Live To Inspire and Be Inspired To Live, by Gina Yap Lai Yoong

Just like the saying goes, “Do we eat to live or live to eat?” – the same goes with life.What drives us to live and what are we living for? If we can’t answer this question, it simply means we haven’t found our purpose in life. And without that purpose, every morning is just another sunrise; every day is just another number on the calendar; our life can be non-existent because it doesn’t matter. If our life doesn’t matter to ourselves, how much more would it matters to others?

Living is about making it meaningful for ourselves and for others. And meaning comes from fulfilling the purpose we have in life for us. But where does purpose come from? How do we find our purpose in life? How do we know what is our purpose in living every day? Is it written on our thumbprint? Are we given the manual for it? What happens if we never discover the purpose in life? Can we still live on?

Purpose comes from motivation; and motivation from inspirations. We need to be inspired to do something before we can make that something our purpose in life. We need to be inspired to create before we can produce a masterpiece. We need to be inspired to play a sport before we can love the game. We need to be inspired to love before we can love someone and be loved in return. In everything we do, we have to first be inspired before we can act on it. Same goes with living.

But how do we get inspired? Where do we get our inspirations from? From life itself. Life itself is the biggest inspiration one could ever find. Because in living, we inspire and in inspiring, we live. In everything we do, people see inspirations in our action and vice-versa.

Inspiration comes in many forms, even the simplest thing like listening to a song or reading a book. No matter where we draw our inspiration from, our life is ours to live. We have to live to inspire others and be inspired in returns to live the life which we are called to. Simply because we owe it to ourselves. We owe it to ourselves to live and live inspiredly.

Many freelancers look up to successful freelancers and wonder to themselves, “What’s the success code of freelancing that put them up there at the top of the ladder? What makes them successful? What do they know about freelance success that I don’t? How do I get there?” – The first success code is to stop looking for the success code because there isn’t one. The key is you have to walk down that road. No shortcuts, no magic puff. It’s taking each step that matters.

Step 1: Get Started.
Stop talking about being a freelancer. Get started and actually be one. Do whatever it takes to be a freelancer. If it means setting up a working hour or working on small jobs first, do it! Lift your freelance career off the ground and take flight. You can’t be a successful freelancer until you get started. Talking about being a freelancer will not get you anywhere. You have to be one to be a successful one.

Step 2: Live Up To It.
Put on the freelancer cap and live up to it. Don’t call yourself a freelancer if you’re not one. A freelancer works. Be sure to deliver the services you promised your clients. Complete projects and meet deadlines. Cover each project from the very beginning to the end of the race. If it means meeting clients, preparing invoices, doing the creatives and administration work – do it! A freelancer means you have to handle everything from the very start to the very end. Live up to it!

Step 3: Make Money. Lots Of Them!
Why is a freelancer successful? Because his/her business makes money! So you have to make sure you harvest profits from all your hard work. How so? By weighing the ups and downs of your expenses. Never undercharge a client just to get the job; make sure you charge enough to cover your expenses and make a profit out of it. If you are thinking of a marketing strategy to sell your services, think of ways that would bring in projects that pays you. Freelancers are not professionals who work for free.

Step 4: Keep Pushing!
Most freelancers give up before they even got started. Or when business is low and the money is not coming in, they simply throw away their computer and give up. They blame it on the economy, on their clients, on their bad luck, and even on other successful freelancers. But hey, everyone goes through low tides. Only those who push through and keep standing on their feet will experience breakthrough. If you are seeking for that breakthrough, push on, your freelancing career will flourish if you keep pushing on.

A month ago I wrote about how we should all be prepared when life gives way; let us appreciate the power that life has over us and use it to our advantage; that life has only one call upon us but we have a lifetime to wait for that one call. I forgot to mention one thing: There are many miss calls before that one call. Last week, I got a miss call from life; I was put to test. I got into a terrible car accident.

