You shouldn’t part ways just because they aren’t ready to pay your price.

“I like your work. I like your approach, but I won’t be able to pay what you quoted.”

Any other day, I would wish him best and bid him goodbye, never to think about him again. But that day, I thought of doing something different.

Instead of forgetting him, I emailed him asking if he would like to get marketing tips for free. And as expected, who would disagree?

I spent some time to set up a ‘nurture campaign’. And in just a year, I was able to get good revenues from this ‘bogus lead’ list. …

“Wake up! It’s already 10:00 am.”

“If I had to wake up at 7 every day, why would I leave my job,” I smirked while trying to come out of my slumber.

No offense to the morning people, but I have never been one. It’s not that I didn’t try, but every time I do, It ends with me goofing up. Waking up early was the first out of the lot.

When I left my full-time job for freelancing, I made a conscious decision to stop chasing things that many preach, but isn’t essential for success.

I have been a rebel, since the day I started working for my own. Though I had the internet at my disposal, I never researched to enhance my freelance career — to build processes, to do something others are doing, or to follow my goals. …

Freelancing is fun, right?

My friends often comment this when I meet them. In fact, that’s the first thought about freelancing — you can work from anywhere, anytime without any worry. But don’t you feel there’s a catch?

It’s true, we have the liberty to work from anywhere, but let’s accept it, not all freelancers are digital nomads. Freedom to work from anywhere comes at a price — you have to stay organized right from day one.

Let’s be more clear on this.

When you work in a company, office or with someone, the onus to manage things lies on someone else. That’s why we have IT departments, admin departments and support staff in every office. …

Waking up to an inbound lead is a bliss for every independent consultant or freelancer. You would agree, right?

But, attracting attention is just a battle half won. You still need to convince the prospect that this is ‘a match made in heaven’ before they shell out a contract to you.

Having worked as an independent consultant for almost three years, I realize that my biggest wins came when I was serious about the proposal.

I have always believed in the power of inbound and word-of-mouth, but one cannot deny that cold pitches and proposals are the biggest winners for the freelancing community. …

When everyone’s a ‘Guru’, you need to start looking the other way.

If there’s one industry that grew throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, it is unquestioningly the EdTech space.

Everyone is savoring this ‘new normal’ like hot pancakes. Webinars, MOOC platforms, online masterclasses, workshops, there seems to be like a buffet of learning being served on a platter these days.

I have been fascinated by online courses since 2014. I still remember my first online course on Coursera about Content Strategy. It was from a foreign university.

Living in a country where professional and vocational education is hard to come by, the concept seemed revolutionary back then. …

Everyone tells you to be active online. But is it really worth it?

Imagine a world without social media. Would it impact you professionally?

For a freelancer in 2020, social media is like the centerpiece of the growth story.

Take the case of Namit. He switched to freelancing after a successful career in the corporate sector as a designer.

He shot to fame via Instagram and was noticed by potential clients because of the beautiful carousels he made on his personal account.

Slowly, he shifted his focus to LinkedIn and started getting a lot of inbound leads.

But, he was shocked when he was permanently banned from using Instagram last year. Crackdown on creators it was called. …

I was on a flight in the last week of February 2020. It was a short flight, long before India went into the lockdown. But little did I know that it would be one of my last flights in a long time.

We all have been caught by surprise by this global pandemic. Especially on the work front. Right?

Who would have thought that a country like India would adapt to remote work culture that too in 2020. But here we are now with most companies offering ‘work from home’ provision to their employees.

The Not So New Normal (For Me)

I left my full-time job for freelancing in 2017 and since then I have been working from home. …

A couple of weeks back, I received an email notification- that I have completed six years on Reddit.

You might be wondering, “Woah! That’s quite sometime. You must be raking in millions of ‘Karma’ points!”

But the real scenario was quite the opposite. I just had ‘1 karma’.

For the uninitiated, ‘Karma’ is Reddit’s internal scoring system that shows how valuable you’ve been to the community.

Well, now you know, I am not a Reddit fanatic by any means. …