Freelancing is all about flexibility and freedom, right? Well, that’s true but it’s a double-edged sword.
On the one hand, you can set your own hours and take on as much or as little work as you want. On the other hand, you have to do everything yourself. That means managing your own time, finding clients who pay well, growing your business sustainably over time… the list goes on.
Even though I’ve been freelancing full-time for just over two years now, I still struggle with these issues but here are some lessons I’ve learned along the way that have helped me become a better freelancer: Here they are!
| Takeaways |
|---|
| 1. Success in freelancing is achievable with determination and hard work. |
| 2. Embrace a mindset of continuous learning and improvement. |
| 3. Building a strong network and community can lead to more opportunities. |
| 4. Financial management and budgeting are vital for long-term success. |
| 5. Balancing passion projects with profitable gigs can be rewarding. |
| 6. Leveraging online platforms can help reach a global client base. |
| 7. Providing high-quality work and exceptional customer service is key. |
| 8. Diversifying income streams can mitigate risk in freelancing. |
| 9. Emphasize personal branding to stand out in a competitive market. |
| 10. Setting clear goals and milestones will guide your freelance journey. |
Be A Resource
Be A Resource: As a freelancer, you’re selling yourself to potential customers. You’re selling their future needs and problems that you can solve. The best way to do this is by becoming a resource for them. Become the go-to person for all things related to your topic or niche.
When someone needs information about freelance writing, they will come across your website and reach out for help because they know that you have done it before and would be more than happy to share some of your knowledge with them.
Give Value To Others: When we give value to others without asking anything in return, we become more valuable as individuals in terms of reputation building, trustworthiness etc., which eventually leads us towards becoming more successful entrepreneurs in our field (money).
Are you dreaming of building a successful freelance agency that brings in a six-figure income? Our comprehensive guide on establishing a six-figure freelance agency can help you turn that dream into a reality.
Be The Master Of The Small Data Set
When you’re freelancing, it’s important to understand that the client is not your audience. The client is a potential source of revenue for you, but it’s up to you to determine how much time and effort should be devoted to each individual project.
Your audience is what determines whether or not the project will be worth your time, so before taking on any new projects (and even after), make sure you know exactly what they want from your work what information they need? How fast do they need it? Are there any particular formats they prefer?
If possible, try asking them these questions as early as possible in order to get a full picture of their needs and expectations.
This isn’t always feasible or necessary when you’re getting started with a client especially if this person is an established business owner but once your relationship develops past just one-offs, take advantage of opportunities like these whenever possible!
Make It Personal (And Prove It)
Being a freelancer means you’re going to be all over the internet, in your inbox and on various social media platforms. You need to know who you are talking to because it’s not just about what you can do for them; it’s also about what they can do for you.
Make sure that when someone reaches out and asks how much you charge per hour, or how long it would take for them to get their website designed by an experienced professional like yourself or any other question remotely related you give them an honest answer based on the facts of your business at that particular moment in time.
Don’t guess! If necessary, consult with your accountant first before giving an estimate so that both parties understand exactly what everything costs from beginning till end (and then some).
Don’t Sell A Solution, Sell An Emotion
Sell the emotion, not the solution; One of the most important lessons I learned in my early days as a freelancer was that the best way to sell something is to convince your customer that they have a problem, and that you’re the person who can solve it.
The whole idea behind marketing is to make consumers want what you have by offering them an appealing alternative to their current situation.
In this case, you’re selling someone on your services as an alternative solution to whatever problem they face or desire whether it’s increased productivity on the job or higher quality content for a website or blog post.
In other words: Sell their problems before you sell them on any potential solutions (your own).
Freelancing on a budget doesn’t mean sacrificing your meals. Discover 13 ingenious tips for managing your finances and still enjoying meals while navigating the freelancing world.
Never Be Afraid To Be The Edge Of The Leading Edge
Let’s say you have an idea to do something. In fact, let’s say you have a great idea to do something that has never been done before.
Here are five things that could happen:
- People will love your idea and they will copy it and make millions of dollars with it while paying you nothing.
- 2) Your idea is so good that people think that’s what everyone else was thinking all along, so they don’t even bother to pay attention to it or credit you for thinking of it first.
- 3) No one cares about your idea because no one cares about anything new or different anymore.
- 4) Someone steals your idea and does a crappy job at it so no one notices the difference between their crappy version and yours .
- 5) Someone steals your idea but does a better job than anyone else has ever done before in any way at all (see Lesson 8).
