Working as a freelancer in the creative industry can be liberating. It gives you the freedom to work at your own pace, in your own style, and according to your own terms. But there are some downsides to that autonomy. 

Among other things, freelancers face the particular challenges of blurred work-life boundaries, difficult client interactions, constant competition, and feelings of exclusion and loneliness. Combined, this can have a knock-on effect on productivity and motivation. 

In this guide, we explore 10 of the most common motivation blockers creative freelancers face, and offer some solutions to help get you back on form. 

You’ll always get difficult clients when you work as a freelancer in the fashion industry. Maybe they’re too impatient. Maybe the project isn’t clear or well-planned. Or maybe the client’s the overbearing type, breathing down your shoulder and micromanaging all your moves. 

Part of having a successful freelance career is managing the good with the bad, but working with difficult clients can leave you feeling unmotivated. 

When facing these clients, it’s important to communicate your boundaries, improve collaboration through negotiations and compromise, and know the value of your work. Sometimes, these small steps will lead to a far better working environment, which will make you feel more motivated and stay focused.

This doesn’t always work, and your client may still be difficult to deal with. But in those moments, knowing your worth and remaining positive about your contributions will help you see the value in your work and the outcome – no matter how tough the process may have been. 

For a more comprehensive guide, see our piece on dealing with difficult clients as a freelancer. 

Freelance work is notorious for its lack of job security. Unlike a part-time or full-time contract, where you can be sure of having a stable income, being a freelancer means that you’re in charge of finding your own work.

The amount you get paid depends on the amount and type of work you do, so freelance work can also be incredibly financially unstable. This means the difference between success and failure rests on how you overcome the lack of job security and how you manage your finances. 

One of the best ways to ensure some kind of stability with work is to find a company where you can consistently work part-time as a freelancer. Many freelance creatives operate in this way. Having one long-term company on your list of clients is an easy way of guaranteeing a minimum paycheck per month, which can be handy during those quieter months. 

This will help you manage your finances better and ensure at least one relatively steady income stream. But, even with this, freelance work is an independent pursuit, and you’re solely responsible for managing your finances. So the difference between a successful and unsuccessful freelancer lies in how well you can keep track of your finances. 

There are loads of companies building financial services for freelancers, like With Jack, which offers freelancers insurance to avoid payment disputes when dealing with demanding clients who don’t make payments. With Jack offers indemnity for freelancers, and makes sure you avoid missing out on payments because of unresolved disputes with clients. Another is Get Notch, an insurance created by creators for creators.

Freelancers are also often more likely to get denied access to credit because their work is unstable and unconventional. Keebo’s changing this by offering freelancers a way to maintain good credit. You can read more about our partnership with Keebo, where we discuss essential tips for managing your finances as a freelancer. 

Lack of job security is tied directly to a lack of financial security. One of the worst fears a freelancer can have is not getting paid on time. With no union and no contractual obligations, freelancers rely on their clients to pay on time to keep their income stable. Late payments can lead to financial stress, which can occupy your mind and impact your motivation.

While payments are ultimately out of your hand, one of the best ways to mitigate late payments is to keep on top of your invoices and build a strong relationship with the teams you’re working with. Learning to manage your finances is a reliable way to ensure that you aren’t living paycheck to paycheck, and can afford to shoulder payment delays if they happen. 

At Contact, we start chasing your payments for you as soon as the job finishes, allowing you to invest your energy into finding the next job. Sign up today to join our growing community. 

Working as a freelancer relies on securing individual jobs for clients, which can be competitive. Often, you’ll find yourself competing with hundreds of other freelancers for the same gig. And when your livelihood and income depend on you securing that job, the stakes are high. Losing out can be demotivating, and can lead to low self-esteem. 

One of the simplest ways to handle this competition is to build a resilient mindset, which is easier said than done. But trying to keep a positive mindset, even when you aren’t successful in landing a job, goes a long way to keep your motivation high. 

As a creative herself, Contact’s Julia Howe knows the struggles of comparing yourself to others. She created a guide on how to stop comparing yourself to others. In the meantime, try to increase your chances of landing a job and beating the competition by putting yourself out there and opening yourself up to multiple streams of employment. 

Signing up to multiple job boards and sites (like The Dots and If You Could) will increase the number of opportunities you have. Social networking sites can also be an effective platform for establishing connections and finding ad-hoc jobs. Check out our guide on using social media to promote your career for tips. Finally, signing up to creative communities like Contact can help you find freelance jobs in the fashion industry for free. 

