Freelancing gives you the opportunity to do something you love and get paid for it while giving you complete control over your schedule and priorities. It’s a very freeing way to work. But this type of freedom comes at a price, and at times you’re bound to feel stressed, unmotivated, and worried.
Sometimes a good motivational freelancing quote is all you need for a moment of reflection that puts you back on track. So, in this article, I’ll provide you with a list of my favorite quotes for freelancing inspiration!
12 Best Freelancing Quotes
1. Stephen King
“Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.”
The meaning of this quote comes down to the essence of what makes a successful freelancer: discipline to work and keep on working.
Sometimes you might feel unmotivated to work. While some people simply do nothing and wait for inspiration to come to them, the best freelancers know that the secret to productivity is to just keep ongoing. ‘Doing’ is what inspires you to keep going!
Note: Struggling with this aspect in particular? Check out our guide full of freelance productivity tips.
2. Chris Grosser
“Opportunities don’t happen, you create them.”
Freelancing is hard work, no matter your field or niche. When you start your freelancing career, a big part of it is knowing how to sell yourself and creating a good portfolio. That involves hours upon hours of scouring the internet for opportunities, jobs, and networking. It’s hard work that you must be willing to do if you want to be successful.
It might be a while before clients come looking for you, so until then you have to go and look for them instead. Create your own opportunities!
3. Laura Spencer
“No matter how much experience you have, how many degrees you have, or how well-known you have become — there is always something new to learn. Don’t rest on your past experiences. If you do nothing to improve your skills, you won’t stay where you are.”
I can’t stress the importance of evolving in your field enough. Even if you’re an expert in your field, with years of experience under your belt, continuously learning is what will keep you relevant and at the top of your game. The more effort you put into your craft, the more clients will appreciate your work.
If you’re a freelance writer, for example, and you’re used to writing blog articles, take some time to learn about SEO, practice your grammar, and learn how to edit your work. All of this will allow you to grow as a professional and, most importantly, the more value you can offer, the more you can earn!
4. Steve Jobs
“If you’re working on something that you really care about, you don’t have to be pushed. The vision pulls you.”
Freelancing allows you to invest into and work on something that you enjoy doing. You can pretty much take any activity or hobby and make it profitable. This actually brings me to another quote (likely from Mark Anthony): “If you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life.”
It’s amazing being able to wake up every day and do something that you love doing for a living. Freelancing opens that door for you!
5. Brian Tracy
“Develop an ‘Attitude of Gratitude’. Say ‘Thank You’ to everyone you meet, for everything they do for you.”
There are three aspects of good freelancing: amazing work, being reliable, and being a pleasure to work with. This last one is a great quality to have for life in general. But when you’re dealing with different clients, they must have the best impression of you.
As freelancers, we’re bound to get critiques and suggestions about our work all the time. So, we need to try to always stay positive and be grateful for the opportunities to grow professionally. You’ll feel good and the clients will recall the positive experience.
6. Sheryl Sandberg
“Done is better than perfect.”
It’s easy to get caught up trying to be perfect on the first try. But most of the time, that’ll only set you back and make you stressed. As a freelance writer, it was almost second nature to me to try and constantly edit what was supposed to be my draft as I was writing it. This only resulted in frustration and wasted time.
But it’s still always a great idea to spend a decent amount of time on a draft because it will be a good foundation for your ideas. Once you know exactly what you want to do and how you want to organize your work, the end product will be much richer and it’ll come a lot easier to you.
7. Louise Hay
“Somewhere someone is looking for exactly what you have to offer.”
This is the beauty of freelancing. Yes, there are thousands of freelance writers, designers, and marketing specialists on the internet. But not one of them is you! Your talent, experience, and personality are unique and very important parts of the package that you’re selling. So, don’t be afraid to be 100% you in all the things you do, from presenting yourself to clients to the moment you deliver your work.
8. Richard Branson
“Don’t be embarrassed by your failures. Learn from them and start again.”
