The One Difference Between Successful Freelancers and Failed Freelancers

There’s one huge difference between people who succeed and people who fail.

Eight months ago I moved to Los Angeles and for the first time I experienced what it was like to meet people who were going to succeed and people who I knew would fail.

When I first moved here, I lived in a co-living house. I shared a room with three other people and a three-story apartment with 22. Every day I talked to my roommates, who were all aspiring creatives, freelancers, and entrepreneurs.

Within three months, I had learned a hard lesson.

Not everybody was going to make it.

And even more harsh: It was their fault.

The first person to move back home was a videographer from New York. A few days before calling LA quits, she was talking to me about how she was exhausted from people constantly saying no to her. She explained how hard it was to constantly face rejection.

The second person I saw the same self destruction in was a music producer. Instead of spending his days creating new beat after beat, he was paying for bartending school, napping on the couch, and admittedly getting distracted.

The third person I’ve seen the same pattern in is a videographer from Georgia. When one of my roommates wanted to make a music video, he jumped on board (good sign, right?). From that moment on, he only complained about how small the budget was, how much work it was, and how disorganized the project was (he was the producer).

All three of these roommates had one thing in common: They didn’t want it badly enough.

The people who succeed:

1. Don’t care about rejection. They’ll hear 100 no’s just to hear that one yes.
2. Focus hard. They don’t get distracted because there is only one thing that they want and they’ll spend every moment doing it until it becomes a paying part of their life.
3. Are grateful for any opportunity. They don’t complain when a chance to grow their resume appears out of thin air — they take the opportunity and milk it for all that it’s worth.

The people who fail let rejection get to them, choose to be distracted and complain when their dreams come true.

The key is understanding that all of this is in your control.

In one day, they could change their perspective and amplify their life. They could easily go from struggling artists to hustling creative working with anybody who will give them a chance.

The people who succeed are the ones who realize that success is their choice and it’s only them that will bring them from where they are today to where they want to be tomorrow.

And that’s a huge difference.