Have you ever wondered what the secret is to overnight success? How do some people become successful so quickly? How do they do it? Is it just luck? Can I also have success overnight? Well, unfortunately, the answer is that most of us can’t. Real success means work. Plan. Action. Hard. Work. But… What about those successful freelancers?? Well, I’m 99,99% sure that their success all saw happen “overnight” had been in the works for a long time before we noticed it. So sorry to tell you… But if you want it really bad, you gonna start working!

What’s the secret #1 to successful freelancers?

You may have heard it before, and you should definitely remember from now on: Secret #1 to successful freelancers is consistency, staying committed no matter what! The quickest and easiest prejudice is considering inconsistent people to be lazy. But that’s just a prejudice. I can’t believe that someone who’s trying to set up a business from scratch is driven by laziness. In fact, if you’re a tiny bit lazy and hate stepping out of your comfort zone… Please, do yourself a favor and don’t start a business on your own!

Why is so hard to keep consistency, then? Well, imagine this scenario:

♥ You have an idea and think it could be very successful.
♥ After a long time considering your options, reading a lot about online business, and even taking up a couple of courses, you take the leap and quit your job.
♥ You’re not scared about money ’cause you’ve saved enough – and your idea is going to be successful anyway.
♥ You launch your brand new website – awesome design, beautifully selected colors & images… Who could resist its charm?
♥ And nothing happens, apart from all your people telling you how beautiful your site is.
♥ So you start working like a world champion. You set strategies, create content, are always active on social media, work on growing your email list…
♥ And still nothing happens. The six email subscribers you’re supposed to write an email to are your mom, your sister, and your best friends.
♥ You begin getting worried. Why does everyone else seem to be so successful?
♥ You start following another strategy. And another. And yet another.
♥ Still nothing happens. But you’re completely overwhelmed. You have tons of things to do. Tons of things to learn. Tons of things to work on. For free.
♥ Your overwhelm turns into frustration. You keep wondering if it was such a good idea after all.
♥ Money is beginning to be too tight. And your partner keeps on asking when you’re going to start having cash flow.

That, my friend, is the moment where many freelancers quit – the hard workers. The not-so-hard-working ones have quit long before, probably after launching – or even before that. When they had to sit down and write the web copy!

Staying committed is key to almost anything in life. Think of sports, for instance. Do you want to lose weight? Try to do it for one week, and you’ll see the non-existent results. Do you want to learn a language? You’d better not need it tomorrow! Great goals are so great because they’re hard to achieve. But hard work is only the way to success. How you feel afterward is what counts.

7 steps to master consistency as a freelancer

1. Change your mindset. Be aware that this process of excitement – overwhelm – frustration is something that happens to all of us. So be ready for it, and focus on one thing at a time in order to avoid overwhelm.
2.  Make sure money isn’t going to be a problem. Plan your online business ahead of time and keep working at your current work until you start earning money as a freelancer. Consider asking for a part-time position.
3. Don’t follow every shiny object you see out there. If you have a good strategy, stick to it. If you’re attending a business course – or any kind of course -, complete it. Give it the chance to lead you to success before quitting.
4. When you’re working at home, work. Don’t chat on Facebook. Don’t do laundry. Don’t watch TV. Don’t call your mom. Don’t answer your mom’s calls 😉
5. Set yourself a work routine – as though you were working at the office. If you have any errands to do, wait until your lunch break. Yep. You’d better have breaks!
6. If you’re feeling low, go out for a walk, tank some fresh air. And stick to your plan!
7. Avoid loneliness. Go to solopreneurs’ meet-ups, attend conferences or find a mastermind group. That’ll not only avoid your feeling lonely, but it will also give you a motivation kick. Make the best out of it!

And I’m not only telling you all this because I think I’m the most consistent person in the world – It’s exactly in the moments when I’m not consistent that I realize what a waste of time it was sitting in front of the computer without actually working. Going to the beach would have been way more productive – I’d have a nice tan by now!

When it comes to consistency, it doesn’t really make a difference if we’re talking about launching an online business, playing guitar, or losing weight. I always have this talk with my 9-year-old daughter about how important it is to practice. How awesome it would be to take a pill and be able to speak another language or play a musical instrument, right?? But – until someone figures out how to manufacture that pill – if you want something real bad, you’re gonna start working. The sooner, the better.