In 2016, I chose to become a freelancer to embark on a quest for meaning, to support my clients in their way of understanding their visual communication, then by specializing in the design of digital interfaces. Beyond this support dynamic, the idea was above all to build a dynamic and sustainable ecosystem around me in the long term.

When you start freelancing, you are released into the wild. Alone aboard your boat, you will have to structure yourself, set up processes to transform it into a boat, in order to move forward in a viable way, and sail towards independence.

This is the objective that has driven my activity during all these years; the desire to build a solid base that allows me to be independent. It is not simply about having your own hours or setting your own rates. But rather to be fully aware of your environment, to be able to use certain levers to bring in new customers, regulate your activity according to your workplace or a certain time of year, improve your skills or diversify your sources of income.

Of course, all this involves significant stress. If you are a full-time freelancer and you are reading these lines, in reality and especially when you start, you mainly wonder how you are going to eat at the end of the month ... This is an emotional aspect that you have to keep in mind at all times. Being your own captain generates enormous stress that can make you go in any direction to recover turnover, and potentially get lost in relation to your initial objective.

You have to accept that this mental load becomes your daily partner. It may seem counterintuitive, but it is also very beneficial. Just like any other entrepreneur, you are also building a company with its expenses, prospecting, investments, marketing, etc. This stress is formative and allows you to get your foot in the stirrup to start the machine. In my case, it was a great ally to learn the whole commercial aspect, take a step back, understand and initiate a customer relationship so that it lasts in the long term.

And precisely, this dynamic is one of the most important advantages; succeeding in building a real relationship with your customers. Rather than switching from customer to customer, especially via Malt or any other platform, I stayed focused with some of my customers during these 6 years. You have to see this advantage as in a couple. This implies necessarily making compromises and being authentic, especially at the beginning of the relationship. Depending on the objectives you have set for yourself in terms of vision, in terms of target or type of project, it will become a real competitive advantage vis-à-vis your market in the long term. That's right, what's better than clients who come back to you on their own and talk about you in their own ecosystem, without you having to do a new prospecting campaign each time. It will allow you to go faster, further and higher, in projects where you would not have been able to go.

When I talk about independence, this capital trust represents exactly that. It is succeeding in building an ecosystem around you, where there will be a kind of ping-pong between the market and you as a freelancer. Undeniably, for this ecosystem to work, it implies having to integrate a strong mental load, make compromises, generate visibility, etc.

Now that you know why I chose to go freelancing, here is the last advantage, and the coolest I think: it is to see your number of clients and your turnover increase, to understand that your project is evolving and growing. From a more global point of view, the most exhilarating advantage (and legitimate, that's why we do all this too...) when you're a freelancer is to see your project evolve. The evolution is both personal and commercial. You see your clients grow with what you offer them and you see yourself evolve as a Man.

That's why you also have to build a vision for yourself from the beginning of your freelance activity. It's the ultimate point of arrival where you're going to trivially say to yourself: "uh, well what do I do next?" It's a kind of ideal; in terms of your values, your choices, what you want to do with your clients, and towards which you're going to aim every minute of your life. And each of the things you do must contribute to it. This vision also flows into your personal life with your workplace, the people you meet, what you do in your free time, etc. This is also why freelancing generates so much mental load, it monopolizes your brain permanently. Obviously, this ideal will evolve permanently, with each evolution of your activity but also in relation to your maturity. And this is why you must be well aligned with your ecosystem, to succeed in listening to it and being able to put it in perspective with what you do, sometimes challenge it, sometimes go with it.

The objectives allow you to have an idea of the next step. The vision allows you to get back on the right track and to see overall if everything is going well, and that your activity is well aligned with your values. For the moment, I recommend “Freelance, l’aventure dont vous êtes le héros” as a very good book to read by Alexis MINCHELLA ⚡️, when you start freelancing.

This is what I liked most about freelancing, your professional activity is an extension of your person. it truly embodies and reflects what you do and how you do it.

Over several years, I would have managed to improve my skills in technologies and methodologies, build strong relationships with other freelancers who have become friends, or participate in the success of several clients by delivering productions to them. I would also have managed to define a healthy and serene working environment, in which I brought other freelancers on board so that we could set off together to meet the needs of our clients.

💡 If I can advise those who want to get started, try to build relationships as quickly as possible with freelancers with complementary skills to be able to extend your scope of interventions and act on larger projects.