The Common Pitfalls of Freelancing and How They’re Easily Avoided

Far too many people enter the world of freelancing with high hopes and big dreams, but the reality is that there are far too many pitfalls to make it worthwhile unless you’re prepared to overcome them one at a time. The reality is that freelancing is different for everyone; some people find it incredibly easy to manage their own time while others will struggle with the freedom it offers, ultimately causing them to lose focus.

Whatever you do as a freelancer, there are a couple of common pitfalls that all freelance careers share and some easy solutions to help you stay productive so that you can grow your business.

Staying focused when working

Removing distractions is incredibly important if you want to be a productive freelancer. We’d recommend making sure that you have some way to establish a quiet working environment, such as purchasing noise-cancelling headphones to use while working or picking an environment that is peaceful enough to work in.

We have a couple of recommendations for workplaces below. When combined with removing any unproductive habits, such as browsing social media while you work, it’s possible to stay focused and work efficiently.

Finding the right place to work

As a freelancer, you’re given all the freedom in the world in terms of where you want to work. Some people stay humble and would prefer to work from home while others love to find a coworking space where they can mingle with other entrepreneurs and network. There are plenty of options, but picking the right space to work in can be tricky if you don’t know what to look for, so here are a couple of points to keep an eye out for.

• *  Make sure you’re picking a space to work where you can focus instead of being distracted.
• *  Don’t make it too far from your home or else you’ll end up having to commute a fair distance before reaching your workplace.
• *  Consider switching it up every week so that the scenery is always different.
• *  Make sure it has all the amenities you need such as drinks and snacks or a strong WiFi connection so you can work wherever you want.

Scheduling your work hours

Despite the freedom that freelancing offers, it’s occasionally very difficult to schedule working hours because you might decide that you’ll do work at the last minute or during the evening when getting distracted is far more likely.

So to combat this, try and schedule work hours when other people are also working and stick to those hours each day. This will make it easy for you to get in the zone to be productive.

Managing your own finances

Let’s face it, unless you’re experienced in freelancing or make enough profit to require an accountant, you’re probably going to struggle with your finances. This is because you might end up missing tax payments, calculating your income incorrectly or simply failing to chase invoices. Luckily, there’s a very easy solution for this; cloud accounting software.

Instead of fumbling around with spreadsheets and trying to do your own calculations, cloud accounting software is an easy solution to help you put together comprehensive financial reports, record your expenses and keep track of all your invoices and income.