With the perks and pros of freelancing, many workers have in recent times, adapted to it as the way to go in their career path. According to Nasdaq, 43% of the U.S workforce will be freelancers by the end of the year. This makes starting a freelancing career no different from literally starting a business venture. Just as one wouldn’t start any business without knowing the basics of it, so one wouldn’t dive into a free lancing career path without proper research and work on how to successfully start freelancing.
Like any successful business venture, planning, proper preparation and training are the key tools to winning and having a robust freelance career, especially with the first months of starting out. Even with so much competition from the market, one can still successful land the right paying clients with the right plan and determination.
The idea of quitting one’s job to start a freelancing career business can be quite overwhelming. However, the best way to make hay while the sun shines is to start planning the freelancing career path from the first day. This will help to reduce anxiety and remove the usual stress, common with starting out at the early stage of a freelancing career.
Kick starting your freelance career may seem quite difficult initially but with the right plans and perseverance, one would successfully create a robust career path.
So, are you interested in kick starting your freelance career? The tips below would invariably give you the necessary answers to some questions you may have, in your career path as a freelancer.
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Build an online presence
A freelancer who wants to be taken seriously needs to have an online presence by which his business can be easily reached or contacted by clients for work. This could be in form of a professional website. It couold also be complimented with a stable social media account, especially for platforms like LinkedIn Facebook, Instagram or Whatsapp. This will make people see the uniqueness of the freelancer and readily offer jobs to him.
Creating a professional website is not much of a challenge as one could make use of content management platforms like Word Press, Joomla or Drupal for tons of free themes to create one. These platforms have been designed with freelancers in mind and make it easy creating a website in an instant.
In addition before your website is ready, you can create a coming soon landing page to preempt clients of freelance skills. It will also help to have a contact form where people can easily access you through mails or on mobile.
As a freelancer, it is also important that you have a professional LinkedIn profile. As a social media platform designed for professionals, LinkedIn helps one to easily attract clients for work. A freelancer LinkedIn profile is your professional resume for prospective clients and as such should include:
A header that has the keyword “freelance”
A profile picture with a professional touch
A summary of your skills targeted towards your ideal clients
Your contact details, including a link to your website.
Your LinkedIn profile should also have a professional banner.
Have a Freelance budget plan
It is important when starting out to have a freelance budget plan. This will help you in promoting your online business through advert campaigns and also help you keep the business afloat before the business starts taking care of you. In addition, a freelance budget will enable you avoid taking orders that are way below your normal charge rates. To create a budget plan for your freelance career is to create a solid foundation for your business.
Have a portfolio of your work
Clients are often moved to offer you job opportunities when they see samples of your previous work done. This is especially true if you happen to be a freelance writer, designer or developer. This you can easily do by putting together a portfolio. A portfolio simply put, shows to clients samples of your job done from past projects.
However, it could be that since you are just starting out, you may never have had any client before and as such, no previous projects to show to prospective clients. In this case, all you need do is create samples. For instance if you are freelance tech writer without any form of experience, just start by create blog posts on this particular niche so you can provide them to clients when needed. A web developer can design sample websites to show to clients while a graphics designer can create sample logos or flyers.
Once created, these samples can be displayed on your website or sent to clients in pdf form when needed.
Leverage your personal network
As you officially kickstart your freelance career, it’s important you leverage on your existing network of people to promote your business. This could also be in form of joining relevant groups, forums or freelance marketplaces o promote your services.
All you need is just one satisfied client to get others to come for your services. For example, a freelance writer promotes his business by starting an online blog. This helps you display your work to people who visit your blog and sometimes these visitors become your prospective clients. Even non-writers can also leverage on guest post on other people’s blog, by giving helpful tips on their niche.
In conclusion, kickstarting your freelance career can be difficult but with these tips for jump-starting your freelance career, you will certainly land your first client in no time.
