This summer I’ll be approaching seven years of freelancing.

On one hand it feels like forever, like I’ve always done this.

On the other hand, it feels like I just started.

I still remember those early months when I didn’t know what the hell I was doing. When I was chasing anyone with a pulse and a project.

While it’s fun sometimes to feel nostalgic, there were also times I don’t want to remember.

Bad times

The weeks and months where I didn’t know where my next project was coming from.

The times I screwed up important sales calls and lost a new client.

The numerous projects I had to take that weren’t a good fit for me, but that I needed to put food on the table and elections in my Internet.

Good times

But there were good times too. I know I did some things right, especially since I’m still around and kicking.

Maybe I screwed up one sales call but I aced another and won a client for the next four years.

And though one marketing campaign would bomb, another would turn out okay and more than payback for the failures.

All in all, I’ve had a pretty good time freelancing. It’s had it’s ups and downs but I’ve been happy to do it.

Unfortunately, not everyone has had the same experiences.

Trouble

Close friends and associates of mine have tried freelancing and run into trouble.

• Bad projects
• Bad clients
• Bad experiences

I’ve been a member of several freelancer groups with these people. I’ve given them my advise, help, and in some cases even sent them clients.

Thankfully, some of them were able to turn their businesses around. But not everyone.

A hardcore capitalist would love to have his competitors fail. More business for him.

But for me, freelancing is different. It’s not a cutthroat dog-eat-dog business.

I’ve brought in competitors to work on client projects more often than I’ve lost client projects to competitors.

That’s why I decided to start to help freelancers start their business and stay in business.

If freelancing is your business of choice, a stop-gap while launching a product, or merely something you’re going to do someday, I want to help you.

Eric Davis

P.S. Next time I’m going to get into the big areas where freelancers can really shift their business back from the edge and make it successful. Sign-up here and I’ll send you an email when I publish it.