The $10 Lesson That Saved Me Hundreds in Freelance Mistakes

(And Why Every Beginner Should Make a Small Mistake Early On)

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You know what’s worse than making a mistake?

Making it on a $500 project.

Luckily, my dumbest freelancing mistake only cost me $10. But the lesson? Worth way more than that.

Let me take you back.

The First Client I Was Too Excited to Land

It was one of my first-ever freelance gigs. I was scrolling through job boards like I was hunting for buried treasure — only there were no maps and way too many people selling “gold” that turned out to be… rocks.

But then I found it.

A paid writing gig. $10 for 1,000 words.

Was it underpaid? Absolutely.
Did I know that? Not really.
Was I thrilled? You bet.

I poured my soul into it like it was a New York Times feature. I proofread it six times. I formatted it perfectly. I even triple-checked the font spacing like I was submitting to NASA.

The client responded with:

“Thanks. Can you rewrite this in a more ‘viral’ tone?”