Quiz #3
By
Zainab Akbar
Roll #17601556-033
Professional Practices
SS-301
Syeda Hina Mazhar kazmi
31st Dec, 20
I am working as a freelancer and will continue my career in the future. The main reason to choose this career was to be self-dependent and self-employed; I mean to be my boss.
Pakistan is classified as the fourth most popular country in freelancing in the Online Labor Index published in 2017 by Oxford Internet Institute (OII) and produced approximately $0.5 billion by freelancing. However, COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically affected all careers, but this lack will be recovered soon.
Fig 1: the gig economy.
The increasing population of freelancers has generated a new concept, “the gig economy,” globally. In the gig economy, instead of working full-time for a single employer or company and getting a fixed salary, a person works for many clients at his standings and earn what he thinks his work deserves. So these persons are called “gig workers.” These workers can be freelancers, temporary or part-time hires, project-based workers, and independent contractors. Becoming a freelancer is an inexpensive and fast way to start earning from home. Especially if you already have any skills, you can get started offering your services today. So, a freelancer is a self-employed individual who offers his services at his prices, often working on multiple jobs for multiple clients at a time. You have to work for clients from world-wide, the US and Europe time zones do not match, freelancers mostly have to work night shifts which is difficult for some people, but it pays well, so all that lack of sleep is somewhat worth the pay, obviously not good for the health though.
Here is a list of career planning tips, which everyone should follow:
- Recognize Your Career Options: Develop a list of career options by examining your interests, skills, and values through self-assessment. Refine your career options by revising career information, researching companies, taking part in experiences such as internships, shadowing, volunteering, etc., and talking to professionals in the desired field.
- Prioritize: after creating a list of options, prioritize them. Which top skills you have? What is most important to you? What are your interests? Whether it is intellectually challenging or not?
- Make Comparisons: Compare your most likely career options to your list of prioritized skills, values, and interests.
- Also, Consider Other Factors: You should also consider factors outside your personal preferences. What qualifications are required in this field? What is the current demand for this field? If the demand is low or entry is difficult, are you happy with taking this risk? Will it require additional education or training? Gather advice from friends, colleagues, mentors, and family members.
- Make a Choice: now it’s time to choose the career paths that are best suitable for you.
- Make SMART goals: If you want to achieve success, stick to your goals, and work hard. Now I will describe my career plan, which I made through SMART goals:
- What exactly I want to achieve:
Before starting any career, one should set a long-term goal. If you treat freelancing as a job, then the sure thing will not be comfortable in the long-run. However, if you accept that freelancing can be a lifestyle, things can become much more comfortable and bearable.
It’s all about finding a healthy balance between your personal life and work as a freelancer. You will be free, but also you will responsible for the decisions you make. You can’t just close the door of your office and say, I’m done for today. Your freelance projects will follow you wherever you go. Once you stepwell into this career, you will decide how much you will earn in a day.
Your long-term goal should not only be to earn money and more and more clients. These are SMART goals for me:
“Make $20,000 more in 2020 than in 2019 by getting 7-8 new clients.”
“Make $30,000 more in 2020 than in 2021 by getting more work from current clients also makes new clients.”
“Diversify my business by getting 7 to 8 different types of clients every year.”
Big goals or long-term goals are hard to achieve. Break them down into small goals or short-term goals—a year into months, months into days.
- How will I know when I achieve it?
I manage a monthly worksheet of my earnings. Moreover, I compile them yearly; that’s how I know how much I have achieved my goal. If you don’t measure what you’re doing, you don’t know if you’re making any progress.
- Is it genuinely possible to achieve/attain it?
If your goal is too big, you will get discouraged and stop trying. Therefore, it has to be attainable. So yes, everything in the world is achievable if you have faith in Allah, and you follow your plans patiently.
- Does it contribute to your agency’s revenue growth?
Because I don’t work for any agency, so my work contributes to my revenue only.
- When do you want to achieve this?
Just as if you have deadlines for your client work, you need a deadline for your goal. Otherwise, working on your goal will get lost behind everyday tasks. My long-term and short-term goals do have deadlines by which I have to achieve them.
- Create Your Career Action Plan: It’s important to be genuine about the expectations and timelines. Write down specific action steps you need to take to achieve your goals. Keep yourself organized. Check them off as you complete them.
When You Fall Behind, “Get Back on Track Quickly”
As a freelancer, you should have much patience. Clients will annoy you, clients will ditch you, and clients will dislike you. It doesn’t mean it’s because you failed to make them happy, but it’s due to their nature that some clients are fake and not trustworthy. The only way to be professional is to show patience and take the right step according to the situation. Freelancing at the start also requires patience in the sense of getting orders. In fact, most people give up entirely. One month after setting a goal, only 58% of people are still working on it; further, six months later, only 44% are still trying, according to Statistic Brain. Don’t give up. Instead, “get back on track quickly,”