The Value of Freelancing

Freelancing as a makeup artist taught me everything I needed to know to be successful in work as well as life. Before freelancing, I thought if I was highly skilled, I gave the client what they wanted, I was doing my job. I totally neglected the aspect of developing a relationship with my client. As I learned those skills for work, I transferred them over to my personal life and many more doors opened. The result is that I'm a lot happier and so are the people around me! Here are a few things I learned from freelancing that I have found to be critical components to a successful professional and personal life.

1. It’s not how skilled you are, but the impression you make on people.
2. It’s all about the relationship between you and your client.
3. Always be creating, developing and nurturing relationships for your work and personal life.
4. Treat everyone like a VIP.
5. You are always selling yourself, not just the product.
6. Compliment people and show a genuine interest in them and their life.
7. Be flexible with a big smile when problems arise
8. Be a problem solving leader. Anyone can say, “It can’t be done.” Leaders show how to do it.

Many of the best schools, top management positions and regular 9-5 jobs do not teach these skills. In simple terms, these are the business rules of “warm fuzzies.” I found out that if I made my job making others feel good, important and cared for, then I would be successful no matter what job I was performing. This outlook has helped me to really overcome my shyness and desire to only concentrate on my work skills, not my people skills.