Freelancers often feel pressure to stay creative and productive as a way of demonstrating their commitment to work and the value of what they do. But this obsession with constantly staying creative can quickly lead to burnout, and have a destructive effect on your motivation. 

That’s why it’s essential to learn how to take breaks and find a good work-life balance. When you’re in a creative rut, the best thing to do is take time out and let your mind regain its creative energy. Starting a daily meditation practice can help increase your creative flow, or you can try other techniques like mood boarding and brainstorming with your peers. 

That said, the effects of a productivity-obsessed capitalist society might leave you feeling guilty that you’re not getting enough done. One way to overcome this guilt is to keep a spreadsheet tracking your daily productivity – everything from working to going to the gym to updating your LinkedIn. So even if you don’t feel like you’ve done much, you’ll always have a record of what you achieved. Here's one for inspiration:

Finally, If you’re experiencing a creative block, there’s loads of inspiration online. Here are some of our favourites: 

Switching off from work can be even more difficult if you work from home. Since the beginning of the pandemic, many companies have made the transition to working from home and remote working, revolutionising our relationship with work. But for many creative freelancers, who often don’t have a designated office space to work out of, this change was nothing new. 

As a creative freelancer, it’s common to find yourself working from home most days. So it’s easy for your work to infringe on your personal life – especially if your workspace is also where you relax (we all work from our bed sometimes). The problem is that this blurs the boundaries between work and life, making it difficult to know when or how to switch off. 

In order to practice a good work-life balance and stay motivated, it’s important to have a designated space for your work. One option is to join a co-working space, like WeWork, LABS, Huckletree, SohoWorks, or Design District. Each comes with its own benefits and workspace styles, so pay a visit before committing. 

If you prefer the freedom and ease of working from home, you could make part of your home into an office space. To help you along the way, here’s some design inspiration.

For more ideas, visit our piece on home office ideas for creative freelancers.

Being discriminated against and excluded because of who you are is awful, and should never happen. But the reality is that there are still people who will treat you poorly because of your identity, like your gender, sexuality, physical ability, or race. 

If you find yourself being discriminated against or excluded from a job because of who you are, it’s natural to feel demotivated. But there are plenty of resources available online that can help you navigate these difficult scenarios – like Citizens Advice, which offers valuable information on how to deal with discrimination in the workplace. 

It can also be helpful to research inclusive brands, like Adidas and Gucci, who’ve recently promoted disabled models in their campaigns. At Contact, we pride ourselves on being an inclusive community and encourage creatives from all walks of life to apply to join us. 

Working in a sector as fluid and ever-changing as fashion means you’re bound to witness massive changes, often in short periods of time. The moment you finally get confident about knowing the industry is when something new comes along, throwing all your knowledge to the curb. While frustrating, this is also what keeps the industry exciting and fresh. 

But what if the shifting trends in the fashion industry – like the current obsession with the metaverse – don’t align with your interests? If you feel like the industry is moving in a direction you didn’t expect it to when you first signed up, it can make you question your place in it, which can impact your motivation to keep working. 

Adapting to change is a big part of being successful in the creative industry, but you should be wary to not compromise your values. As with any massive change, there are bound to be two sides – some in favour and some against – and each will produce their own creative work in support of their views. Even if you aren’t a fan of the change, you can still find your space to engage with it in a way that gets your viewpoint across. 

Being a freelance creative requires keeping an open mind about society's many changes. Staying flexible goes a long way, but that’s not to say that you’ll always like the changes happening – it just means you’ll be able to receive them in a way that inspires a creative response, rather than extinguishing it. 

As a freelancer, you’ll often find yourself flitting in and out of companies, only staying for as long as the job lasts. Even if you have a long-term client that you regularly work with, you might feel as if you’re not really a part of the company. 

If you find yourself feeling disconnected and unappreciated, try to make an extra effort to bond with your coworkers outside of your regular routine. Is there a coworking space you could visit with one of your collaborators? Are there any team socials you could be a part of? Give it a go.

Feeling like you genuinely belong in a company, and that your presence has value, has a massive impact on your motivation. Often, the loneliness you might feel when working with a company isn’t due to maliciousness, but just that the team hasn’t had a chance to get to know you well enough. Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there – you never know what connections you’ll make.

Freelancing can be a lonely line of work, with many obstacles that can challenge your motivation and productivity. But it’s important to remember that you’re not alone in facing those obstacles. 

If you find your motivation running low: 

You’ve got this.