Before you start your freelance business, you need to get very clear on why you want to start freelancing in the first place. Once you have your bigger picture goals in mind, how you utilize your limited amount of time will greatly determine your level of success with freelancing.
1. 𝘿𝙚𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙚 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙂𝙤𝙖𝙡𝙨
Without clearly defined, easily measurable goals, you’re going to have a very difficult time getting to where you want to go.
• Is freelancing a path to just earning extra income on the side of your day job?
• Do you eventually want to become a full-time freelancer because of the lifestyle benefits of being your own boss?
• Or, are you looking to use freelancing as a stepping stone to eventually achieving a different goal entirely?
Regardless of what your ultimate goal is, you need to make it abundantly clear.
Take the time to understand why you’re considering starting a freelance business in the first place.
Make sure this decision is the right move in your progression toward achieving your goals.
Only after you have the clarity around where you want freelancing to take you.
2.𝙁𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙖 𝙋𝙧𝙤𝙛𝙞𝙩𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙉𝙞𝙘𝙝𝙚
"Successful freelancers compete on value, not price." Let’s assume you’re a graphic designer by trade, or you’ve at least been building your skills with Adobe Illustrator & Photoshop in your free time.
Clearly, there are a lot of competitors in your industry that’ll be willing to charge much lower rates than you, no matter what you do. There are people from all around the world with lower costs of living that’ll always be willing to accept lesser-paid gigs than you. Get over the idea of trying to compete on price as a freelancer, right now
3. 𝙂𝙚𝙩 𝘾𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙤𝙣 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙎𝙚𝙧𝙫𝙞𝙘𝙚 𝙊𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨
One major decision you need to make early on in your freelance career is what you do and what you don’t do.
The more specific you can be about what services you offer, the better. Not only will it help you brand yourself, it’ll allow you to control how potential clients perceive you and give you the opportunity to continue building your portfolio in the direction you want to move in.
If you want to focus on becoming a sought after, highly paid Ruby on Rails developer, then you shouldn’t even consider contract offers for customizing WordPress themes or designing the user experience for an upcoming app. While the short-term benefits of steady work are tempting (and sometimes necessary), taking on projects that aren’t getting you closer to your ultimate goal of becoming the best in your field, will only distract and delay you from making meaningful progress.
4. 𝙈𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙖 𝙂𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙁𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙉𝙚𝙩𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙠
This is the time to start reaching out to industry professionals and potential clients in your area, and beyond. In this day and age, you don't even have to get work from the city, or even the country, you're in. But it's important to get in front of as many people as you can. Go to industry events. Attend conferences. Make calls. Send mailers directing people to your website. You need to get your name out there, you cannot just expect work to come to you. Freelancing is all about hustling for work, and it never ends.
You will also need a good set of business cards to hand out at these events. They don't have to be fancy, but they should say something about you. Try and get cards that are on good quality card stock, and have something memorable about them.
5. 𝘾𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙒𝙚𝙗𝙨𝙞𝙩𝙚
You cannot rely on a physical portfolio anymore. It's dated, and costly to mail to people. No, the only way to get your work in front of as many people as possible it through a website. Fortunately, you do not need one ounce of web design knowledge to do it.
Go to a site like Krop.com or CargoCollective.com, and register for a free "plug and play" website. Many industry professionals use these sites, and they can be free if you have just a few pages. However, if you really want to show a full spectrum, you'll need a monthly/annual subscription. They're very affordable, coming in at around $10/month for something that looks great. You choose the template you want, fill in the information, and upload your work.
6. 𝙄𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙛𝙮 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙏𝙖𝙧𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝘾𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙨
Just as important as finding a profitable niche, is attracting the right types of clients for your freelance business.
As you’re just starting your freelance business, it’s fine to take a bit more of a shotgun approach to landing a few clients. Make some initial assumptions about who you want to work with, target them first, and after working with a few of them, you’ll develop a very clear sense of whether or not you want to continue pursuing similar clients.
Since starting my freelance business, I’ve honed my target client profile over time to matching only two very specific types of businesses. High-growth tech startups and business influencers with well-established personal brands.
The primary reasons I’ve narrowed down the focus of my freelance business this far, is because I work best these types of (very similar) clients, and they both run in similar circles that lead to frequent referrals. I’m building my reputation within my niche.
7. 𝙎𝙚𝙩 𝙎𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙜𝙞𝙘 𝙋𝙧𝙞𝙘𝙚𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙎𝙚𝙧𝙫𝙞𝙘𝙚𝙨
"Price yourself based on the value you deliver, not what your competitors are charging."I’ve spoken a lot about setting the right prices for your freelance business before you get started. I even architected an infographic that walks you through the process of setting your freelance hourly rate.
From a pure numbers perspective, this freelance rate explorer from Bonsai is as good as it gets for determining what your expected hourly rate should be for your industry—in order to see if your rates will meet your income goals and expense levels. There are tons of great tools out there for double-checking that you’re charging enough to afford the lifestyle you want to live, but I recommend starting to determine your pricing strategy with a very different progression in mind.
Remember, you need to price yourself based on the value you deliver, not based on what your competitors are charging.
8.𝘾𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙖 𝙃𝙞𝙜𝙝 𝙌𝙪𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙋𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙛𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙤 𝙎𝙞𝙩𝙚
It goes without saying that one of the best ways to demonstrate your technical skills is by having an amazing portfolio site of your own. If you want to be taken seriously as a new freelancer, you’re going to need a website that:
• Showcases your expertise.
• Highlights relevant past experiences.
• Shows who you are.
• Includes your contact information so that potential clients can easily find you.
Plus, a stellar portfolio can really help you out if you don’t have a lot of job experience to prove that you know your stuff. (Read more about that here: How to Get Hired in Tech With No Experience.)
The purpose of your portfolio is to educate, spark interest, and convince potential clients that they’ll want to choose you for their technical needs. That’s why it’s worth investing time into deciding what to feature on your portfolio and how it’s being displayed—before you start looking for new projects.
Once your portfolio site is up, start including a link to the site within your email signature and on your social profiles.
9.𝙎𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙁𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝘽𝙚𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙌𝙪𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙅𝙤𝙗
It is recommended to grow your side income to at least 50–75% of your total current income before leaving your full-time job, depending on your risk tolerance.
Managing a tight schedule, heavy workload (including demanding freelance projects), and being responsible for client deliverables with limited time resources will teach you quickly what it’s like to run your own business.
The other awesome benefit of picking up freelance clients while you’re still working full-time is that you can be selective. You likely don’t absolutely need the money. This puts you in a position to turn down work that either doesn’t pay enough to justify your time investment, or that you’re not genuinely interested in.
These are two points you’ll need to be a stickler about if you want to be happy once you’re freelancing full-time.
10. 𝘽𝙪𝙞𝙡𝙙 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝘾𝙧𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮
There are many ways to build your credibility within your industry. Aside from creating high quality blog content and collaborating with notable influencers in your industry, you can write an ebook, create an online course, and line up speaking engagements to start increasing your visibility within your niche.
