Freelancing Guide For Beginners
Whether you’re a graphic designer, copywriter, developer, or anything in between by trade, it’s best if you specialise in one area of work: For example, if you’re a content writer, don’t try to cover everything from Top 3 Ways to Prepare Your Garden for Spring to Taxation Laws in All 50 US States Explained.
Sure, you can start by writing about a variety of topics to find your ideal niche, but you should eventually pick one and stick to it. However, cryptocurrency or technology content writers always sound better on a CV than general content writers. Furthermore, they instil greater trust in you among clients who are always on the lookout for specifics.
Identify your Skill
The most important step is to identify a skill that can be offered as a service.
This can be as simple as transcribing a podcast or as complex as developing a mobile app. Whatever it is, the key to success in freelancing is to find a skill that you are good at and that has enough market demand.
For example, if you’re good at drawing illustrations or designing product packaging, check out a freelance marketplace like UpWork or Freelancer to see if there are any jobs available.
The same is true if you’re a graphic designer:
consider your level of experience
your current pool of connections
your natural inclinations to a particular design niche
Then, make your pick — focus on delivering interface design for apps, creating new custom logos, devising layouts for books, or any other specific design work.
Create Portfolio
When you start building your reputation, make sure to include a portfolio that contains all of your published/live work.
A portfolio can be a website or a webpage that displays all of your work.
For example, if you’re a graphic designer, you can use a site like Behance to showcase all of your work. When you contact a client, you can simply send them a link to your portfolio so they can evaluate your abilities.
Make certain that your portfolio only contains your best work.
Bloggers can create blogs on sites such as Medium or WordPress. Portfolios can be created on Behance by designers and artists.
Choose the right Platfrom
This step is critical in terms of how easily you’ll land jobs and the calibre of clients you’ll be able to work with.
Most new freelancers make the mistake of looking for the most popular freelance marketplace and joining to get started. Such as UpWork or Freelancer.com.
These sites already have millions of freelancers from all over the world. And, as a result of the competition, they engage in bidding wars to secure jobs. In order to get the job, they will constantly lower their prices. And it’s not going to get you anywhere.
So the best approach, and one that has worked wonders for me, is to join a relatively new marketplace. There will be fewer freelancers, so competition will be low.
Build Your Network:
After you’ve landed your first client, you’ll need to focus on acquiring repeat customers. Perhaps your first customer will become a repeat customer. And perhaps the referral you received from your first client will inspire others to contact you, providing you with a steady stream of work.
In any case, it’s best to broaden your network — and this is where the well-known Pareto principle comes in handy. It states that cultivating a positive relationship with 20% of your clients will help you find 80% of new work through referrals. Furthermore, every additional 20 referrals increases your chances of landing new projects by 80%.
You can broaden your network by doing the following:
Attend industry webinars
Participate in events and join Facebook groups and communities
optimise your LinkedIn network