5 game design tactics that make freelancing easier

You are in a game.

Not an easy one. Not a fair one. And certainly not one you signed up for knowing all the rules.

This is freelancing—the most open-ended, least predictable, highest-risk, highest-reward game you’ll ever play.

But here’s the catch: Most freelancers don’t even realise they’re playing. They stumble in, blindly grinding away, thinking it’s about working harder, taking every gig, and somehow hoping they “make it.”

That’s like playing chess by only moving your pawns. Like speed-running Mario without knowing the shortcuts. Like trying to win Monopoly by collecting only the utility properties.

What if you stopped playing like an NPC (a non-playable character)? What if you started playing like a game designer?

The best games aren’t won by brute force. They’re won by understanding the mechanics—how points are scored, how obstacles are placed, how players get ahead. And freelancing is no different.

Soooo… let’s stop grinding and start strategising. 😃

1. The XP illusion: Why you’re stuck on level 1

Most freelancers measure progress in events—getting a big client, hitting six figures, launching a product. But real progress doesn’t happen in jumps. It happens in micro-movements, stacking like invisible XP points.

Game designers know this. That’s why even the most mundane actions—breaking a block, collecting a coin, solving a puzzle—earn you something. Because if progress isn’t visible, players quit.

But not all XP is equal.

• XP that moves you forward: Sending a cold pitch, raising your rates, testing a new offer, learning a skill that improves your work.

• XP that’s just motion disguised as progress: Tweaking your website endlessly, researching for weeks without action, refining your logo for the third time this month.

Freelancing isn’t a level-up event. It’s a long game of compounding wins. If you don’t track them, you’ll never know if you’re progressing.

👉 Track meaningful XP with Habitica—a task manager that turns real-life goals into a game (#notspon)

2. Side quests will ruin you (unless you master them)

Here’s where most freelancers get stuck: They confuse motion with progress.

They feel productive—redesigning their website, tweaking their logo, fine-tuning their Instagram aesthetic—but their business isn’t moving forward.

The difference between great and struggling freelancers? Great ones know how to ignore bad side quests.

• Main quest: High-value work, marketing, skill-building.

• Side quests: Things that are fun but not necessary.

• Distractions: Anything that keeps you busy but not moving forward.

Every great RPG forces you to make choices. You cannot do everything.

The Freelance Quest Map (A Better Eisenhower Matrix for Freelancers)

Your tasks are quest: Some lead to the final boss, some just keep you grinding for no reason.

Here’s a quadrant system to decide what’s actually worth your time.

How to Use It

• If a task is in 🏆 Main Quest, do it now—this is your core work.

• If it’s in 🎯 Strategy Quest, schedule time for it—this is what builds long-term success.

• If it’s in 🔥 Fire Drill Quest, eliminate the cause—if something is constantly urgent, fix the process.

• If it’s in 🚫 Distraction Quest, just stop—these tasks trick you into feeling productive, but they don’t move you forward.

👉 Use this as a daily filter. If 80% of your time isn’t in Main or Strategy Quests, you’re stuck in side quests.

🚀 The Freelance Quest Map

3. Grinding is a myth. Power-ups are real.

Freelancers love to wear “I work hard” as a badge of honour.

But let’s be real: Hard work is the default. It’s the entry fee. It doesn’t win the game.

What wins? Leverage. Shortcuts. Power-ups.

Game designers make sure players get tools, skills, and power-ups that change the game. Because if you’re still using the same rusty sword 30 hours in, the game sucks.

In freelancing, your power-ups are:

• Automation—anything that lets you do more with less effort (Zapier, ChatGPT, smart templates).

• Pricing strategy—not just raising rates, but restructuring offers so you work less and earn more.

• Saying no—because every bad client or underpaid project slows down your real progress.

👉 Set up automation with Zapier so you stop wasting time on repeatable nonsense. (#alsonotspon)

4. Difficulty scaling: If it feels too easy, you’re undercharging

Games get harder as you progress. If they didn’t, they’d be boring.

Freelancing works the same way. If your work feels too easy, it means you’ve outgrown your rates.

Think of pricing like difficulty scaling:

• Beginner level: Work-for-hire, set rates, taking what you can get.

• Mid-level: Custom pricing, packaging services, selective clients.

• Expert mode: Value-based pricing, productised services, multiple income streams.

The challenge should always match your skill level. If it doesn’t, you’re not playing at the level you should be.

👉 Watch this TED Talk on negotiation to start raising your rates with confidence.

5. What’s your endgame? (or are you just running in circles?)

Every game has a goal—beat the final boss, collect the legendary item, save the world. But what’s your freelancing endgame?

Most freelancers never think about this. They get caught in an infinite loop of gigs, projects, and paycheques, assuming that “more work” is always the goal.

But is it? Or are you just collecting XP with no real purpose?

• Do you want financial independence?

• Do you want more time, not just more money?

• Do you want to build something bigger than yourself?

If you don’t know your endgame, you don’t have a strategy—you have a hamster wheel.

The Freelance Endgame Map (Clarify Your Final Boss Battle)

Most freelancers wander through gigs like an open-world game with no main quest—just chasing side missions with no clear endgame. This framework turns your freelance career into a well-defined, winnable game.

How to Use It

• Fill in each row with your actual answers.

• Keep this visible—don’t bury it in a Notion folder you’ll never open.

• Before taking on a project, ask: “Does this get me closer to my Final Boss?” If not, it’s a side quest. Ignore it.

🎯 The Freelance Endgame Map

The final boss: You vs. Playing small

Most freelancers will keep grinding. They’ll keep treating this like a random series of gigs instead of a game they can actually design.

But not you.

Now you know the mechanics. Now you know the cheat codes.

The only question left is: Are you going to keep playing like an NPC, or are you going to take control of the game?