Why did you become a freelance blogger?

That’s not a hypothetical question, I want to see the reason in the comments below.

Why am I asking? Because most freelancers lose sight of why they shunned the 9-5 to chase the freelance dream.

They start out full of promise. They want to live life on their terms, build their own empire, and get paid to do what they love, write.

If we boil that down, I’d say bloggers like you place a higher importance on happiness and personal growth than simple financial gain.

And that’s amazing.

But it rarely lasts. The dreams that drove you to leave your 9-5 soon escape your grasp. And with them go your positivity, happiness, and dreams of personal growth.

You see, most freelancers I speak to end up miserable, overworked messes. They’re terrified of falling from feast into famine and end up stuck.

Stuck doing work they hate for clients they despise. Stuck being overworked, under appreciated, and wishing they had more time to explore how they can improve themselves and their business.

But their fear of losing income prevents them from doing this. And that’s no way to live.

What most freelancers fail to understand is that holding on to clients because they pay is not how to run a successful business. You are the commodity and the value of your business.

When you’re unhappy, that value drops. You owe it to yourself and your business to drop bad clients. Sure, you’ll lose some income in the short term, but you’ll be a happier, more productive you which will help with long term growth.

[Read more…]