Remember It Is All About Them, Not You
When you are working on a project or completing a task, always remember that it is not about your needs, but their needs and goals. This is probably one of the biggest lessons I have learned during my years as a freelancer and I still struggle with this every day.
This can be difficult when we are trying to get our own way, but it is so important if we want to succeed in our careers as freelancers and make sure we don’t lose touch with our clients by becoming too self-centered in our work!
Always Go Viral With Your Message
Just like any other business, your freelancing business should have a message that tells people why you’re different from the competition. The best way to get your message across is through social media.
That doesn’t mean you need to be on every single platform out there; it just means that if you want to go viral with your message, then social media is the best place for this. You can go viral on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest. If Reddit isn’t already on your radar as an option for going viral then it should be!
So how do I make sure my message goes viral? It’s simple: post quality content on a regular basis and engage with others who share similar interests with yours by commenting back or liking their posts or videos etc…
Don’t Forget Your Mommy And Daddy
If you think that your parents were just as clueless and unhelpful when you were a teenager, think again.
They are often the most important people in your life, because they’re the ones who give and teach us what we need to know about how to survive. If you want a successful freelancing career, appreciate the importance of having good mentors and clients.
Appreciate those people who believed in you enough to hire or recommend you for work. Give back by being grateful for their time, effort, expertise and willingness to help guide your early steps into adulthood as an entrepreneur via freelance gigs.
Be grateful every day for everything and always remember that there’s no better way than through gratitude!
Calling all millennial freelancers! If you’re looking for ways to enhance your freelancing game, our article with 14 valuable tips for millennial freelancers will be your ultimate guide to success.
Embrace Other People’s Success
Too often, we view other people’s success as a threat. We’re afraid that if someone else is doing well, then there must be something wrong with our own situation.
We assume that the only way to get ahead is by doing something completely different than everyone else and this assumption comes at the cost of progress and learning. When we reject learning from others’ experiences and mistakes, we miss out on critical opportunities to improve ourselves and our businesses.
The truth is that another person’s success or failure can be extremely valuable because it gives us insight into what works (or doesn’t) in different scenarios. If you’re afraid of being influenced by someone else’s actions or outcomes, remember: every choice has both positive and negative consequences; it all depends on how you interpret them!
Look For Clients Who Pay Well
The first tip is to look for clients who pay well. This can be tricky if you’re just getting started, but it’s important to realize that there are some clients out there willing to pay you more than others.
Look at your existing portfolio and think about the type of work that has brought in the most money. Is it quick and dirty? Or did you have to put in a lot of effort? Did this client pay his bills on time? Did he understand what he was getting when he hired you?
These are all important questions to consider when deciding whether or not a specific client is worth working with again.
Next, consider how much more expensive one job could have been than another. Was this gig worth twice as much as a previous project because of its complexity? Once again: Was this gig worth twice as much because it had higher stakes attached (a bigger budget)?
Find True Freedom By Letting Go Of Your Ego And Accept Help From Fellow Freelancers
The idea of freedom is very appealing to freelancers. We all want to be the lone wolf who can do everything and make it work on their own, but that’s not always realistic.
The truth is, you don’t have to go it alone if you don’t want to. Working with others can be one of the most rewarding experiences for a hungry student looking for a job in software development.
Here are five reasons why:
- You can learn from other freelancers who share your same struggles and obstacles they will be able to share lessons learned from their own experience and offer advice on how they overcame those difficulties or got past certain roadblocks along the way.
Through this process of sharing experiences with each other, it’s likely that both parties will learn something new each time they meet up together (which might just save both parties’ time!).
- If someone has already been in your shoes before then chances are high that he/she knows exactly where not just some but many problems lie.
This means less wasted effort trying out things that turn out not working anyway (like what happened here when I decided against using gulp tasks at first)
Make A Plan To Grow Your Business
You should have a plan for growth. You may not know exactly how you’ll grow, or what that growth will look like. But if you don’t have a plan, then it’s likely your business will stay small.
So what does a growth plan look like? It starts with goals specific and realistic ones that are measurable and tied to an outcome in the real world (such as revenue).
Next step is developing the steps needed to achieve those goals (this could include hiring freelancers or ramping up marketing efforts).
Then comes doing the work required to reach those goals (hiring freelancers) until they are achieved (making sure they do great work), at which point you reward yourself by setting new bigger and better-defined goals!
Curious about the journey from full-time employment to freelancing? Discover the reasons behind the leap and the transformative experiences of quitting a job to become a freelancer in our article: Why I Quit My Full-Time Job to Start Freelancing.
If You Want To Be A Freelancer, Start Freelancing Now.
