Hey morning everyone! Wow, yesterday was a doozy. Everytime after experiencing one of my panic attack episodes, I kinda need a moment to just gather myself. If I’m trying to find a silver-lining in all of this, I would say that at least in recent years, these panic attack episodes are cutting down. I’ll suspect that that is because my current set of coping mechnisms are helping. So I think that’s an improvement for sure.
So, moving on, as part of a series of blog posts this week, I wanted to give myself the time and opportunity to unpack all of the things I’ve written about in my recent Sunday post. In this post, I wrote about FIVE different topics, all of which are a central focus of my life at this very moment. And they will continue to be a core focus of my life for the next two years.
Quick Recap:
- Part One: I unpacked everything related to my current financial debts. Unfiltered. Just the real deal. And also accepting it for what it is so that I can finally face it head on. I also shared that the only way I can truly overcome this mountain of debt is by seeing it for what it is. I’ve given myself 24 months to clear all of my debt, down to the very last cent.
- Part Two: I took a deeper dive into my recent mental health struggles and condition, along with my own crisis of faith. It was a difficult time because I felt like I was running on an empty tank (spiritually speaking). Everything that I was doing was starting to feel like a routine, a ritual. I was also beginning to question the point of what I was doing. I was reminded that sometimes, we have to just do something even though that initial passion or excitement had passed. That is what true commitment means.
Part Three is About Starting Small, Starting Over, but NOT Starting From Scratch
“Do not be afraid to start over again. This time, you’re NOT starting from scratch, you’re starting from experience.”
– unknown
This is the quote that I was reminded of this morning when I was thinking about where to begin unpacking my thoughts and feelings. Without having to go over my entire history as a freelancer, I’ll just briefly said that I had a crisis of professional identify in 2018, and then in 2019 I walked away in order to rediscover myself. It was only around 2022 that I finally made the decision to reenter the industry again.
The very same is also true about other things like my portfolio, and my freelancing efforts. I lost my portfolio back in 2018. By now, I think my story is pretty well established, so there’s no sense if trying to rehash everything. Point being, I’m currently in the midst of replacing all that I’ve lost. But this also not just about replacing something, but it is also about trying to build something new, something different, something better.
Where my freelancing efforts are concerned, you can pretty much say the same thing. I feel like because this is my second go at it, I am now armed with plenty of experience, understanding and wisdom from my first round of it. So, going into round two, I am a lot more prepared and ready for what could come my way. That also means being an even better freelancer this time around. Doing & delivering better quality work.
Taking My Own Advice About Starting Small.
This is where I really want to focus for my unpacking today. The idea/reminder about starting small. I wrote about this reminder while I was working on my first portfolio showcase project recently. The project is titled “FocusFlow”. I recently shared about how I rediscovered the benefits and power of “starting small, starting simple”. The mistake that we sometimes like to make is thinking that we can start from where we left off last time. But sadly, in life, it doesn’t always allow us to work that way. The same is with relationships. When we abandon a relationship or our project for years, it eventually breaks down, and then we have to learn to start over.
So, in terms of my own freelancing efforts, I will need to start from the much smaller projects again. While it’s not the most motivating place to begin, I like to see it from a different perspective. Unlike my first round as a freelancer, I am now in a much better place to excel in ways I couldn’t have when I first began in 2006. I have learned and experienced so much since then. I am most certainly starting from a different level now.
Over these next 6 months to a year, I think it would be wise for me to start looking for and working on gigs that are in the sub-S$10K budget. Based upon my skill level and past experiences, freelance gigs in that sub-10K range usually range between different things:
- Mostly, they have limited scope.
- Working on multiple pages of a much larger website or app.
- Building a library of custom reusable UI components (not the entire suite).
- Website that uses preexisting CMS solutions like WordPress or Shopify.
- Feature-specific work in mobile apps.
- Rapid UI prototyping for Web/Mobile projects (no application logic, just navigation and user flow).
If any client has a requirement that fits any of the above description, then it would likely fall within the budget range of up to S$10K.
When it comes to my hourly rates, it will remain at S$75/h (USD60). But on Upwork (which I created a new profile last night), it is slightly higher because Upwork requires a 10% fee.
Well, do you know someone that might be in need of my specialized skills in UX Engineer and/or Front-end Development? I currently offer a referral reward system (just like before because it worked really well):
- 5% referral fee: Projects that are S$10K or less.
- 10% referral fee: Projects that are above S$10K.
The only terms and condition is that the final payment should be received before I do any referral payouts. I think it’s only fair. This is to ensure that the client you’ve recommended won’t decide to not pay at the end.
If you are interested to help me secure my next freelance gig, do reach out to me via d2d.weizhi@gmail.com. I usually respond pretty quickly (within the same working day).
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