So last week I shared the story about how I landed $2,000 in the first month of my freelance career. I knew that I had a set amount of time to start bringing in the moolah, but because it was such a focused time, and because I landed a consistent client from all that effort, things started to slip in the following months.

Not drastically, mind you. I was still bringing in $2,000-$3,000 per month, but I was stuck in a serious rut. I was working nose to the grindstone every day, but I couldn’t see things changing.

I thought I’d have to work that hard for the rest of my life if I wanted to continue earning that income.

Because, even though I told you I earned $2,000 in my first month, it wasn’t easy. The money didn’t just rain down on me like I was some kind of modern-day Midas. It was hard work. Seriously, way harder than I can put into words.

Which is why so many freelancers give up after the first month. They either aren’t getting any traction, they aren’t earning what they want to earn, or they can’t face working another 12-hour day with no results.

And that’s fine.

Freelancing isn’t for everyone. But I knew deep, deep (deep) down that it was what I wanted to do. It wasn’t a flash in the pan idea I’d had, it was something I’d dreamt about since I was at school (thanks, self-employed parents).

But when you’ve pushed yourself for 4 months or so solidly and you can’t get off that damn plateau? That’s when the niggling thoughts that you aren’t good enough come in. That’s when you feel stupid for even thinking you could be successful at freelancing.

Trust me, I’ve been there more times than I care to admit.

It’s not easy. But looking back? I realise it wasn’t easy because I didn’t make it easy for myself.

If I wasn’t constantly looking for clients, then what was the point? Surely that meant I didn’t want it enough.

If I wasn’t working 14, 16, or even 18 hour days, was I really worthy of being a freelancer?

The problem? I may well have been working all the hours under the sun and not getting much traction, but that’s because I was doing that thing where you’re busy rather than productive.

I looked busy. Heck, I was more stressed than I’d ever been before. But I wasn’t being productive. I was filling my time with tasks that were all over the place; that didn’t add up to anything substantial.

And this lack of focus? Well, that was the biggest thing that almost ruined my freelance career.

But it wasn’t the only thing.

1. I didn’t put myself out there enough

I’m a helluva shy person and a serious people-pleaser at heart, which means I don’t like to come across as annoying and I really don’t have the get-up-and-go to wave my services in peoples’ faces day in, day out.

But when I first started? I was too scared to do anything. I’d write out emails to companies I wanted to work for and delete them before I sent them, because why would anyone want to work with me?

I wasn’t confident in my abilities. I didn’t think I deserved to get paid for writing. And so I didn’t put myself out there.

Sure, I responded to job ads on boards, but these were companies that were actively looking for writers, so I knew my application was a welcome arrival in their inbox.

But even so, I still didn’t big up my services as much as I could have. Instead, I still harboured an employee mindset, where I waited to be told what to do, offered to take any price the client suggested, and constantly asked if everything was okay.

Is this you?

You’re not putting yourself out there enough if you’re not applying to jobs every single day, if you’re not reaching out to five or more new companies a week, and if you’re not advertising your services on your social media channels.

Remember, we think we’re all up in someone’s grill when we promote our stuff because we see everything we’re posting, whereas someone else might just see a single Tweet or a Facebook update.

Different clients hang out on different platforms, so it’s worth spreading your message multiple times across different platforms. It’s a numbers game, really, in the initial stages. You need to be building your contact list, getting in touch with as many people as possible, and getting your face and name out there.

How I got over it:

It’s easy to think that anyone can do what we do, but that is so far from the truth.

It took me way too long to realise that not everyone can write like me, and that’s why clients are willing to pay me to write for them. I thought everyone could write. I mean, it’s an easy enough skill, right? Wrong.

And I’m willing to bet good money that you have a skill no one else has – sometimes it’s just hard to see it when you’re so close to it.

2. I didn’t have a plan

My first month freelancing was super strategic, because I had a goal (to earn enough money to pay my rent and bills in Spain) and a timeframe (by the time I moved to Spain).

But after that month? I didn’t have a goal or a timeframe, so things unravelled into a crazy mess.

I did bits here and there, but I didn’t really know why I was doing them or why they were beneficial to my business. For example, I spent loads of time writing articles for the Huff Po, because – Huff Po, right?

But they weren’t getting any traction. Sure, clients seemed to like that I had such a big name in my portfolio, but having one or two samples to send them would have been enough.

Instead, I kept writing to crickets. All that time I spent writing content there could have been better spent writing on my own blog or strategically guest posting on sites where my clients actually hung out – this would all have been so clear if only I had a plan.

Without a plan, it felt like I was clinging on by the skin of my teeth. That if I didn’t carry on scrabbling around doing a bit of this and a bit of that every day, that I’d fall screaming to the floor in a pile of failure.

Is this you?

You don’t have a plan if you don’t know who you want to work with – you’ll snap up any offer that comes your way. You don’t have a plan when you don’t know what your end goal is – what’s your idea of success? What do you eventually want your life to look like?

But most of all, you don’t have a plan if you’re too scared to start and have no idea what to do to kick things off (I’ve got a solution for you at the bottom of this post!).

How I got over it:

I got myself a plan! Simple.

When I realised what I was doing wasn’t working, I sat myself down and brought up a blank document. In that document, I wrote down three major goals (they’ve changed slightly now):

• To earn $5,000 a month
• To have a 5-7 recurring clients
• To work 6 hours a day

Now I had something to work towards.

Next, I created stepping stones that would help me reach those goals and, anything that wasn’t directly linked to one of these? Well that was completely scrapped from my to-do list.

Now, whenever I consider trying a new marketing tactic or get into talks about collaboration or something similar, I really think about whether it will help me get closer to my three main goals.

If it doesn’t? It doesn’t happen.

3. I wasn’t consistent

This kind of goes hand in hand with my last point, but it’s actually a little deeper than simply having a plan.

During that first month of freelancing, I tried all sorts of strategies – Craigslist, Upwork, job boards, Twitter, cold emails, everything.

And when I didn’t see any results from one? I’d ditch it.

The thing is, it’s unlikely you’ll start seeing results in just a month – or even six months – if it’s something that requires time to build up.

Everything became a flash in the pan as I wanted to see results and quickly.

The truth? Quick results never happen.

You might think someone has had an overnight success, but rarely do you see the sheer amount of work that has gone into that: the endless nights spent working away, the failures, the rejections, the dead ends.

I’ve since learnt that consistency is what builds a solid freelance business.

Is this you?

You’re inconsistent if you jump on new trends and dismiss them when you don’t see results after a week or two. This is you if you are constantly trying out new ways to get clients and are spreading yourself across way too many platforms.

How I got over it:

Now, when I find a new marketing technique I’d like to try out or something similar, I give it at least a month (preferably six weeks) before I dismiss it.

What’s more, I measure the results from the start to the finish. Sometimes we don’t see the results we want to see, but there is an increase in referrals or enquiries. This shows that the method is working, it just might take a little longer than you’d hoped.

I reminded myself that I wanted to be a freelance writer for a long, long time, so I needed to play the long-game.

Remember that solution I offered you before?

The solution to not knowing where to start?

I’ve created a 5-day free challenge that gets you ready to become a freelancer. The 5 Days to Freelance Ready challenge will get you in action mode. It’ll help you change your mindset from employee to freelancer (one of the biggest things that changed my career), create a successful resume, draft a contract that has your back, and then put it all together to form a plan – the most important thing you can have when you start out.

Enrol below (the challenge starts on Sept 15th!).