There are loads of reasons why becoming a freelancer could be the right move for you, including added flexibility, more freedom to control your work load and output and the ability to work from wherever you want. But it isn’t as simple as just ‘going freelance’ – t here’s a lot of hard work involved in becoming a freelancer. Ultimately, it’s the same as starting a brand new business. Check out our top tips for building up your freelance business…
- Build up your network
- Remember, freelancing is a business
- Organisation is key!
1. Build up your network
The first step when you start out as a freelancer is to build up your network. It’s very rare that you’ll have work flooding in from day one so you need to consider that when you’re calculating your finances for the first few months.
Building your network is the key to getting your business off the ground and a great place to start is any old contacts you have made through training, previous work or networking events. You never know who could be your first client. Once you start getting a network, think about getting some reviews both online and through word of mouth. When you have a small business, positive reviews are what will carry you from one job to the next.
Create a portfolio of your work, whether it’s on a website of your own or on social media pages like LinkedIn or Facebook. Include references, testimonials and reviews from clients.
Get listed, think about where people look for freelancers and get your name on there. We recommend:
2. Remember, freelancing is a business
Just like any other business, you need to create a brand. The only difference with freelancing is you are the brand! So you need to think about what you want your brand to represent and how you want potential clients to see you.
When you’re developing your brand it’s always worth thinking about the competition – whatever you decide, you need to stand out from the crowd and figure out what makes you different. Sell them the benefit of employing you!
Once you’ve set out your brand and decided on your tone, the next step is to create some brand collateral like business cards, a blog and social pages. You want people to be able to find you and contact you without too much effort.
As you’re the business, you need to think about staying up to date and making sure you recognise the latest trends in your industry, so read around to see what other people are up to and keep your ideas fresh. There may be some costs to you if you want to attend events or go on training courses, but just treat it in the same way as if you were someone else’s employee and they were funding your development.
Remember, as a freelancer you are HR, marketing, sales and customer service all rolled in to one – you’re responsible for everything.
3. Organisation is key!
Great organisation skills come naturally to some people and not so naturally to others, but either way there are some basic principles that can make life a lot easier when you’re freelancing…
- Have a calendar or a diary and make sure you use it. You need to know what you have booked in and when you are free. Double booking or forgetting to turn up to a job will not help your reputation.
- Make a plan – before you take on any work come up with a business plan. Put some time in to thinking about pitching, travel costs and time scales for different types of projects. Think about how much work can you take on and how you’re going to cost it up. You need to have a consistent approach so your clients know what to expect.
- Keep the work life balance alive – most clients won’t expect you to work on the weekends and if you do, then take a day off in the week or treat yourself to a long lunch. You need to be on top form every day when you run your own business!
If you’re a freelancer and have more top tips to share post them in the comments.
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