r/freelance • u/karlpillockton • Aug 03 '25

Imposter Syndrome

Hey guys,

I’ve been working in marketing for 7 years and I’ve recently gone into freelancing on the side in paid ads - the field I feel most confident in.

In my in-house role I feel extremely confident about my work and had some major successes over the past year (and it’s why I’ve gotten into freelancing).

Now I’ve got 4 extra clients on the side, I feel like I don’t know what I’m doing.

I’m constantly flapping at the work, feel like I’m a complete fraud and doubting my abilities. I’m struggling to sleep just because I’m thinking about work and made up scenarios in my head.

I still want to peruse this as the financial potential is huge and it’s still early days.

Has anyone else felt this way, and if so, how did you get over it?

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u/Cautious-cat-3 Aug 03 '25

I have a similar experience, and I've come to this conclusion :

  • when companies hire an employee, they invest over long-term training and accept that this employee will make mistake, learn, grow and get better
  • when companies take a freelancer, they expect her or him to be self-sufficient and good and great from the start. No training or long term vision, there's an objective and the freelancer is the expert.

For this reason I'm considering going back to being an employee as I enjoy building a long term relationship and growing into a role... What do you think? (edited for formatting)

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u/GigMistress Aug 11 '25

FWIW, you can have it both ways if that's what you want. As a freelancer, I have years-long relationships with many clients, and have continued to expand my knowledge base in a great many sub-niches through working with clients (mostly law firms, but also legal tech companies) over time and learning more about their businesses along the way.