Story Tales

Freelancing looks simple from the outside, but no its not.

After working with more than 75 clients globally, platforms, and projects across different spaces, here are 10 things every freelancer should know early:

1. Skill gets you in. Clarity keeps you there.
Clients don’t just pay for work. They pay for clear thinking and direction.

2. Your profile is your first filter.
If it’s vague, you attract vague clients.
If it’s sharp, you attract serious work.

3. Cheap work attracts expensive problems.
Low budgets often come with unclear expectations and constant revisions.

4. Communication is your real skill.
Fast replies don’t matter. Clear replies do.

5. Deadlines build trust.
Not talent. Not promises. Delivery does.

6. Platforms are just starting points.
Upwork, Fiverr, Freelancer.com
They give you visibility but Your work builds your reputation.

7. Learn to say no early.
One wrong client can drain your entire week.

8. Revisions need boundaries.
Unlimited revisions = unclear scope.

9. Consistency beats motivation.
Showing up daily matters more than waiting to “feel ready.”

10. Treat freelancing like a business.
Track work. Build relationships. Think long term.

Freelancing is all about building trust, repeatedly.
Once that clicks, everything changes.

I’m looking forward to this one.

Today, I’m joining the Women in Tech SEO Women’s Day panel as a speaker, and what I value most is the intent behind it.

SEO is often seen as numbers, rankings, and algorithms, but the real
discussions are about clarity, consistency, and staying relevant in a space that keeps changing.

I’m hoping to bring honest perspectives from my journey in content, storytelling, and conversations that actually connect with my team, Lakshmi Nagarajan María☀️ Alexandrakis de Castro and Gupta

Grateful to Parth Suba, Malhar Barai, and the community for building a space like this.

If you’d like to join, here’s the YouTube Live: https://lnkd.in/eHXuKwpV

And the LinkedIn Event: https://lnkd.in/eZumtgHm

See you there 🙋🏼

There is something we rarely say in public.

Many long marriages in the past did not survive on romance. They survived on dependency.

Women stayed not because they were loved, but because leaving meant losing money, family, social standing, and sometimes even their children. They were not weak. They were trapped.

I have seen women endure emotional, physical, and psychological harm not only from partners, but from families who told them to adjust, stay silent, and protect the image of marriage at any cost.

Safety and money were tangled together with love. And money decided who could leave.
Now things have changed.

When a woman earns her own income and builds her own life, partnership stops being survival and becomes choice. That is powerful. But it is also destabilizing. Because for the first time, women are not staying out of fear.

Today, a man is no longer competing with other men, but with her peace.

With her ability to be alone without being unsafe. With her decision not to tolerate disrespect just to keep a roof over her head. But here is what is rarely said. This freedom did not arrive gently. Women in their late thirties and forties are living inside the most painful transition.

They are raising children. Caring for aging parents. Holding emotional labor for entire families, and then also working. And unlearning decades of conditioning that told them to stay quiet, stay small, and stay grateful.

They are not just independent. They are tired.
They are grieving the lives their mothers lived.
They are angry about what they themselves accepted.

They are trying to build something healthier for their kids, while still carrying the weight of everyone else. And many men are also standing inside a quiet shift they were never taught how to manage it.

They grew up believing their worth was measured by how much they could provide. By how strong they could be. By how much they could carry without asking for anything back.

Now they are being asked for emotional presence, gentleness, and vulnerability, without having been given the language for it.

Some men are rising to meet this change. Learning emotional presence, respect, and partnership.

Some are still holding onto an old script where providing money was enough.

And between those two realities, loneliness grows. For men and women both.

Not because women are independent, not because men are no longer needed, not because people do not want love. But because they no longer want love that costs them their dignity.

Now, women are choosing themselves. And men are being asked to meet them there. And choice is changing everything. 💔

“Men and women, let us slow down.”

𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗗𝘂𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗵𝗿𝗮, 𝗜’𝗺 𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝗕𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗥𝗮𝘃𝗮𝗻𝗮. 𝗜’𝗺 𝗠𝗲𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗛𝗶𝗺. 🔥

Every year, we watch Ravana’s effigy go up in flames, loud fireworks, tall structures collapsing, and the symbolic “victory of good over evil.”

But here’s what I’ve been thinking on something other way:
Ravana wasn’t just evil. He was a brilliant king, a master of the Vedas, a warrior, and a leader of unimaginable power.
And yet, he fell. Not because he lacked intelligence, but because he couldn’t master his ego, desire, and pride.

The more I think about it, the more I realize:
𝗥𝗮𝗺𝗮 𝗱𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗥𝗮𝘃𝗮𝗻𝗮 𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲.
𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝘄𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗶𝗺 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗱𝗮𝘆, 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻 𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝘃𝗲𝘀.

