It’s tough becoming established as a freelancer.

In my last two posts, I’ve written about marketing and money. Today I want to acknowledge that it also takes time to become established as a freelancer. And that time can feel painfully slow and leave you wondering if you are ever going to succeed.

The time and space on the way to being established can be described as the Dip. This is a concept I learned from Seth Godin, from his book The Dip: A Little Book that Teaches You When to Quit (And When to Stick). The book is indeed little, and I highly recommend it.

The idea is that there is always a Dip on the way to mastery and success. The Dip comes after the fun and excitement of learning a new skill or beginning a new venture. The Dip is the long slog towards success, wondering if anyone will hire you, wondering if your skills are good enough, wondering if your business is a failure. 

When it comes to indexing, I think the Dip can include the struggle to market and find work.  It is discouraging when you don’t know who to contact, no one seems to want to hire you, or when there are large gaps in your schedule between projects. The Dip can also include struggling to improve your skills. It takes practice to gain proficiency. If you are still struggling after the fifth or tenth index, doubt can creep in on whether you will ever get the hang of this. The Dip can also involve a project or client relationship blowing up in your face. Do you really have what it takes to run a business? Do you dare try again and accept a new project?

I want to assure you that yes, it is possible to get through the Dip. I also want to acknowledge that getting established is hard. I’ve often heard the rule of thumb that it takes about three years to become established as a freelancer. That was true for me. I noticed that the number of queries I was fielding seemed to pop in my third year, as did my income and the number of indexes I wrote. Though I also know other indexers who have found full-time work sooner, and others who are in the Dip for longer. The Dip varies from person to person, though everyone faces it one way or another. 

Godin writes that when in the Dip, you are faced with two choices. Do you quit, or do you persevere?

Quitting isn’t always bad. I knew an indexer, who started about the same time I did, who later quit indexing to focus on being an editor. They realized that they were better at editing, earned more from editing, and found editing more enjoyable, and so it made sense for them to quit indexing. Similarly, a few years ago I made the decision to quit proofreading, as indexing is a better fit for me. If indexing is not a good fit for you, or if freelancing is not meeting your needs and goals, then quitting might be the right decision. Quitting strategically is not failure. What I don’t want you to do is to quit because the Dip just feels too hard.

The trick to getting through the Dip is to keep moving. As Godin writes, “The Dip is flexible. It responds to the effort you put into it.” Keep practicing your skills and accepting new projects, knowing that each index is an opportunity to learn and improve. Keep marketing, reaching out to authors and publishers who might want to hire you. You never know who is going to write back. Keep networking with other indexers and editors, attending conferences and participating in online events and forums. You may gain a referral or advice for a sticky problem, or at least feel less lonely in the profession. Move through the Dip rather than being stuck at the bottom.

Lastly, be realistic about the fact that the Dip exists and that you may be in it. Whether it takes a year or three or more to get out of the Dip, it will be a stressful time, with a lot of uncertainty and doubt. It will take a lot of work to get out of the Dip. And that’s okay too, because the work you do now is laying the foundation for your future success.

It is possible to succeed as a freelance indexer. You can build the business that you desire. I believe that you can do it.