changing the design was partially due to me feeling like the old design was outdated (it was online for about 2 years) and needed to showcase my more professional side.

Damn, was I wrong.

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it – I should have listened to that statement more and kept the old design.

So are you making the same mistake I did and designing your portfolio to get high-fives from your designer friends or are you actually taking time to figure out what’s going to work best for potential clients?

High-fives are great; I give them all the time but they’re not putting money in my pocket and they’re not getting more clients in the door.

So instead of trying to please the design community and get internet props (You know, the whole Social Media Ass Slapping Syndrome thing comes to play here) why not try to figure out what’s going to get you more money.

Single Page Portfolios VS Multi-Page Portfolios

No matter what people tell you, there’s a HUGE difference in these two forms of portfolios and not just because one is a single page while the other may be upwards of 20. They both serve different purposes and they’re both good for you, depending on which area of work you’re looking to get hired for.

You want to get hired by agencies and corporations? Then a multi-page portfolio might do you some good. But if you’re looking to get hired by someone who’s just browsing design portfolios to find the right person for the job, you might think about downsizing your portfolio into a single page.

I know that when I had a single page portfolio, my contact rates from potential clients was much higher than it is now and I think I’ve figured out why.

Multi-page portfolios give potential clients too much time to think of something else to do.

They’ll click your about page, read (ie: skim it over) it, hit your work page and then in most cases they’ll leave. They’re burnt out on clicking and they’re trained to just keep clicking and checking out other stuff.

Having a single page portfolio will hit them right away with all of the info they need, they’ll skim down the page and then instantly be confronted with your contact form. Fresh off of the views of your awesome design portfolio, they’re ready to make that jump and contact you so by seeing your contact form, their impulses tell them to submit a query.

What you should really be focusing on

Yes, your awesome jquery effects and cool infographic-style about page will impress your designer buddies, but when you’re freelancing, trying to make a living & supporting your family, you don’t have time for cool, you’ve got to get to the bread and butter of freelancing – the payday.

There’s a reason that companies pay top sales team members more than others – because without cash flow the business crumbles.

The days of thinking that money is the root of all evil are over. If your business isn’t bringing in cash, you fail at freelancing and your live crumbles before your eyes.

So stop trying to get a pat on the back from your friends and start worrying about what’s going to further your success as a freelancer – more clients and more money.

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Harsh? Maybe. True? Yes.

The sooner you realize this hard truth, the sooner you can start to surround yourself with people who are going to be a positive influence on you & your freelance business. Cutting out the bullshit in your life might seem hard at first, but I assure you that it can only lead to positive results.

If you’re anything like me, and most other human beings on this earth, you have a few family members who you just don’t like. But they’re my family, right?

Wrong.

They’re blood relatives, but you never got the chance to choose who those blood relatives were growing up. As an adult, you have the choice now.

Choose wisely.

You are guilty by association and if you choose to hang around people who complain and are generally lazy, guess what? The odds of you sitting around kicking rocks are MUCH higher than the person who is surrounded by positive influences.

So if you want to spend your life doing a whole lot of nothing, partying and living care free, then by all means go for it. But for the rest of us, the ones who are strapped in and ready to push it to the limit, that’s just not going to cut it.

We need to be stronger, faster, smarter & meaner.

In business, not everybody wins.

The sooner you check yourself in the mirror and remind yourself that this is a war that you just cannot afford to lose, the sooner you’ll be giving everything you have to make sure you succeed.

And you know what? You will succeed.

You will succeed because 90% of the world won’t. They will give up before the end of the race, walking away from the finish line even when it’s in plain site. Those are the people you want to steer clear from. They’ll suck you down into their pit of sorrow and never feel bad about it.

Misery loves company… A mini-story

You’ve heard that before, right? I know I have and for the longest time I never got it. Maybe because I was revolving my life around miserable people. But when I did start to get it, I realized that my life would be as horrible as the people who I surrounded myself with, if I didn’t change who I associated with.

So I started to weed out friends & family.

Today, I don’t talk to any of my immediate family and only a handful of the extended family I have, through Facebook. At first they thought I was crazy and mean, but at that point I didn’t care.

I had to look out for #1 – me. Just like you’ve got to look out for your own personal #1 – you.

