Give up Freelancing or not?

[sayeedakram]

It's been almost two years I am still struggling to sustain in Freelancing so I often feel like giving it up, but I also can't take the final step to give it up since Freelancing is my passion and I'm a full-time job holder as well so it's really very difficult for me to adjust time between work and Freelancing.

What should I do to get rid from this middle point of give up or don't give up? Seeking advice from the experienced and professional people only.

[lloydsolutions]

Check out this topic: 

[smashradio]

1 hour ago, sayeedakram said:

It's been almost two years I am still struggling to sustain in Freelancing so I often feel like giving it up, but I also can't take the final step to give it up since Freelancing is my passion and I'm a full-time job holder as well so it's really very difficult for me to adjust time between work and Freelancing.

What should I do to get rid from this middle point of give up or don't give up? Seeking advice from the experienced and professional people only.

Here's the thing. You gotta take care of the basics first. Food on the table, a roof over your head, healthcare for your family and so on. If you're struggling to do that as a freelancer, you have to rethink a few things. 

First of all, consider if you can continue being a freelancer while covering your basics. You have a full-time job, so that's great. That should hopefully take care of things. 

Combining freelancing with a full-time job can be difficult if you want any sort of balance. 

But there is a positive side to this: you don't have to give up. You can delay. Take a step back, look at what you may be doing wrong at the moment. Spend some quality time with friends and family. Enjoy life. 

While you do, you can keep planning for the day you'll return to freelancing. Maybe you could improve your skills in the meantime? 

So there's options, beyond just "giving up". 

I've been there. I've done it. 

Another alternative is to go all in. But unless you have a buffer that can last you at least a year, preferably longer, that's super risky. 

Edited June 8, 2022 by smashradio

[donnovan86]

11 minutes ago, smashradio said:

If you're struggling to do that as a freelancer, you have to rethink a few things. 

Generally the best approach is to accumulate experience and some wealth before you freelance. Starting to freelance waiting for a big break in 2022 is not really a great idea. It might happen, but only to 1-2 people out of 1000. Maybe less. 

[smashradio]

42 minutes ago, donnovan86 said:

Generally the best approach is to accumulate experience and some wealth before you freelance. Starting to freelance waiting for a big break in 2022 is not really a great idea. It might happen, but only to 1-2 people out of 1000. Maybe less. 

Indeed. 

I went 100% freelancer during the lockdown (in addition to owning a company). But I already had a healthy buffer and a good portfolio of investments ready by then. I consider myself lucky. If I didn't have that in order before the lockdown, I would probably have struggled a lot more. 

These days, I'm 100% freelance + my company, and I'm doing well. It's part luck, part strategic planning for difficult times over several years I have to thank for that. 

[donnovan86]

Exactly. A lot of people these days think that they quit their job and become successful as freelancers. You can't get into this blindly.. I was forced to quit my job when I joined Fiverr, but even then I had some money set aside to survive for a year or two. 

[mariashtelle1]

I would say two years of part time freelancing should be sufficient to build a business. If that didn’t happen then you are doing something wrong: Do you call only working on fiverr as freelancing? If so then it’s not sustainable. 
Moving to freelancing make sense only if you see that you have to reject orders and you have much more clients in a pipeline than you can take so going full time freelancing will make sense. 
If you are working full time job and just waiting for orders to come on fiverr to complete them then I’m afraid that’s also not a path to success, you are just basically adding working hours to your day and that’s it. 

[sayeedakram]

Thank you all for your crucial tips and recommendations. This opinions can be a huge source of motivation for me.

[sayeedakram]

As people talk about developing skills I think the core problem lies over here!!! freshers or even the experienced people run behind skills which are outdated by 2022.

What do I think the main problem are the skills we learn we should think that those skills are trendy or not?

Edited June 13, 2022 by sayeedakram

[imagination7413]

8 minutes ago, sayeedakram said:

What do I think the main problem is the skills we learn we should focus that those skills are trendy or not?

I'm going to guess you're asking: 'what skills should we focus on learning?'

If that's your question, then, NO. Tends and fads are possibly the worst thing to focus on. 'Outdated' skills will always be a thing, especially in the technology industry, but that's why adaptability in business is critical. For example, the film-photography industry might be all but dead, BUT the skills to take good photographs can be adapted to other uses. I may no longer need the skills to develop film, but the customer service skills I learned will carry to nearly any industry.

Skills that will NEVER be outdated: Math, reading comprehension, clear communication, empathy, etc.

