I once had a boss who used to say that success begins from the heart. Each time I think about it, I still struggle to fully grasp it. As simple as this statement sounds, it wasn’t easy to implement or connect with—maybe because of my past experiences. I was someone who struggled to wrap my heart around success.
But when I realized you can actually be successful—both within and outward—when you release yourself to receive it, everything changed for me. This isn’t motivational fluff. This is real talk from 9 years in the freelancing trenches.
Every business has its secrets, and mastering them is what yields success. I’ve picked up 23 freelancing tips from both my struggles and victories. If you want to be counted among successful freelancers in 2026 and beyond, you need them.
Are you a freelance writer check out this: Steal This: How You Can Start Freelance Writing With no Portfolio. If you’re interested in learning about how to take your freelance writing as a business read this article here.
Let’s dive…
MINDSET & FOUNDATION
1. Understand that success begins from the heart
If you’ve ever seen a successful individual, know that their success was never invented as a result of their birth, race, schooling, or association. Their success came from within. To be a successful freelancer, you must make it a point of duty to have this mindset: your being successful is tied to your heart. No matter how hard you work yourself out as a freelancer, until you begin to see yourself succeeding—truly believing it in your core—that’s the only way you can become the successful freelancer you’ve aspired to be.
2. Don’t compete—collaborate with yourself
Competition is good, but it comes with its own disadvantages. It’s touching to see those we know directly or indirectly doing well in their respective freelancing world. We want to outsmart them or outshine them. And at the end, we draw unnecessary pressure for ourselves.
Instead of competing with others, compete with yourself. Competing with yourself makes you want to do better than your previous self, makes you want to go beyond your comfort zone to succeed. This form of action results in zero pressure and depression.
3. Be patient
As a writing platform for freelance writers, it took us a year plus to get monetized by Google. We heard many discouraging comments that could have made us quit operation right after we embarked on this journey 3 years ago. But patience has been the thread holding us.
I have observed that most freelancers lack the patience virtue. They want it now and not tomorrow. You see them joining the freelance marketplace and after 2 months they are depressed because no clients. As a matter of fact, I spoke with a certain freelancer four months ago who was so anxious to start earning, yet he had never heard about Fiverr and Upwork.
Nothing good comes easy. What you’re pitching, 100 people have to pitch too, but what sets you apart is this freelancing tip called patience. You need it because I assure you the journey is long.
4. Embrace change (especially AI)
One of the changes that has happened so quickly and has spread like wildfire is AI. Embracing change is one of the freelancing tips you should never ignore.
Take myself, for example: for over a year, I never wanted to embrace AI in writing my articles. I fought against the aid. One time a writer used it to come up with an article and posted it on our platform—I was not okay with it. But fast forward to this moment, I have come to embrace AI in helping me brainstorm. Even though I use it in writing my articles, I rarely allow it to be the sole writer.
The discovery is that many freelancers, especially in the writing niche, are too lazy to input their creativity. Whatever they generate with AI, they dish it out that way, not taking time to polish the work to quality. So use AI, but have areas or tasks you alone can work on—not an AI. When you have the culture of embracing changes instead of abusing them, your life and work will reflect professionalism.
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5. Focus—the master key
This is the meat of all the freelancing tips I have shared here. Focus means a point of concentration. I want to believe that this is one of the main issues new freelancers face when they dip their feet into the freelancing market. They are either struggling to concentrate on a platform or niche.
I too was in this mess before I realized that you can’t serve many masters and see quality results. We need to apply focus for results to come. Being and playing roles everywhere will waste your time, overwhelm you, and make results far from you.
Pick one platform to master first. Choose one niche to dominate. Give it six months of focused effort before you even think about diversifying. This single principle transformed my freelancing career more than any other.
PLANNING & STRATEGY
6. Plan your freelancing journey
This freelancing tip—planning—can never be overemphasized. It’s said that when we fail to plan, we plan to fail. Starting out as a freelancer, you need a solid plan so that you don’t run underground.
You need to plan: How long are you going to offer your freelancing service for free? How long are you going to stay with an industry as an intern? How are you going to gain extra funds to sustain yourself while waiting to be hired?
7. Treat your freelancing as a business
I wrote an article about building a freelance writing system—invariably a business out of your freelance writing. Similarly, to do well in your freelancing, you need to treat it like a business from onset.
When you treat your freelancing as a business, this will give you the ability to organize and run it smoothly into something sustainable. But the reverse is the case when you don’t treat your freelancing as a business, so take note.
8. Choose your niche (and stick to it)
This is where most freelancers get it wrong: not choosing a niche or niching down. When you ask them what they do, they tell you about 5 things. No client wants to hear this. All they want is how you can solve their immediate needs.
Say, for example, you’re into nutrition email copywriting. You can present this offer, then along the line upsell them by adding that you’ll write their landing pages for their nutrition products. It’s wrong to pitch yourself as an email copywriter, script writer, technical writer, and finance writer. This sort of offer will result in confusion.
I get it if you’re trying to find your way around, but it’s better you don’t jam all your offers in one profile. Instead, test run each one at different times. Then stick to what finally converts and what you feel you’re good at.
9. Make use of platforms (online and offline)
You can’t be freelancing without using platforms. We have two types of platforms: offline platforms and online platforms. Both platforms can give you the same results—clients. So I encourage you to use both of them to hasten your client-getting process.
