Biggest Challenges Beginner Freelancers FaceBiggest Challenges Beginner Freelancers Face

The 5 Main Biggest Challenges Beginner Freelancers Face

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Updated: 24/06/2023

 

When it comes to freelancing, work autonomy and arrange own working schedule are among the advantages beginner freelancers can enjoy and make extra money while working from home.

In fact, I used to work as a freelance writer several years ago and noticed some pitfalls that impacted my freelance productivity and especially competed with others to land my first freelance job on Fiverr.

In particular, one of the problems faced by freelancers is maintaining a work-life balance in good shape because it has a direct effect on your freelance work productivity and even mental health.

There are other biggest challenges beginner freelancers have to deal with, including loneliness, lack of commitment and focus, etc.

For this reason, I list several biggest pitfalls of freelancing for beginners based on my experience and how you should get familiar with them in order to minimize the impact of those freelance challenges on your daily productivity.

Related: 6+ Best Platforms to Find Freelance Web Developer Jobs For Beginners

Key Takeaways

  • When it comes to freelancing for beginners, there are tons of freelancing tips on the internet (including learning new skills and networking) that teach you to be more successful or even scale up your online business.
  • However, they forgot to mention that hard work and commitment are the priority for every remote worker.
  • As a beginner, it’s essential to continue to invest in yourself by finding relevant freelancing skills to learn within your industry, so that you will become even more competitive and more valuable in the eyes of clients.
  • Here are several biggest challenges beginner freelancers may face during their careers. And, if they know how to deal with them properly, the chance they can see success is higher.

 

1. Lack of patience and commitment

The first and foremost pitfall many individuals have to deal with is the lack of patience and perseverance to keep going with their work. For this reason, when things did not work out so well according to their plan, they tend to give up and become a victim of their own ” shiny object syndrome“.

In other words, those easily give up on their dream because they get stuck in one place and can not find any solutions to overcome their professional obstacles. When they see opportunities elsewhere ( see other millionaire gurus become so successful in their field), they will quit their current plan and move to another one. 

For example, after identifying the best skills to learn, selecting the strategy, and finding the freelancing sites to search for opportunities, they could not find potential clients and did not make money immediately. For this, they concluded freelancing is not the right career for them.

Based on my experience, I struggled to land the first clients for a couple of weeks at the beginning of my writing career, but with endless patience and massive effort, I learned how to write an offer to clients and see a result.

 

2. Lack of focus

Another big obstacle that has an impact on maintaining freelance work productivity is the lack of focus and motivation. It’s because working on your own sometimes you don’t need to push yourself to work harder and no one tells you what to do.

For this reason, this challenge is considered the most important factor that many beginner freelancers and remote workers need to overcome.

The good news is the problem is within you, and only you can solve your issue to get yourself on track to maintaining a high quality of work and productivity for clients.

From this pinpoint, one of the freelancing tips to face this pitfall is to only concentrate on one task, and avoid multitasking because you may easily feel depressed when doing everything on your own.

Take a break more often maybe around every two hours to avoid burnout and also choose a working location where you can minimize the distraction from family and friends ( avoid checking email, phone, messages, and social media).

Read next: 6 Ways To Reduce Blogging Stress While Working From Home

 

3. Set unrealistic freelance goals

Setting unrealistic goals is another setback for many beginners due to the fact that they thought they could get paid higher and set the service fee and charge more expensive than the market rate.

For this, they are a victim of their unrealistic expectations as they may not land any short or long-term projects and could not make money immediately, they may move to another freelancing website to search for other opportunities.

For example, as a new freelancer with no skills or experience, you can’t expect to land top remote work-from-home jobs from popular sites like Toptal or FlexJobs because clients require advanced skills and experience to perform the work better.

With this in mind, setting the correct expectation and the timeframe for achieving those realistic goals are also important to your success. One small step at a time, plus your hard work will make a massive impact on achieving them.

 

4. Not invest in learning new freelancing skills and education

Perhaps, this is the most important factor that can determine your future success and your earning capability. Without learning new skills and education, you will not find the proven methods or techniques to build up your freelance work portfolio and get more regular clients.

To become successful, you must devote your time to acquiring new skills and knowledge to help you provide high-quality work and build your reputation and credibility in your niche.

For example, with the recent development of artificial intelligence (AI) on the internet, and the recent one is Chat GPT, it’s always a good idea to learn and get familiar with these new opportunities, which can provide more valuable work for your clients and your business.

At the beginning of your freelance career, you also need to identify several freelancing skills to learn, so that you can perform the job better and clients may return to you for the next projects.

Read next: 6+ Sites That Allow You to Test Websites and Earn Money Online

 

5. Isolation and loneliness

Freelancing also means you may have to do remote work. Sometimes, you may feel disconnected and isolated from the social connection. For this reason, it is also one of the biggest problems faced by freelancers.

According to the research by Epson, which surveyed 1000 freelancers, and found 91% of them work from home most of the time because they prefer to have higher work autonomy and can maintain a work-life balance.

However, around 48% and 46% of freelancers feel loneliness and isolation, which can have a long-term impact on their mental health and other health issues if they don’t know how to mitigate those problems.

To overcome those challenges, freelancers must proactively stay connected with their colleagues, friends, and family members to ensure they have a better social connection and don’t feel depressed and lonely.

In addition, arrange a work schedule to work outside of your home at least one or two times a week, maybe at the coffee shop or co-working space, so you may have the opportunity to connect with others.

 

Final thoughts on problems faced by beginners freelancers

Freelancing can be a lucrative side hustle idea to make extra money online if follow the proven strategy and technique, including highlighting the essential freelancing skills, setting the rate, networking with others, etc.

However, there are some pitfalls for beginner freelancers (mentioned above), and they must address those freelance challenges seriously in order to mitigate and continue to perform better service for clients.

Based on my experience, I believe that massive hard work and long-term commitment are also essential for freelancers because if they concentrate on daily tasks and goals every day, they will see a tangible result after a period of time.

 

Further reading materials related to freelancing tips:

8+ Proven Ways to Find Freelance Writing Jobs Online For Beginners(Updated)

Don’t forget to share and Join us at Jns-millennial.com for more tips.

By Jiro Nguyen

Jiro Nguyen is a highly driven and skilled business management professional with an MBA in economics and management. He is also the founder of Jns-millennial.com. Moreover, he has a passion for writing and over 4 years of copywriting experience.

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