I was on my way to The Gathering Of Great Minds conference early Friday morning when I lost control of the car behind the wheels. My car spun a couple of rounds hitting the highway divider in the wee hours of the morning as I held on tight for dear life. And then everything stopped. I knew it was a miss call. Because I was still breathing. Alive.

For those who believe in heaven and hell, they told me the Demon must have tried to rob my life but God has intervened on time. For those who believe in the Hungry Ghost month, they said it’s the ghost playing games with me. And yet for those who believe in logic, they think it’s just a technical system gone wrong. But really, does how it happens matter? Shouldn’t we look at the bigger picture?

The bigger picture that all of us have to be ready when life throws a challenge at us – this is the focus, not the miss calls of life. The miss calls of life are just reminders that we should never take life for granted.

A death threat. A life-hanging loose rope. A big scare. We should never be scared off-track just because something happens to us. Something that almost robs us of life. Because we should not live in fear that life will give way one day; we should live with thanksgiving for yet another day in life for us to do the things we love to do and spend time with the people we love the most.

So if you ask me today, “Will you ever drive again?”. I’m not going to dwell on that accident scare. It’s scary, yes, spinning all alone behind the wheels and having life being spun out of me. But why should a miss call in life stop me from living? From unleashing my full potential to be who I am called to be? Why should a miss call in life stop YOU from moving on in life?

If you have been in a terrible tragedy that almost cost you your life and you are sitting there feeling too afraid to live again, DON’T! If you have lost a loved one and you don’t know how to move on in life, START STANDING!

Life is not about living in fear, regrets or dwellings. It’s not even about living in the past. It’s about today. It’s about the future. It’s about making life worthwhile while you wait for that one call upon your life. And while you are at it, be reminded that you should never take life for granted. Because then, you can lead a purposeful meaningful life for yourself.

When I first started freelancing fulltime nine months ago, my parents were worried. They were afraid that I would use freelancing as an excuse to be a coach potato at home, rotting away in front of the television and doing nothing but letting time slip away. They were afraid that I would stop giving them monthly expenses to cover the apartment’s rent, car loan and everything else. They were worried about what others would say about their daughter sitting at home day and night. Honestly, I think they were more worried about themselves than me. And everyone else around them didn’t help but added salt to the situation.

That’s the misconception of freelancing. First off, as a freelancer, you should embrace the exact concept of it. Don’t let the perceptions of others ruin your job as a freelancer. Yes, freelancing is a job. It means you are self-employed, and that makes you an employee of your own. So if you don’t start looking at freelancing as your job, then everything that other people say about you will come true.

Just last week, a desperate single mother turned up at my doorstep and asked me to save her daughter. Chloe* has graduated with a degree in Arts and Media last year. She told her mother that she wants to be a freelancer, thus hasn’t send a single resume out for job hunting since her graduation. Worst still, she didn’t even work on any projects for the past one year and has been lazing in the comfort of her air-con room watching YouTube every day for the past 365 days. Her excuse, “I don’t have any clients.”

Not only did she not help to ease her mother’s burden of feeding 5 children as a single mother, Chloe even asked her mother for money to spend on clothes and food. When this poor mother heard from my mother how well I was doing as a freelancer, she immediately sought me for help. When I heard her story, I wanted to bash up her daughter (not literally, of course, I am a gentle creature).

As a freelancer, you are first accountable to yourself, then to the people around you. Being a freelancer doesn’t make you God. It doesn’t mean you can sit around and wait for projects to fall down from heaven, leeching to other people’s hard-earned money while you are waiting for clients to come to you. It takes effort, determination and perseveration. It requires work on YOUR part. YOU need to make it work; not anyone else.

Thus, before you call yourself a Freelancer and make a huge announcement to the world, think about it. Think about the working-from-home lifestyle, the pressure from people around you, the uncertainty of monthly income, the working style, etc. Always remember to think of Freelancing as a job you are about to apply. What are you looking to achieve through it and if you’re the boss, would you hire yourself?

