Many organizations are finding that hiring freelancers is not just permissible, but also appealing. This opens up a fantastic chance for those with relevant abilities to establish a side company and eventually turn it into a full-time job.
The list goes on and on: cheaper taxes, lower employee-related expenditures, no healthcare, less office space, etc. Many firms are looking for freelance writers, designers, marketers, and developers to help them build their companies for a variety of reasons. Plus, there are so many fantastic freelance work websites popping up today to fulfill this need that the prospects are just growing.
Here are 9 steps to launch your freelance career:
1. Establish a clear vision of what you want to achieve
You’re going to have a hard time achieving where you want to go unless you have well-defined, easily quantifiable goals.
- Is freelancing only a means of supplementing your current income?
- Do you aspire to be a full-time freelancer in the future because of the lifestyle benefits of working for yourself?
- Or do you want to utilize freelancing as a stepping stone to a different goal?
Whatever your final aim is, you must be very clear about it. When it comes to effectively launching a firm, this is something that all of the world’s best entrepreneurs agree on.
Take the time to figure out why you’re thinking about beginning a freelancing business. Are you interested in doing…
- Do you want to work as a self-employed writer?
- How about a designer who works on a freelance basis?
- Perhaps a contract programmer?
Make sure your choice is in line with your long-term objectives. Only once you’ve decided where you want your freelance career to lead you can you set short-term goals and benchmarks to assist your freelance business to succeed.
2. Identify a profitable niche
Let’s pretend you’re a professional graphic designer or, at the very least, you’ve been honing your Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop abilities in your spare time.
No matter what you do, your industry’s rivals will be prepared to offer considerably cheaper prices than you. There will always be people from all around the world prepared to accept lower-paying jobs than you. Immediately abandon the concept of competing on price as a freelancer.
You’re actively searching out an industry and sort of customer that appreciates quality by taking the effort to identify a lucrative niche for your freelancing business (just as you would choose a topic to blog about if you decide to start a blog). When you’re in a market where quality is valued, you’ll have to modify the way you sell your services altogether. Instead of competing on price, you’ll be competing on value.
3. Determine who you want to be your ideal customer
Attracting the proper sorts of clients for your freelancing business is just as essential as locating a lucrative specialty. It’s acceptable to take a shotgun approach to gain a few clients while you’re just getting your freelancing business off the ground. Make some educated guesses about who you want to work with, then go after them. After working with a few of them, you’ll have a good idea of whether you want to pursue similar customers in the future.
Your objective is to establish your authority and become known as the go-to person for a particular sort of customer(s). If you can do this, you will be able to achieve genuine organic business development.
Your target clientele will quickly decide that you’re the best person to help them with their projects thanks to your ability to appeal to a limited (well-selected) niche. Above all, this is the route to charging premium rates without anyone blinking at the first pricing you provide.
Decide on a price range for your services that is both reasonable and strategic. From a purely mathematical standpoint, Bonsai’s freelancing rate explorer is as excellent as it gets for estimating what your projected hourly rate should be for your industry—and assessing whether or not your rates will match your revenue and spending objectives.
There are a lot of wonderful tools for double-checking that you’re charging enough to support the lifestyle you desire, but I propose starting with a different approach.
Keep in mind that you should price yourself based on the value you provide, not on what your rivals are charging. Allowing others to determine your value on their terms is not a good idea. It’s not about that when it comes to beginning a freelance business.
Neil Patel, a digital marketing consultant, has a blog where he recounts many of the lessons he learned while operating an SEO freelancing business—even before he found how to make money writing in more passive ways. One of the most important lessons I learned was that the more you charge, the fewer complaints you will receive. He understands that because he carefully picked target clientele with large budgets, they will be more ready to spend money to recoup their investment by using your services.
4. Create a professional-looking portfolio website
Let’s begin by determining why a portfolio website is needed in the first place. It’s typically a potential client’s initial impression of you, your style, your work, and the prior clients (or corporations) you’ve worked with in your freelancing business. You must clearly describe the services you provide as well as who they are intended for. Beyond that, you’ll need to persuade yourself that you’re the best person for the job – and for the clients, you’d like to work with.
To be genuinely efficient at marketing your services, your freelancing portfolio should include the following :
- Explain your area of expertise and show samples of your work.
- Include your contact information and a photo of yourself.
- Emphasize applicable talents, education, and achievements.
- When you’re just starting or started, display testimonials (even if they’re from coworkers or previous bosses).
- Regularly provide updates that illustrate your progress, new clients, and updated samples of your work.
5. Demonstrate what you’re capable of (on Your Portfolio Site)
You want your website to be a place where you can show off your knowledge.With that in mind, frequently posting fresh material, photos, or videos (depending on the content medium you operate in) that your target clientele will be impressed with is one of the greatest methods to show you’re in the know within your area. Once you’ve figured out what your clients want, go out and generate samples of that specific sort of content for your website, as if you’d been hired to do so.
There’s no better approach to market your services than to demonstrate that you can generate exactly what customers require. Furthermore, having a library of comparable work to draw on for inspiration will make their tasks a whole lot simpler.
6. Select your initial clients carefully
Because you only have so much time to find new clients (and perform the job for them) when you first start your freelancing business, you need to make the most of the ones you do have. Both financially and in terms of portfolio construction.
Your little customer list and accompanying portfolio items will determine how other potential clients see you in the future. As a result, everyone you select to work with or feature on your website is critical – especially in the beginning.
You don’t want to overthink things and get paralyzed by indecision, but take a minute to evaluate whether or not each possible customer you’re considering will assist you in reaching your goals.
7. In your content, mention potential clients
Searching the Internet for the greatest remote jobs isn’t always guaranteed to produce immediate results. And if no one knows you exist, it will be difficult for you to make a reputation for yourself in your area. That’s why I routinely highlight the brands, companies, and individuals with whom I hope to collaborate in the future in every piece of material I publish on my blog. Even if I’m not yet ready to take on new clients or qualified to pursue such large transactions, it’s never too early to start developing goodwill and getting your name in front of the relevant people at your target company.
8. Master the art of Self-Promotion
If you want to start freelancing, you’ll need to know how to sell yourself—it’ll be a valuable tool for years to come. You must be able to convey your talents and convert your talks into paying clients, regardless of how great you are at your job.
9. Don’t mix your freelance business with your day job priorities
Above all, keep in mind that your day job (and only stable source of money) takes first. Don’t put your full-time job in jeopardy; you’ll need it to keep you afloat while you build your freelancing business.
You’ll need to stay away from several things, including:
- Breaking any agreements or commitments you have with your job.
- Using corporate time to work on your freelancing business (seriously do NOT do this).
- Using business resources, laptops, or paid blogging tools as part of your freelancing work.
- As well as a lot of other things.
Conclusion
Now that you know how to establish a freelance business, here are some reasons why I think everyone (particularly millennials) should do some side work. It’s been one of the finest business moves I’ve ever made, and it’s by far the most steady side business I’ve ever had.
Anyone thinking about launching a freelance business or shifting into consulting should start small and freelance part-time while working full-time.