A tip for anyone who wants to start freelancing: expect rejection and learn how to deal with it. It’s not easy getting started in this business and you’re bound to get rejected when applying to job boards and have clients who don’t enjoy parts of your work.
Don’t ever take it personally. Take whatever lessons you can from your experiences (especially when someone gives you constructive criticism). Learn from this and grow as a freelancer.
9. Vaibhav Shah
“Whenever you see a successful person, you only see the public glories, never the private sacrifices to reach them.”
Don’t ever feel the need to compare yourself to other freelancers. Every single person is on a different path, with different journeys, experiences, and opportunities. No one owes anybody anything, especially not success. You’re the one who needs to keep on fighting for it. Create your opportunities and take advantage of them!
10. Oprah Winfrey
“Make yourself a priority. Fill yourself up so that you can give more to others.”
Freelancing gives you control of your schedule and more freedom, but it’s easy to take that freedom and fill it up with more and more work. Especially when just starting your freelancing career, you’ll feel the need to accept every job you can get.
Don’t forget that you’re human and that you need to take breaks and ask for help if you need it. Establishing boundaries, knowing your limits, and taking care of your mental health is a huge part of being a freelancer. All of these things are vital for your relationship with your career, and they help ensure you avoid burning out.
11. Friedrich Nietzsche
“If we have our own why in life, we shall get along with any how.”
If you understand why you’re freelancing, you’ll be able to deal with anything that comes your way. As long as you believe that what you’re doing is what you need to do in life, you’ll get the work done that needs done to get there. This can obviously apply to other things in life as well, and I believe that if you have a reason for pursuing something, you will be able to get there no matter what.
12. Aristotle
“Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.”
This last quote is a bit of a controversial one, but essentially if you enjoy what you’re doing, you’ll be able to do it better. Some may not find this to be true, and many will say that the work that is truly worth doing isn’t always enjoyable.
I agree there are times when we must simply plod on through the mud in order to get to the riches at the other side, but it’s worth remembering as a freelancer that if you’re not enjoying what you’re doing, it’s easy for your standards to slip.
Therefore, it’s useful to take some time every now and then to think about whether or not you enjoy what you’re doing. If you feel you’re getting run down and your standards are slipping, take a step back and ask yourself if it’s because you no longer enjoy the work.
If that’s the case, it doesn’t necessarily mean you should pivot to something totally different, but it may simply be time to take a break, or find a way to improve the way you do things to bring the enjoyment—and therefore the perfection—back to the work.
How To Motivate Yourself As A Freelancer
Staying motivated as a freelancer is all about understanding how to balance the work you do with the life you live. You need to establish limits on how much you can do in a week without feeling burnt out, as it can be very difficult to get things going again when this happens. So, start by organizing your tasks in a way that makes sense in terms of their priorities and the time it will take to do them.
Organize Your Tasks
If a task is urgent and will bring the most benefit to you and your freelancing operation when you do it, that should be the task you do first. If you get into the habit of doing these tasks earlier rather than later, whether that be first thing in the morning or on the first day of your week, you’ll be able to reap the rewards sooner, which can serve as its own source of motivation. Getting things done can really fire you up!
Set Achievable Goals
Setting achievable goals is another good way to motivate yourself. This doesn’t mean you have to set a lofty financial goal for 6 months down the line. Instead it could be a goal to land 3 more clients in the next month. Or it could be to set up your own freelancing website to better market your skills.
Whatever it is, start small and ensure it’s achievable, and this will help motivate you towards small wins. Getting these wins will also motivate you to set more goals, and the cycle continues.
Feeling Motivated Yet?
Motivating yourself as a freelancer is not always an easy task. What things work best for you will largely depend on your line of work, your preferred approach to working, and various other personal traits. But hopefully our top freelancing quotes have helped give you that extra bit of motivation you needed today to go and make more money!
If you need more guidance, check out our list of the best books for freelancers.
Raquel is a freelance writer with a knack for technology and a passion for science. She draws on her own years of freelance writing experience to craft articles for Freelance Ready on topics including freelancing on Fiverr and the popular blogging platform Medium.com. Learn more about Raquel here.
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