Becoming successful as a freelancer isn’t an overnight process, and it isn’t always as easy as some people expect, but if you follow our guidelines, work hard and deliver quality work every time, you have a pretty good chance at making it in a highly competitive freelance market.
1. Create a focused business plan.
A business with no clear cut plan is a business that will not succeed. The first thing you need to do is define your business. What will you be offering the customer? Are you going to do website design, graphic design, content writing, or something else? Pick what you are good at and stick with it.
2. Determine what will set you apart from the competition.
How will you stand out from the thousands of people that are doing the same thing as you? You need to give potential clients a reason to choose you over the competition. Are you going to offer better pricing than the competition? Can you design something with a unique twist? Are you going to get the work done faster than your competitors? Choose something that makes you stand it out and use it as a driving force in your marketing.
3. Come up with a marketing plan.
Opening up for business is not enough. You need to constantly be marketing yourself in order to succeed. Decide how you will advertise yourself. Will you use traditional media such as print and television? Will you market yourself on freelancer sites? Will you visit business networking groups? Come up with a plan and go at it with 100% effort, nothing less will suffice. The best freelancers use a variety of methods and tweak their plans as time goes on.
4. Set your rates.
Determine what your rates are. Are you going to charge hourly or by the project? When you are just starting out you should price yourself a little bit below the competition to give them a reason to choose you. Once you get a good client base built up you can always raise your prices.
5. Obtain/create anything and everything you need to get your business started.
In order to attract new customers you will need business cards (you can get free ones here), a professional looking website with information about your services and your portfolio, a dedicated phone line where customers can reach you, and business listings online such as Google Places.
6. Get your first clients.
If you’ve done a little freelance work before you already have a little work to show off to perspective customers. If not, consider doing a few free or significantly discounted jobs to get your portfolio started. Most customers will want to see a portfolio before forking over money, so do what you have to do to get a few examples to show off.
Freelancing is a great way to have control over your job and income, but it is something you have to work for. A successful freelancer runs his or her business just like any other business. Set working hours, market yourself and vow to make every customer a happy customer. With this advice and some hard work you have a good chance at becoming successful as a freelancing professional.
Do you have any advice on working as a freelancer? Discuss below.