A Guide to Freelancing: Getting Started
Publié le 9 April 2024
If taking control of your career is your professional dream, getting started has never been simple with a guide to freelancing to highlights the benefits and the drawbacks.
A 2023 survey with 5,775 respondents, including 557 self-employed individuals, revealed that 65 percent of self-employed workers find their jobs enjoyable and fulfilling. This figure is significantly higher than non-self-employed employees.
About 47 percent of self-employed workers, including freelancers, also said they can finish most of their jobs at home.
The US recorded 73.3 million freelancers in the same year, with the figure projected to increase by 90.1 million in 2028.
These figures highlight the growing preference for freelancing because it offers more enjoyment and fulfillment.
However, freelancing for beginners is more complex than it sounds. It requires careful planning and continuous work to remain competitive, authoritative, and successful in your niche.
This guide to freelancing or contractor work will cover the fundamentals of how to become a freelancer for beginners—from benefits, pitfalls, and steps to success.
Understanding Freelancing
Freelancing for beginners is a type of self-employment where an individual works by hour, day, or the job rather than working for one employer. This arrangement and the freedom it provides has led most people to explore how to become freelancers.
As a freelance worker, you can accept company contracts or provide services through online platforms. Regardless of clients, you usually won’t have long-term commitments.
When you work for companies, they’ll consider you a contractor or an outsourced worker rather than an employee. And, unlike employees, you’re responsible for your project management, working hours, client billing, and self-employment taxes.
Benefits
Freelancing can offer the following benefits:
- As a freelancer, you’ll often have more control over your workload. You can accept or reject projects and choose a specific number of clients to work with.
- Freelancing can provide a more flexible schedule. You can work whenever and wherever you want, so long as you meet your project deadlines.
- You can receive frequent salary increases because you can negotiate your rates per contract. You can even take on freelance work as a side venture to earn extra income outside your full-time job.
- Start-up costs are often minimal when you already have the skills and equipment for your niche.
Pitfalls
However, freelancing for beginners also has its setbacks:
- Your first gig may take a while. When starting, it can take a few months or years to acquire a stable roster of clients.
- No boss is overseeing what you’re doing. As a result, you need self-discipline to finish your projects accordingly.
- Sometimes, you’ll receive more project offers than you can accept. At the same time, there will be periods of no work, adjusting to this fluctuation is part of learning how to freelance.
- Building a steady income and client base may mean working longer hours beyond regular full-time jobs. This aspect of freelancing for beginners is often underestimated.
- You won’t receive the same benefits full-time employees have, such as pension plans, health insurance and holiday leaves.
- The income can be unstable because of the varying number of clients. Some clients may even refuse to compensate. You’re sure to find a guide to freelancing to handle situations like these.
Image by Tony Schnagl on Pexels
How To Become a Freelancer
Now that you understand freelancing, here’s how to become a freelancer:
Choose a niche aligned with your skills
Before launching into freelancing, choosing a niche aligned with your skills is crucial.
To do this, you must review your experience and identify valuable skills that can help you qualify for projects. It will help you distinguish skill gaps and scale down your industry options.
Some of the lucrative freelancing niches include:
- Writing
- Software development
- Web/mobile development
- Graphic design
- Digital marketing
When learning how to freelance, remember to consider your reasons for freelancing because it will help you identify the niche that aligns with your target workflow, lifestyle, and income.
Research your target clients
Even with ample experience, launching into freelancing won’t automatically make clients seek your services. For this reason, you must research your target clients.
Researching target clients involves identifying the ones who will best fit your services. You must understand their situations and use your services to address their pain points.
This research means studying the industry specifics, clients’ shared challenges, and the general market landscape in which they operate. It’s about grasping the nuances of their needs to know how you can position your offers.
Outline a pricing structure
Once you have your niche and target market, it’s time to set your rates. The goal is to maximize the pay without missing out on jobs.
Start by reviewing your market competitors. How much do they charge for similar freelancing services?
In reality, there’s no definite formula for freelance service pricing because it’s typically project-based. Many factors come into play, including:
- Experience
- Project duration
- Project complexity
- Industry and niche
- Urgency
- Client’s location
Depending on your offers and clients’ preferences, you can consider hourly rates, project-based fees, or retainer agreements. The most important thing is you understand the value of your services.
Moreover, your finances, such as funds for taxes and savings, are another factor to consider. Digital banks like SoFi allow you to open a checking account online for efficient financial management. This way, you can manage your income, settle bills and taxes, and access your discretionary funds in one platform.
Create or update your freelance portfolio
Your freelance portfolio showcases your work quality, accomplishments, and experience. It is an essential part of how to become a freelancer and it is an opportunity to present your expertise to clients.
If you’re switching careers, you should update your portfolio with the recent skills and experiences you’ve gained.
If you’re entering freelancing without experience, consider taking on free or small projects to build a freelance portfolio showcasing your potential and work ethic.
Some must-haves in your portfolio include:
- Testimonials and references
- Work samples
- Mock-ups
As part of this guide to freelancing, remember to request permission from your past clients before incorporating their materials into your portfolio.
Use freelance platforms
Nowadays, most freelancers use online freelance platforms to find projects and clients. These sites are popular because they let you connect and send proposals seamlessly.
Most of these freelance platforms also have policies that protect clients and freelancers. Every project you take has contracts—you and the client must adhere to the terms. These tools can even help you craft compelling outreach proposals.
The things to consider when choosing a freelance platform include:
- Your niche (many sites are general, but some are geared toward specific niches)
- The platform’s fee structure
- Interface and usability
Market yourself through networking
Once you start freelancing, tell everyone you know about your services. Encourage them to forward your contact information to anyone needing your services.
Joining professional networking groups can also help you market yourself. Other benefits include:
- Helps expand your client base
- Keep tabs on industry trends, opportunities, and challenges
- Introduce your services to potential clients
- Make new contacts by interacting with professionals with different perspectives
- Gain a support system when you need assistance
- Build lasting client relationships
Establish an online presence
For freelancers, online presence matters. Your goal is to be easy to find and remember on digital platforms.
You should create social media profiles to make you reachable to clients. Then, join groups and forums relevant to your niche.
In those groups and forums, asking and answering questions can help you attract potential clients. You can even meet more people, like mentors, who can guide you as you navigate the freelance landscape.
Continue honing your skills
Clients hire freelancers for their services and skills. Just because you’re getting hired now doesn’t mean you will in the long run.
As such, consistently honing your skills is crucial to adapting to industry changes and expanding your knowledge. Some methods include:
- Enrolling in online courses and workshops
- Attending industry conferences and seminars
- Participating in webinars
- Practicing new techniques on personal projects
- Reading niche-relevant books, blogs, case studies, and research
- Experimenting with different approaches and methods
Prepare Yourself for the Freelance Arena
Freelancing is a dynamic job that requires preparation and continuous skill development. It’s not just about possessing talent—it’s about strategically positioning yourself to become clients’ go-to professional, whether as a side venture or as your primary source of income.
Hence, success in freelancing hinges on your ability to deliver innovative solutions and maintain a cycle of feedback and improvement, setting the foundation for your lasting professional growth and relationships.