10. Schedule your work
I was always fighting routine and scheduling until I got into Pinterest and saw the obvious need to schedule. You have to make it a habit to schedule your tasks—this will aid your organization and planning skills.
SKILL DEVELOPMENT
11. Practice, learn, and develop your skills consistently
Before you dive into the freelancing world, at any level you need to give room to practice. And even after you’re deep-rooted, what will give you the edge over your competitors is giving quality time to develop your skills.
12. Invest in courses and continuous learning
I took my laptop to a repairer to help me fix a minor fault, and we got speaking about courses. What he shared with me pleased me. According to him, he needs $500 to get a course on laptop repairs. When I asked why, he told me that new laptops are being made every day, so he needs this course to teach him the latest tricks because these laptops behave differently. He also believes that one needs to constantly update.
If you don’t take anything from this article, please take this advice: you need to constantly update your skills to do well in the freelancing world.
13. Prioritize quality over quantity
Most freelancers, especially those on platforms like Fiverr, prefer quantity over quality, and this preference is bad. I believe so much that one quality work can keep you out of famine for the year because it has the ability to keep bringing clients to you.
14. Be ready to work free (invest in your portfolio)
This is where new freelancers get it wrong. They want to start getting paid right immediately after they step foot into the freelance market. Not that I’m against this, but this way leads to more heartbreaks because no client is ready to work with someone with zero portfolio.
To offset this deficit, you can propose to work for free in exchange for testimonials, or you can offer to work for free and be paid if you can achieve certain results for your client.
15. Make mistakes and learn by doing
Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. While building inkwrit, I made mistakes, but through these mistakes, I learned the right ways to get things done. Mistakes get you polished in your craft and shape your experience to know what works and what doesn’t.
GETTING CLIENTS
16. Be proactive and calculative
Being proactive is one of the crucial freelancing tips you need to master. Proactive means being one step ahead in thoughts and actions. Being calculative is knowing when and how to pitch clients that would make them respond to you.
Many freelancers pitch in general ways—only a few take time to be proactive and calculative with their pitch. I know of a freelancer who got clients through her Loom recordings. She not only sent emails but took time to include Loom videos to further engage her prospective clients.
17. Ask questions
Ask questions if you want to speed up your client-getting process as a freelancer. The best people to question are mentors and people in the communities you belong to. You have to speak up about your challenges in order to get the right help. Other ways to ask questions are using AI like Claude.ai, Google, or YouTube.
Questions I asked got me the solutions I have ever received as a freelancer. I remember when Google was rejecting Inkwrit from showing ads—I think this was after 2 rejections. I went to the Google AdSense community, and as boring and silent as that place was, I got a response that set us to success. So if you’ve not started asking questions now, please do.
18. Network and build relationships
Don’t isolate yourself. Join freelancing communities, attend virtual meetups, engage on LinkedIn or Twitter. Some of my best clients came from conversations in Facebook groups where I simply offered helpful advice without expecting anything in return.
The freelancing world can be lonely, but it doesn’t have to be. Your network is your net worth.
CLIENT RELATIONSHIPS
19. Communicate politely and professionally
Communication is very paramount for the success of a freelancer. If you can’t communicate well in a friendly manner, then I doubt clients would love to work with you. I have had experience working with some freelancers on Fiverr, and I have seen a pattern in their communication which to me is okay.
I take communication very importantly—the way you communicate will determine how you can get into the hearts of your clients, especially when you’re talking with them for the first time. So I’ll indulge you in learning the art of communication to help you.
20. Think before you act (avoid hasty decisions)
I don’t know if this should be part of these freelancing tips, but I think it should be because I have suffered greatly from making hasty decisions that cost me as a freelancer. You must learn how to take time to speak and act. Doing this will help you stay out of trouble that could cost you money or relationships.
When a client asks for a rush revision or questions your work, take a breath. Respond thoughtfully rather than defensively.
SUSTAINABILITY & GROWTH
21. Pace yourself to avoid burnout
Learn to do little rather than do lots to avoid burnout. I was guilty of this act—trying to do a lot. When you try to do a lot, you end up achieving little and then run your body down. Prioritize your tasks and avoid getting overwhelmed by all means.
This also means being strategic about the projects you take on. Not every client inquiry deserves a “yes.”
22. Practice consistency
Consistency ties into taking things slow. I have come to understand that consistency is not in volumes but it’s tied to showing up daily in any little way. It could be through posting a comment for freelancers who use online platforms, or it could be posting a little video or image.
23. Celebrate your little wins
When you learn to celebrate your little wins or progress, you renew your motivation that helps keep you committed even when your chips are down. Got your first client response? Celebrate. Finished a project on time? Celebrate. These small acknowledgments fuel the long journey.
Final Thoughts
These 23 freelancing tips aren’t theory—they’re battle-tested wisdom from someone who’s been in the trenches. You don’t need to implement all of them at once. Pick 3-5 that resonate most with where you are right now and start there.
Success in freelancing isn’t about overnight wins. It’s about showing up consistently, learning from your mistakes, and refusing to quit when things get hard. Your breakthrough is closer than you think.
Now go build the freelancing career you deserve.
Author: Bridget Austin
Ifeoma, who writes under the pen name Bridget Austin, is the founder of Inkwrit — a freelance writing platform built for African writers and storytellers. With a background in copywriting and content strategy, she created Inkwrit to give African voices a professional home to publish, build portfolios, and grow their writing careers. When she's not building the Inkwrit community, she writes about freelance writing, African literature, and the business of creative work.
