Give yourself the gift of a better freelance career

The end of the year can be challenging for freelancers like us.

While full-timers know their work schedule, and are often treated to down days if not an entire week or two off around the holidays, for freelancers the end of the year is much less predictable.

The end of the year can be slow, which can mean work dries up halfway through December. Or if can also be when clients are trying to use up all the annual budgets, and you’re suddenly looking at working three jobs through the holidays.

Full-timers also have year-end bonuses, holiday decorations, and invitations to the work holiday party to look forward to. They even know when and where to report to work come January, while as freelancers we are often in the dark about our start day until the first gig offer comes along in our email inbox.

Mt. Freelance is here to help. 

 
Mt. Freelance is the guided path to a successful career.

So we’re going to start helping right now, and offer a few ideas for how to handle the holidays as a freelancer. 

For starters, we encourage you to give yourself a gift and invest in your own career and join Mt. Freelance. And we have an exclusive offer at the end of this article as our gift to you.

The holidays is the perfect time go through the 33 video course, lesson by lesson. It’s your step-by-step guide to position yourself for success in the new year. 

We’ll help you develop the mindset to succeed as a freelancer, help you fine–tune your portfolio website, give you ideas for networking and promoting yourself, and give you tips for how to charge and how much to charge so you make what you are worth. 

We’ll also cover best practices on work flow and client management to ensure you get hired again and again by the same companies so you’re working more, and promoting yourself less. 

We’ll even help you with the business aspects of freelancing, from taxes to health care to building a team, and all the not–so–fun stuff that too many freelancers neglect so freelancing becomes more fun. 

Best of all, Mt. Freelance is also a community. 

Members can join the private Facebook group full of fellow photographers, copywriters, editors, creative directors, UX designers, art directors and yes, recruiters. Many of whom freelance for the biggest clients and agencies in the word.

The course is designed to work with the community, so for instance, after you take the class on improving your website, you can post your new site to the group and get feedback to make it even better. It’s also a place to network with some of the best and most successful freelancers on the planet. You can ask questions, share advice, network and even post and see job opportunities. So instead of feeling isolated, you’ll belong to a group of freelancers like you. 

And here’s the best part, we are offering Twine members $100 off Mt. Freelance through December 31, 2019. 
Use the code TWINE100 and you’ll get lifetime access to the course and the community.

If you want to see what’s it all about before you join, we’ll give you a free lesson after you answer a few questions right here. So that’s our first piece of advice. 

Here are a few other ideas to make this holiday a personal and professional success. Give gifts! Take a moment to think on the people who make your year a success work–wise. The clients who hired you for good projects, collaborators who you worked alongside or perhaps referred you for a gig. Even recruiters or creative directors who took the time to go out for a coffee or give you an informational interview. 
The holidays are a great time to say thanks and give them something. 

It doesn’t have to be something big and expensive. But getting in touch with folks you want to work with or for in the future around the holidays makes sense for a lot of reasons. 

It’s just a nice thing to do. 

And it will make you feel good. Science tells us it’s actually more enjoyable to give than to receive. And by getting in touch with people at the end of the year, you are doing something positive for your career. 
Because when you do something nice for clients and collaborators at the end of the year, they will have you top of mind in the new year when work starts up again. 

So what to give? 

There’s nothing wrong with wine, hot sauce or chocolate, providing whoever you are giving to drinks alcohol, likes spice, and isn’t dairy–free. Or if your money is tight, there is absolutely nothing wrong with a card! In fact, a handwritten card is better than giving say, donuts to someone who is gluten–free. But we really encourage that you also give something that you make. If you are a writer and you have a zine or a book, gift it! If you are a designer and have a set of lovely postcards or posters, gift it! 

If you are a musician and have an album, gift it! 

If you are a photographer and have a great print, gift it! 

Because not only are these gifts personal, they are reminders of what you do professionally, which will not only put you top of mind, but also what you do.Okay, here’s our last piece of advice for making the most of the holidays as a freelancer. 

As we outlined earlier, you are likely not getting invited to the office holiday party because you work out of a home office. Or your living room. Or a coffee shop. 

Neither are the other freelancers you know. 

So throw your own party! 

Round up a favorite fellow freelancer to help you plan it, and invite all the other freelancers you like and know. It can be as formal as a seated dinner at a restaurant, or a dinner party at your place, or as casual as saying let’s all meet for a drink at this place on this day. Again, it’s a nice thing to do. 

It’s going to be fun. 

But it’s also a way to get together with other people who are in your shoes, to celebrate, connect, commiserate, and scheme ways to get more work and work together in the new year. 
So there you go. 

And if you like the ideas we are sharing, you are going to love Mt. Freelance. It’s full of ideas for making your freelance career more successful and sustainable. 

And now through the end of the year it’s $100 off for Twine members like yourself with the code TWINE100.