I am feeling kinda depressed, I am a freelancer graphic designer with no job/project at this time. And honestly now I am also out of ideas for a design to improve my portfolio. Please share your experiences on this matter
Hey buddy,
I can relate how you might be feeling right now as I’ve also been a full time freelancer for 3 years and saw same days as you are seeing right now, as well as no much motivation/ideas to learn new things.
If you are at the beginning of career, in a freelancers life these times are very normal to come and completely okay.
Freelancing takes time and require patience before it blossom. :)
I graduated from engineering and decided to do freelancing, there were two reasons for choosing it that I wanted to earn a lot in less time and second I was not confident about my skills to face interviews in good companies(sounds foolish yeah but that was what it was). So I chose path of freedom and working my own way. This seemed easy and quick way.
But opting freelancing at the beginning of my career became a bad choice coz I was very new to everything and with almost no experience. First I wondered for projects then I got projects but many of them couldn’t complete. Got paid very little for hours and days of work. The 2 years of mine almost went in depression, lack of confidence, self doubts, empty pocketness , and anxiety. There were no regular projects and so no regular income and so no motivation to work and improve more.
Finally out of frustration and with no other choice I started looking for job and got one in a logistic company(which was completely out of my field) with under 10k per month. But it helped me a little and side by side I kept looking for projects and a better job. After 10 months I left that job and again had to rely on freelancing only(hardest time) but kept looking for a job in IT sector. Finally after 5 months I got a chance in a digital marketing cum development company. By then till now its been one and half year to me, working in that company and learned far much faster then before. If I think of freelancing now I can do it 1000 times better.
I also did try it and got very good results.
What I did in my empty project less down time -
Looked at the market, trends closely and tried freelancing platforms, when you are kinda broke or feel low, you observe anything keenly.
Learning the market and exploring freelancing platforms( like Freelancer, Upwork, People per hour, fiverr etc) gave me better understanding and also helped in getting projects.
Watched movies( preferred good ones), comedy, random videos on skills and knowledge, on finance management, soft skills. Basically I tried to keep myself light headed and get 1 step better at other useful things in life.
Tried reading books and novels.
Realised the importance of small efforts you want to make for your growth but you miss out coz you don’t feel like doing. Making them will make you feel batter for sure.
You might not feel good when you don’t have work, but that does not stop you from learning.
Learned to respect what I already have and being grateful for that.
Mistakes I did-
Did not understand the importance of improving my tech skills.
Did not respected enough mine and clients time well.
Kept myself closed to opt new ideas and limited to my own beliefs.
Did not keep track of my time.
I would say-
Instead of being a full time freelancer try to get in a regular job and then side by side nourish your skills, network/profiles on freelance platforms and understanding of market(the see in which you want to sail). A job will help you manage your expenses and learn faster. As a bonus you will have a better understanding about charging clients for your time. And when you feel like you are good to go fulltime for it, then come back slowly.
Ride The Storm, You’ll get through it !! :)
I am not sure how much it relates to you but hope that it would help.
Raghav why don’t you use this time to upskill yourself… I know it’s hard to get work right now but wht if u make your profile better and then things might come to you…in practical you can use digital media…create a platform to show ur work…it will act as your cv… Reach out to people in this field, you might have to work for free sometimes to make it big latter…or can u try and explore some more field in this direction… You never know you end up a better place…
If u are facing money crisis in these days then see if u can take help from family or involve in some other work to make some money on side…
I hope my thoughts help u a little…
Just keep pushing yourself… I don’t know u but I believe you will make it… I hope u can believe that too
