When you start having feelings like that, it is easy to let them dominate your freelance life. However, letting those feelings dominate could prevent you from overcoming them. If you let them linger for too long, you may even start having feelings of running to find employment elsewhere.
I’m here to tell you that you are good enough. There is no reason you can’t market the skills you have and be able to land clients who find value in what you have to offer. So let’s chat about three different things you can do to power through the feeling of “not being good enough.”
Stop telling yourself you aren’t good enough.
Yes, this is the obvious one, but it is an important one. You must stop telling yourself you aren’t good enough. The more times you tell yourself that you aren’t good enough to land clients, the more you will start to believe it. So stop right now!
Confidence goes a long way, and the more confidence you can build, the better off you will be. Also, others around you (read: clients and prospects) will see that you are confident in your skills and will be more willing to hire you. Not only do you need to talk the talk, but you need to have confidence that you can walk the walk.
Make it a habit to learn something new.
Confidence comes from knowledge. The more you know, the more confident you can become as well. Students in general don’t know as much as their professional counterparts, that is why we are called “students.” Being a student means you are in the constant mindset of learning something new. While you are in school, it is much easier to learn new things than when you aren’t.
Make a list of things you want to learn about that is relating to your freelancing. Is there something you wish your professors would cover in school, but haven’t? Take it upon yourself to learn it on your own time. Has a new technology came out that you are eager to learn more about? Set time out to learn more about it so if a client comes to you asking you about it, you can confidently help them.
Evaluate what you aren’t confident in and work on improving them.
This is closely tied with the second point above. For you to have feelings of not being good enough, there is a reason why. Have you come across something that you didn’t know that you felt like you should know? Is there something a client has asked you about that you didn’t know much about?
This is the perfect opportunity to do something about it. I keep a running list of things I want to learn about. For instance, WordPress was one of those things I wanted to learn about, as I started hearing more and more about it, and clients were asking about it. I spent an entire summer learning it and designing for it. In about four months I felt confident enough to start offering it as a service. Now it is one of my most profitable services. And it all stemmed from one client asking me about it.
You shouldn’t let the fact that you are a student and you aren’t as knowledgeable and experienced as other freelancers start to wear on your confidence. Take whatever is making you feel like you aren’t good enough and do something about it. Students are great about learning on their own. Make a list and work through the list. You will be amazed at the benefits it will do to your freelancing.
P.S. I talk more about this and many other topics in my new book, “Student Freelancing 101: A Start-to-Finish Course to Becoming a Student Freelancer.” Pick up your copy at studentfreelancing101.com!