This article was edited by Johnson Ishola and Ella Webber.
In the wake of COVID-19, I was a fresh graduate with nothing but an intense fear of the future and a degree in English Language I didn’t know how to monetise.
One day, I logged into a long-forgotten LinkedIn account and saw an opportunity for writing interns at a studio in Lagos. I applied, got the role, stumbled into Facebook groups, and landed my first freelance gig almost by accident.
If you think I lived happily ever after, you are wrong. What followed was a roller coaster of learning and unlearning what this thing called freelancing actually is.
Whether you are new to the game or planning to get started, these are the lessons I wish someone had told me before I began.
1. Success takes time, a lot more than you expected
There is no such thing as overnight success, especially in freelancing.
Social media makes it look like you can wake up one day, post something that goes viral, and immediately start raking in thousands of dollars. But behind every “How I made $20k in one month” post is a backstory of rejection, impostor syndrome, and months, sometimes years, of quiet, unglamorous work.
One thing I quickly realised is that many people sell you the dream because they are trying to either sell you a course, mentorship, or a shiny version of themselves. If you are in this for the long haul, know that nothing about this journey is overnight.
In hindsight: Set SMART goals
Set SMART goals and work towards them. SMART goals are:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Realistic
- Timebound
Instead of saying “I want to quickly master freelancing and start making $10k a month like Lucy,” try something like “I want to make my first $100 from freelance social media management in four weeks by pitching at least ten prospective clients every week and actively sharing my work on LinkedIn.”
The first is generic and will leave you frustrated. The second gives you something concrete to work toward.
2. Finding your first client is not a walk in the park
Forget what the gurus say. Finding your first client is not as simple as “putting yourself out there.”
I wasn’t even looking when I got my first gig on Facebook, and the same thing happened on LinkedIn. Because I didn’t work for those opportunities, I assumed clients just appeared. Naturally, when the work dried up, and I had to start pitching, I had no idea what I was doing, and that period taught me a lot.
In hindsight: Start with a simple offer and leverage your existing network
You don’t need a fancy website, logo, or ten-case-study portfolio to start. Think about what you can help people with right now and write it down in one or two sentences. That is your offer. It can be as simple as:
- I manage social media pages for business owners so they can focus on what matters more.
- I design clean, affordable logos for startups in under 48 hours.
Share it on your WhatsApp, Instagram, or LinkedIn, wherever your people are. Send a few DMs to people who might know someone who needs what you offer, and ask your early customers for reviews. Prospects love social proof, and those first few testimonials will do more for your credibility than any portfolio template ever could.
It might feel awkward at first, but embarrassment is a small price to pay for your bag.
3. Daily structure is non-negotiable
Freedom is not free, my friend.
Before I started freelancing, all I heard was how flexible it was. Nobody mentioned how no client will pay you to play. The job still needs to get done, and when it does, if you cannot self-motivate, you will find yourself in serious trouble, especially when you are juggling several gigs all due yesterday.
In hindsight: Block three to four hours daily for your most demanding work
The first few hours after I wake up are when my brain is firing on all cylinders, so that is when I knock out my hardest tasks. I also realised my phone is my biggest distraction, so I use an app called Minimalist to lock myself out of it for four hours straight. I have never been able to override it. Trust me, I have tried.
Identify when your brain works best and protect that time. Then identify your biggest sources of distraction and get rid of them. The discipline you build around your schedule will determine how much you get done, and how much you get paid.
4. You are running a business
This is perhaps the hardest pill to swallow, especially for creative freelancers. You just want to write, design, edit, or do whatever your craft is.
But freelancing is not just doing the work. You need to find the work, manage it, and make sure you get paid for it. You are the CEO, marketing team, finance department, and customer service rep, all at once.
Top tip: Set up systems from the start
Automation is key. Tools like Zapier, Make, and n8n can handle repetitive tasks like client onboarding and following up with leads, freeing you to focus on the actual work.
Learning them might feel overwhelming at first, but you will thank yourself later. Who knows, it might even become an additional stream of income.
If you are interested in automation and active on Twitter(now X), there are accounts running what amounts to a free masterclass on workflow and business automation. Find them, follow them, and show up consistently. The knowledge compounds faster than you think.
5. Freelancing can get really lonely
We do not talk about this enough. Human beings are not built for isolation, but freelancing often means working alone with no colleagues to bounce ideas off or anyone to lean on when things get tough. It is just you, your deadlines, and the eerie echo of your own overthinking.
In hindsight: Join at least one active community, online and offline
Do not try to do this alone. Slack groups, WhatsApp chats, and coworking meetups, anywhere you can be around people who get it, make a real difference. That one “ugh, me too” from a fellow freelancer facing the same struggle can be enough to keep you going.
Here are some communities that have genuinely helped me:
- FCDC (Freelance Coalition for Developing Countries): A supportive community for BIPOC freelancers with mentorship, learning opportunities, and real career support.
- Skill Afrika by @omoalhajaabiola: A community with free training, opportunities, and regular reminders to keep chasing your goals.
- M4G (Marketing for Geeks): Technically a newsletter, but the real gem is the WhatsApp group where members share resources, host impromptu masterclasses, and meet up offline.