I cut out all of my friends. I mean ALL of my friends. I live with my girlfriend and we stopped hanging out with everyone we used to. It was hard to adjust to this at first, because we were both very social and loved to be a part of the crowd. But we knew it had to be done, so we did it.

You know where my friends are that I cut out?

Dead, Prison, Rehab & doing the exact same. Not one of them has changed for the better. If I stayed hanging around with them much longer than I had, who knows if I’d even be typing this post right now.

Time to evaluate

So now you’ve got a choice to make. You can continue hanging with the people you’re currently associating with or you can choose to break free from those chains and find friends who will not only love you, but push you to be a better person and better freelancer.

If you’ve got that already, great. You’re doing awesome and I congratulate you.

For those of you who don’t have a group of brilliant minds to bounce ideas off of, learn from and use as a support system, there’s still hope.

Your local area might not be budding with hustlers and motivational people, but I bet that Twitter is. In fact, I know Twitter is.

When I talk with people like Andy Sowards, Jon Phillips or Amber Leigh Turner I get a renewed sense of motivation – and we’ve never even met in person.

As long as your circle of friends are working harder than you are, you’ll always be motivated to do more. So make sure you’ve connect with some hard working freelancers and light the fire under your ass to do something amazing.

And never forget – people will judge you by the actions of those around you.

Choose wisely.

Note: Don’t forget to click the button below and chat on Twitter about this topic. There’s no comments on the site because I think being more open socially on a platform like Twitter will allow for easier flow of conversation.

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You’ve heard that all before, right?

Well, what if I told you that the entire phrase “freedom as a freelancer” is complete shit and you’ll never be truly free as a freelancer?

The truth about freelancing

Some people might not like this harsh reality, but the simple fact is this – freelancers have bosses, deadlines, work hours & stress just like 9-5 workers do.

Yes, there are benefits to freelancing, just like there are drawbacks to freelancing, but what I want to debunk in this post is the notion that when you become a freelancer, you become free and independent.

That’s bullshit.

Every client you get is your boss. Once you sign a contract and begin working with them, you’re actually working for them. What they want, what they request, what they ask to be changed – you’re just reacting to their actions.

Want more time off to do your own thing? Freelancers generally work more hours than your average 9-5 worker does. You might get to choose to work in the morning or in the dead of night, but the hours will suck.

Remember that check you got every Friday from your boss? Yeah, those days are gone. Freelancers tend to get paid late by clients – or even worse, not at all – on a regular basis. The feast or famine cycle is real and it does a number on your pay days.

Then there’s the stress you’ll have if you’re unable to continue working your normal schedule.

• Will your current clients become upset?
• Will you still receive leads for new business?
• Will you be able to still pay your rent on time?

These are all legitimate fears when working as a freelancer. Think about it for a second – you’re the whole entire operation in your freelance business. If you don’t work, you don’t get paid.

Does that sound like true freedom?

How do you become truly free?

Supplementing your income and building up your own side hustles is a great way to start the process of becoming truly free.

The amount of work you put into freelancing, you also should be putting into things you can make money off of on your own.

• Designers – Why not release premium design packs like you see for sale on GraphicRiver?
• Writers – Do you have a guide/ebook for sale? If not, why haven’t you wrote one yet?
• Developers – Have you thought about building out website templates for sale?

The goal with these side hustles is to build passive income. This way, even when you’re sleeping the money will still be able to come in.

Digital products that can be downloaded instantly. For instance, I’ve released to guides here on Guerrilla Freelancing (Guerrilla Guide + One Man Army) & both have instant payment + instant download features.

This allows me to earn money from the ebooks over and over again, even when I’m not around.

Remember the post I wrote about business from beyond? If not, read it here. Building a passive income is a great way to ensure that your loved ones can continue being provided for even if you’re no longer alive.

Think about that for a second.

You can earn a living for your family, even if you’re not alive.

Freelancing can be a great way to earn an income on your own, without the need to leave the house or get dressed, but beyond that, you’re not truly free.

We all want freedom, right? Well then I’d suggest brainstorming and starting to build up a side hustle or two that isn’t dependent on clients.

I hope to explore this topic a bit more in future posts, so feel free to comment below if you have any questions or input about the lack of freedom as a freelancer.

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