What is freelancing
Getting started in freelancing but do not know where to start? Then this article is for you.I created this as a guide on how to start freelancing for beginners.
Whether you want to start freelancing as a web designer, writer, or developer, this guide help you start your journey in simple seven steps.
Freelancing is as complicated as you think. Some people believe anyone with a device and an internet connection can earn money online. But, it’s not true. It requires practicing, developing skills, and dedication to making a freelancer. Continue reading if you were willing to work hard to achieve your goal of becoming a freelancer and for financial freedom. Also,
Now let's start
Step 1: Get The Right Equipment
Freelancing does not get rich quickly. It requires a lot of hard work. It took me approx 2 years to earn an income as a freelancer. But, thankfully, today you have more opportunities than I had in the past.
I receive questions from freelancers asking if there is any work I can do using a smartphone. The answer is none. At least not ones that are worth doing. Smartphone apps have limited features. You need a computer or PC to run the software that is required for doing the work properly and get the best result.
So, before you go ahead and think about doing freelancing please choose your device, go get yourself a laptop or PC or even an old computer.
Step 2: Find A Marketable Skill
The next, and most important, step is to find a skill you can do as a service.
This can be as simple as transcribing a podcast or advanced as developing a Website. Whatever it is, the key to winning is to find a skill that you were good at and has enough demand on the Internet.
For example, if you were good at Writing an article or designing a product, go to a freelance marketplace like Freelancer or Upwork and check if there are jobs for that type of work
Step 3: Build Your Reputation
It does not matter if you have a degree or a year of experience. If you can not prove to clients that you were skilled at that work, they will never hire you.
If you’re an article writer, you should have articles published on popular Websites. If you were a designer, you should tell me that I created a brand logo. If you’re a web designer, you tell me that I created this website and send a link to that website you designed.
Do some free work at first to increase your reputation. Reach out that blogs that accept guest posts and do some design work. Whatever it is, work on building your reputation in freelancing.
Step 4: Find The Right Freelance Platform
This step plays an important part in how you easily land jobs and the quality of the clients you will be able to work with. A mistake all beginners do in freelancers make is to search for the most popular freelance marketplace and started. Like Freelancer or Upwork.
In These Websites, there are already many freelancers from all around the world. And due to the competition, they always do bidding to win a job. They will continually lower their bid to get the job. And it will get you nothing.
So the best thing is, and the best approach that worked wonders for me is to pick a new marketplace and I join it. It’ll have fewer freelancers so the competition is low. And it will increase your chances of getting good jobs.
Step 5: Charge The Right Price
Find out the right price for your service can be challenging. Because if you ask for a greater price, your clients will never even hire you. In the beginning, the best way to find the right price for your skill is to look at popular freelance marketplaces and see what other people in your niche are charging. Since you were new, it is not good to charge the same prices as expert freelancers.
Instead, you should try to find out the approx price of all expert freelancers without making yourself cheap.
Step 6: Send Your First Proposal
Writing a proposal to a client needs to be done in a good or even careful manner.
It is not writing a social media post or a regular email. You need to put serious thought into it and figure out your skill and expertise then your client give you a job instead of other freelancers.
There are some tips and tricks that you can use to your advantage when writing a winning proposal.
Step 7: Deliver Beyond Expectations
Once you get a job, the next step of yours is to make sure that you deliver the best and good project just as a client has asked.
I will give you an example. In the past days of my freelancing career, I get jobs for writing blog articles with a fixed word count of 900 words. What I did was write the article to be about 1000-1100 and also include a unique image for the blog post when delivering it. Without charging extra for it.
The clients were always happy with me and my work. And gave 5-star ratings.
So find a way to do work that goes beyond expectations. And learn to stand out from the crowd as it will highlight you. That is the best and the only way to build a career as a freelancer.
