STOP Wasting Time & Get Going! RANT

Namaste friends,

Today, I am going to write something which has been bothering me for some time now and yes, it has been so for quite a while. I tried not getting concerned about it but then, I think the situation is highly concerning and everyone must pay attention towards it right away. Well, maybe not everyone, but at least those who want to earn money online in a legit way or want to be online entrepreneurs in the near future need to be alert, understand a few things and get going and start getting things done – like, right now.

NOW is the TIME! STOP Wasting Time & Get Going!

OK, let’s not get diverted and let’s focus on my rant.

In the past few weeks, I have met quite a few people (surprisingly) either online or in person, who wanted to “do something online” and “earn money online” and they wished me to tell them how. This is precisely an opportunity that every entrepreneur looks for. This is an opportunity to pour in everything that you have learned so far and impress the other person with the knowledge that you acquired. And most likely, the listener goes WOW in most instances too. That is a big encouragement! “WOW, how much you know! And look at me, I don’t know nothing.” Don’t these words instill pride, triumph and boost thy ego? Of course, they do! And that feeling is awesome.

Every entrepreneur (or any new preacher/teacher) will agree with me if I say that such words not only encourage us but also give us a feeling of being an influencer. I am sure you know what an ‘influencer’ means. Influencers are those, who can influence others through their both preaching, teaching and also their bluffing, promoting and fooling. Influencers can make you buy things you do not need and sell things you do. Influencers can make you ruin your child’s dreams and send him to that ‘Doon school’ which is ‘so good’ in the entire country! These influencers tell you what to eat for breakfast and what cream to apply before you sleep, and which popcorn to buy in which theatre and watch which movie in there. Right?

Influencers are all around us – in TV, radio, movies, newspapers, banners, hoardings and even on the back of the public vehicles as well. We look up to them for their next recommendation. As they are superior to us. We do not have a mind to think – we will do what they want us to do. Simple! Isn’t it?

We all want to be influencers in life, don’t we? Answer this before you read more.

Yes, I do! I want to be an influencer myself and this is why I started this project, “The Indian Freelancer.” Here, I tell people what to do as a freelancer or an online entrepreneur, through my (often FREE) consultancy, videos, and articles. I influence or at least try to influence their decisions on whether or not to become a freelancer or a sports Mascot. When someone tells me that they have taken a decision (however tiny that might be) after watching my video, I feel like THE KING!

This is exactly how I felt and I still feel when people ask me about freelancing and earning money online. These questions switch something in me and I go super gaga and open up my Pandora’s box. Sometimes during the conversation, even I feel that the information I am giving may be overwhelming to the hearer or may be taken as total bullshit by the listener. But still, I continue – less to educate him; more to boost my ego! “Now, you know how much I know?” – that ego!

And I did not do any differently every time I was asked such questions in the past few months or weeks. I spent minutes, sometimes hours on the phone or on WhatsApp chats to answer people’s questions. I remained true to whatever I knew and opened up as if the listener is my own brother or sister or child. Just like what a teacher does in school. I gave all the information I had and tried to answer all the different variations of the same questions too. With a smile and an excitement level which was definitely a couple of times more than the questioner.

Till now, everything is fine – isn’t it? Well, it is fine.

The rant starts now! (No, the ranting about the influencers was not the real one.)

The real problem begins after this. When I have had this discussion with someone who wanted to “do something online” and “earn money online,” I would always leave them with some tasks to do – like creating a blog or a portfolio showcasing his or her skills or even just reading my blog and watching my videos and get back to me with questions. These are the general things that we put on the to-do list of the questioner and conclude our discussion.

This is where the things get funny. Most of the times, I do not get any response or feedback or update from her for even weeks! And then when I follow up, I find to my utter surprise that there has been nothing done so far – NOTHING at all! I get the same questions again, which I answered during the discussion in details. I get responses like, “I’ll do this time.” “There is no time, you see?” “I was quite busy with my regular activities.” And this sucks!

This not only wastes the time we took during the discussions, which more often than not, would go beyond an hour of constant talking but also destroys my enthusiasm while taking up another call from someone else on the same topic. I am not too sure if this next guy is going to actually take my words seriously and try to implement things that I tell. I am not too sure if my efforts will be valued or will go in vain. This also creates an iota of demotivation and uncertainty in my mind – “Is what I am telling not able to motivate people? Is there something erroneous in what I presume is correct? Am I wrong?” That is what the main problem is!

This kind of behavior also precisely shows what not to do while being a freelancer. A freelancer or an online entrepreneur needs to be self-motivated and enthusiastic about what she is looking to do. “Jugaadu,” as we commonly say in India. And quite opposite to that, people do not value the help that is coming their way – and that too, for absolute FREE of COST! Free things are valued less, and it is proved again here.

So, I have taken this new step now – a new way of handling these questions. And it works like this:

As a step 1, in the first discussion itself, I will route the person to this Blog. Posts like, The Why, What and How in Freelancing, How to Earn on SkillShare & How to get your first order on Fiverr are few posts that I have published so far which should give the aspiring freelancers a good base to start with. From now on, I will suggest them to go through these posts on this blog. Once done, they can get back to me with questions, if any.

Hint: If you are one of those aspiring freelancers and rearing to go, you know now what to do. Go for it!

As a step 2, they can visit my YouTube channel and watch my videos on such topics and I am sure those will help as well. These will help in telling you whether or not, freelancing is going to be your cup of tea! It’s simple and straightforward.

As a step 3, I am thinking of creating a complete PDF, like I created one for Getting Started with Freelancing Career, which will have the ABCs of freelancing as of today – where to start with, where to look for help and where to go to get some work. This part is a longer project that I am working on and I should be able to publish that soon as well.

Stop Wasting Time & Get Going!

This is what I wanted to tell in this post today. I am sure some of you who did contact me and we had a discussion, but could not proceed further may not like this post much, but I think this post is required. The message in this is pretty clear and I have made it as blunt as I could. It is right in front of your eyes to read. I have told you how I felt and also shown you where to go from here. If you are really interested, I am sure that you will do what is intended to be done – for the others, this is not the end of life. You may not be made for freelancing – there are other bigger things that you can do with your life. So, all the best!

Now, before I conclude I must talk about the other group of people with whom I spent similar times (both paid and free), but the difference is that they have taken things seriously, implemented things I told and together, we could actually reach a level higher than where they were before we met. And to tell you the truth, there are more people in this group than the ones who provoked me for ranting it out in front of you all.

These are the guys who make me proud. These are the guys for whom I am still motivated to write more posts, to make more videos and to help more people in future and take them to their beyond! After seeing these people grow as freelancers (even if most of them are part-timers) I can say assuredly that my system and my approach towards freelancing and freelancing in India, specifically is not wrong. It works! And since it works, more people can take it up as well. I am really proud of you guys!

One last thing in this post. This is for all of you to remember. I love you all, guys. From the deepest part of my heart. If you read this post again now, with a mindset to learn and grow, you will realize that this post is made more for those who are yet to start or could not start even after our sessions, than those who have taken the bus and reached the next destination. Nothing is lost yet. If you think you can be a freelancer, NOW is the right time to start off! Give it a go. STOP Wasting Time & Get Going!

And let me know if I can be of any help – in anyway.

Cheers!

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Thanks a lot,
The Indian Freelancer
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