Let Go of Your Fear of Getting Fired
June 18, 2009 by Jodee
Filed under Writing Life
Stop being afraid you’re going to get fired. When you are freelancing, you are working for yourself. The only person who can fire you is….you.
The relationship between yourself and a client is not the same one that exists between and employer and an employee. When you are dealing with a client, you are an independent businessperson and – dare I say it – your client’s equal.
When you are an equal, you negotiate terms instead of asking your boss for permission to do something. A client can’t take your job away from you like a boss can. If things aren’t working out, they can choose not to work with you anymore. The flip side to that idea is that you can also choose to tell the client that you won’t be available for any more assignments. Being a freelancer gives you that flexibility – you are “free” to take on an assignment or pass on it.
I think that sometimes we can get so concerned about not meeting the client’s expectations and losing the client that it gets in the way of our doing our best work. I know I’ve made mistakes in my work sometimes where I’ve missed something and turned in something that was other than what the client wanted. When it happens, I offer to make it right. There have been a few times where the client has decided to go elsewhere, and they certainly had every right to do so.
Now I focus on trying to keep my clients happy and give them what they want, as opposed to being worried about “one mistake and you’re out.” I can’t control what someone else decides to do, but I can let go of my fear of being “fired” and focus on working “with” and not “for” my clients.
A good message. The whole point of freelancing is to get away from the boss-employee dynamic. Instead of being “fired,” you simply lose a client.
so true. I’ve been in and out of jobs for the past 2 years. I’m a college student with aspirations to be a writer and am so sick of dealing with bosses, stupid patrons and bad tips. I quit slash got fired (gray area) from both my waitressing jobs within 2 weeks and took a mini vacation. Its almost due time for me to get back into the real world and this time I’m gonna do it my way!
Thank you!!! I am so relieved that I am not the only paranoid perfectionist out there.
I recently tried to explain to my boyfriend why I keep taking on job after job, stretching my work week into an average of 70 hours. I always have a fear nagging at me that I will be discovered as a fraud.
I’m not sure where this comes from. I think perhaps it is the disbelief that people will actually pay me for doing something that to me, often seems easy.
My fear eased off this week after having a week’s vacation and coming back to an inbox full of job offers, returning clients and even two notifications of bonuses/raises!
Why do we beat ourselves up so much???
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I’ll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you write again soon!