The flexibility of freelancing both in time schedule, as well as pursuing a passion, is becoming more and more attractive in today’s world. More people are looking for tips on how to become a freelancer.
Freelancing has been my only source of income for over four years now and it is purely by God’s grace as to how this happened.
It wasn’t something I strategically planned, which may be the route of how some become freelancers.
Through this journey, I’ve discovered a few things that have helped me. Here are 11 top tips on how to become a freelancer.
1. Start Where You Are And With What You Have
You don’t have to be an expert in the service you are offering to start freelancing.
As long as you have some skill in the service you are offering your client and you are transparent with them about what you can offer, this is a good enough position to start from.
I started freelancing as a Digital Marketing Assistant. This role mainly involved social media management and basic admin tasks. Both of which I only had entry-level skills in. I stayed with this client for a 1-year contract.
As you practice your craft, you will naturally develop your skills and can then expand on the services you offer and the type of clients you approach.
There is a range of opportunities out there for basic-level skills.
So don’t feel you have to be highly skilled to begin freelancing, whether as a side hustle or on a full-time basis. Virtual Assistants are becoming a popular service with basic admin tasks and social media management.
It’s a flexible service to offer and is in high demand with many people starting online businesses now.
2. Create A Brand To Become A Freelancer
Once you’ve decided to go freelance, start getting your name out there. Creating a logo and inventing a name for your freelance business are steps involved in this process. It’s important to make your brand one that communicates your specific service. Something that has certain characteristics, and colours, for example, that makes your audience think of you.
Through your branding, make it clear what your brand is about. You may want a tagline to assist your logo. There are free logo-makers that allow you to design your brand’s logo and customise your logo.
3. Practice Makes Perfect
Undoubtedly, you’ll learn skills on projects you are working on. But to further develop your craft, taking time outside of client’s projects to practice your skills will help you learn even more.
Carry out research to familiarise yourself with your industry, competitors, and the relevant tools needed.
4. Market Yourself Online To Become A Freelancer
Digital Marketing is a key part of promoting your business in this modern-day and there are many avenues you can do this on.
Social media is an example of this. Filter down which social media platform your clients tend to use.
Create an account on that social media platform and start posting and reaching out to potential clients through there.
A website, however, is something that regardless of the type of business you have, you should have. Your website should be your digital shop front.
This is where visitors can find out all things about your business; your contact info, examples of your work, and more detailed information about you.
Professional hosted websites usually require a fee, so making this decision is when you definitely know you would like to take freelancing seriously.
However, there are also free websites without a domain name that you can try out first if you’d like to test the waters.
But if you’re looking to level up, I’d recommend investing in a domain name and self-hosted website.
It gives off much more of a professional outlook to potential clients and shows you are serious about your brand.
5. Get A Mentor/ Connect With Other Freelancers
Being a freelancer and generally just being self-employed can be lonesome as you are often working alone on your business.
However, there are definitely ways of getting around this. Collaborating with other freelancers and joining some sort of community are two options.
By doing this, you can share tips and encourage each other on your journey.
Whether that is through networking events or even through community groups online. There are other freelancers looking to connect and you can learn from each other.
There are several Facebook groups designed specifically for this. Simply type in keywords for the type of community you are looking for.
For example ‘freelance writers’ and select the group’s category to search on Facebook or similar designed platforms like LinkedIn. These groups are great as they usually post freelance gigs too and are also good for sharing your projects.
It’s a pool of people just like you and it helps make the journey less lonesome.
In addition to this, having a mentor can be really useful- especially when first starting out to guide you in the right direction. Finding someone in the same industry as you, who has more experience and can share this will add to your knowledge.
Facebook groups, like SocialFixt offer free mentoring schemes for members to join. I was blessed enough to find a mentor who had been in a similar industry as me. I also have my own Freelance Creatives Business Building Group where you can connect with other freelancers.
In one simple session, I gained so much insight based on her sharing her experience and tips for situations I was in.
6. Subscribe To Newsletters To Become A Freelancer
Sometimes manually searching for opportunities can seem like a job in itself.
As a freelancer, it’s an ongoing journey of opportunity seeking.
So, subscribing to newsletters that send opportunities directly to your inbox, really alleviates pressure from you individually gig-searching.
7. Ensure You Are Offering Something Of Valuable
What service will you offer to your clientele that is of value? How can you better their business?
This is a question, as a freelancer, you’re likely to be asked when pitching. Make sure that the service you offer adds value to your client. It has to make sense for them to take you on.
8. Research Your Clientele
In order to know how to market your services, you’ll need to research your audience. What are their interests? What are their pain points?
Without understanding your audience, you’ll probably struggle with knowing how to tailor your pitch to them specifically.
You need to identify ways you can help them and to do that, you need to know who they are, so you can identify if you can benefit them.
9. Set goals
We all know the cliche phrase; failing to plan is planning to fail. But it still rings true. Setting goals and personal deadlines for getting things done will help you to focus and work towards getting things done. Planners are a great tool to have for this.
10. Invest In A Course To Help You
A course with a comprehensive strategy can really help provide you with deeper insight into what the freelance world is like and guide you with your steps as a freelancer.
11. Research Your Competitors To Become A Freelancer
To get a good feel of what your specific industry is like in the service you are offering, it’s worth researching your competitors and how they present themselves.
This can inspire you with ideas on how to market yourself too.
I hope this post on tips on how to become a freelancer has helped you in the beginning stages of your freelance journey. Or even helped you decide whether or not you would like to become a freelancer.
If this is a path you’re definitely embarking on, you may want to know a few things about self-employment- visit this post for more on that topic.