[sayeedakram]

What about sending buyer requests randomly?? Is it useful or wastage of time?

[imagination7413]

7 minutes ago, sayeedakram said:

What about sending buyer requests randomly?

Firstly: you, as a Seller, should never use the Buyer Request option from the Buyer side, unless you are indeed buying something. Second: never message other users about your services unless you've been contacted first. Third: sending offers to requests that Buyers have posted in the BR section is okay, but "randomly" is, indeed, a waste of your time.

Now, if you are carefully selecting the BRs you send offers to, AND are customizing those offers specifically for the individual BR, then it might not be a waste. Yes, this takes time, effort, skill, and then more time. This is why you need to track your time spent. It can be hard to see if something is a waste of time or effort, if you don't know how much time or effort you put into it. 

[hannxm]

On 6/8/2022 at 7:49 PM, sayeedakram said:

It's been almost two years I am still struggling to sustain in Freelancing so I often feel like giving it up, but I also can't take the final step to give it up since Freelancing is my passion and I'm a full-time job holder as well so it's really very difficult for me to adjust time between work and Freelancing.

What should I do to get rid from this middle point of give up or don't give up? Seeking advice from the experienced and professional people only.

It's hard to do freelancing when you're working full time. I'd maybe reduce the number of gigs you offer to the ones you really enjoy doing or feel you're the best at and focus on those for a while. Also allow yourself a little more time to complete them too. It might take the pressure off a little bit which will allow you to enjoy freelancing a bit more!

[sayeedakram]

19 hours ago, hannxm said:

It's hard to do freelancing when you're working full time. I'd maybe reduce the number of gigs you offer to the ones you really enjoy doing or feel you're the best at and focus on those for a while. Also allow yourself a little more time to complete them too. It might take the pressure off a little bit which will allow you to enjoy freelancing a bit more!

Thanks for your crucial tips. Noted it.

[mbamunna]

When your time is going good with Freelancing, Build your alternative source. So that if anything goes wrong you're still not down.

Edited June 19, 2022 by mbamunna

[sayeedakram]

On 6/19/2022 at 10:45 PM, mbamunna said:

When your time is going good with Freelancing, Build your alternative source. So that if anything goes wrong you're still not down.

As you mentioned about alternatives is it beneficial to be available around other freelancing sites like Upwork/ Truelancer/ Freelancer.com etc?

[mbamunna]

6 minutes ago, sayeedakram said:

As you mentioned about alternatives is it beneficial to be available around other freelancing sites like Upwork/ Truelancer/ Freelancer.com etc?

Yeah, off course beneficial But I meant alternative of freelancing. It can be any business or whatever. 

[sayeedakram]

5 minutes ago, mbamunna said:

Yeah, off course beneficial But I meant alternative of freelancing. It can be any business or whatever. 

Thanks luckily I've imitated one of your tips already which is business, I've recently started an offline business also.

[mbamunna]

1 minute ago, sayeedakram said:

Thanks luckily I've imitated one of your tips already which is business, I've recently started an offline business also.

That's so nice of you. Best of Luck!!

[sayeedakram]

8 minutes ago, mbamunna said:

That's so nice of you. Best of Luck!!

Thanks.

[donnovan86]

Freelancing gave me the best way to work on what I want and earn a living better than a lot of average people in my country. I would never quit freelancing if it was my case. Of course ther are dark moments and challenges, but you shouldn't quit just because it gets a bit harder 🙂

[sabbir_dm25]

No. I belive hard work never failure

[sayeedakram]

14 hours ago, donnovan86 said:

Freelancing gave me the best way to work on what I want and earn a living better than a lot of average people in my country. I would never quit freelancing if it was my case. Of course ther are dark moments and challenges, but you shouldn't quit just because it gets a bit harder 🙂

Actually Freelancing is also my passion, but when my daily office schedules started conflicting with my Freelancing tasks I slowly started to get demotivated from Freelancing specially with this platform as I started feeling helpless even after not getting a proper response from the support team a year ago when I encountered a problem.

[donnovan86]

8 minutes ago, sayeedakram said:

but when my daily office schedules started conflicting with my Freelancing tasks

Well that's the thing. Different people have different freelancing methods. I am only freelancing so I won't quit that. It seems you are doing it part time, so quitting this is much easier. 

[starseorank]

On 6/9/2022 at 3:30 AM, donnovan86 said:

but even then I had some money set aside to survive for a year or two.

Important point for newbies or who's struggling on Fiverr now a days.