Advice for freelancers

From Dr. Freelance’s Freelance Forecast:

Q:  If you could give ONE piece of advice to someone starting out or considering becoming a freelancer, what would it be? 

A:  With nearly 500 responses, space prohibits listing them all here, but they break roughly into the following categories:

1. Go for it/be optimistic/be tenacious.
2. Be ready to work hard and occasionally long hours.
3. Save money before you launch and during your freelance career in order to survive rough patches, pay taxes, healthcare, etc. (Common recommendation is from 6-12 months of living expenses in the bank.)
4. Be patient—it can take months or even years before you get steady work.
5. Trust your gut.
6. Treat it like a business: Have a plan, be professional, reliable, hit every deadline, and deliver what you promise.
7. Network/market constantly.
8. Roughly an even split between “take the leap” and “don’t quit your day job till you’ve established a client base.”
9. Don’t underprice yourself or undervalue your skills.
10. Be flexible. (Or, as one person put it, “Surrender to serendipity!”)
11. There were numerous responses to the effect of “Don’t do it,” “Don’t do it in this economy,” or “Think again.” (We’ll leave it to the readership to determine why someone might have that opinion—whether they’re honestly miserable or trying to discourage competition…)
12. Roughly even split between “find a niche” and “diversify yourself.”
13. Avoid isolating yourself.  Join networking groups, professional associations, find a mentor, etc.
14. Learn to turn off email, phone, social networking.
15. And finally, one respondent had the following thought, worth reprinting in full:

You have to know going into freelancing that you’re working in an environment where if anything goes wrong there’s no one to blame but yourself, and if anything goes right there’s no one to praise you but yourself. If you thrive in that kind of environment, then you probably have a chance at long-term success. If you need praise and attention, you’ll starve for it. So first be honest with yourself.