Today I have two things for you! First, I’ll choose the winner of the contest I posted last week, and that person will receive a free copy of Susan Getgood’s book, Professional Blogging for Dummies courtesy of me and the publisher, Wiley.

Second, today is my birthday, and it’s made me a bit reflective. It’s around this time that I always look back on when I made the decision to take the freelancing plunge; it was just about five years ago (almost to the day) when I finally resolved to go for it. What I’ve learned in those five years could fill many, many volumes—each and every one of them would need to be bound up with humble pie, too—but I thought with it being my 5-year freelancing anniversary, I’d target just the top five, for today.

First things first, though. We need a contest winner!

The random number generator picked commenter number 6, and for one brief moment I was sure it had actually picked Susan (who was, as the book’s author, obviously not trying to win, but did leave a comment on the entry), but it turned out that I’m just not very good at counting. Ha! Commenter number 6 was actually Mona, and she is our lucky winner. Mona, please check your email! Big thanks to Susan Getgood and Wiley for making the giveaway possible, too.

Okay. Now. Let’s talk about what I think are the top five lessons I’ve learned in five years of freelancing. One for each year, though some were easier learned than others.

5) There is no easy formula for figuring out which jobs are right for you, but diversity is key. I’m a pretty emotional person, but when it comes to business I try to counteract that by being logical, sometimes to a fault. I like algorithms and formulas and rules, because any issue that can be resolved in a simple “If A then B” kind of way rather than “How does that make you feel?” kind of way is more time I can spend doing other things instead of agonizing over choices. So in some respects I found it really frustrating that I can’t come up with a rule or a formula to follow when it comes to choosing which jobs to take and which to pass on; it really depends. There are high-paying jobs not worth the aggravation and low-paying jobs with tons of non-monetary (sometimes even intangible) benefits. But the bottom line is that a variety of assignments is both economically sound (losing one gig doesn’t mean instant unemployment) as well as keeping me from burning out on any one assignment.

4) Do it right, even if that means hiring others to do it for you. Long-time readers know I have gotten my bookkeeping, office, websites, and general business process into shape over a period of years. I’ve kicked and screamed along the way. And I’ve spent a lot of money on other professionals, when it became clear that I simply couldn’t do it on my own. Every penny of it was well-spent, and my only regret is that I didn’t do it all sooner. God bless my accountant and my site designers, people. Seriously.

3) My fellow freelancers are my community, not my competition. I’ve talked about this before and I still believe it to be true: For the most part, there really are enough jobs to go around. And even when there aren’t, the people who play nicely with others, who pass along the jobs they can’t take, the ones who mentor others and work together, those are the people who have the good karma and the good relationships to bring more work their way. I have, at various points in my life, regretted being competitive. I have never regretted viewing my fellow freelancers as colleagues. I am happy to help others and grateful for the tips, leads and help given to me. It’s a more productive way to work, and quite frankly a nicer way to live.

2) Work is important, but it’s a means to an end. It’s easy to forget, sometimes, that the reason I started freelancing was primarily so that I would have the flexibility to be here for my family. When I find myself frantic about work, it’s most often a time when I’m out of balance and need to step back rather than giving in to my knee-jerk urge to work even more. I’m not saying this is true for everyone, but it definitely is for me. I love what I do. But I love my family and the rest of my life more.

1) You’re only as good as your reputation. One of the things I really love about freelancing is that you really are marketing your self. It circumvents a lot of the “office politics” I was only too happy to leave behind, and—for the most part—I believe the good guys finish first in this business. It’s important to do good work, sure, but it’s equally important to conduct yourself in a way that speaks to your work ethic. I’m not going to lie; I’ve made a couple of blunders along the way. I’m only human, after all! But I’m proud of the business I’ve built up, and more than that, I’m proud of my reputation as someone who is a consummate professional. It makes me not just proud of what I do, but of who I am. And that’s a wonderful feeling no matter what field you’re in!