Cognition #13: My Freelance RULES!

Ah, I missed writing Cognition.

Consistency is hard, dude!

Whether you post on social media daily, write (bi)weekly newsletters, or record monthly podcasts, consistency is hard.

I'll NOT say I'll stay consistent hereon because shit keeps happening.

Sometimes your personal life demands more time.

Sometimes you have too much work.

Sometimes you just need some time off.

I've been occupied with work and sometimes lazy (not gonna lie), but the good thing is I am back with Cognition!

So will I stay consistent with everything I do? I'll try my best.

But will I publish quality kickass content every time I write? Hell YESSS!

Wait no more. Let's get started.

Good to have you here again!

In the 13th issue of Cognition, I want to share some rules I've established for myself based on the bad experiences I had as a freelancer.

I'll explain why these rules are important, how they helped me, and the downside of not following them.

Also, I'm skipping rules like charging advances, contracts, etc., since they are popular and most freelancers already know them.

We're gonna cover:

1. Why set up rules in the first place?

2. Four rules I follow

3. Non-technical aka fun segment

Why RULES?

Basically, to stop yourself from doing stupid things.

You inevitably commit mistakes while you freelance, but it will not help if you don't learn from them.

Rules help you establish what you DON'T want to do to succeed at your freelance business.

But how to set up rules?

It's not that hard. List down three things:

1. What went wrong for me so far?

2. What can possibly go wrong in freelancing?

3. What can I learn from other freelancers' experiences?

As soon as you list the answers, try to find solutions that can productively counter the stumbling blocks of freelancing.

In most cases, these are just simple solutions.

For example,

Situation: Your client dumped you.

Rule: Don't start projects without signing contracts.

Situation: You didn't get paid.

Rule: Don't start the project without receiving advance.

It's that simple. In other words, rules eliminate factors you know can go wrong and negatively affect your business.

Identify what you don't want to go wrong and prevent them—that's how you establish business rules.

Four RULES I follow

Working on 50+ projects and 30+ brands taught me a little about what kind of work I want to do and how I want to conduct myself as a freelancer.

Here are my top four rules that support my agenda:

1. Pick up challenging work

Initially, it's important to pick as many projects as you can because getting a client itself is a hard task to achieve. So you grab whatever comes your way and work on as many projects as you can. I did the same.

But with time, when you get more stability in your income and freedom with your choices, it is vital you pick the projects that excite you and make you curious.

I'll tell you why.

I worked with clients that gave me boring work. I never felt like writing content for them, but I only did so because they were paying me well.

The result? I procrastinated. I finished tasks in five hours which I could have done in three.

I thought I lost interest in writing and freelancing because I didn't enjoy it anymore until I realized the projects didn't excite me, and all I needed was to find some interesting projects.

The flip side is exciting projects and how beautiful they make your journey!

Recently I wrote a web copy for a hospitality brand. I didn't have enough experience in B2C, and 'conversational wit' was hard to crack for me, which I felt should be the brand voice of this website.

I had to reinvent my style and approach to deliver the best content.

The result? I explored and executed a writing style that I never thought I would. I went the extra mile and pushed myself to become a better writer. All this happened because I found the project interesting and it challenged me.

That's when I decided I wanted to pick projects that not only pay me well but also excite me to work on them—that's how you overdeliver and explore yourself.

I just can't become a better freelancer without working on projects I'm curious about—Because I'm never pushing myself without curiosity.

One might not have the liberty to do this from Day 1, but I feel you should always choose projects that excite you if and when you get the freedom to choose.

2. Don't pick up urgent work

If you're freelancing, you'll get many DMs or calls like "We need a blog urgently by EOD. Can you do it?"

It is a regular thing in freelancing, but it fucks your mental health and disturbs your schedule.

Again, it's okay and necessary to take projects like these when we are starting out, but once you build a clientele, your days are more organized.

My typical day includes:

• Client work

• Content for my social media

• Cognition's content

• Networking DMs and calls

• Client meetings

• Content consumption

• Personal time

And I like to keep stuff organized.

It'd be very tempting to accept a new project. You might have the bandwidth, but what about the emotional space?

You know what your day looks like.

You have tasks scheduled.

And postponing current tasks and picking up a new one just because you can earn a little more money is not worth it—because your other work gets piled up.

