Learn to walk away, as nothing happened, especially if you are a Freelancer!
TLDR: It’s a story about my struggles as a freelance writer and some weird experiences, including the one that took place today (Jan 11, 2022).
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I got fired from my very first full-time remote content writing job!
No, this one wasn’t today. So..keep reading.
It was a Canadian Digital Marketing Agency. They fired me for not being able to give them a turnaround of 3000 words a day. I needed this job really badly.
I was barely able to write 2000 words per day consistently.
It had already been a year since I had quit my full-time teaching career (where I was easily making $850 a month, it’s good enough for a 28-year-old in my country). Okay, not good enough, but just good.
And now, I was hardly making $200 with writing.
I was eating up my savings while hardly getting any clients or even a part-time writing job.
I had heard about freelancing, “it’s feast or famine.”
I was only exploring the famine part!
One year later, which is right now, money is fine,
clients are good too, and I am working 10–12 hours a day,
Seven days a week, dashing off 7000 words a day,
trying to finally make that breakthrough that I started writing for —
I wanted to be financially independent, and the only thing I could do all day and night was writing.
But I am not consistent.
And I am not self-disciplined yet.
I need to be more disciplined to make it there.
And now, about today,
This morning, when I transferred my funds from Upwork to my local bank account, my bank account got suspended due to the expiration of my National Identity Card.
This meant that I wasn’t able to transfer that money to anyone, I wasn’t able to cash it through a cheque, I couldn’t get it out through ATM.
In simple words, that money is not mine until I get my ID renewed (which takes 7 to 10 working days).
Another client delayed their payment today, which I could get in my other bank account.
I also lost a recurring client today.
One of my proposals on Upwork got declined today, stating the reason “lacks desired skills or qualifications.”
But, so far, I’ve taken so many risks that these things can’t break me anymore.
I am fine. This time shall pass, too.
The important thing in freelancing is to be consistent and to keep moving forward.
I like to frame such situations in my mind like I am slowly walking away (like the lead role of an action movie) at the climax, and everything is exploding behind me, I am walking away like it’s nothing new for me. . .
“Nothing can stop you now”, said Grammarly to me, just last night when I accepted all its suggestions.
So, I won’t stop. And you should not, too.
Thank you for reading.