That Ravana who whispers, “Take the shortcut. Nobody will know.”
That Ravana who says, “Your title makes you untouchable.”
That Ravana who feeds off likes, validation, and status, leaving us restless and unsatisfied.

In reality, Ravana is not just a character in mythology.
He is a metaphor for the unseen battles of ambition, arrogance, and desire that each of us fights in boardrooms, careers, relationships, and even in our own thoughts.

And burning Ravana’s effigy outside means nothing if we don’t confront the Ravana inside.

So, this Dussehra, I am gone ask myself :
• Which part of me needs conquering, ego, impatience, greed, or fear?
• Where am I chasing validation instead of purpose?
• Am I building a legacy rooted in values, or just victories rooted in vanity?

Because in 2025 and beyond, true leadership won’t be about building empires, it will be about mastering the self.

Today, may we not just cheer Rama’s victory but also find the courage to face the Ravana within. Because once we conquer that, everything else follows.

Happy Dussehra, not just of firecrackers, but of this reflection.

While we worry about screen fatigue and work-life balance, leaders in their 70s and 80s and 90s are busy running nations and shaping global policy without hitting 'log out'.

You also must be knowing these names.
🔹 Khemanai – 84 yrs.
🔹 Donald Trump – 79 yrs.
🔹 Benjamin Netanyahu – 75 yrs.
🔹 Vladimir Putin – 72 yrs.
🔹 Xi Jinping – 72 yrs.
🔹 Narendra Modi – 74 yrs.
🔹 Joe Biden – 81 yrs.
🔹 Nancy Pelosi – 84 yrs.
🔹 Warren Buffett – 93 yrs.
🔹 George Soros – 93 yrs.

These are not just world leaders or billionaires. They are senior citizens.
They’re not “retired.” They’re running the world.

They are commanding nations, reshaping economies, and many leading political battles, to making market-moving decisions, these are people who could easily say “I’m too old for this.”
But instead, they show up. Every single day.

They’re not scrolling reels.
They’re writing the rules.

While some complain about exhaustion after a Zoom call or burnout after 8 hours of work, these leaders are pulling off 18-hour schedules, world tours, military briefings, and economic reforms ,all while being over 70+ years of age.

Work-life balance is important, yes.
But purpose is what keeps you alive.
It’s not about the hours you put in, it’s about the energy you bring to them.

Tired of 9-to-5?
Tired of corporates?
Tired after “too many meetings”?
Maybe it’s not the system, maybe it’s the lack of drive.

You don’t grow old when your hair turns grey.
You grow old when your hunger fades.
These people are not just running the race.

They’re completing the marathon ,
with the whole world watching.

So ask yourself, what holding you back?

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Priya, a high earning corporate executive in Ahmedabad.
She’s got the title, the salary, the car, the 4BHK apartment.
From the outside she’s made it.
But in her own home, she still has to negotiate for her weekends, justify her work hours, and tiptoe around family decisions.
She leads teams but feels voiceless at her dinner table.
She earns freedom, but she doesn't always feel free.

On the other hand, there’s Sakshi, a homemaker in Vadodara.
She doesn’t earn a rupee. But she is powerful in her own way. She is clear with her thought and what she do.
She is what she is, her husband and in laws deeply value her opinions.
She manages the home, is active in community work, makes her own choices, and lives with dignity and ease.
She may not “make money,” but she makes decisions.
She is heard, seen, and valued not for her income, but for her presence.

I believed what many women are taught, "If you earn well, you’ll be free."
Money = Freedom.
It sounded logical. And empowering.
Until recently.

When we show this examples and discussed it. with some of my closest friends , I realized something that shook me.

I was the only one earning.
And yet, I wasn’t the only one living freely.

In fact, some of them without any income, had more emotional space, more clarity, and more joy than I did at that moment.

That’s when it hit me: Freedom isn’t always linked to finances. It’s linked to your state of mind.
To your relationships, your inner voice,
and the choices you're allowed to make not just outside,
but inside your own home.

I’ve seen women earning lakhs, ruling boardrooms, but still unable to buy the freedom to speak openly at the dinner table. They can lead teams but can’t pick a curtain for their own bedroom without "permission". It’s not their salary that’s the problem. It’s the conditioning.

And I’ve seen women with no income, people treat them with deep respect( Willingly or not willingly - accept them, respect their decision and her voice is also counted as major supporter.

That’s when I understood money can give you options, but only you can give yourself permission. Freedom isn’t bought. It’s owned. It’s not what you earn.
It’s what you believe you deserve.

To every woman reading this earn if you want to.
Build an empire if that’s your dream.
But don’t confuse paychecks with power.

Your value, your voice, and your freedom they begin in the mind,
not the bank account.

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