Freelancer is an easy label to wear; a cap that every fresh graduate put on their head when they walk out of the university. It’s a label that saves them the hassle of writing their resumes, looking for their first jobs and switching to working lifestyle mode – which is so wrong. Freelancing is not an escape route. It’s a job. If you don’t get it right, you’re not it; you’re not a freelancer.

* Name changed to protect individual’s privacy.

It’s normal to be earning just enough to survive when you first start out as a freelancer. In fact, it’s a blessing to be surviving the first few months when most others out there are struggling to earn their first pay cheque on the first month. But don’t let that leave you comfortable. Survival is just the first stage of freelancing. As freelancers, we must thrive and succeed beyond the survival circle because that’s the whole purpose in the first place: To stand up and succeed in the things we love to do most. If you are just looking at survival, you may as well get a fulltime job and be well secured in your life. Freelancing is not a survival game; it’s a thriving game. And here are some ways you can thrive as a freelancer.

Never limit your earnings
Don’t be easily satisfied with what you achieve. If you earn RM2,000 with a fulltime job, know that you should earn more than that when you start freelancing. Why? Because you deserve more. When you have a fulltime job, your boss determines your value. When you are your own boss, your value is in your hands. You determine how much you want to earn; not based on your boundaries but based on what you can do beyond your boundaries.

Think and plan long term
Don’t stop at this month’s pay cheque. When you have earned the amount you need to live life this month, don’t stop and enjoy life. Don’t live on that money and wait for next month to come to worry about next month’s pay cheque. Think long term and act ahead. In the freelance world, there are ups and downs. Some months you earn more, some months you earn less. Be prepared and plan long term to keep thriving.

Expand your network
A surviving freelancer acts within his circle of friends; a thriving freelancer acts within and beyond his circle of network. There is no limit to business and client leads. Your potential clients could be anywhere. They could be your friend’s friends, or your facebook’s friends, or even friend of friends. If you limit yourself within your network, you are stopping yourself from getting more business leads. Expand and go beyond. Tap on other people’s network to grow even more. That way, you won’t earn enough just to survive, you will thrive for success.

Keep clients happy
And they will definitely come back to you. No matter what your business is about, a regular client is always better than a touch-n-go client. Always give your best to every project because the world is watching you. Your performance in one will affect your reputation, which would affect your business opportunities. Serve your clients well and keep them happy. Then they will come back to you for future projects and even recommend you to their network of friends.

One minute. Sixty seconds. 60,000 miliseconds. When you break it down this way, you’ll realise that there is more than just time in one minute. Yet it is this ONE MINUTE that we often take for granted.

In one minute, you can count the number of candies in the candybox on your desk. In one minute, you can photocopy at least 60 copies of documents. In one minute, you can send out emails, tweet on Twitter and update your Facebook at the same time. All in just one minute’s time. Yes, there are many things which you can do in one minute. And many things can happen in one minute; things beyond your imagination.

One minute earlier and you’d have caught the bus to be at work on time. One minute earlier and you’d miss the whole traffic jam on the highway and reach home on time for dinner. One minute to take revenge on your boss and scar your career for a lifetime. One minute of swearing and gossipping behind people’s back that leads to broken relationships. One minute later, you’d wish that you were there one minute earlier to see your loved one takes their last breath. One minute later, you’d wish you could turn back time and do things differently in that one minute you have taken for granted.

It’s just one minute. It’s such a short period of time but anything can happen. Anything at all. In one minute, you can love someone; or you can hate someone. In one minute, you can forgive someone; or you can take revenge. In one minute, you can change the world; or you can complain about it. That’s the power of one minute. And you have full control of it.

Let every minute of your life be used to fulfill something greater. Let’s choose to love instead of revenge when that one minute comes. Let’s choose to smile instead of frown when that one minute comes. Let’s do something that we will not regret in every minute of our life. Take control of every minute because things happen in one minute; and with that life changes. You change. In just one minute. Let the smallness of one minute make its greatest impact upon your life.

