Blocks That Are Holding You Back From Earning More as a Freelancer
The mental and emotional 'mountain-sized' limitations we place on ourselves as freelancers can really hold us back from achieving on-our-own-terms success. Allowing subconscious thoughts about not deserving success to sabotage our hard work, is not only easy to do, it can occur for years and years without us even realizing.
It's hard seeing other talented and intelligent designers, copywriters, photographers and developers, who are earning much less than they should because they discount their worth and hold themselves back. When you can recognize patterns of money blocks you are placing on yourselves, it suddenly does not hold as much power over you.
Let's take a look at a few common ones:
You tell lies to yourself
This one is big. Do you often find yourself saying these things?
- I'm not as good as [that person].
- I'm a fraud. I don't actually know what I'm doing.
- I'm not creative.
- I'm not different.
- I'm not that great at selling.
- I don't like asking for money.
These seemingly innocent phrases are what we default to so we are unable to move forward with projects. When you notice yourself using lies as a cop out, try to challenge them.
A majority of these insecurities often stem from not believing that you are an expert in your field. Just because something comes easy to you, does not mean it is easy for everyone. As freelancers, we have many in demand skills. Don't take your own brilliance for granted.
Bartering
When you tell yourself, "I would do anything to have [X Company] as a client, even if it means I have to work for free." When we resort to bartering over things that are important to us (working with X Company and money), we are telling ourselves we can only have one. In reality, we can have both.
Not asking for money
Asking for money is uncomfortable. When we become wishy-washy with asking for money, we provide clients with loopholes. They get the impression you aren't strict about payment deadlines and take it literally. This is how freelancers get caught with clients who pay late and constantly want to negotiate your hourly rate.
Being stern about adhering to payment schedules is better than being uncertain. We all want people to like us, our clients included, but stop worrying if they will think your prices are too high. You are not being greedy, you are simply asking for what you deserve.
Fear of actually landing clients
What if they think I'm a fraud? What if I do a bad job? I probably don't have time to take this on...
These doubts go through my head almost every time I'm about to close a deal. The issue here is an insecurity. The fear of actually being successful!
To undo this, we need to take the fear out of bad things happening, after good things happen. Worrying about the unknown can cause anxiety. Take some time to get out of your own head, reframe the challenge and step away from your environment. Coming back with clarity can instill confidence in your decision making abilities.
Settling
Let's say you want to make $80k this year as a freelancer. Totally doable. Problem is, our brains start thinking, "I can't possibly get that many clients/charge that much/work that much..."
If you are committed to making $80k/year, but will accept $50k instead, you'll never end up making what you truly want. Saying you want $80k/year is different than actually following through with it.
What are you biggest money blocks as a freelancer?