I was recently reminded of why I was so willing to hand in my notice at my last job, before my boss beat me to it and sacked me for running his business badly while he was away for three weeks visiting his family...
I'll spare you the details, but essentially, I had a client who was a real nightmare to deal with. Not only were the deadlines stringent, but he was far too aggressive with the haggling. At that point, I just gave up and told him I wasn't going to work for him anymore and gave him a refund.
I guess I should expect no better since the client came to me through Fiverr, though I did make it clear in my gig description that I charge by the hour and I even told the client this was how I operated.
I was also honest in quoting the number of hours taken to do the work, but he wouldn't have it, despite having agreed in principle that it was going to cost a certain amount per hour.
So it ended up being a complete waste of time. The good thing to come out of it was that I realised I really needed to take my business in a different direction.
Rather than work as a freelancer and getting paid occasionally and only for the job that I do, I need to find ways to make my business sustainable. Freelancing is really no different to a full time job and a salary. You still need to work for someone who is effectively your employer. The biggest difference is that the pay is sporadic.
Rather than earning income, I need to build an income stream. I realise that no business can ever be considered completely hands free, but I need to build something that can sustain me and run on it's own for a little while, even if I become ill or simply want to slack off for a week or two.
There is an idea that I am considering at this moment in time. I'm not sure if it's going to be the 'Holy Grail', but I'm willing to at least dabble a bit with it.
The worst is that I fail utterly and completely, but that is probably not much different to my current situation so I really have nothing to lose.
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