It’s not every day that we come across clients that are so unhappy with our services that they want to flip the table and fire us. But it happens, even to the top leaders in the industry, even to the best of us: A client can be disappointed with the products and services we offer and we will have to deal with the situation. It doesn’t matter if the client was having a bad hair day or was simply being unreasonable; Unhappy clients should never be left unattended. Because when you lose one client, you lose many more potential referrers that would have come your way – if only you attended to just one unhappy client and make them smile a little despite the dark cloud.

Just the other month I had a client calling me to complain about the photographer which I introduced to the job. “Even the photos I took with my digital camera look better than the ones your photographer took,” he boasted loudly on the phone. Honestly, if you ask me, I really was not bothered. That’s between him and the photographer. But because his unhappiness influenced the project which I was working on with him company, I had to deal with it.

Attending to unhappy clients resulted from external circumstances is also essential in business. But how can we turn their frowns into smiles again? How do we make them happy and get hired again in the future? How do we transform unhappy clients to satisfied clients? Does one unhappy client means all is lost?

Fortunately, the answer is no; None is lost and all is gain. In situations like this, all you need to do is manage effectively and the frowns may just turn into wide grins. And your unhappy client can be transformed to be your best client ever who respects you even more. Here are some ways you can transform the situation to your gain.

Listen & Be All Ears
Before you lose your cool and become unhappy yourself, remember to calm down and listen. Don’t just hear them out, you have to sit down and listen to what they have to complain about. And don’t interfere. Let them finish ranting before you say anything at all. Normally a person calms down after sharing their piece of mind. A conflict is best solved when all parties are calm and composed.

Acknowledge & Don’t Blame
No, you don’t have to say that it’s your fault (especially when it is not yours from the very start). But you have to let them know that you acknowledge their dissatisfaction. You have to show empathy to the clients so that they know you understand their frustrations. And when you do, use phrases that do not start the blame game. For example, you can say, “I’m sorry you didn’t like the photographs.” instead of “The photos have been taken, you have to pay even though you won’t use them.”

Look For Alternatives, Not Faults
Work with the clients to come out with alternatives or solutions to the matter so that both parties are happy at the end of the day. Ask them for their perceptions, understand why they feel the way they feel, and work your way around it. If they dislike lengthy contents, shorten it. If they dislike portrait images, crop them to horizontal ones. Remember, it’s not always what you want, it’s what they are want that they are paying for.

Release & Refer
When all else fails, learn to let go and release even if it means a refund and losing the job. The longer your client is unhappy, the more damage it does to the business relationship. So let go when you have to and be honest about it. Tell them the reasons behind your decision; Perhaps your style just wasn’t their cup of tea. At the same time, do not leave them dangling at the end of the rope. Refer them to other professionals who might be able to help them. Be genuine in helping them out and they will appreciate you. Last impression counts.

As an encouragement to all, let me finish my story of the unhappy client I had. I called up the photographer and arranged for a post analysis with the client, gave them a chance to discuss the problem over coffee and yet, the client was unhappy. So I played my last card. I completed the entire project for them for free (not with the intention to buy them back, but so that they won’t go around and give me bad publicity) and that did the trick! For in that simple act, they saw accountability and I garnered a new profound respect in them. And I was listed as one of their panel designers for future projects.

Here’s the golden rule: No unhappy clients should be left unattended. Because even one unhappy client makes a whole lot difference. Your referrals and reputation is at stake, and it’s a scar in your career forever. So manage effectively and transform their frowns to silly grins because unhappy clients matter. And they are important too!

This week has been a rather busy time for me as I catch up with backlogs at work. And there are times when I hardly have more than three hours sleep a day. That’s the way life turns out to be for some of us. We get too busy with our passion and work, we neglect life and forget that it’s LIFE that has full control of us. With just a puff, God breathed life into our soul. Just the same way, our life can give way in just a wink of eye.

