Different things work for different people, and as long as you stay in the game long enough you will find what will work for you!
This is something I believe based on my own personal journey and watching others succeed in their own way.
My early success in the online world came from Fiverr and Upwork, then it shifted to referrals and connections. I never found clients on LinkedIn; in fact, a year ago, I rarely opened LinkedIn.
But I know many people who found their success on LinkedIn. There are also many people who found their success in cold outreach, and some found their success through personal brand building.
There is no one way that works for everyone. The only thing that really works for everyone is staying in the game long enough to find what works for you!
I found my biggest strength early on in my journey, which is an obsession with improvement, and that is the main reason freelancing platforms worked for me.
And you need to be able to identify your strength and double down on it too.
Look at it this way:
If I have a goal of losing weight, and I figured I have to have 5 hours of exercise per week, and I chose to play football for 5 hours every week, I would never succeed because I personally dislike football.
If I force myself to play football for 5 hours every week, I set myself up to fail because I would dislike every minute of it and either burn out or make up excuses to quit.
But if I chose to do something like boxing for those 5 hours per week, I would most likely succeed in achieving the goal because I like boxing, and I would enjoy every minute of it.
I can achieve the same goal by following different routes.
That is the same in your own career goals.
I may follow one path to succeed in virtual assistance, and you might follow a different route to succeed. The only thing we both have to do is stay in the game long enough to figure out our strength, double down on it, and achieve the goal in our own way.
Don’t get me wrong, no matter which route you choose there will be so many challenges that will make you want to quit. And that is why you will try every route until you find one that you feel less stressed about and feel more energy within yourself when you think of it.
And when you feel stressed or lost after trying for months, that might be the time to think with a pen and paper and write down the things you feel less stressed about in terms of the tools & services you want to learn and offer to clients, and whether you feel less stressed on Upwork or other freelancing platforms, or whether you feel less stressed with cold outreach on social platforms.
This will help you make a less stressful plan on the skills you will learn to offer to clients, and the method you are going to double down on when looking for clients.
When I got started, I figured it made me feel proud of myself when I designed a good-looking landing page. So I was able to design many samples before I ever found a client. The more samples I created, the better my skills became, and the more chances I had to show potential clients I was capable of doing a job for them.
When I started making some money, I figured I didn’t like the stress of finding new clients every month, so I transitioned to virtual assistance for stability.
And whenever I feel stressed about something, I think of a solution that will help me reduce the stress and avoid the risk of burnout and giving up.
And always remember, giving up is your biggest enemy. If you stay long enough in the game, you will eventually find what works for YOU!
Cheers🥂
