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In our final video of the stage, we're going to ask ourselves a few questions. This self assessment is a chance for you to figure out whether a freelance career is right for you.
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That was a lot of information to digest all at once, so
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let's talk about what the key takeaways are from everything we've discussed.
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Freelancing and being your own boss requires knowledge and
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a set of skills that are quite different from being a great employee.
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To understand if you would be good at freelancing,
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you need to understand your capabilities and your limits.
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In other words, you need to complete a simple self-assessment.
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Ask these questions of yourself, and evaluate your answers.
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If you answered a resounding yes,
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then freelancing is absolutely a career path for you.
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If you answered no to all, or
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are unsure, then you might have to rethink what you want to do.
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No's don't mean that you can't freelance, it just means that you might be lacking in
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certain areas, and need to work on them if you want to have a successful career.
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First up, are you self motivated?
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No one is going to tell you what to do, so
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you need to be able to get up on time, get yourself to work, and get things done.
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The self motivation should manifest itself in different areas of your life.
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You should be motivated to teach yourself new things, so
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you stay on top of the industry, and always be in demand.
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You will need to break out of your comfort zone, and
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tackle hard things like business development.
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And, you will have to seek out events to attend, so you can grow your network.
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All these things will be hard if your strengths are solely technical.
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Bu, if you're motivated to learn, you shouldn't have any problems.
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Do you have good time management skills?
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One of the advantages of freelancing is being able to work whenever and
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wherever you want.
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But, the downside of that is it's easy to get distracted.
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Can you set a strict schedule for yourself to get things done?
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Can you dedicate time towards things which are necessary for your career as
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a freelancer, but seem like they're getting in the way of making money?
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Things like conferences, networking events, and
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side projects, and even more important, administrative work.
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All this can take up significant time out of your week that you could spend working.
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Are you good at project management?
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If you don't get a handle on managing projects,
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you won't last that long as a freelancer.
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Finding and securing work is one thing, but
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keeping the client happy throughout the entire process is quite another.
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Hitting your milestones and delivering work on time is very important.
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Are you a good communicator?
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You will be the point of communication for everything in your one-person business.
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You will need to be good at talking to new clients,
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good at pitching to these clients, good at keeping them updated, and
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great at appeasing them if they get annoyed or angry.
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You have to be amazing at keeping your cool with difficult clients, and
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getting them to work with you, and pay you.
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Being a good communicator is essential to succeeding as a freelancer.
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Do you embrace change?
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Nothing is steady about freelancing.
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Clients come and go, and your paycheck fluctuates often.
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You have to be okay with that.
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You have to be able to adapt to the situation, and
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work as hard as you can, and as smart as you can, to overcome the obstacles.
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As daunting as it sounds, it can be fun.
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You can branch out and try different kinds of projects, be an author,
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write a book, get paid to teach other people.
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There's many things you can do, but at the core of it, you have to be okay with
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trying all these different things, and being prepared for the unknown.
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Like I said earlier, answering no to any of these questions doesn't make
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freelancing a bad career choice for you.
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If I had to pick a few characteristics that are really important,
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it's that you are a self-motivated individual, and that you embrace change.
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There are lots of people who start out freelancing being bad at
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most things required.
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But, that didn't stop them.
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They were motivated enough to overcome all of their shortcomings,
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learn what they needed to, and succeed.
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Spend some time answering these questions for yourself.
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Again, it's not about having all these skills right at the outset, but
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determining whether you're the type of person that can learn these
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things as you go.
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