How to Start Freelancing
I’m excited to share with you everything I know about how to start freelancing.
Let’s jump right in with a quick start list and then I’ll share more details with you:
Quick Start List to Start Freelancing
- Step 1. Decide what services you’ll provide and who you’ll serve (targeting).
- Step 2. Start networking with anyone and everyone you know. Tell them what you’re about to do.
- Step 3. Gather examples and experience that you can share with others.
- Step 4. Create a web presence that explains your offers.
- Step 5. Hustle for those clients! Tap your connections, make new connections, go to job boards, linked in, etc.
Ok so let’s take this one step at a time.
What Does it Mean to be a Freelancer?
One quick note before we get into the steps of how to start freelancing:
Let’s make sure we’re clear on what it means to be a freelancer.
A freelancer is someone who is self-employed. To start freelancing means you are starting your own business and becoming your own boss.
You’ll be hired by companies on a temporary or potentially longer term contract basis. You will not be an employee.
This gives you total freedom to choose your projects but it also means you are responsible for drumming up all your own business.
Whether you work from your kitchen table, a local coffee shop or an office space freelancing is about doing the work and running a business on your terms!
So let’s dive into the steps to starting a freelancing business.
Steps to Starting a Freelancing Business
Step 1. Decide what freelancer services you will offer
There are plenty of companies out there that need help and will be looking to work with an experienced freelancer.
While you may not have any clients yet you can still relay your experience from the work you’ve done in your job or in your own business, etc.
If you have zero experience in something then step 0 will be to get some. Work on projects for free or for yourself. Study up, practice and have something to show before looking for clients.
Now, once you know you have something to offer as a freelancer you’ll want to make sure it’s something people are paying for.
Here are some common freelancing job categories:
- Writer (article, blogs, emails, website, etc)
- Website designers
- Social media marketers
- Graphics designer
- Photography & Videography
- Editing (content, videos, audios)
- Bookkeeping
- Virtual Assistants
- Ads
- More
The list of potential freelance jobs is pretty endless.
Find something that people need, are willing to pay for and that you are great at doing! Then you’ll have a great start to becoming a freelancer.
Step 2. Start Networking
I’ve personally launched a freelance agency building websites and doing email marketing for local business owners.
After I made this decision I immediately set to connecting with a couple of friends who I knew would support me.
Turns out not only did they think it was a great idea, they wanted to promote me to their audiences, which were a great fit for my services.
Don’t negate the value of person to person connection! It’s very powerful.
While the internet is a great place for “self-serve” some things still need that personal touch! When you are offering a service one of the absolute best ways to get new clients has been and remains word of mouth.
How do you have word of mouth when you are brand new?
Talk… you gotta do the talking. Build on any reputation you already have. Share the value you bring. And maybe sooner than later a friend of a friend may need exactly what you have to offer.
How to start freelancing by networking. Ideas:
- Email people who may know someone who needs your services.
- Talk to your in-person friends and colleagues, and hand out business cards.
- Get on Linked-In and network.
- Create profiles on freelancing sites such as Freelancer and Upwork.
- Go to industry events, meetings and meetups and get to know people – make sure they get to know you, too, and what you do.
Step 3. Gather Examples and Experience You Can Share With Others – Your Portfolio
If you don’t have a customer portfolio then offer to do some work for free for someone you know could use it.
Or just create your own examples for a “pretend” client that you can showcase.
When I decided to offer website services for local small business owners I didn’t have any specific examples so I decided to create sites of the ideal clients.
If you’ve already got examples and results, great! Then move on to Step 4 🙂
Step 4. Create a Web Presence that Explains Your Offers
Now some people start freelancing and get booked up with clients so fast that they don’t even have time to work on their website.
This is a good AND possibly a not so good thing.
While you may get a rush of clients when you open shop there are likely to be times when your freelance business falls into a lull.
It’s a good idea to take the time from the start to get your marketing, AKA in this case your website, set up and ready to work for you when you need it.
If you need help building a website you can see this course on how to build a site in WordPress (by yours truly).
What to put on your freelancer website:
- Home Page – Introduce yourself and your business, highlight your offers and why they should hire you.
- About Page – Tell people about YOU, your experience, what you can do and don’t forget WHY. People are drawn to stories and someone who’s truly passionate about what they do.
- Services Page – On this page you can detail your services.
- Contact Page – How to get in contact with you so they can request a call or hire you.
- Blog Page – If you want to use content marketing as a long-term strategy a blog is a great choice!
Step 5. Hustle for Clients and Tap Your Connections
Bonus Step. KEEP Marketing
Even after you’ve gained clients do not stop marketing. It could be that blog for content marketing, social media marketing or maybe email marketing.
Whatever you choose to do build it into your business because you never know when you might lose a big client and need to quickly find another.
If you keep up on your marketing this is going to be a significantly easier task.
I once worked in a coworking space with a freelance virtual assistant who had three clients. Within the space of a couple of months she lost all three clients and did not have any other income streams or marketing in place. This is risky business!
Keep marketing and, when you can find space, build in other income streams. For freelancers offering courses is a natural fit, because you already have experience in something you know is in demand as people are already paying you for it.
You could turn those skills into a course so that those who can’t hire a freelancer yet can DIY. This won’t take away from your own potential clients. I’ve actually found that when I sell a course on the service I offer I get MORE clients. After people take the DIY they realize it’s too much work to do themselves and then they hire me to do it instead!
I hope this helps you understand how to start freelancing and be your own boss.
This is an exciting time. In case you have other concerns I thought of a couple more questions you might want answered…
Can you Create Lifestyle Freedom as a Freelancer?
I personally define lifestyle freedom as being able to work when you want, where you want, with who you want and how you want.
This fits the freelancer profile!
You can absolutely have lifestyle freedom as a freelancer if you choose your clients wisely and only work on the projects that light you up.
Lifestyle Freedom for me is ALSO about leverage and time-freedom.
So if you’re working 60 hours a week, feeling completely burnt out and not enjoying life then, no, that’s not lifestyle freedom.
Be very purposeful about what you build and you can create the freedom you crave while working on the projects that light you up.
Conclusion on How to Start Freelancing
Your most important activity is going to be telling everyone you know, constantly, what you’re offering.
This word of mouth is crucial to your success as a freelancer.
Wishing you all the very best as you create your lifestyle freedom as a freelance professional!
