Have you ever told yourself or someone else that you’re just waiting for the “right” time?

I sure have. Many times.

Certainly, there are better times than others to make certain decisions. If you’re eight month’s pregnant, for example, it probably wouldn’t be the right time to train for a marathon.

But the truth is — whether we want to admit it or not — there never really is a “right” time. In essence, it comes down to how much we really WANT something, and what sacrifices we’re willing to make during the process of getting it.

Which reminds me of a woman who told me that the “right” time is the time you decide to make it right.

“In most cases, people are ready whenever they decide for themselves that the time is right,” she said, “NOT when outside circumstances determine when the time is supposedly right.”

And then she hit the nail on the head:

“People tell themselves that the time isn’t right because, even though they know what they want, they don’t know how to get it.”

When I started freelancing in 2012, I was the complete opposite of ready. I had no freelance experience, no clients, no business skills, and almost no money.

But I knew what I wanted: a job that revolves around the life I wanted to create, as opposed to creating a life that revolves around my job.

So how did I figure out how to get what I wanted? Well, to be honest, I didn’t.

Instead, I did a whole lot of this:

Fake it until you make it. Learn on the job. Let the journey be your guide.

However, my experience — and the experiences of several freelancers who I’ve talked to — shows that the key to developing a successful freelance business is not experience, skills, connections, clients or money.

The key to developing a successful freelance business is deciding for yourself that the time is right to start.

Making any decision is literally half the battle.

If I didn’t make my decision to start freelancing, I wouldn’t be where I am today:

• With a six-figure freelance business
• Working with brands across four different continents
• Charging between $70 and $100 an hour
• Picking and choosing my clients as I wish

And best of all: working a job that revolves around the life I want to live.

Now, I run Epic Freelancing to help creative freelancers achieve the same, but more importantly — to serve as a constant reminder and form of accountability that drives aspiring freelancers to actually start, and current freelancers to actually take their business to the next level.

I talk to our members on a daily basis, and I’ve heard every story in the book about why it’s not the “right” time to start developing their freelance business, build a personal brand and quit another job to go full-time freelance.

Ninety percent of these people just wait and wait and wait for the “right” time to start the process. Since we all know there never really is a “right” time, it becomes a vicious cycle of waiting, and sadly they never really start.

On the flip side, there’s a small percentage of people who stop waiting and start doing— regardless of experience, expertise, fear, anxiety, uncertainty, other people’s perceptions and outside circumstances.

And once these people start doing, they realize a powerful thing:

Good things may come to those who wait, but great things come to those who do.

Josh Hoffman is the founder of Epic Freelancing, where he shows freelancers how to develop a six-figure income and live life on their terms.

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