What’s the Career Path for Ambitious Freelancers?

“I’m just freelancing while I’m looking for a job.” “I’m just freelancing while I build up my company.” “I’m just freelancing until something better comes along.” It’s easy to come to the conclusion that any ambitious freelancer is looking to get out of the freelancing game. But the fact of the matter is that there are plenty of freelancers in it for the long haul. Freelancing isn’t just a way to pay the bills — it’s a career path.

But the question of just where ambitious freelancers are headed is a tough one. Unlike a career working for the man, there isn’t exactly a clear corporate ladder to climb. We don’t have the opportunity to change job titles too often, beyond the ‘freelance rockstar’ descriptors we give ourselves. So, what’s an ambitious freelancer to do?

Look at the Money

We aren’t a bunch of mercenaries, but the bottom line is important to freelancers. Better paying clients is an ambition that we can work towards — while the dollar amount may not be the most important thing if your reasons for freelancing focused more on a question like flexibility, higher pay rates make it easier to take advantage of flexibility and even cut down on work. It’s easy to make jokes about living on ramen in lean months, but when a freelancer can raise her rates, she can essentially buy security. Higher rates can mean a fatter savings account, more days off and other benefits.

There is something of an upper limit when it comes to rates, though — especially if you charge per hour. You can keep raising your rates, but that doesn’t mean that any client is going to be willing to pay $5,000 for one hour of work. That doesn’t mean that you can’t keep moving forward with your freelance career, but it may mean that the way you move forward requires some consideration.

Working with the Right Clients

Who doesn’t have a client that you wouldn’t do just about anything to work with? For me, it’s one particular magazine that I’d be willing to write free content for, as long as I get my name on that page. Working your way up to the point that you can pitch your dream client — or, even better, have them come to you — is well worth working towards.

There are a lot more dream clients out there than there are rate hikes, too.

Think Big

No two freelance careers are going to look identical. That means that your ambitions may not match up with the next graphic designer over. If your ambitions are to use freelancing as a spring board to something very different, that’s cool. If your ambitions are within freelancing, that’s also cool. The important thing is to have ambitions that will get you where you want to go.

The alternative is to simply stick at your current level of freelancing forever, maybe edging up just a bit. That is, of course, anyone’s prerogative — but it doesn’t appeal to me and most of the freelancers I know personally. We got into freelancing to get rid of limits, from bosses to commutes. Not having goals or ambitions is just a round about way to impose our own limits.

So, what are your ambitions? Where is your freelance career headed?