Entrepreneurial Skills Necessary in Freelancing

When I first came into the freelance world, I did not expect it to require a different set of skills than what I have been accustomed to. In the corporate setting, my life almost revolves around the boss in the office. In doing so, I was forced to learn different sets of skills – the skills that are necessary to be a successful entrepreneur. Some skills on leadership and management are best suited to full time freelancing jobs.

photo credit: barthetzk (SXC)

These are the skills that are needed in freelance jobs:

1. Negotiation
   In many freelance sites like oDesk, Elance and SponsoredReviews.com, there is almost always a need to bid on projects or set an hourly rate. At first, I prided myself on the skills that I had, so I set a higher rate. But as I apply to jobs in oDesk, I was not able to easily get noticed through an interview. I decided to put a lower hourly rate and bid a little lower on projects to get me started.
2. Time Management
   Full time and part time freelancers definitely need this. Juggling between regular 8 to 5 working hours plus a part time job surely sacrifices breaks on weekends. Full time freelancers need to juggle between one jobs. Learning how to mark priority tasks is definitely the key to success in this skill. Time management also includes having time for personal tasks and family as well.
3. Personal Finance Management
   Financial literacy plays a big role particularly for full time freelancers, because their job depends solely on the income that they had actively earned from several freelance projects. It is always a challenge to find freelance jobs that a full time freelancer can have after finishing one because it is possible not to have any qualified jobs for several months at a time. The full time freelancer is left to find other ways of earning income – one of the best ways is to invest in passive income.
4. Communication
   Communication is one of the strongest skills that should be developed in freelancers, because these people often do not get immediate interaction with their clients in case of problems. Updates are also necessary to inform the client of the work progress. These reports can be done over a short daily report, an email or a quick IM message to the client.
5. Goal Setting
   Goals are very important because it keeps the freelancer focused on personal development. Having goals in as ambitious as being a lead freelancer or as simple as learning a new skill would definitely help and would make freelancing a more challenging and fulfilling job. Making plans sets the direction of one’s freelance career and sees how the freelancer has fared.
6. Decision-making
   In leadership, decision-making is a very important skill to cope up with various situations. There are plenty of decisions to look into when doing freelance jobs, and it is very important to develop effective decisions that will truly change the course of freelance jobs. Would I specialize in one skill? Will I need to learn a new programming language? Will I take this job at this bid? Is my skills enough? Do I need to hire another freelancer to finish a particular task? What other options do I have to finish this job in time?
7. Managing Risk
   Entrepreneurs find ways to invest in risky ventures which gives higher profits. This is indeed true in freelancing. I’ve often noticed that even Filipino IT graduates settle down on easier data entry jobs that pay $1 to $3 per hour rather than pursuing high paying programming jobs that pays $10 to $20 per hour. Oftentimes the reason is that skills may not be enough for these jobs, but spending to upgrade or learn new technical skills such as call center skills can give a big difference in the long run.

Many of these skills were derived from skills that are needed to be a successful entrepreneur. Thus changing the mindset from the employee to entrepreneur is almost needed.

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