[ad_1]
Freelancing is a great way to make money, but it’s not without its challenges. To start freelancing successfully, you need to be prepared for some of the differences between working on your own and working in an office environment.
Freelancers have to be flexible with their rates, but you need to know where your skillset lies and charge accordingly. If there’s a lot of competition for the kind of work you do, consider lowering your rates. If you’re in high demand, however, it’s okay to charge more than less experienced freelancers.
You should also consider the cost of living where you live and work. Freelancers should be prepared to spend around 20–30% of their income on taxes, so make sure that your hourly rate covers this before you start working. Get organized.
Freelancing is a great way to stay on top of your finances, but it’s important to keep yourself organized as well. Write down all of your expenses each week or month so you can see how much money is coming in and going out — this will help with tax time at the end of the year!
Once you have decided to take the plunge and start freelancing, it’s important for you to create a website that is easy for potential clients to find.
This means using a domain name that people will be able to remember, keeping your website professional looking, including what work you have done in the past, and making sure that it includes all of the necessary information such as where visitors can contact you and what tools/software/platforms they need in order to hire or contract with you.
You might even consider hiring a web designer if this sounds like something beyond your skillset!
You know those things that you enjoyed doing as a kid? Those things that made you feel like the wind was at your back and there was nothing to stop you from achieving whatever it was that you wanted to do?
Go back to them. These are the things that make up your strengths as a person, and they can help guide your career path. They may guide where you live, what job or business opportunity comes along next, and even who you choose to marry! Your strengths will always be with you, no matter what happens in life.
Think about what activities made us happy when we were young: maybe it was playing video games all day (if so, I would very much like for us to team up on our own gaming startup), or perhaps making art projects with crayons and construction paper (I’m still waiting for my gallery exhibit).
Find out what makes YOU happy, then build on this knowledge by finding out what other people enjoy working with too. Get creative! Go online and research how others have found success doing exactly what makes them happy — and then go try it yourself!
It’s probably best to start small and work your way up. That way, if you’re nervous about taking on a big project, you can take some time to build up your confidence.
Start by doing a few smaller projects for people who know what they’re doing and have experience with freelancing. You’ll get a feel for the kind of work that you like doing and how easy (or difficult) it is for you to accomplish it. Some skills are harder than others, so don’t be surprised if one project takes twice as long as another!
If things go well with these first few jobs, consider going after larger ones once you’ve had some experience under your belt and managed to gain some more trust in yourself — especially if someone who has hired them before recommends it!
Be sure, not over-commit yourself either though: under-promising is better than over-delivering in this case since no one wants an unfinished product or worse yet an error-filled mess!
Another important skill to develop is your people skills. As a freelancer, you’ll find yourself working with other freelancers (who may want to work together), clients, and members of your team.
Developing good communication skills will help you navigate these relationships smoothly — and avoid misunderstandings that could create headaches down the line.
That’s because communicating effectively with others is one of the keys to building strong client relationships, which are essential when it comes to getting work as a freelancer or running your own business.
In addition, being able to communicate well with people on your team — whether they’re employees or another kind of independent contractor — will help make sure that everyone understands what needs doing without any confusion or miscommunication getting in the way.
The freelance world is full of scams and ethical dilemmas, but that doesn’t mean you have to be one of them. The best way to avoid becoming an unethical freelancer is to create a code of ethics for yourself — a set of guidelines and principles by which you will live your life as a freelancer.
Include in this document all the things that are important to you: how much money should clients pay? What’s the ideal length of a project? How open should communication be between clients and freelancers? How do I handle sensitive information? What do I expect from myself as a freelancer?
It’s important that this document not only describes what is acceptable behavior for yourself but also states clearly what consequences follow if someone violates your code of ethics.
Determine how much work will be lost if a client does not fulfill his or her contract, or whether or not it’s okay for him/her to steal content from another person on your team (hint: it isn’t).
Make sure everyone knows what these consequences are so they know exactly how much they’re risking by doing something wrong!
The main thing you should do before starting a freelancing career is to be a good client yourself. Do this by being fair, honest, and communicative with other freelancers.
Remember that your first impressions are very important — you will be referred to others based on what they have seen from you in the past and how they felt about it. So make sure they are good!
Be professional when dealing with other people’s work, but also ask for feedback from them. Ask them if they feel like the job was done well enough (and if not why), ask how long it took or any other problems or delays that might have occurred during the process of completing the task together.
If someone has done something great for you then let them know as soon as possible so that they can see themselves reflected back in their work too!
Asking questions like these will help build stronger relationships between clients while simultaneously improving communication between both parties involved in any given project at hand.
When you take jobs, you’ll find that some projects take longer than others to complete. This shouldn’t be surprising — some clients are simply more demanding than others and require more work on your part. It’s important to keep in mind that as a freelancer, not every project will be the same.
As an example: I once took on a job from an editor who introduced me to one of her writers via email. The writer was looking for someone who could edit his novel-in-progress, which was about 100 pages long at the time (it ended up being closer to 200).
He wanted it edited within two weeks’ time so he could submit it for publication by Christmas. At first glance this sounded like something I could handle easily enough; after all, editing is my primary service and one of my areas of expertise (and I’m very good at it!).
But as soon as we started talking specifics — tenses needed changing; some words needed replacing; he’d been using British spellings but now wanted American spelling throughout — I realized how much work this would actually require of me!
By allowing myself plenty of time before starting anything new, including thinking through what my client expects from me in terms of quality and turnaround times (and then sticking with those expectations), I can ensure the best possible outcome for both parties involved — which means less stress for everyone involved!
You’ll be working with a lot of clients, so it’s important to understand how to say no and set boundaries. You should only take on projects that are right for you — if it’s not something you’re interested in or don’t feel like you can do well, don’t take the job.
When starting out, freelancers often have a hard time figuring out what kind of work they want to do and where their skill sets lie. If you’re unsure about what kinds of projects will represent your best work from an artistic standpoint (and therefore attract new clients), consider doing free work as a way of finding out what type of material attracts clients and what pays well.
Clients who come looking for freebies may not pay as much as those who value your skills. You also need to consider whether certain types of projects are right for you based on your personality type or general interests — for instance, if graphic design makes up 80% of your workload but isn’t something that interests you personally, this could affect how motivated and happy working feels over time!
Your confidence is one of the most important parts of freelancing. If you aren’t confident in your skills and abilities, why would anyone else be? You have to trust yourself and know that you’ll do a great job no matter what kind of project it is.
This also means being confident in your pricing. Your work has value, and people will pay for it if they think it’s worth their money (not to mention that if you don’t charge enough for your services, then people won’t value them).
If a client asks for something that doesn’t fit within the bounds of your usual rates or asks for discounts because they’re friends or family members, feel free to say no!
You may also find yourself dealing with an unreasonable client who wants things done their way even though they’re not suitable for what they hired you as an expert at doing; this is another situation where confidence plays into things — you can say ‘no’ without feeling bad about yourself because it’s simply not fair on either party involved when someone tries imposing demands on others without realizing how much work goes into each side getting what they want out these type situations.
[ad_2]
Source link