How does that happen?

1. You give importance to the new client, and since you don't have emotional capacity or energy post work, you won't now be able to give your best work to your current clients. In other words, you don't give yourself enough time to rest.

2. Another possibility: You still make time and deliver work, but you compromise on time invested in building your personal brand. Or worse, your personal time. Why do you think Cognition #12 and #13 have such a long gap?

So no more urgent work. Any work that comes to me needs to pass through a week's window, and it's how I function better.

"You give me time. I give you the best content."

Feels like a Bhagat Singh slogan, lol.

I'd love a few more extra bucks by picking projects here and there, but I value my mental health more. And I don't want to compromise on my personal space.

Hence, the rule.

3. Avoid offline meetings

I'm based out of Hyderabad, and I've had a few clients who wanted me to come and discuss things at their office.

It is necessary to meet clients offline to build a relationship, especially if you just started working together, but once a professional rapport is built, I prefer to communicate online.

I just ask myself, "Is it really necessary to take this meeting offline?" and that pretty much answers what I need to do.

Meeting clients offline is actually fun, but I prefer online meetings as it saves time, money, and energy.

4. Work with clients who understands business

If you work with people who don't understand how your service works, you are inviting unrealistic expectations + headache.

Imagine being an SEO and having a client who doesn't understand SEO. They'll be like "Why aren't we ranking?" after one month of SEO. Imagine how frustrating it'd be to explain things to them.

Your clients don't need to be experts and have knowledge of everything. They don't know about your work. That's why they hired you.

But if they don't respect the fact you know the subject better, there is a chance they might build unrealistic expectations, and irrespective of what you do, you never do enough.

And it's curtains! 🎙

These are the rules I follow. Freelancing will still have hick-ups, but at least I can avoid things I know are trouble, keep my peace, and let my business flow smoothly.

The technical segment ends here!

These rules worked for me—may or may not work for you. But make sure you set up some rules, so you don't need to go through the same hurdles over and over.

Let's jump into non-technical segment, shall we?

Non-Technical aka Fun Segment

Favourite Quote from a book

It hit me hard the first time I read this quote. We give a lot of energy and time to things that don't deserve such attention.

For example, I like to keep my notion notes clean, and I go to an extent where I write notes with perfect structure, formatting, editing, etc.

I mean, they are just notes I need to refer to in the future. I'm not publishing them anywhere. It doesn't even matter if I write in Telugu and Hindi every now and then. What is the point in even trying to keep them clean or structured?

And if you think about it, "There are many things we try to do too well that need not be done at all."

It gives a sense of pleasure, but is it worth your time? You decide.

Movies/Shows I loved recently

I've been MIA for a while, and I've watched many many shows/movies during this time. Here are my favourites:

1. Clouds on Hotstar [E]

2. Modern Love Mumbai on Amazon Prime [H]

3. Free Guy on Hotstar [E]

4. Mishan Impossible on Netflix [T]

5. Vikram—Soon on Hotstar [Ta]

6. MAJOR on Netflix tomorrow [T]

7. Jana Gana Mana on Netflix [M]

8. Togo on Hotstar [E]

9. Anek on Hotstar [H]

10. Don on Netflix [Ta]

[E] English; [H] Hindi; [T] Telugu; [Ta] Tamil; [M] Malayalam

Enjoy the weekend!! 📺

Tweets I loved

[tweet https://twitter.com/_Pammy_DS_/status/1540349034115862528]

Youtube video I loved

I began listening to focus music while working, and it's damn productive.

Here is why I think it's working 👇🏻

And here is the video 👇🏻

There are many BGMs available online. Just try different music and see what works for you.

Song I'm listening to on a loop

Can't get over this song from the time I watched Clouds. The original video is beautiful, but I'm sharing the one from the movie here. In love with this!! ❤️

That’s about Cognition #13.

Glad that Cognition resumed. I hope you liked today's edition, and please share about Cognition on your socials if you do.

It's been some time and I could really use some help to spread the word about Cognition.

See you in two weeks.

Take care, stay safe, and make some RULES!

Love,

Vikra Vardhan.

Enjoyed Cognition? You can always gift Vikra chocolates as a token of appreciation. He’s a BIGGG foodie. He loves to eat.

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