Freelancing refers to working for yourself and doing projects with different clients/ companies rather than being a full time company employee. Freelancers, in a way, are self-employed and take up contract work for companies and organizations. If the work is completed at the stipulated time, then freelancers get paid accordingly. It involves earning money on a per-job or per-task basis, usually for short-term work. There are a lot of benefits of freelancing which include the freedom to work from home or from a non-traditional workspace, a flexible work schedule, and a better work-life balance. A freelancer tends to work in the creative, skilled, or service sector.
7 ways to become a freelancer:
- Choose your skills
You have to pick specific skills you want to work on. One should not pick up anything randomly but should start with the work one is interested in if one wants to go for freelancing. The skills you have within are going to be the greatest asset in freelancing.Whether you want to become a freelancer full time or on the side, your business will be built around the unique skills you have to offer. So, identifying the different skills you’ve built over the years that other people may not have and want to pay you to use is the first step.
- Defining service
First of all, you need to be aware of what service you can provide to the client. You have to turn your skills into service if you want to become a successful freelancer. You have to understand how your skills are going to be beneficial for the client and the respective organization. How you package your skills as a service becomes an important factor if you want to go into freelancing.
- Target audience
Skills vary from person to person. Whatever you are good at, go for it and start by finding the target audience. This refers to finding out clients who would need the service you are providing. As you grow in your work, you are going to come into the notice of a number of clients. Your main job is to find potential clients and work accordingly.
There are three ways to acquire clients:
- Freelance job posting platforms
- Leverage existing connections and networking
- Marketing, advertising, and outreach
Accordingly, you have to look for which option suits you the best.
- Take up work you have experience in
In case you have had a job and have gained expertise in the sector you have worked in, it is a better idea to start from there. It’ll obviously be the easiest to start with all of the skills that you’ve already been paid to leverage. This way your start can be much better and you will have confidence to continue with the same with the same enthusiasm. It’s better to start with something you’ve learnt rather than learning a new skill and starting with it.
- Create a portfolio
In order to gain the trust of the client, it will be an amazing idea to create your portfolio. The best way you can build trust with a new client when you start a freelance business is by showing examples of past work that are similar to the work they are considering hiring you for. It is also important to understand what you are going to include in your portfolio. Your portfolio work samples should align with the services you’re offering. Your portfolio will be your most important tool for creating new clients and proceeding further in your freelance business.
- Stay connected with your existing network
It’s very important to stay connected to people and have a strong network so as to go into freelancing. This network can constitute people who are around you : They can be your friends, family, coworkers, colleagues, and so on. The goal should be to make this network strong so that people around you come to know about the skills and services you, as a freelancer, can offer. This can be possible by spending time with this network of people you’ve or by staying in contact by means of other social media platforms.
- Creating a healthy relationship with your client
Clients are the most important part of freelancing. It is very important to have a healthy relationship with the clients and an atmosphere of positivity where you work and who you work with. Successful freelancers always establish healthy relationships with clients rather than thinking of the work as a one-and-done deal. This not only can help you to work with peace but will also enable you to expand your network to get more client referrals and get more work based on your skills. So, good communication, trust, mutual understanding and good conduct is very important to have a good relationship with the client which will help you further in future to grow in the field you are working in.