I woke up this morning and was reminded of how fragile life is: A woman in her early forties lost her husband to sudden death late last night while I was slaving away in front of my computer. His blood pressure suddenly dropped low and his life gave way – just like that. No chance to really say goodbye or leave a will, not even see his children for the last time for they thought he just needed help from the hospital, nor even treasure to support the family for days to come. In just a wink, life gave way and now the widow has four young children to parent all on her own.

It’s a sad news. Or the way everyone around me keeps saying today, it’s a sad sad shocking news. I watch them crumble into coping mechanism mode – getting themselves busy to cope rather than face their lost in the eye. Naturally people wonder if she can cope with four young children, if she could find a job and survive, if she can still afford life, what would she do next, how can they help – but in the midst of helping one to cope from the lost of a loved one, everyone overlooks the most important message life has sent us: Life has the power to work its way as and when it demands.

We take life for granted. All of us. All the time. Because waking up each morning to see the sun beaming brightly at us has been a natural thing to do. Because tomorrow always seems to be there no matter how rough today has been. Because we cannot imagine never waking up when we lay down to sleep at night.

Life has one call upon us. Just one. But we have a lifetime to wait for that one call – where our life would give way and we would pass on. Let us not forget this as we go on with our daily life.

Let us appreciate the power that life has over us and use it to our advantage. Let every one of us be ready when life gives way.

“Score a big client!”

“Charge clients a lot more!”

“Work on as many projects as possible!”

All of the above are rational applicable ways of getting rich as a freelancer. At the end of the day, the question is this: Do we get rich freelancing or are we freelancing to get rich?

As freelancers, we have the choice of working as much as we want, or as little as we want. We get to choose between spending time with our loved ones and doing the things we love, or spending time working our ass off to earn big bucks. But there is a limit to how much we can earn as an individual. Because we all have 24 hours a day. Being a freelancer, we solely manage the projects we have in hand. That means if you need 3 hours to work on a poster, you can only complete 8 posters a day. Nothing more. So how then can you get rich?

The Tithing Decree. If you are a Christian, you would know that everyone tithes 10% of their earnings to the church they attend. Well, this is the same principle I use. I put aside (more than) 10% of my monthly income into a savings account, which is purposely set to disable the withdrawal feature. That way, there is only money going in and not money coming out. Savings is the first step to getting rich. If you don’t save, even if you strike lottery, you will still not be rich.

Sharing Money is Gaining Money. Because you have only 24 hours a day, in order to earn more, you have to borrow someone else’s 24 hours. Instead of rejecting projects because you do not have enough hours to work on them, accept these projects and sub-out to another freelancer. Earn that small percentage for recommending the projects (and hopefully one day they will recommend some projects to you too). If you play the middleman role between the freelancer and your client, you get to earn a client servicing fee too!

Upgrade Yourself. Learn a new skill, conquer a new software. If you are a writer, learn how to do translation. If you are a 2D designer, learn how to draw 3D visuals. If you are a graphic designer, learn how to design a website. The more skills you know, the more services you can offer, the more projects you can accept – which means you get to earn so much more besides growing yourself as a professional.

Invest to Harvest. Yes, you have to spend money to get money. And you should have money to invest if you have practiced the Tithing Decree highlighted above. And the best investment of all is yourself. Invest in yourself. Spend that money to expand your freelance business. You can use it to advertise your website online, or launch a project of your interest to build awareness for your business. Or anything at all that build awareness for your business.

Charge More. Make sure you don’t charge too little just to get the project. Clients are compromising quality for dirt cheap jobs. As professional, never lower your price just to get the project because it would cause industry suicidal. Charge what you think is right. And if you have to let go a project because of price, by all means let it go. Because all you need is a project that pays you just right. No point working on 3 projects to earn the same amount as a good one project can pay. Make more money from good projects by working less. Then you’ll have time to accept even more good projects.

So these are some ways to get rich as a freelancer. It doesn’t matter if we freelance to get rich or we get rich freelancing; All of us wants to be rich so that we can lead a comfortable life. And all it takes to achieve that is discipline. If you discipline yourself to follow the steps above, you will indeed be rich one day.