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Bryce helps you decide whether your work is good before discussing the numerous skills a freelancer needs to succeed. 

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Freelance FAQ: How do I know if I'm doing good work?

Freelancing can leave you feeling isolated; soliciting feedback and getting outside of your bubble is crucial.

Join online groups related to your craft.

• Offer (solicited) criticisms.
• Request criticism

Solicit feedback from past clients

• Ask after more than the work itself (e.g. how communicative was I? What would the client prefer I do differently?)
• You can do this with non-clients do, but if you do it with friends, offer them anonymity (e.g. a google document or a typeform)

Regularly produce work related to your craft.

Regularly try to improve your craft.

Stay up-to-date in your field

• Sign up for newsletters
• Follow influencers

 Freelance FAQ: How do you deal with being a jack of all trades?

Your focus should remain on your field or primary skill, but to succeed as a freelancer, you need to learn about business, marketing, and quite a few fields that overlap with your own.

The two best pieces of advice for needing to work outside of your specific skill set is this:

• Keep it as simple as possible
• Don’t invest the time and anxiety until you’re ready to address the issue

My advice for the two skillsets every freelancer needs are below:

• Marketing: Reaching out to potential clients and building steady work should be your foremost concern
• Business and Finances: Calculate your minimal hourly rate and never dip below it.
• • If you have a lot of work, charge your next client more. Keep doing this until you get push back.
  • One of your first investments into your business should be invoicing or contract software. Bonsai is a great place to start.

Finally, if you have some affinity for it, educate yourself on fields that overlap with yours as soon as possible. This elevates the value of your primary skill while increasing your overall value.

• E.g. Design + Copywriting / Coding
• E.g. Writing + Design / Coding / Marketing
• E.g. Development + Writing / Design / Front end or back end

You don’t need fancy tools or expensive courses to succeed, but you do need to invest the time. Specifically, you need to invest it wisely. Focus on skills that promise the biggest, most immediate returns, and work the rest out from there.

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