Freelancing is a great option for people who want to set their own hours, work from home, and earn extra money. However, it’s not always as easy as just taking your passion and turning it into a profitable side hustle. Here are some tips that can help you find success as a freelancer to work!
Be clear about your rates.
In order to offer your best work and get paid for it, you must be clear about what you’re offering. You also need to know how much you should charge for your services in order to make a profit.
This is why it’s important that freelancers are transparent with their rates and fees so clients can understand what they’re paying for without any surprises in the end.
Don’t work for free.
When starting out, you may be tempted to take on any job that comes your way. It’s important to remember that you are a business owner and not an employee. You can’t expect clients to pay you what they would pay an employee when they don’t see the value in your skills or know how much time went into creating their product.
Here are some things that may seem like fun side projects but shouldn’t be considered part of your portfolio:
- Blogging for someone else’s blog; this includes guest posts and sponsored posts (unless it’s paid)
- Creating graphics for free if the client is going to use them anyway on their website or social media accounts
Expect dry spells.
- Expect dry spells. Freelancing is not a 9-5 job, it’s a business. You will have ups and downs, good work months and bad ones, but it is important that you keep working through the dry spells since they are usually followed by a big contract or two. If this makes you anxious or stressed out, hiring an accountant can help!
- Consider getting help from someone who has been there before. If you don’t know anyone in your network who has done this before or if they make it sound too complicated to figure out on your own (there’s no shame in admitting that), consider getting some mentorship or training from people who do this all day every day!
Choose your clients carefully.
- Choose your clients carefully.
- Be picky about who you work for and with.
- Make sure that your clients appreciate the value of your work
- Make sure that they will be professional and respectful to you, as well as others in the industry.
- Check out their website, portfolio and social media pages to see what kind of company they run and how they present themselves publicly. You can learn a lot from this research!
Keep track of your expenses.
It can be easy to forget about the little things, like how much you’re spending on gas or how much time you’ve spent working on a project. Before long, those expenses add up and before you know it, you’re out of money. To avoid this issue and keep yourself honest with your client’s budget, keep a record of all of your business expenses during the course of a job. Use an Excel spreadsheet or Google Docs; whatever works best for you! In addition, track your mileage so that when tax season rolls around next year (or whenever), all those numbers will be right there on hand for easy access.
Don’t be afraid to walk away from a bad client relationship.
You can’t please everyone, and you shouldn’t try. You probably won’t be able to do everything for your clients, either—and that’s okay! It’s not always possible to do everything well or for free. You may not even be able to do everything for the same price.
A client relationship that’s out of balance can negatively impact both sides: If your expectations are not clearly defined, then this can lead to misunderstandings and potential conflict down the road. On top of that, if you’re trying desperately (and unsuccessfully) to please a client who wants things done differently than how you’d prefer them done—for example, they want their logo designed in Comic Sans font while you’d prefer Helvetica Neue—then it will probably lead only one place: nowhere good at all
Conclusion
Freelancing can be a rewarding experience, but it’s also stressful. You have to run your business, find clients, and keep track of your expenses on top of the work you do for them. But if you stay organized and learn from mistakes along the way, you can build a successful career as a freelancer.