If you are thinking about becoming a freelancer, or if you want to be one but don’t know how to get started, then here’s your answer: Start freelancing now.
There’s no time like the present for beginning your career as a self-employed worker. If you have an idea for something that can be done remotely and is valuable in the marketplace, then go ahead and start doing it.
You might not make much money at first in fact, it could take years before any significant income comes in but just keep working on improving yourself until eventually there comes a point where your skills are in such high demand that people will pay top dollar for them.
Even if what you’re working on doesn’t bring in much cash right away (and let’s face facts: Most of us don’t), there are still many benefits to being self-employed at this early stage of our development as professionals:
- We can hone our skills without having someone else tell us how they should be crafted;
- We can learn from our mistakes without worrying about losing our job over them;
- We can experiment with new approaches to problem-solving while learning from both their successes and failures;
You Don’t Need Fancy Office Space To Be A Successful Freelancer
The first thing to do is set aside a space in your home where you can work. This doesn’t have to be an entire room, but if it’s not, make the space feel like one by either closing off the door or giving it some kind of barrier (like a curtain).
Next, create a desk that works well for you and your needs. The key here is to find something that will help keep your work organized so that it’s easy for you to access when needed.
Next up: treating yourself like an actual professional! Having all of this stuff isn’t going to do much good if you don’t treat yourself like the busy freelancer who has clients waiting on their projects from HQ.
wherever HQ might be for someone whose business runs out of their house instead of having its office building somewhere downtown (which sounds cool at first but gets annoying after awhile).
Once those two things are taken care of and the space feels legit enough for work purposes, it’s time for step three: keeping everything clean and organized so nothing gets lost under piles of paperclips or forgotten inside drawers because they’re too full with pens/pencils/etcetera (and more importantly).
The future of work is heading towards a freelancing revolution. Uncover the compelling reasons behind this shift and what it means for the workforce in our in-depth exploration: The Future of Work Will Be Freelance: Reasons.
Final Thoughts
You have the power to transform your life and the lives of others through your work. Your ideas matter. If you have a powerful enough vision, you can bring it to life in a way that will help people do whatever they need to make their lives better.
Thanks so much for reading this article and I hope these lessons will help you as much as they helped me!
Further Reading
Freelancing and Self-Employment in Singapore: Explore the ins and outs of freelancing and self-employment in Singapore, including tax considerations and business regulations.
Money Hungry Freelancers: Dive into the world of freelancing and learn valuable tips on managing finances, setting rates, and maximizing earnings.
Freelance Life at Workable: Gain insights into the freelance life with real stories and experiences shared by freelancers themselves.
People Also Ask
What Is The Best Way To Get A Client?
You can start by networking with other freelancers, which will help you find clients and also give you the opportunity to build up your portfolio.
How Do I Know How Much To Charge My Clients?
This depends on your industry and experience, but there are some general guidelines that can help. If you’re new to freelancing, aim for about $15 per hour. If you have more experience or a more specialized skill set, you may be able to charge more than this.
Is It Possible To Make A Living As A Freelancer?
Definitely. The key is finding clients who are willing to pay your rate, which means doing the research before approaching them and making sure they have an established business model that will benefit from what you can offer.
What Is The Best Way To Start Freelancing?
I think that it depends on what kind of business you want to start. If you are an artist or designer, then I would recommend starting with Fiverr and Etsy.
If you’re more of an entrepreneur who wants to create a product or service, then I suggest starting with Upwork.com or Guru.com. But if you have no idea what kind of business you want to create yet… just sign up for all three.
They are all very different from each other, so it’s important for your brand’s success that you experiment with each platform until you find one that fits your needs best (or three!).
What Is The Best Way To Be A Successful Freelancer?
The best way to be a successful freelancer is to have a mindset of abundance. You need to be willing to go through the ups and downs of the freelancing world, and know that it will work out in the end. If you’re open and willing, you’ll find your niche and build your brand.
What Are The Keys To Successful Freelancing?
Successful freelancing is all about the hustle. You have to be hungry and you have to be willing to put in the work. If you’re not hungry enough, you’ll get tired and give up. If you’re not willing to put in the work, then it’s just a hobby and not a business.
You need to make sure that you’re doing your best at all times, whether that means staying up late or giving up your weekends. The most important thing is that you love what you do if it feels like work, then it won’t be fun anymore!
Costantine Edward is a digital marketing expert, freelance writer, and entrepreneur who helps people attain financial freedom. I’ve been working in marketing since I was 18 years old and have managed to build a successful career doing what I love.