- Zikoko Money Newsletter: Money talk without the jargon. Reads like a conversation with a very smart friend.
- CareerBuddy: A goldmine of freelance gigs, work insights, and the occasional laugh-out-loud rant that somehow always drops a gem.
6. Early job experience is a valuable asset
I thought I was a decent writer before I joined a team. Working with other people showed me there are levels to this, and that realisation pushed me to work harder at my craft.
Beyond writing, working in a structured environment taught me how to be proactive, communicate clearly, perform under pressure, collaborate, and manage timelines.
The biggest surprise was that it helped me get over my fear of public speaking. These are not skills you can easily build alone, and they show up in everything, from how you pitch to how you handle feedback.
Do this instead: Use any past experience as proof of your professionalism
You do not need years of in-house experience to succeed, but if you have had any kind of job, internship, volunteer role, or team project, you already have transferable skills. The trick is knowing how to frame them.
Go back through your previous roles and pull out the skills that translate directly to freelancing: managing expectations, taking feedback, collaborating toward real outcomes, and meeting deadlines.
Use those stories in your pitches and bios. Where you have worked does not define you, but what you learned and how well you can apply it absolutely does.
7. Talking about your work with confidence opens doors
“Humble” equals invisible.
I learned this from a senior colleague who gave me a task I spent hours on. When he asked what I thought of the result, I said “I’m not sure, I’d like to hear your thoughts first.” He sent me back to rework it because I wasn’t confident in it, even though the work itself was solid. He told me not to bring him anything until I believed in it so much that nobody could talk me out of it.
That stuck with me, especially in creative work where so much is subject to individual interpretation. Your belief in your work is often the only thing standing between it and the bin. If you cannot advocate for what you have created, nobody else will.
Confidence is not arrogance. It is knowing what you bring to the table and not being shy about serving it, on LinkedIn, in emails, pitches, and wherever your people are.
What helped me: Perfect the art of pitching yourself
You can cold DM anyone, even the founder of a global brand you admire, as long as they have an online presence and you have something valuable to offer.
Start by finding recently funded startups on Crunchbase, optimise your LinkedIn profile, then use Apollo.io to find decision-maker emails or do it manually. Connect, send tailored pitches, and treat it as a numbers game. The more you send, the better your odds and the sharper your pitch becomes.
8. Strategically stack your skills
With how fast the digital space moves, it is easy to get caught up chasing shiny new skills. One minute you are a data analyst, the next you are a UX designer, and then someone posts about AI prompts, and you are halfway through a course you will never finish.
Relax.
You do not need to do everything. You need to do a few complementary things very well.
In hindsight: Build depth in two to three high-value skills before expanding
Pick two to three complementary skills and build depth before you even think about expanding. In my case, it is writing, digital marketing, and a bit of design literacy. That combination opens more doors than ten scattered, surface-level skills ever could.
A practical way to find your stack is to go on Upwork, Fiverr, or LinkedIn and look at job descriptions in a niche that interests you. Pay attention to skills that consistently appear together. If you are into tech, you might notice combinations like:
- Frontend development, Git, and basic UI/UX
- Data analysis, Excel, and SQL
- Digital marketing, SEO, and email marketing
When your skills complement each other, clients start seeing you as someone who understands the bigger picture, and that is when you become harder to replace.
9. When you are not earning, you should be learning
Dry spells happen. Some months you will be booked solid. Others, you will question every life choice that led you here. That is the game, and the freelancers who survive are those who use slow periods well.
Try this: Give yourself briefs
When work is slow, find a real gig posted on Upwork and try to solve it as if you had actually won the brief. You are building your portfolio and strengthening your thinking at the same time.
YouTube is also an underrated resource. You can learn practically any skill there for free. For more structured learning, Coursera offers financial aid for most of their paid courses; all you have to do is write in and explain your situation. The knowledge you pick up during slow seasons compounds quickly, and when the next opportunity comes knocking, you will be ready to answer it.
10. Your growth is not linear, and that is okay
Comparison is the thief of joy.
In freelancing, no two paths look the same. Some people went viral on Twitter and never looked back, others caught a big break and quietly disappeared, but most fall somewhere in between.
I have experienced beginner’s luck followed by a confusing slump, and what I have learned is that growth rarely follows a straight line. It zigs, zags, plateaus, loops around, and then moves forward again. Direction matters more than pace.
In hindsight: Monetise one skill in different ways
One skill, well monetised, can carry you through every dry spell. I know a freelance digital marketer who offers services, sells courses, consults for startups, trains corporate teams, and is writing a book. It is still the same skill, just monetised in different ways. That kind of breadth boosts your visibility, deepens your credibility, and ensures you are rarely out of funds.
You do not need ten skills. You need one skill you know deeply enough to teach, package, and sell in multiple directions.
I found my freelancing flow, and you can too
We’ve talked about everything from the myth of overnight success to the power of daily structure and the audacity it takes to scale as a freelancer.
If there’s one thing all these lessons point to, it’s that you don’t need to be the most talented to thrive as a freelancer; you just need to stay consistent, keep refining your work, and refuse to quit when things get uncomfortable.
Your journey will look different from mine, and that is fine. Find what works for you and own it without apology.
